OT: Need help from board soccer players/coaches/fans

[ImperialOrange]

Mods feel free to move to OT board but wanted to make sure thread got viewed and not buried under politics threads.

Long story short I am volunteering as an assistant coach for my son's U12 soccer team. My work schedule doesn't permit me to make every practice or game so assistant is all I could do. Had our first practice the other night and found out the person that volunteered to be head coach has no playing experience and this is her son's first year. I myself have never played organized soccer and am only familiar as a fan of the game so the first practice ended up with me winging it and being the de facto head coach.

Here's where I need help from my SUFan.com brothers and sisters.

What should a U12 soccer practice look like? What skills should we be focusing on in this age group and for how long each practice? What are good drills to increase said skills? Any other nuances I should be mindful of in coaching this age group? What formation is best to run and what is the best way to coach proper spacing?

Practice's are 90 minutes twice a week and games are once a week. Teams play 8 v 8 in games but with a roster of 12 kids practice will not allow those conditions. Overall the team does have potential. We have a couple fast players, we have a couple with solid ball skills, and we have 1 or 2 we may have to try and hide a bit on gameday until we can build confidence. All players are right footed with a few that can use both. What are the best places to play lessor skilled players so that opposing teams do not consistantly single them out? Should we play the players greater skilled with their left foot down the right or down the left and why?

Any experience and insight would be GREATLY appreciated to help me run things smoothly.

 

[Tcuse]

Go talk to the local M/F HS coaches and explain this problem.
U10, U12, etc... are feeders for the HS team, he/she should be more than willing to assist, know capable adults, or have some varsity players help out.
When my son was coming up the age groups he had help from all the above including some college players. Very much helped his development.
It has been said that the lack of top notch coaching at the youth level is a primary reason why we develop so few top pro players.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Go talk to the local M/F HS coaches and explain this problem.
U10, U12, etc... are feeders for the HS team, he/she should be more than willing to assist, know capable adults, or have some varsity players help out.
When my son was coming up the age groups he had help from all the above including some college players. Very much helped his development.
It has been said that the lack of top notch coaching at the youth level is a primary reason why we develop so few top pro players.

Appreciate it, and I am pursuing those options as well but trying not to be an annoyence in my search for info being that I have one of 3 U12 teams in my area. I plan to go out and watch another team practice as well as my schedule permits I'm just trying to establish a base line until I have adequate knowledge.

Pretty much, I want to assure practice's and games aren't a mess and discourage my son and the others boys from pursuing soccer moving forward.

 

[atcar]

This isn't the answer to your dilemma but here is a web site and a weekly e-mail that will help. Go to footy4kids.com and sign up to be on the weekly e-mail list which is free. It is out of the UK and he sends out a weekly newsletter which talks about all sorts of soccer things from drills to player issues to you name it. There is also premium materials available if you wish but I recommend at least starting with the freebie whether you are a coach, assistant, team mgr or even a parent who may be just interested in learning about some of the techniques that go into running a soccer team. One week I would know most of it and the next week there may be some new little drill I could see applying to a team. Anyway it's free and can't hurt.

 

[buffalorange]

There are many resources easy to access to help with your coaching. Go to the web and google soccer practice. You'll find everything from organizing practice to list upon list of individual drills.

Basically, you'll want a warm up section, an individual skills section, team skills section, and wrap up. Big caution...full team scrimmages should be kept to a minimum. Players don't get the touches on the ball they need. Better to have several small sided games going (2v2, 3v3, maybe 4v4). That will give them lots of dribbling, passing and shooting opportunities.

Many communities run coach training through the community soccer associations and leagues. Also, look for soccer centers to see what training is available. The US Youth Soccer Assoc. has books, dvd's, available. There is also training leading to coaching certification. Here is the website: http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/

Remember,very few of these kids are going to play jr. & sr. high soccer. A miniscule number will play in college. So, remember it is a recreational activity for them. The kids should develop their game, but it should be fun. Every kid should get on the field equally.

How do I know this stuff? I started as you, a parent watching my kids play and ending up coaching. My soccer background? I attended Hartwick College and watched the college's very talented soccer team play. I did just as I recommend here. Surfed the web, read books, attended community soccer assoc. run classes, and remembered it's about the kids learning and having fun. (You should have fun, too!)

 

[memcorsu]

I played in HS and college. I have coached AYSOl, girls and boys HS, and middle school this year at my school.

At that age and at this early part of the season, I would focus on fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, training, training, training. The first thing I would focus on is teaching the basics trapping, passing, rules. I would also have lots of conditioning. If a player is out of shape their ability to sustain the basics, trapping/passing, will be reduced greatly through the game (think of players shooting FT's after playing for 10 minutes if they are out of shape it greatly reduces the percent that they will make a FT).

Start the season with a lot of passing, trapping, and carrying the ball. First start with no defensive player and then increase the size of the drill and the amount of defensive players in the drill. You will notice what abilities each players have and can begin to hash out who should play what position. After a week or so, you should start focusing on small games and start teaching positioning. It is soooooooo important for the player to pass ON THE GROUND and make traps in front of them without a bounce up.

The most important thing in soccer, once players can pass, trap, carry the ball with confidence, is to teach them to move to space, talk, and play triangles. Start watching how the European teams play. The biggest flaw in US soccer is that we teach our players to "run and gun" kick the ball and chase it. It was a big issue I had in playing here. My father played in Germany and I was taught to play to space and "build" your advance towards the goal. You knock around and let your players move from the defense side of the ball to the offense side of the ball. Americans instead like to try and kick and run thus lack the extra players to have mismatches. Also, if the players learn to move and pass triangles, you run the other team to death with your team playing at a slower smoother pace. Instead of sprinting the whole time, you save that for runs through. If you notice an American soccer field it is worn out pretty much right down the middle and all the kids end up playing on one side. In contrast, European fields are worn out in an H pattern. Pull the ball to the wings play, through the middle and either back out the side or switching fields. It is important to use the WHOLE field and teach the kids it is okay to pass/carry sideways back, forward as long as it is into space.

The most important thing is to have the players take as many touches as possible. Like anything, soccer is muscle memory. The more you play the better you get. I used to spend hours just kicking a ball against a wall. First I learned how to give a crisp pass and then have a crisp trap. Next, I learned how to give one touch passes (pass that is given when a ball is received and then played back without a trap). Finally, I learned how to volley, control balls coming to me with pace in the air.

Soccer is a game of angles. Teach them to see those angles and have a team that is well conditioned and you will go a long way. At this age it is important to really drill the fundamentals. It might not be evident at first, but, by the end of the season, it will pay back in bucket fulls.

Hope this helps. If you need more, PM me.

MEM

PS

I crossed trained playing all sports. My football coaches loved me because of the footwork I had gained from playing soccer. I learned how to control my body which also helped in bball and Lax and the training made me one of the top 400 m sprinters in TN my senior year. Although, as a kid, I was always training on my own. If you want to raise to greatness you have to have the heart, plus some God given tallent, and the desire to put in the blood sweet and tears. Very few of us are born with "it" but many of us have the potential to raise to a high level.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Mods feel free to move to OT board but wanted to make sure thread got viewed and not buried under politics threads.

Long story short I am volunteering as an assistant coach for my son's U12 soccer team. My work schedule doesn't permit me to make every practice or game so assistant is all I could do. Had our first practice the other night and found out the person that volunteered to be head coach has no playing experience and this is her son's first year. I myself have never played organized soccer and am only familiar as a fan of the game so the first practice ended up with me winging it and being the de facto head coach.

Here's where I need help from my SUFan.com brothers and sisters.

What should a U12 soccer practice look like? What skills should we be focusing on in this age group and for how long each practice? What are good drills to increase said skills? Any other nuances I should be mindful of in coaching this age group? What formation is best to run and what is the best way to coach proper spacing?

Practice's are 90 minutes twice a week and games are once a week. Teams play 8 v 8 in games but with a roster of 12 kids practice will not allow those conditions. Overall the team does have potential. We have a couple fast players, we have a couple with solid ball skills, and we have 1 or 2 we may have to try and hide a bit on gameday until we can build confidence. All players are right footed with a few that can use both. What are the best places to play lessor skilled players so that opposing teams do not consistantly single them out? Should we play the players greater skilled with their left foot down the right or down the left and why?

Any experience and insight would be GREATLY appreciated to help me run things smoothly.

What level are your players? Beginner or rec. ( I assume its not club level).

To reiterate a prior poster, you want to emphasize touches on the ball. Keep it simple to build confidence. There are a lot of websites to find drills. Don't be afraid to do the same drills over and over, that is how they get the fundamentals.

Warm ups should include about 5 minutes of juggling. (Encourage them to do it at home as well. 500 juggles a day). Make it a contest.

5-10 minutes of dribbling. Set up cones. Left and right feet. Using inside of foot and outside. The more lines you have, the more touches.

Make sure you understand off sides and teach it to your kids. You can get an advantage playing for off sides.

Work on a couple of set plays for corners and free kicks, and defending same.
Teach concepts, not play.

It's different than basketball in that the game is played outside in, not inside out.play it long to the corner area, then hit crossing passes into the box area.

They need to play the ball the way they are facing, in general. In soccer it's okay to go backwards to restart everything. Possessing the ball is key.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

 

[ImperialOrange]

What level are your players? Beginner or rec. ( I assume its not club level).

Some with prior experience, a couple first timers. It's a lower team, not the elite travel squad.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I crossed trained playing all sports. My football coaches loved me because of the footwork I had gained from playing soccer. I learned how to control my body which also helped in bball and Lax and the training made me one of the top 400 m sprinters in TN my senior year. Although, as a kid, I was always training on my own. If you want to raise to greatness you have to have the heart, plus some God given tallent, and the desire to put in the blood sweet and tears. Very few of us are born with "it" but many of us have the potential to raise to a high level.

My son coached basketball and in tryouts he loved taking players who had a soccer background. They were fast, had good footwork and were in awesome condition - could run forever. They had an advantage on defense too, change of direction, paying attention to angles and keeping a player in front of them was ingrained.

 

[memcorsu]

My son coached basketball and in tryouts he loved taking players who had a soccer background. They were fast, had good footwork and were in awesome condition - could run forever. They had an advantage on defense too, change of direction, paying attention to angles and keeping a player in front of them was ingrained.

Most def Cherie. I learned how to "run" playing striker/offensive mid in HS. The thing I learned the most is how to
"swivel" move at the core. It gave me the opportunity to be a "lock down" kind of guy using both speed and quickness to play guy's taller than me straight up. I also had a major mean streak but that is a totally different story. The coaches had me teach their kids soccer drills to get better at football.

 

[OrangePA]

Here is what I do.

Open with individual skill work with ball - juggling.

Then ten minutes of stretching.

Then pair up - with a ball - individual trapping - chest, thigh, instep, bottom of foot, side of foot - with return to server.

Then split into five - form square - one player in middle - ball movement - maintaining the square - using training sticks for the four.

Then shooting - under pressure - twenty seconds with constant serving of ball to shooter.

Then scrimmaging.

Also get the Pele (Pepsi Cola) training video that was done probably in the early 1970s. You can get on soccer.com I believe - show it to the kids - that will get them into it.

 

[TexanMark]

Send a PMs to All4SU and storange

Both are soccer guys.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Send a PMs to All4SU and storange

Both are soccer guys.

Appreciate the heads up but from what Ive gotten from other board members, online, and offline I'm feeling much more confident about running it now.

Thanks to all that contributed! Now i have to find a way to convince the kids they want their team name to be "Orangemen".

 

[Antiprodigy]

Also, it helps to plan your practices prior. Know what skills & drills you plan to work on for the practice. The practice should have a flow to it, as in, the individual skills that you practice lead to the drills that utilize the individual skills. Try to meet with your assistant for a few minutes prior to practice to tell him the plan, and try to split the team in half, with each of you working with one group. This really helps because it means the kids spend most of their time running the drills, rather than standing in line waiting. Keep them active and moving as much as possible. Standing around is the worst thing to subject the kids too.

Also, don't forget that running/conditioning is a primary aspect of the game, so don't forget to include some sprints, etc. I love throwing that in at the very end of practice when they think they are completely worn out, from time to time. It helps to remind them that even they can be surprised at how much they have left in the tank.

Hope it helps. definitely do some research online. their are tons of drills available broken up in age specific groups.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Mods feel free to move to OT board but wanted to make sure thread got viewed and not buried under politics threads.

Long story short I am volunteering as an assistant coach for my son's U12 soccer team. My work schedule doesn't permit me to make every practice or game so assistant is all I could do. Had our first practice the other night and found out the person that volunteered to be head coach has no playing experience and this is her son's first year. I myself have never played organized soccer and am only familiar as a fan of the game so the first practice ended up with me winging it and being the de facto head coach.

Here's where I need help from my SUFan.com brothers and sisters.

What should a U12 soccer practice look like? What skills should we be focusing on in this age group and for how long each practice? What are good drills to increase said skills? Any other nuances I should be mindful of in coaching this age group? What formation is best to run and what is the best way to coach proper spacing?

Practice's are 90 minutes twice a week and games are once a week. Teams play 8 v 8 in games but with a roster of 12 kids practice will not allow those conditions. Overall the team does have potential. We have a couple fast players, we have a couple with solid ball skills, and we have 1 or 2 we may have to try and hide a bit on gameday until we can build confidence. All players are right footed with a few that can use both. What are the best places to play lessor skilled players so that opposing teams do not consistantly single them out? Should we play the players greater skilled with their left foot down the right or down the left and why?

Any experience and insight would be GREATLY appreciated to help me run things smoothly.

http://successinsoccer.com/videos.html

http://www.soccerpilot.com/Video/soccer-drills-video-portal.html

 

[Phillymoose]

I have extensive playing and coaching experience and my daughter plays at the highest levels of soccer in SoCal at the U12 (U13 in the fall) age group - and I don't just watch practice - I study what her coaches are doing out of my own interest and for edification.

Everyone here has great suggestions -and certainly it matters if this is a highly competitive team or just rec (although - no offense, if it was highly competitive - you wouldn't be coaching nor asking for help), but the one thing I would emphasize in addition to the other suggestions is short sided games. Set up pop-up goals on a small field and let them play 3 v 3 or 4 v 4. This will do the following:

1) dramatically increase the # of touches on the ball for every kid
2) force the kids to work in limited space and have a good first touch on the ball
3) get them to think about the field 'locally'
4) get them playing faster - which will slow the game down a bit when they get on the big field
5) give you immediate feedback on your team's pecking order
6) is really, really fun for the kids.

This will not tell you who has the best shot or the most speed, but it will tell you who the soccer players are. If the kids are relatively advanced/skilled, I would also break them into teams (of maybe 6 per team) and use half a game field as the boundaries. Tell them that the team that completes X number of passes in a row to teammates will earn a point. This game is just 'keep away' - but it will get the kids moving into space and supporting teammates. It will also help first touch on the ball and teach the kids to always be anticipating the next pass. As they improve, you can increase X (the number of passes required to earn a point). This is also an excellent measuring stick of your team's progress. If X = 3 at the beginning of the season, and it is 5 or 6 by season's end, consider it a job well done. I wouldn't care one iota about game results (if it is rec), although some of the parents might - but teach the kids the fundamentals.

As for the real technical stuff. How to trap and shoot etc. there are gazillions of youtube videos with the how to's.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

The other thing is that most American parents, if they are new to the soccer, really don't understand how it is played (and I am not professing to have a great knowledge of how it is played, just a bit of knowledge there might be frustrations by them.) It really is about possessing the ball, waiting for opportunities. By possessing the ball, eventually opportunities will open up. It like the old fashion NFL ground game.
I haven't read it (because I have lived it where my kids have trained) but Richard Shaw has just written a book (which has been very well received) about how to train adolescents, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally as well. If you are going to be in this for the long haul, I would recommend at least reviewing the reviews. Its available on Amazon.