Coaching soccer for the first time can be daunting. Whether you are experienced in watching the game or not, standing there with a group of players waiting to see what you can offer them is something else entirely. I can still remember the nervousness I felt the night before my first session. Thankfully, I had 3 experienced coaches to lean on for advice. Over the years, I’ve been able to pick up numerous tips and tricks that I would tell that 22-year old version of myself. Here are 5 of the best
Have your Players collect the Equipment
That first session had gone well. 3 hours of a soccer camp, where the players had remained enthused and energetic. As I picked up my equipment, I looked over to see the other coaches already waiting at the car. 10 minutes later, I joined them.
Having the players pick up your equipment should be the first thing they teach you on any coaching course. After all, you have taken the time to set up the cones, bibs and balls (taking as much as 30 mins if you’re as pedantic as me with having straight lines), it’s just that the players return the favour. Many hands make light work!
As an added bonus, it can be used as an end of session activity. See which team can collect the most cones or which player can be King or Queen of the cones. Adding some awareness to the activity, have teams collect different colours.
Set Up all of your activities up prior to the Session
I once had a coaching assignment in New Jersey where 9 teams needed to fit onto ONE 11v11 pitch. Not only that, but session were running until mid-November. My fellow coaches and I would be wearing at least 6 layers of clothing to stay warm. If I feltlike that, I certainly didn’t want my players standing around waiting for me to set up the next activity.
It was vital that I had each activity set up INSIDE my coned off area for the game at the end of practice. That meant that at the end of each activity, the players could pick up those cones and the next one was ready to go, saving valuable time.
Most grassroots coaches have 1 hour a week with the players. Wasting an extra 30-60 seconds setting up the next activity translates to nearly an hour lost over the year. Multiply that by 4 activities a session and thats some solid time that your players could have been kicking a ball.
Colour Coordinate your Cones
As I’ve mentioned, I can be extremely OCD when it comes to setting up my session. I’ll take as much time as needed to get the lines of cones as straight as possible. If one is ever so slightly off, it’ll gnaw away at me until I set it right. For those of you that are not that fussy, I commend you.
What I can’t commend is when coaches use multiple coloured cones to set up one grid. For example, a square that goes red cone, blue cone, green, blue, yellow, white, red, green etc. Not only does it scream of laziness, but it looks awful. For foundation age players, it is even more challenging. A lot of U8/U9 players especially do not see the boundaries unless it is a painted line. Even then, they’ll still run out of play. Asking them to stop at “that” line of cones is asking for trouble. Asking them to stop at “that BLUE” line of cones, is far more easy to understand.
When it comes to having them collect your equipment, it also allows easier instruction – “pick up the red cones only”, for example.
Plan for every Possible number of Players
During my final year in North Carolina, I coached a U12 boys team where the numbers that would attend practice would often range between 6-10. Unfortunately, despite being constantly reminded, not all parents would communicate when a player would not be available. Having gone through this before, I was aware that I needed to plan ahead.
Despite our best efforts, life gets in the way of everyone, including the players you coach. Therefore, expecting to have the perfect number of players attend every session is unrealistic. When the above situation began to happen, I knew I had to adapt my session plans. This meant considering what changes I would make if there was 10, 9, 8, 7 or 6 players.
As with cone collection and setting up all activities, the time this can save in terms of adapting mid-session may not seem like much, but over the course of the season will add up.
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Consider the Format
Though it varies from country to country, the general consensus is U8 play 5v5, U10 play 7v7 and U12 play 9v9. Therefore, it makes sense, that you when you run a game at the end, that the numbers don’t exceed this. Those formats have been put in to benefit the players by people who have done a ton research to come to that decision.
I recently had to put a word in with the DoC at my grassroots club after seeing the U6 coaches run an 8v8 game to finish the session. Watching 16 five-year olds chase a ball is not a pretty sight! These were young coaches who I’m guessing didn’t know any better and in their defence, the following week they had two 4v4 games playing instead. The games looked far better.
Stick to the format or play smaller when doing your end of session game. The players will benefit more in terms of where they are with their development.