I am the head coach of a girls U10 7V7 town travel soccer team. We start practices next week and I am getting my notes ready for the girls - these are season long talking points when discussing our formation and positioning. Please share any feedback - things to add and things to remove.

Building from the back: on goal kicks, LD and RD position themselves at the top of 12 yd box on the corners. Goalie plays it into them and they make a run and push the ball up to the midfielders. This makes it easier to get the ball into play. In the spring, we worked on this as a number of my girls were taught that the goalie should make a long pass 5 yards or so before midfield to one of the midfielders. This can create issues as the other team can easily intercept if it's a pass off target or too slow and it puts immediate pressure on the receiver.

*In our league, the opposing team must retreat to midfield before a goal kick. Once the goalie touches the ball on the ref's motion, they can push forward.

Defending: Focus is on defending inside out - forcing attackers to go outside. Midfields, especially CM, need to be true 2-way players and come back and support on defense. Clear outside and up. No passes across the middle under pressure in our half of the field. Body positions at an angle/low center and try to force attackers to the outside. All throw-ins in our half go down the line away from our goal. After saves, goalies send the ball outside and work both sides of the box to find the best lane. If necessary, they will punt up field. I have one girl who can hit almost midfield.

*8/10 goals we gave up in the spring were due to bad positioning and the other team have 2v1 or 3v1 attacks. Goalies at this age are still learning and when they have odd man rushes, it makes their job even more difficult.

Offense: Stay spread and do not bunch. If you do not have the ball, move to space to make yourself a pass option and to draw defenders. Never be directly behind or in front of your teammate that has the ball. If one side is too crowded, look to switch the field. I like to ask "are you in a position to give the ballcarrier a pass option?" or "are you in space where one of your teammates already is?" I also emphasize that if you have a shot, take it! Too many times I have some girls who take 1-4 touches too many and wait until they are under 6 feet from goal to shoot. 2 defenders move to the center circle to send back in any clearing attempts.

I'm starting my fourth season and now my kid is in the U9 category. We're moving beyond the bumblebee realm of play and we are now 7v7 w/ goalies. I never played soccer growing up and have watched a minimal amount while I grew up playing all the baseball and watching American Football. When I was growing up, I loved watching Ron Jaworski and Merrill Hodge breakdown football games on NFL Matchup. I've never seen any sort of soccer commentator explain soccer they way they were able to make me understand football and what the players and coaches on the field were seeing.

Sooo, is there any sort of analysis show (in English!) that does anything similar? I would even settle for regular commentary of a game with an "all 11" view point that shows how players move fill space from far overhead. I just want to better understand what the players are thinking and why so I can help coach these kids on how to fill space, or explode into space.

Haven’t played soccer in yeeeeeaaaaaarrrrrs. Like two decades worth of years at least. I don’t remember much. But here I am! Coaching U8 soccer for my son’s team…..

I think I can figure out most but subbing in while still allowing them all equal playtime is something I’m struggling with.

I have 11 players on my team and it’s 6v6 (goalie included).
Parks and Rec says no subbing unless the ball is dead.
It’s two 20 minute halves.

How would you work a rotation so all kids get equal opportunities?

I am a huge fan of the NFL and college ball. I watched 2 of my boys play the past 16 years and I’ve watched the Chicago Bears religiously since I was born. My youngest LOVES soccer. I got talked into coaching when he was U10 and continued (it’s just an AYSO league) until now, where he’s moving up to U15. We live a large soccer community. My U12 spring team had a lot of talent, and since I’ve coached so long now I know a lot of kids on my roster. I’m just so nervous about the move up to U15. It becomes so much more serious and I feel I don’t have all the skills to help them grow. Any U15 coaches with advice about anything from practice drills, rules that might change at this group etc??

Looking for advice. I am a volunteer coach for my son’s 4th and 5th grade co ed YMCA rec team. We have an upcoming meet and greet to kick the season off the Sat before our first scheduled practice. How I think it will go is the kids will show up and we will do a meet and greet while sharing the field with another team. We get half they get half. If our two teams agree we can do a scrimmage that day.

I have 14 kids on my team and will probably only have about 20-30 minutes to warm up before finishing with a scrimmage. Games will be played in a 9v9 format that’s including the goalie. I am thinking of doing 3 defenders, 3 midfielders and 2 strikers.

However I won’t have enough time that day to show everyone every position. I also will have a short amount of time to warm up and do drills before the scrimmage.

Looking for suggesting on quick warm up drills and what not to get the kids the most touches on the ball and less time in lines with the short time we will have.

Hopefully this will not be an issue but I wanted to get some ideas in my back pocket in case it does. I coach ice hockey and hope you soccer coaches will forgive me for stepping onto your turf for a few minutes, but I suspect you will have far better ideas than random parents in other subs.

My son started high school this fall and is playing on the JV team (his school has varsity, jv, and freshman teams). I do not specifically have an issues with him playing JV but I am seeing frustrated comments from him. He plays MLSN AD for his club team and is pretty good (ECNL teams have offered spots, if that has any relevance). The daily hour of thumping of a ball in the basement drives my wife nuts but it is only 1-2x/week that he can get friends to go to the field by our house with him to play outside. He is also a tiny freshman at 5'2" (abet with tree trunk legs) and while fast for his size he just cannot keep up on speed with kids 4 years older and a foot taller. The next shortest kid on JV or varsity is probably 3-4" taller than him.

4 games in he is tied for the most minutes, with the goalkeeper, and no one else comes close. While I suspect he will get subbed eventually it hasn't happened yet even with their 23 kid roster. The coach has him at CB (the 5 specifically, can be somewhat amusing to watch him line up next to drastically taller strikers) which aside from corners/crosses (and even those not much since it is JV and the quality of delivery is underwhelming) hasn't been an issue for him.

I am a bit worried as he is starting to get frustrated with his teammates for not being able to control the ball, not working to get into position, etc. I played D1 hockey in university so I can at least recognize basic things like effort, speed of play, and movement - he isn't wrong about his teammates level. He came home last night worrying about getting worse by playing down in skill (in this case he said he has to take a lot of speed off passes so his teammates have a shot at controlling them).

How do you keep a kid motivated like this? I don't want to push him towards varsity as A) I am the dad/something like this should come from the kid/the placement is none of my business and B) at 5'2" I don't know how well he would handle the physicality. That said I suspect he would be more than fine playing the 3 from a skill standpoint (at least from what I have seen from the varsity games), at least until the other team puts a manchild winger in to chip and run every time.

I have tried to look at how I would handle this from a hockey coaching standpoint but as hockey is a smaller area and inflicting physical pain on opponents a legal (and encouraged) aspect of the game, I mentally haven't found something that translates that I would recommend. If you have a player who would likely be top 5 for skill on your varsity team but look small against all the kids on the freshman team, what would you do to keep him motivated? Any other random thoughts or suggestions?

Thank you!

Good morning everyone I'm 39 years old and from next week I'll start as a football coach for 5/6-year-olds.

What do you recommend to keep my attention high.

What kind of exercises do you propose?

thanks in advance

I just have a list of names right now, so I don't know about skill levels. I really want to de-emphasize winning and work on personal development for the players. I plan to rotate my players through the goalie position. I would make one player the team captain and starting goalie for each game. Is this a good approach, or is there a better way to accomplish this? I'm also moving from 7v7 to 9v9, and I'm not as familiar with the larger formations. From the previous years, I expect to have a lot of new players and a couple of experienced players. What is a strong formation to get started? I know that we will be facing teams that do tournaments and play on school teams.

So I understand the game. Played rec then club growing up. I’ve coached little league but this is my first time coaching soccer. This is an U9 coed rec team most players don’t know how to play or have played very little. I have no assistant coach and have 11 kids on my team. I had my first practice yesterday and I felt like I was all over the place. We practice twice a week for about 60 minutes. Any advice on how to set up my practices would be greatly appreciated.

I have been volunteered to coach a U6 team at the rec league level.

If they didn’t find a coach, no team. I couldn’t disappoint the person I know who’s on the team as they are excited to play for their first time.

I’ve played my whole life. Small stint being paid to play, played division 1 for a competitive team, my college coach tried convincing me to come be a grad assistant for him, so I understand the game.

Just at this age, I have no idea how to go about it.

Those of you that have coached this age, what advice do you have? What’s a way to get the kids to listen at practice? What’s the best way to make sure everyone has fun as this should be most people’s first team.

Even when I was this age I was playing for a club team that was a bunch of Eastern European guys with foul mouths as coaches and super competitive, so I can’t even go back to what I was taught lol.

Any advice is an appreciated I’m honestly terrified.

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I’m 18, 176 cm, 68 kg, and I play as a winger.

I’m naturally quite quick and have decent stamina, so I don’t want to focus on bulking up if it means becoming heavier or losing my pace and agility.

My main weaknesses are physical duels, especially aerial and ground challenges, as well as balance and body strength. I want to become stronger and more difficult to knock off the ball while still being quick, agile, and explosive.

For those with experience in football training, what would you recommend I focus on in the gym and on the pitch?

Should I prioritize strength training, plyometrics, sprint work, balance/stability, calisthenics, Olympic lifts, or something else?

Any specific exercises or training principles would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! ❤️

I’m coaching an U13 rec league and we have several girls that have never played soccer. We should have had 3 practices before our first game this weekend but the first two were canceled by the club due to weather so the team has had very little practice.

We got beat pretty bad 0-7 this weekend and it was primarily because. They didn’t know how to position themselves on defense or where to do throw ins and goal kicks to.

I was constantly telling them to move up and pressure but they just didn’t respond quickly and were constantly hanging out at the top of the box. I put my daughter back there for a portion of the game to coach them from the field and it improved dramatically.

I think most of the struggle comes from them not knowing how to play positions because I didn’t get the time to go over these things yet.

We did a lot better in the second half but only get one practice before another game.

I feel like I have more to go over than I have time for so was hoping someone had some good drills that will help with defensive positioning and throwing ins and goal kicks.

I’m a division 3 player and a coworker of my girlfriend asked if I could coach their u11 boys team. I am pretty sure it’s a rec team like not very competitive, but I don’t know the level of the kids. I don’t know what kind of drills or what to do at practice and how to structure it. And how much to charge, it’s about an 11 week season with one game and one practice per week.

Where is everyone sourcing their training equipment (rebounders, pop up goals, poles, mannequins, etc)? Lots of online retailers with similar equipment and similar sales discounts. Just looking for your experiences on where I can save money while still getting good equipment and good customer service.

First practice for my U13-U14 team I coach is tomorrow. Been coaching 20+ years and I like making the first drill of the first practice as fun as possible. The single most fun soccer drill I have ever come across is 'Doctor, Doctor'. Does anyone have a better, most enjoyable drill as a great way to start a first practice? Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

Hello all! I am a US Soccer C License coach and am wondering what the application process is like for it. I coach high school but am really interested in continuing my education all the way through my A License. I know the B is the first one where you have to apply, rather than register so my question is do I even have a chance or do they only accept club sccer coaches/academy level?

I’m a high school coach and I’m trying to help the JV and JV2 team with goal setting and just introduced the harada method to our program. I made it clear that everyone should have Varsity as their main goal.

Some box’s around the varsity box were I.Q, Personality, technical, diet, fitness, recovery, speed, strength and balance

personality
- greet coaches and teammate at the start of every training
-always thank the opposing team
-thank your parents for showing up to support
-journal 10 positive things about your week.
- encourage 5 teammates weekly

I.Q
-rewatch/reflect on your game film weekly
-find a professional player and study them
-watch a varsity player that plays their position and reflect in why they are where they are.

Tech
- learn a new skill move weekly and try it in practice 5 times a week
- 15 minutes of ball work, 1000 touches 3x a week
- 1000 juggles 2x a week

Everyone had their own choice to fill out there boxes how they liked but the goal was to be specific and achievable. The idea is that this isn’t goal setting just for the high school season but will carry on until they achieve Varsity. So goals like do 1000 touches everyday won’t work unless you’re completely committed. I told them try 3 times a week so they don’t stress over or fail there goals if they don’t have time during the weekends.

Im curious how you guys would set up your 8 box’s to varsity

Hwy im 19m captain of my juco soccer team. To start offast year my tsam was ranked in the nation. We lost in penalties for the game to go through to the national championship. This year, im one of 3 returning players, who’s also captain. In all honesty i thought taking over would be easy but i was so wrong. With a completely new team the chemistry is barely/slowly improving but its only leading us into losing games. Theres players who are scared to speak up, lack of communication, egos, and anger issues. The only option i came up with is to host a meeting with the whole team as a group. My fear is that they wont take me or the meeting seriously and the whole effort would be a waste of time. In totality, im just worried about the fact of being respected and helping the team just become closer, outside of soccer.

i coach basketball rather than soccer, so tell me if this doesn't travel. i suspect it does.

there's a thread on here about what a youth coach said that you still remember. i read the whole thing and almost none of the answers were speeches. they were one sentence, usually said sideways, usually at the end of something.

that's been true from my side too, and it took me an embarrassing amount of time to notice. i used to put real effort into the season-opening talk and the halftime one. i couldn't quote you a single line from any of them now. but a kid came back years later and repeated something i'd said to him at the end of a drill. four words. i have no memory of saying it. he'd been carrying it since he was twelve.

the thing i think we get wrong: we treat the set-piece talk as the coaching and the ordinary sentences as filler. it's the other way round. during the big talk they're braced for it. the throwaway line lands because nobody's defending against it.

what i changed is small. i stopped letting a correction be the last thing a kid hears before they walk off. not because criticism is bad, they need it. because whatever comes last is what gets carried, and i'd rather they carried the other thing.

worth actually listening to what your last sentence to each kid usually is. mine was worse than i'd have guessed.

I have been a teacher for 9 years, and I will be coaching both the boys and girls soccer teams for the firsttimethis year.

My son (high school senior) has played rec, school, and club soccer since he was 3, and been a dedicated GK for the past 6 years. I've learned the rules of soccer and have a basic understanding of formations from being around soccer, but I never played soccer growing up. I'm not sure what a tryout or practice should look like to help grow the players as I grow myself. Any tips or ideas to help me run successful tryouts and practices would be especially appreciated.

School admin told me I have too many kids for the HS program. We took 42 for JV & Varsity from about 60 that tried out and offered a few kids “practice squad” to still come train. There is max 45 kids at training.

Admin basically yelled at me in front of the team at a game for allowing practice squad players and for rostering as many as we did.

We have 4 coaches, I don’t see the issue. Especially concerning the roster size, we play 20 games in 8 weeks, kids are going to get hurt, be absent, or need to be rested/ rotated.

Trying to create a program that allows kids to stay involved and grow their skills and love for the game.

I feel frustrated, does admin have a point that I’m not seeing?

I coach u14 (8th grade) boys in a lower-division comp league. We’re at that age where the skill gap is widening, but it’s also become very clear that the more skilled players are that way because they’re actually willing to put in the work during practice. The 3-4 less-skilled and less-motivated walk through every drill, and hang way too far back on defense during scrimmages because they think if they push up, they’ll have to run/work more. It drags the whole team down by the time practice is finished. They will put forth a little bit more effort in about 50% of the games. I can lead a horse to water, but can’t make him drink… any suggestions for getting these kids to step up? Limiting playing time is not a great option, because our roster is very small this season…

I’ve coached HS girls for 15 years, several county championships and Sectional championships- lots of success.
During this stretch never have all 20 girls on the team gotten along. I read all of these articles about bonding (which we do) and how a team that gets along together wins together .
But for real , is it even possible for 20 girls to all like each other, and to not have a few that yell at others?
The school admin feels that the program is failing because some girls are mean…
Help me out please, maybe I am wrong

I am volunteering to coach a U8/U9 rec team and we will have 1 practice a week for 7 weeks. I want to teach a basic 2-3-1 and teach building out from the back with 1 basic pattern finding the center mid or forward and not try too much and teach spacing. I feel like all the opposing teams will just high press and it will be chaos! Any experience trying this with a rec team?