Jeff Pill is the Director of Coaching for the New Hampshire Soccer Association. He has his national "A" license and is a National Staff Coach with US Soccer. He is also a FIFA Technical Assistant. These drills were designed using Soccer Coach, a terrific program made by Sports 'N' Kids .
This is a Coaching Letter For Parents that is perfect for the first meeting with your player's parents. It is an excellent resource for coaches.
Here is an article Jeff wrote on Discipline
Youth Coaches!!!
Check out:
U-6
| U-8 | U-10 |
U-12 | U-14 - U-18
NHSA 4 v. 4 Program
Practice Sessions with Drills
Individual Drills
Defending
Goalkeeping
"Some environments can be used to train goalkeepers and shooters as well. Again, just by putting keepers in these environments and making the situations competitive, they will better. The coach's expertise can enhance these environments. Let us know what you think."
Fitness
Soccer players cover a total distance of about 6 miles during an average game. This distance is an accumulation of walking, jogging, cruising, and sprinting that is randomly spread throughout the game. Added to this is the fact that the movements are not only "straight ahead" running, but often involve agility runing (change of speed and direction), running ackwards, and sideways.
What follows are selected games and activities that attempt to replicate the type of fitness demanded during a game. The activities vary in that some are individual activities, some small group activities and some large group. Notice that all of them involve the ball, and all can be played to keep score so that the activities become competitive and intense. Never are players standing on long lines, waiting to play. If they are waiting, it is to recover from intense activities.
The best way to monitor fitness levels and work rates is by taking one's pulse. The average heart rate should be approximately 90% of maximum heart rate. maximum heart rate can be found by taking 220 minus the player's age (202 for an 18 year old player). Therefore for an 18 year old their average should be about 180 beats / min.. Or a range of about 160 - 200 bpm while working hard. Pulse rates can be found by taking the pulse for 15 sec, and then multiplying by 4.
I would like to believe that the included environments are fun to play as well, thus, making fitness work not seem like drudgery. Try them out, and let us kow what you think.
Favorites
"What follows is a smattering of my favorite drills that I often use because of their effectiveness in teaching the game in and of themselves... just by playing these games, and keeping score so that the games are competitive, players will improve. Many of these games can be used to teach a variety of concepts or skills. Each individual coach's expertise that they bring to these environments can only enhance the learning experience for the players. Try them out, and let us know what you think!"