South East Soccer Club

Coaching Manual

Developing an age-appropriate and fun practice plan before you get to practice will help provide more fun for you and your players. You will be able to keep the practice moving and you will be able to coach more effectively.

MAIN THEMES:

** Developmentally Appropriate (teach age appropriate skills)
- Implications for the game (what skills are we working on and how does it affect the a players abilities and game)
- U6 one ball one player (More touches = a more skilled player)
- U8 one ball one player and one ball two players
- No "L's" : Laps, Lines, Lectures

U6-U7 (MM) TRAINING SESSION:

- Should not exceed 60 min (45 is better) one time per week
- Every child w/ a ball (helps cut down on kids not listening/boredom)
- Warm-up and activities include: movement education, problems, body awareness, familiar with ball (concepts are taught through games/activities)
- Finish with 3v3 game (this is the cookie that kids love to work for)

U8 TRANING SESSION:

- Should not exceed 60 min one time per week
- Warm-up: each player with a ball
- Activities: mixture of individual and partner activities
- Finish with 3v3 or 4v4 game

COACHING PRACTICE GUIDELINES:

- grid size is approximation only adjust as needed
- include water breaks
- modify activities to increase chances of success (not all kids learn a concept the same way, think of ways to teach skills differently)
- keep players active
- use players to demonstrate when possible
- every player should have a ball
- use discovery questions (what happens when…? how can you…?)

PRACTICE PLAN OVERVIEW LESSONS 1-8
- Practice lessons are designed to make you life easy while teaching specific aspects of soccer
- Practice lessons are meant to be used with little or no modifications depending upon condition of players and coach
- You will have more practice sessions then lesson plans so go through the lessons again or create your own
- Each lesson uses a few activities from the previous lesson so there is less time explaining new activities

Please give us feedback on what is and is not working. email to development@sesc-pdx.org