How to Run a Soccer Practice

I. Warm up - 10 minutes. Players get balls and warm themselves up. Dribbling, kicking, shooting, juggling, all manner of handling. About 10 minutes. At the end, some stretching/loosening up exercises.

II. Ball Handling Skills, Pt 1 - 2-4 minutes each, 20 minutes total
(1)Hop-Touch: on one foot, moving the ball forward, backward, side to side. Change feet.
(2)Tap-Tap: the ball back and forth between the feet. Move forward, back.
(3)Circle Ball: Dribble in very tight circle, both ways. Use the insides and outsides of the foot.
(4)Ball on a String. Push the ball forward, Stop it with the ball of the foot. Pull it back. Pivot to the ball side.
(5)Busy as a Bee: Everyone dribbling together in a very small area.
a. speed changes at the whistle
b. stop with a body part at the whistle
c. ball on a string at the whistle
d. Knee tag, three tags you're out; Hospital Tag
e. Knock Out. players attempt to kick other players' ball out.
(6)Shadow dribbling. Partner up. Player with ball follows player without ball across field toward sun. Try to stay in the shadow.
(7)Cross Over. One ball per player. Players dribble around a large circle. At whistle, players (or half of them) attempt to cross straight over.
(8)Team Knockout: Team A is on the confined field, each with a ball. Team B tries to knock Team A's balls out of the space. Timed.
(9)Team Knockout to Goal: played at one end of the field. Team B attempts to gain control of Team A's balls and kick them in the goal. Timed.

Ball Handling Skills, Pt 2 - 20 minutes, Pass-Receive, Kick, Shoot. Partners.
(1)Partner Passing: Stationary passing back and forth. Practice receiving the ball by giving way. Use inside & outside of foot. Alt: players pass ball around/across a circle.
(2)Dribble and Pass up the field, touch a goal and dribble back.
(3)Cone Passing: Partners pass through cones up the field.
(4)Lob Drills: lob the ball to your partner's thighs, chest, head. Make a line of lobbers: receivers run down the line and head, thigh or chest the ball.
or Six players line up in a row, each with a ball 5-10 yds apart. The rest of the players pas by one at a time. Players with the ball l0ob it towards the passing players, first head, then chest then thigh the ball into control and send it back.
(5)1 v 1 to the goal: Attacker and defender face each other at midfield. They jockey for position. Coach calls out the number of a certain pair. Attacker tries to get past defender and shoot. Partners switch roles. Coach calls out new number.
(6)Penalty Shooting.

III. Strategies: 20 minutes
(1)Monkey in the Middle. Cones on the corner of a 10 yard box. Three players on the corners, one in the middle. Pass and move. Basic triangle.
(2)Goal on the Move. Players in teams. One from each team becomes neutral and holds the end of a 6' broomstick. This is the goal. They try to avoid letting either team score. Team with ball attacks, other team defends. Goal keeps moving.
(3)Keep Away. Divide into three teams. Divide field into three equal zones. Team in the middle tries to intercept passes from teams on the ends.
(4)Three Team Game: same structure as Keep Away. Team in the middle tries to score on one of the end teams. Other end team rests. If successful, middle team then attacks other end. If not successful, middle team takes the place of the end team it has attacked and rests while the new middle team attacks the other end.

IV. Scrimmage: 20 minutes.