coaching under 18's

[jonny6]

I was just wondering if any one can help me out.I am coaching an under18's team who are all good players.As it is pre season i was wondering what drills i could set up for both fitness and ball work.
The facilities we have are: astroturf or grass pitch, balls, cones, 7 a side and 11 a side goals, bibs, and i cud probs get my hands on skipping ropes,etc.
Any help wud be appreciated.thanks in advance!

[spartanpele]

Besides the normal warmups, stretches, etc.... do a lot of small sided games (4v4s) and then work up to (6v6), (8v8) then (11v11's) at the end. You should also keep them moving and keep the drills challenging. Don't let them stand around or they'll be bored big time. If you need time to setup discs/cones between exercises, have them run or do conditioning during the down time.

Its always good to also work on finishing, transitional stuff (numbers up, numbers down games), and of course shooting...as those are the things they enjoy the most.

Beware of attitudes, laziness and players challenging your authority. If you need to demonstrate something and you're not a solid soccer player yourself, use the players. Don't accidentally embarrass yourself by not being able to do something or they'll lose respect for you.

Enjoy!!

[spartanpele]

ooopss... I didn't see that you wanted specifically ball work and conditioning.

ball work: (foot skills, dribbling)-Coerver related is probably the best. Footskills back and forth to disc; in a small area, inside the 18, dribbling sprints races. My favorite footskill exercise and conditioning drill is called "Footskills of death". You setup a large box (18x44). Each player dribbles around the outside of the box and only stops on your command. You stand in the middle as they all dribble clockwise with their left foot, counter clockwise with their right (ball is away from you...you're the defender). You then call out different footskills as they dribble around and they all do them at the same time. (You should be able to demonstrate them yourself too). Remember to have them reverse at times to the other direction to work the other foot. You'll know who messes up as they'll go against the grain of the rest of the team. You then rapidly alternate yelling the footskill and they keep going... After 15 minutes, stretch. Repeat and keep making the skills harder. After 30-45 minutes...they should be pretty confident dribbling, plus very tired.

Conditioning: sprints, distance jogs, and combination of the two. Combination-using full sized field...jog the long side, sprint on the short sides. Or, using a half field...jog across the field from one corner to the other, then sprint on the short side, and continue. Players can only pass another player on the sprints. Of course, shuttle runs, pushups-sprints-situps-jog back to start (repeat).

Playing 3 team passing...divide team into 3 equal teams... team in middle tries to get ball from other two teams. Whomever loses the ball in middle, their team is in the middle...or as a variation...team in middle stays in middle for 5 minutes. Outside team is two touch...middle team is unlimited touches and two-team group tries to get ball back after losing it. You can also go 1v2 with 3 team stuff and make it every team for themselves. Unlimited touches and whomever doesn't have the ball after 5 minutes, whole team does pushups.

Of course, add pushups, situps, leg raisers, knee-to-chest kicks to exercises...Ex: team gets scored on, everyone does pushups, etc.

That should get you started...

Enjoy

[blind_clown]

Going in a circle for 45 minutes? Random push ups, etc. distracting from the football?

If you want to teach ball skills you must encourage risk taking. Going in circles is mindless and won't teach a thing. Put them in 1v1 or small side situations. They must not be afraid to take someone on. Don't punish them for trying a move and losing the ball. If you've got a longer practice and can afford some down time, have just one 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 game going and let the watchers run their mouths as incentive. If you want them trying new moves does it do any good for them to know if they take a risk and the other team counters and scores they're dropping for 50?

I've never tried this with an older team, but another that might work is everyone in the penalty area with a ball. Two goals: keep yours, knock theirs out. Last one standing wins. This one's more towards getting out of a pressure situation than attacking someone, but could help.

Negative reenforecement for losing in training is idiotic and pisses players off more than it helps things.

Conditioning-Short practice or long? Short practice they're on their own. Longer practices mix it up with the long and short. Stadium steps are great. Anything but a warm up jog goes after practice. You don't want players making mental mistakes during training and they won't be able to take in as much if they're tired.

[goyoureddevils]

If you set your priorities at this age as ball skills and fitness, I would definately take the previously stated advice of avoiding "line drills" type of footskills work. If you want to introduce new moves, or go over old ones to sharpen them, do so in a small ten yard circle where everyone has a ball. Go through each move in progressions, by that I mean, lump all the inside/outside basic together, then all of the roll over and pull back moves, then all of the step overs, then the stops and starts. Require them to perform the moves inside the circle, at half speed to begin, moving in and around their teamates. Looking always to go through the middle to the outside, pick a different line, and back through the middle again. Make the circle bigger or smaller depending on how good they are, remember you are looking to garner success for at least half of the players before you move on to the next move.

The advice of small sided games, and most especially 1v1 games is spot on. There are so many variations... 1v1 dribble over your opponents endline to score (typically a 10 x 15 area at the u18 level), 1v1 to small goals. One of my favorites is to play the dutch "Panna" game. A 1v1 street game played in holland inside a 10 yard circle. Two small goals on each side, players have three minutes to win by scoring the most goals, or by getting a "Panna" or nutmeg on their opponent, resulting in an automatic win. My high school varsity boys would play this or its 2v2 variant every day, all day if they could. It is so game like, so high pressure, and expends so much aerobic energy that it is fantastic training for games both for fitness and technique. I tend to play about 45 minutes of this at a time, setting up as many fields as it takes to keep half of them playing while the other half rests and officiates. Kick ins to restart the ball, player has to "check the ball" to dribble in, or he can shoot directly on goal if he wishes, but if he says "Check" and then shoots, the goal does not count. Conversely if he doesn't say "check", then his opponent doesn't have to give it back to him, implying that the player played the ball direct and the ball is live.

The game should be the teacher is what they all say, and I think that small goal games are the best way, especially if you set the boundries and rules up to challenge both their minds and their bodies.

[spartanpele]

blind clown (good name by the way...not)... Going in circles for 45 minutes isn't mindless...its a progression. What you're actually doing is a WARMUP of 3x-15 mins with stretches in between. This is a warmup...not the ending product. 3 disc footskills, dribbling in the 18, random dribbling in an area, footskills of death, etc are all WARMUPS... You're not going to dive into 1v1s or 2v2 as warmups...that would be idiotic and invite injuries.

These are footskill/ball control warmups to reinforce the footskills first...then you move onto using those footskills in 1v1, 2v2 settings, etc. btw: you don't drop for 50 each time...(that would be horrible and sadistic!)..its more like 5 or 10...or you go to a certain amount (3 goals), and the losing team does 15 or 20.. (I've alternated pushups, situps, knee to chest jumps).

Your idea of simply knocking balls out of the 18 with U18s likely wouldn't work...the kids would simply spend more time knocking out each others and knocking each other to the ground vs working on any quality possession or transitional attacking. Those long, boring runs after practice you mentioned, you can do that sometimes, but not all the times or else the kids will loathe the end of practice. I've found that if you intertwine the running within the practice, you'll get a more realistic picture of conditioning and mental preparation of the kids. If the kids are tired, and then you scrimmage, lo and behold...they'll get used to what game conditions are like at the end of the half and end of the game when they're exhausted and must be completely focused. They'll usually be more settled down as well and not as cocky (something they're always full of at that age...piss & vinegar..lol). So do some conditioning runs at end of practice, but alternate runs during middle of practice on some days to duplicate game settings prior to scrimmages.

goyyoureddevils...yes... you're right about progressing through the footskills work... and yes...the next stage is the 1v1s...correct....and finally...small sided to large sided games. I don't have problems with your thoughts on conditioning and ball control.

[blind_clown]

Your idea of simply knocking balls out of the 18 with U18s likely wouldn't work...

Like I said, never tried with an older team, but it could be tried once to see what happens or if a lower age coach is watching this. When one of my teams was having shielding problems we did a modification with 2 teams, alternating with balls and without, winner was the one that stayed in longest, actually worked well.

A 45 minute warm up? Do your practices last the whole day? And please further explain the benefit of advanced players dirbbling in a circle til the coach says turn and go the other way or stop and do a trick. I can see maybe 5 right at the start saying OK, dribble around, make some cuts, but 45 of this?

50 was an exageration to draw you into admitting what it was, horrible and sadistic. You've just taught these guys to take more risks and try to be more creative and now you punish them for trying a move that doesn't work.

[spartanpele]

bc... your shielding exercise can work with the younger players, and I have tried it with the u18s, but not for very long as the injuries and the hacking of the achilles quickly arises.

My typical warmups are 20-30 minutes. Granted our practices are 1 3/4-2 hrs. The warmups are usually a part of the progression for whatever we're working on for that day. I usually have them stretch 1-2 times as well, or 3x if its the day after a match and recovery is necessary. Its not a case of.."ok guys, go run around the entire complex for 30 minutes".

The benefit of dribbling around a large area, or inside a large area, or inside the 18, is repetition. Its going through the multiple skills, (in a normal season I usually teach 10-15 footskills), and having them quickly do them faster and faster it makes the skills second nature. Then they take the skills to the 1v1 grids, 2v2 grids, etc, and use those same skills. By heavy repetition first they master the physical skills...then they go onto the mental and physical of being able to use it the moment it crosses their mind.

The pushups/situps are usually handed out at the (4v4) or larger group settings, not the (1v1s)...unless its a nutmeg. I've handed out 5 pushups for the defender getting nutmegged. But usually its during team scrimmages that pushups/situps are used. Why? If a team plays poor defense in a game, they get scored on, right? Making a team do pushups for allowing the other team to score in a practice gets them mentally thinking about consequences. Players need to realize that being lazy isn't something thats tolerated at a higher level, U18 age, and they need to be held accountable for poor defense.