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 how nervous I felt the night before my first session. Thankfully, I had 3 experienced coaches to lean on for advice.
Over the years, I’ve thought back to that first session and what I would do differently. Here’s the 5 things I would tell myself
Use Your Players To Help With Equipment
That first session had gone well. 3 hours of a soccer camp in the US, where the players had remained enthused and energetic.
After the kids had gone, I started to pick up my equipment, oblivious to the other coaches already waiting in the car.
10 minutes later, I joined them.
Foundation age kids enjoy helping. What could take you 5-10 minutes will be done in 1-2 if everyone chips in.
If you have another team taking your space after you finish, this is time you don’t want to lose.
This can be used as an end of session activity to help encourage competitiveness.
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, you can also have the teams collect different colours.
Set Up All Of Your Activities Before 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 sessions were running until mid-November – my fellow coaches and I would be wearing at least 6 layers of clothing to stay warm!
If I felt like 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.
This 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 that’s some solid time that your players could have been kicking a ball.
Colour Coordinate your Cones
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 isn’t commendable is when coaches use different 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 look unorganised, but 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 may 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”
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.
Being ready for these last minute changes will ensure the kids who do turn up remain as active as possible.
Consider The Format
Though it varies from country to country, the general consensus is kids will play 5v5, 7v7 and 9v9 before they reach 11v11.
With that in mind, it doesn’t make sense to have a 7v7 game if the kids are playing 5v5.
Those formats have been put in to benefit the players by people who have spent a lot of money in research to come to that decision.
I remember having to speak with the Director of Coaching at a 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 to their credit, the following week they had two 4v4 games playing instead.
The standard of play was far better and the kids were all getting more touches of the ball.
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.