U12 Soccer Drills for Passing
This is a great drill to teach passing and ball control. Passing and controlling the ball take balance, foot/eye coordination, visual tracking and knowing the right amount of power to put into the pass. Most passes in soccer are relatively short, done on the move and not received on the ground. This drill progression tries to hit all the skills.
All the drills require two players. More could be added.
1. Players face each other about two yards apart. They pass the ball back and forth using the instep and both feet.
2. From here, one player will move backward and the other player forward, keeping the same distance. They will go about five yards and then reverse directions.
3. Same drill, but this time, they move laterally.
4. Move in a box, emphasizing short crisp passes.
5. Increase the distance the players are apart.
Soccer Drill Tips:
*Younger players may have to trap the ball. As they get more skilled, keep the ball moving with no trapping at all.
*Encourage players to keep an athletic stance as they pass.
*Have players look around and learn how to pass using peripheral vision.
*Players may shuffle or touch the ground after a pass. This works on foot speed as well as conditioning.
I hope these drills give you and your team a little variation and some ideas to expand upon. Let me know what you think.
Conditioning for Soccer: Preseason
Here’s another question from Yahoo, and how I answered it.
Soccer Conditioning Question:
I want to be a really good soccer player this season and i need some help with training?
okay the soccer season at my high school starts in march
ive done soccer in the past but i have always been out of shape when the season started and then by the time the season ended i was finnally in shape
i need a training schedule and a diet plan so i can be in shape when the season starts this year
im about 150 pounds
My response:
You’ve got about two months. Eight weeks is good, because it’s short enough to keep you focused. First, decide how much time you have to train. I recommend 30 to 60 minutes. The absolute best time would be the same time as soccer practice. You probably should start off with 30. If you really want to be an overachiever, do extra exercises at home at night or in the morning. Decide how many days a week you want to do it. It doesn’t have to be every day…three to four days a week is plenty.
You want to do three things:
1. Work on strength
2. Work on running and cardio
3. Work on ball skills
For strength: Squats, lunges, burpees, jumps, push-ups, crunches, etc. Do bodyweight exercises. Here is a sample circuit:
1. 20 squats
2. 10 jumps
3. 20 push-ups
4. 40 crunches
Take two minutes between sets and do the whole set 3 to 5 times. You’ll get in shape quickly!
For running, work on short to middle distance sprints (20 to 440 yards). Here’s a few examples:
1. Run 10 x 100 at 90%. Do 20 push-ups after each 100.
2. 4 x 40. First 20 70%, second 20 95%. Work on acceleration.
For ball skills, practice dribbling around cones, juggling, etc. There’s lots of resources online or in the library for ideas if you need them.
For your diet, make sure you eat enough fresh fruits, veggies and protein. If you eat clean, you can eat almost anything you want.
Good luck…If you do this, you will be in great shape by March.
and i really really need a specific training and diet plan so anybody please HELP!!
What do you think? Is it good advice? Great advice? And what are you doing for soccer conditioning?
U6 Soccer Conditioning
U6 Soccer players are a very diverse group. Some will be great athletes with a lot of soccer skills. Others will come to practice not knowing how to run or kick the ball.
When working with this group the most important emphasis is on having fun. The second is on learning skills. The skills could be fitness, ball control or team skills.
Here are some tips do keep in mind when working on soccer conditioning for U6 players
1. Keep drills short. Long drills get boring.
2. Give very little instruction. They will improve by doing…not by listening.
3. Come up with goofy or silly names for drills and activities. You can also use team members names for the soccer drills.
4. Sometimes having a demonstration works. And demonstrations by kids is better than by the coach. Frequently it doesn’t work at all. Watch the team; if they aren’t watching forget using demonstrations.
5. Write down enough drills, progressions and activities for 50% more than you think you’ll accomplish. This way if something doesn’t work you can skip it and move on. Also, if it goes faster than expected you are ready.
U6 soccer players do need conditioning. They get it by having fun, competing, exercising, doing drills and working with each other. Use instructional time to be efficient to give them the conditioning they need.
Improving Running Speed in Youth Soccer
This drill is a simple one to do. It doesn’t take long to teach and it gives youth soccer players a good feel for what proper running should feel like.
Most recreational soccer players run with more of a jog than an actual run. They tend to not bring their foot very close to their butt. The other mistake they typically make is they over extend. This drill helps to correct both faults.
There are four parts: Paw, Butt, Pull, Replace.
Beginning: The athlete stands against a wall or fence for support. Typically, they will perform the soccer drill with the inside leg. They should stand straight (head, shoulders, hips, feet aligned). Knees are slightly bent.
Paw: Athletes bring one leg straight back as far as possible. The leg may bend slightly. This is not the exact motion that runners should take, but I have found that poor runners need to learn this step. More advanced runners will be dropping this step quickly after learning the drill.
Butt: With the leg extended behind them, the athletes bend their knees and bring the foot as close to their butt as possible. This simulates a high foot recovery something that all fast runners do. This is a critical area for soccer players to learn and most beginners do not do it.
Pull: With the knee bent and the heel almost touching the butt, the athletes pull the knee forward. The foot stays close to the butt.
Replace: The last step is to put the foot down next to and slightly behind the supporting foot. This motion teaches them not to over reach. Instruct the players to place it quickly.
Do ten repetitions with the right leg, and ten with the left. Then have them do some easy running trying to get a feel for running correctly. As the soccer team gets better at doing the drill, you can have them practice it leaning from the ankles and eliminating the Paw portion of the drill.
Try this with your team or child. It doesn’t take long to do and it’s a great drill for teaching proper running form for soccer.
Improving Running Skills for Youth Soccer
As an Adapted PE Specialist, I work with a wide range of children. One of my favorites is a sophmore in high school. He is not not able to participate in his regular PE class, so I work with him. He does almost no exercise on his own, though he’s up to about ten minutes four times a week of his PE homework. Let’s call him Sam, though that’s not his name.
Last June, Sam ran a 1/4 mile for the first time. He wasn’t able to complete the lap without walking and his time was a 3:30. Not too bad, but it could be a lot better.
This year, we started working on building up some core and leg strength as well as coordination. He was doing much better and his posture and gait were improving as well.
In November, right before Thanksgiving, he did another 1/4 mile. I told him his goal was to run without stopping and to pace himself. It was ok if he stopped (I thought he would), but to try not to.
Sam took off with a nice easy jog. He looked tired but manage to make it all the way around the track. He was very proud of himself as he should be. His time? A respectable 2:45. I was very impressed. He looked good as he ran, with some form problems but his posture was good and most importantly, he showed that he could push himself and he was proud that he made it.
Sam got some new exercises that worked on his running form. The first one was Arm Pumps, which he could do while sitting doing homework and didn’t take much time. The second was a one leg leg swing broken down into four parts: Paw, Butt, Pull, Replace. More on this drill in the next post.
Sam worked on the drills along with his strength drills for two weeks. He spent about five minutes a day for seven out of the 14 days. Just before vacation we timed his run again.
He looked much better. His legs were moving faster and higher. His arms were much more fluid and didn’t cross his body. He also was able to push himself more.
Wondering what his time was? I won’t keep you in suspense…it was 2:04!
That is an amazing improvement especially since it came with no running at all. Just by working on form, he was able to drop 40 seconds. Needless to say, he was exctatic.
For the break, he has more time and promised to do more of the exercises. He’s also going to try to spint 50 yards a few times. We will see what his time is when we come back in January.
Then Sam will get some new drills to work on to further improve his form. We will test one more time on the 1/4 mile and then try to increase his endurance so he can run the half mile.
Next post, is about the leg drill we did. It is perfect for anyone who wants to run faster and improve their running technique. Especially youth soccer players.
How much time for soccer conditioning?
I responded to a question on Yahoo Answers here about how long to condition for soccer
Here is the question and my answer
How many hours a day is enough soccer practice?
But since you’re twelve I have some other thoughts, though everything I told him is true for you.
Two hours a day maximum. If you were already elite and playing at the highest levels, then maybe 3…but probably not. And the extra time would be spent training and getting in shape, not necessarily on soccer.
More does not mean better. No matter how bad you want to be really good, putting too much time in won’t help you. You want to work on the things that need the most work…as well as developing your strengths. Here are some things to work on.
Running: Endurance, speed, form.
Agility: Quickness and acceleration
Ball Control: Dribbling, passing, shooting
Athletic Skills: Strength, balance, coordination
Game Skills: Team offense, defense, etc.
Mental Skills: Visualization, relaxation, etc.
Obviously, there’s a lot to work on. Find some resources in the library and work on one or two of them each day for 30 minutes. Combined with your team soccer practice, this will be a good start.
IMO, twelve is a little young to really focus on one sport (many coaches and parents disagree). You should be working on your athletic skills for a bunch of sports. In the end, it will make you a better soccer player.
When you’re 14 or 15 and your soccer game is good enough, then you can specialize and start to put more time in. Good luck! And remember…keep it fun.
Youth Soccer Drills and Fitness Discount
Many kids are in dire need of fitness, strength, balance improvement…as well as ball skills.
Unfortunately, if they don’t have the fitness and coordination skills, all the ball control drills won’t help much. What good does it do to be able to do fancy tricks if you’re always last to the ball?
After watching over 2,000 young soccer players all eager to have a great time playing soccer, I saw that many just don’t have the athletic ability to be succesful. You could tell by the way they run and even stood.
If you’re a parent and would like to help your youth soccer player improve, I’m offering a deep discount on the Build An Athlete Program.
This discount is only good till September 28th.
And I won’t offer this deep a discount ever again.
To receive the discount, enter the word “quakes” in the promotinal code box when you order.
Remember, there is always an unconditional guarantee. If you’re not happy or if your child doesn’t improve I will refund your money…no questions asked. Guaranteed.
Soccer on TV!!
There’s a great site that’s bringing soccer to TV. You’ll be able to watch the Earthquakes as well as top notch international games.
And even some of the local youth games as well.
There’s interviews, reviews, and tons of great information.
Go to: www.localsoccerscene.com
And if you have Comcast, Channel 15 Thursday and Friday. Times vary depending on your city.
Youth Soccer Drills
Today, I was working at the soccer field on video taping some video for this site. There was another coach working with a 12 year old girl athlete.
The coach did a good job. He definitely knew his stuff about soccer. He had her jog a lap, do some stretches and then he worked with her on soccer ball drills.
He was quite creative and had excellent soccer drills.
But I kept thinking about how she was running and how she was approaching the ball.
She ran slow and poorly. And though she was working on her ball control (mostly trapping and passing) skills, she was slow to get to the ball.
If she was playing against another player who didn’t have the same ball control skills but had a faster first step or could run quicker, who do you think would win most of the time?
That’s right. The faster girl and the one with a quicker first step.
Soccer players need an explosive first step and they need to be good runners. These soccer skills should be taught first and then taught with ball control and other small game drills.
Otherwise your players are always going to be a step behind. And that’s not a good place to be.
Soccer Fundamentals
What must you do before you build a house?
The first thing is to make sure the ground is sound.
In soccer, the ground work are the athletic skills. You can’t play the game with any level of success if you don’t have the prerequiste athletic skills.
The first two soccer fundamental that should be developed running and ball handling. There are lots of ways to include both soccer skills in your program and have fun too. Here are some ideas:
First, don’t run for long distances. Keep it short and fast.
Second, every soccer fundamental drill should have each child with a ball, or one ball for two kids at the most. Kids need a lot of touches on the ball and if there’s one ball for four kids they will not get it.
I was watching a PE class the other day, and the kids were lined up six deep to do a dribbling drill. While one player dribbled, five other kids stood around looking bored. Do not let this be your practice!
If you’re working with u8 soccer players, try deflating the balls a bit. This will keep them from rolling so far and the kids will get more touches.
Play games where they pass four times, then run to a new spot and pass some more. Encourage kids to run fast from place to place.
The taller the house, the better the groundwork must be. So too for an athlete. They can’t be successful if they don’t have the necessary athletic skills.
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