[TURI9]

I help my dad with a u-12 team. They train twice a week, from 6pm to about 8pm. I need some ideas as to different drills i can put them through.

On Tuesdays i want to try and work mostly on conditioning/speed. On Thursdays i think i want to focus mainly on ball control and touch.

Any good drills you guys can suggest? Or any good videos on youtube to learn from?


Also, my brother is the goalie of the team, so any suggestions on drills for him?

[SoccerDad6]

There are a lot of people on these boards who are more knowledgeable than me, But I've worked with a lot of kids around that age.
My first bit of advice: don't be quite so concerned with conditioning and speed. Foot-speed is something you can certainly do with an agility ladder or agility rings or just with cones, and it can be very beneficial. But I wouldn't do very much of it just yet unless you have a team that plays at a pretty high level. Ten minutes per practice - if the kids work hard - is probably enough at that age. And for conditioning, either use a ball, or let the game do that job. If the kids run, have them kick a ball while they run. Have them do speed dribbling. Or just let the drills serve as your conditioning.
My second thought: play keep-away. Use an advantage for the offensive team in order to guarantee some success at first. In other words, play 4v2 or some other advantage. Play in a relatively small space to ensure quick decisions and good ball control. Once they get good enough, limit them to 1-2 touches. It forces them to get their head up and start to think about their options even before they receive the ball.
My last thought: Let the kids do some scrimmaging at the end of every practice. I've heard different philosophies about the percentage of time for this, but I truly believe they should spend at least the last 15-30 minutes scrimmaging. The kids enjoy it and they end practice with something enjoyable, and it allows the kids to be free and try new things and implement the things they've worked on. As long as they are taking it seriously and playing hard, don't micro-manage the scrimmage time. Let them be creative, and let the game be the teacher.

I'm sure others will give you some good advice and perhaps some web sites where you can find drills and games.

[DutchMethod]

Originally Posted by TURI9

I help my dad with a u-12 team. They train twice a week, from 6pm to about 8pm. I need some ideas as to different drills i can put them through. On Tuesdays i want to try and work mostly on conditioning/speed. On Thursdays i think i want to focus mainly on ball control and touch. Any good drills you guys can suggest? Or any good videos on youtube to learn from? Also, my brother is the goalie of the team, so any suggestions on drills for him?

DO NOT work on conditioning/speed. Teach them to play soccer. There are a wide variety of small games to play that will give them huge #'s of touches on the ball and condition them as well. Keep the time periods short, like 2 minute games, then have the 2nd group come in, then the 1st group. These are games that are played with 4 v 4 configurations so you will have to have a few games going at once. If you have 12 players you can have each team play 2 on and 1 off.

For a ton of small sided games to play, go to:

http://www.bettersoccermorefun.com/dwtext/acknwldg.htm

and along the left side are multiple clicks. This is Dutch Method training, it's the best.

[Coach J]

Here is a very good site that will help.

www.insidesoccer.com

Good luck.

[Mengao81]

Originally Posted by Coach J

Here is a very good site that will help.

www.insidesoccer.com

Good luck.

I was going to mention the same site…very nice stuff.

On the topic of training, I agree with the other posters, don’t work on conditioning at this age. If you make all the drills, scrimmages, etc intense enough, they will get a much better and fun workout than if you make them just run.

As a youth coach, I believe our duty is to teach soccer, if a player is out of shape at this age, its not because of you, there are bad habits at home that need to be corrected (ie bad eating habits). On the same note, at this age, these guys are still kids, they are here because they enjoy to play, not because they want some drill sergeant making them run laps etc. I think a 1.5 hour practice should be broken down into:

20 minutes – warm-up // individual ball skill focus
25 minutes – skill of the day (dribbling, pass/receiving, 1 v 1, shooting)
45 minutes – scrimmage (5 v 5 or 6 v 6 max)…maybe start off with a keep-alway then introduce a full scrimmage

Good luck and enjoy the experience of working with the kids!