The Novice Coach s Guide to a Successful Soccer Season Practical Advice on Coaching a Competitive Youth Soccer Team 1
The Novice Coach s Guide to a Successful Soccer Season The vast majority of soccer coaches in the United States are still Moms and Dads who volunteer to coach their sons or daughters. 2
The Novice Coach s Guide to a Successful Soccer Season While a growing proportion of these parents have some soccer-playing background, most youth coaches are new to the sport. The term novice includes those who are new to soccer and also those with a soccer background who are inexperienced in their role as coach.
The Novice Coach s Guide to a Successful Soccer Season This self-paced course provides theoretical and practical information for novice coaches working with the U-10, U-12 and U-14 age groups. For the purposes of this presentation U-10 includes U-9 and U-10 U-12 includes U-11 and U-12 U-14 includes U-13 and U-14
The Novice Coach s Guide to a Successful Soccer Season The information is organized Into six sections. What is Soccer? Understanding Your Players. Understanding Tactics and Skills. Team Management. Practice Management. Parent Management.
Section 2 Understanding Your Players
Understanding Your Players The general guidelines for coaching youth soccer are based on the age and ability of the players. Most youth coaches over-estimate their players abilities, needs, and motivations by stressing team play over individual development at the younger ages.
Understanding Your Players The most important and exciting skill in soccer is scoring a goal. In the youth game, the ability to dribble the ball is a critical prerequisite for creating scoring chances. Players dribble the ball for three reasons a) to keep the ball away from defenders (possession), b) to beat opponents (penetration), and c) to run into open space (possession or penetration). 8
Understanding Your Players It is impossible to teach creative dribbling or goal scoring instincts to older players, so youth coaches should adopt dribbling and goal scoring as the cornerstones of their practice activities. 9
Understanding Your
- Disclaimer Attempting to describe players by age is a difficult task because social and emotional forces frequently produce contrary examples. Players brought up in soccer cultures are different from those who aren t. Soccer-playing parents make a difference. Soccer-playing siblings make a difference. The media makes a difference. Money and facilities make a difference. The soccer environment makes a difference. Player motivation makes all the difference.
- Disclaimer The following information should therefore be read as a descriptive continuum. In general, the typical American soccer population follows a normal developmental pattern, but there are always those who are far in advance of their peers and also those who lag well behind. With that said
Age General Skill Progression Recurring Themes U-6 Dribbling and Shooting U-8 Passing and Receiving on the Ground U-6 U-10 Heading and Receiving out of the Air U-6 + U-8 U-12 Long Passing and Individual Defending U-6 + U-8 + U-10 U-14+ Positional Techniques U-6 + U-8 + U-10 + U-12 General Technical Emphases by Age 13
Age Main Theme Recurring Themes U-6 Me and My Ball U-8 Sharing the Ball U-6 U-10 Playing Around the Ball U-6 + U-8 U-12 Playing Away From the Ball U-6 + U-8 + U-10 U-14+ Team Development U-6 + U-8 + U-10 + U-12 General Tactical Emphases by Age 14
At U-6, young children are very ego-centric and do not understand the concept of team sports. They play beside friends, but not with them. The U-6 s main focus is on themselves and any organized soccer game will essentially become One versus The Rest.
For U-6 s, soccer practice should include lots of opportunities to build a comfort level with the ball. Fantasy and imagination are important motivators and real soccer games (2v2, 3v3) are often complimentary to activities that teach agility, balance, coordination, speed and ball manipulation through fun games. U-6 s will develop much more quickly when they have older role models to help them get started.
By U-8, young children are still quite ego-centric, but start to play with their friends. They will share the ball if they have enough time and space to figure out how, but most have no concept of spacing. 17
Like the U-6 s, they will develop much faster and learn better soccer habits when they have older children or adults as role models and game managers. 18
The U-8 practice should continue to include lots of dribbling-based games, but should also feature an increased number of games between 1v1 and 4v4. Boundaries and their related restarts become relevant. Elementary juggling and an ever-expanding range of skill challenges should be introduced for U-8 s. 19
As players approach U-10, their ability to think abstractly allows them to better appreciate space and they will start to spread out away from the ball. U-10 is the first age where something resembling soccer should be expected and the first age where most players will start to enjoy training as the foundation of improvement.
The U-10 practice begins to rely more on real soccer games than fun activities, although those elements should never be completely discarded. U-10 s love to be challenged, so competitive activities should be the norm. Games of between 1v1 and 6v6 utilizing a variety of scoring options are the foundation of the training sessions, with skill drills providing lower intensity rest periods.
To make progress, motivated U-12 s must work with knowledgeable coaches. By this age, the more experienced players can perform all the main skills and have a good understanding of space and rhythm. For the general population, U-12 is the best age to formally start refining and expanding the range of techniques particularly individual defending - and the best age to demand good training habits. 22
The U-12 training session incorporates much of the U- 10 experience, but should add offside lines to games. The U-12 s should experience playing 8v8 in practice. Because ten and eleven year-olds can often be quite combative, the U-12 coach must be a skillful teacher. Good training habits must be established. Skills must be honed and expanded. Tactical insight must be developed. U-12 players must continue to learn to continue to be motivated! 23
By U-14, the better players will have moved to higher levels and the main focus for the novice coach will be the assignment of positions and the management of playing time during games. Understanding how to best position players to maximize their soccer personalities and help them enjoy the game is the key to successful coaching. 24
The U-14 training session should strive to improve technical and tactical speed of play, with the activities primarily featuring possession games, skill training, and positional games. However, the motivation of U-14 players can vary from recreational to elite and the attitude of the coach should vary accordingly. Warm-up and play may be the best approach to coaching an unmotivated team. 25
End of Section 2 Click Here to Take the Quiz!!!