As a youth soccer coach, I find that few things frustrate me more than watching another team practice a soccer drill using the "line" approach. I am sure you have seen it also: Two lines of players; the one at the front of the line is actually working on the soccer drill, but anywhere from four to seven others are standing in a line behind the first. Even if they were predisposed to watch and learn, they have an obstructed view until they are next in line. But honestly, most aren't even paying attention.
The result is that two players are soccer drilling while 14 are watching. If you total up the amount of time spent by each player working and each player watching, youwill find that 90 percent of your practice time is wasted.
Two critical components are missing from the soccer drills used by most youth soccer coaches. First, all players need to be actively involved in the soccer drill at the same time. Second, soccer drills need to replicate at least some aspect of game-like conditions.
What is active involvement in a soccer drill? Well, it isn't necessarily ball work. In fact, I sometimes use imaginary balls for set kicks and punting, because you don't have to chase them. The important thing is that there are not long lines of girls "waiting their turn." That is not a natural element of the game. The only time soccer players wait for their turn is in a shootout-and the less said about them, the better. (If you have ever seen the look of devastation on a child's face after missing a last shot, you understand what I mean.)
The Passing Square soccer drill described below is a good example of this. The lines on each corner are never more than two players long. It gives the players a minute to think about the play they just made, and then they are up to do it again.
The second critical component is to include a game-like condition. Every youth soccer coach has paired off players and had them pass the ball back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. But when do you see that in a game? An initial pass might be returned, but after that the defense would swarm! I improved that soccer drill by stringing the pairs down the field. Then, the first girl passes to her partner, who then passes across to the opposite member of the next pair, and so on as the ball is passed down the line.
Now, you are probably asking yourself "Didn't he just say 'Don't do that'?" But, here is the key: I make it a challenge for the girls-see how many balls they can keep active in the line at the same time. We once had seven moving through a line of ten girls. They get rid of one ball and here comes another.
There are several benefits to this soccer drill: They have to pay attention to what is happening on both sides of them. They have to move to balls that are passed wide, quickly control it-usually with a single touch-and then pass it on. They have to pass and immediately turn to the next ball, ready to receive. By keeping track of the number of balls they have been able to keep active, they have a measurable goal for judging improvement. Finally, if a keeper needs to work on punting, I put her at the end of the line and let her boom them back to the beginning. Not only does she get to work her kicks, but the first girl practices her long ball receptions.
Another simple soccer drill involves three players on the corners of an imaginary square. (For young players, you can use cones until they get the idea.) The player opposite the empty corner starts with the ball and passes right or left, her choice. One player must receive the pass and the other must move to the empty corner. This teaches them to move off the ball. Once they understand the soccer drill, you can turn them loose to roam the field, passing and moving, passing and moving.
In both of these soccer drills all the players remin actively involved, working on soccer skills and game skills. They aren't standing around and aren't tempted to the distraction of inaction. Given the opportunity, nearly every player will want to work hard for the entire practice, but it is up to the youth soccer coach to design his or her practices with a purposeful plan that keeps every player involved throughout the soccer drill.
There is one final benefit that I as a youth soccer coach have gained from inclusive soccer drills. Once the girls have learned a particular soccer drill, I can sit back and watch it run itself. If I see a technical flaw in a player that needs individual attention, I am free to attend to it while the soccer drill continues-with players who were 4th and 5th graders in 1999!
I first learned this lesson when I developed what I call the Passing Square. This soccer drill has impressed several opposing youth soccer coaches before a game, when I could just tell my girls "Passing Square" and they took it from there on their own.
The passing square can be nearly any size. For girls my size, I prefer about 15-20 yards. There are only one or two girls on any corner at the beginning. The first element is that the first girl makes the choice of direction, not the youth soccer coach. She takes her choice and passes to any of the other three. If she goes diagonally, the next pass is adjacent. If she goes adjacent, the next is diagonally. The ball moves around the square in an hourglass shape: X
The second element is that each girl must follow her pass and go behind the second girl on the corner she just passed to. This teaches them to follow a shot or a pass, not just kick and stop. The third element is that when they move, they must go to the correct side of the receiver so that they do not cross the next pass. I've actually seen a ball trip up a player and knock her down, and that girl hasn't gone the wrong way since! This keeps their head in the game. Sometimes, I add an extra challenge-be at your new station before the ball is passed on.
Finally, I have moved this soccer drill in front of the goal and turned it into a shooting exercise. Player 1 passes straight out, then moves to sweeper to defend. Player 2 has the opportunity to quickly control and shoot. They find that most dribbling wars are lost by the attacker, so they shoot quicker.
Consider all of the lessons learned in just this one soccer drill: pass cleanly, receive with control, pay attention to what is going on around you, move quickly off the ball, don't block a teammate's pass, avoid dribbling wars. And the amazing thing is that you, as a youth soccer coach, don't have to teach them. Your players will learn them naturally just by doing the soccer drill.
At our last game of the fall season, the opposing youth soccer coach and I were both waiting for players to arrive, and used the time to make some final plans for the All Star tournament the following weekend. While we talked, I didn't notice my players arriving behind me. Finally, the other youth soccer coach looks over my shoulder and said one word: "Wow!" I turned around to see my 5th graders split into two squares, running their warm-up all on their own. I realized then that this was not only a soccer drill that taught them several things at once, but it had taught them responsibility and was fun enough that they could run it on their own without a youth soccer coach telling them what to do.
And that really is the most important element of any soccer drill. A soccer drill that is drudgeryor boring won't teach that much. The player that learns the most is the player that is having fun at fndamentals.
