Hello all, I was reading on one of the threads here about how their youth players practiced 20 - 40 hours/week and I wondered how many hours do your kids (u12 - u16) practiced and what the breakdown on those practice hours was (formal club practices, self practice (technical), conditioning, independent trainer, analyzing pro games, etc. Thanks!
40 hours a week? Seem unrealistic….even 20 is on the high end… Unless playing FIFA on X-box counts toward “analyzing pro games”…. 2 to 3 formal practices a week (maybe pushing it to 4 if luckily) is typical, couple of hours each…so that’s what 4 to 8 hours of formal training…add in some of the outside stuff you refer to and maybe 10-12 hours/week for most/some kids…vmmv… My U15 son has formal practices twice a week (mid-sized, non-DA club)…it should be at least 3x a week imho at this age, but I am becoming more and more disillusioned with my son’s club every day….but that a another story…. Bottom line, 20-40 hours per week seem really, really high for most kids….I am sure some kids do it, but like I say, I am talking about most....
My son (U13 playing at a medium-size club, also non-DA) practices three times a week, so five-six hours a week, plus maybe two (or in a good week three) hours a week on his own or occasionally with friends just fooling around with a ball. He watches highlights online, but that's about as close as he gets to analyzing pro games. He'll keep that practice pace most of the summer with a Super Y team outside his club, and we've had him jump into extra training with hired coaches here and there (we know a family that does this semi-regularly for their son and they're usually looking for an extra kid or two to join in and both cut their costs and provide extra bodies so those coaches can do a greater variety of things in their sessions). No idea whether DA kids are keeping the kind of schedule the OP is talking about.
Thanks for replying. That makes me feel better. My son, U13, has practiced twice a week - though I too wish it was three times a week - with his club (not DA), but I think very good. Sometimes he trains a third time per week with a trainer (small groups) but this is not consistent. He trains on his own with YouTube videos for skills/juggling, etc. and watches games - but just for fun. The training does go pretty much year round. But I would say per week is about 8-10 hours on average. He could always do more but I don’t want him to get burned out. One of the threads I read mentioned their son practiced between 25-40 hours per week and someone else said their son practiced 20 hours a week. I know more is better but at least my son is not that much off.
14-15 yo 42 weeks/year: 4x 1.5hr practice 1x game (25/year) 1 gym session 3 tournaments (4-6 games) 10 privates/year futsal: 1 game x 10 weeks 16 yo 48 weeks/year: 5x 1.5hr practice 1x 1.5hr game (28/year) 2 gym sessions 1 tournament (5 games) 5 privates
2003 (U15)... two practices a week, 1.5 hours each. That's with club. 1-2 games most weekends in season. He'll also be on the ball his own, not necessarily training, but playing with friends or just juggling. I have a hard time believing anyone is regularly putting in 20 hours of training every week, much less 40.
Your son is doing great for that age. If you want him to get more touches, maybe find a rec-level indoor league somewhere, or go out and play soccer tennis with him. Training shouldn't be grueling. 8-10 hours a week is plenty for structured, somewhat intensive/focused training, IMHO.
9 months/year - U11 and up 2 x formal 1 to 2 hours 1 x skills or fitness 1 hour (informal 30 minutes to 1 hour 0 to 2 times a week) Personally, I like idea of higher intensity/fewer practices. Maximize field time. Learn to play higher pace. Improve fitness. Have time to play a second sport.
To clarify: that's 1 tournament per year and she had 5 privates last year. This year she is doing more - but she's older. Very few kids would be doing 20 organised hours/week. 15 is exceptional. 10 is committed. 6-7 is probably the norm.
Don't know if anyone's interested in input from overseas, but I'll give it anyway. Up till 11, my kid, playing on a big Prague team, had three training sessions a week. Each was an hour and a half. Plus, there was always a tourney or game on the weekends. This is pretty much year round. Only break is in summer for a month or so, in July. Now, he's in their 'academy, training four days a week, including athletics and gymnastics training, plus one day when there are three training units. Hours wise, it works out to about 10 hours a week, including the non-soccer stuff, plus swimming every other week. They say they modeled the training regime after Barcelona, at least as far as training units go. 15 hours a week is three hours per day, every day, except weekends. I doubt any top notch club is torturing their players with that much training. Tops would be 12...maybe. There's more of an awareness about the importance of "regeneration."
Interesting comments. I have been amazed recently at seeing the number of 15-19 year olds who wear knee/ankle/shoulder braces. So many players just burn themselves out, and not necessarily because they practice too much. Just playing organized soccer year-round can take a toll on a kid’s joints. Especially after playing for about 6-10 years.
DS sprained his ankle during club training last fall. Not even during a play. He had gone off the field to retrieve a ball, did a pull back, then his foot hit the ground wrong. He had a hard brace for a couple weeks, then went to a soft brace. The ortho doctor said once you've sprained your ankle, you're more likely to later. So DS wears the brace while playing or practicing.
3-4 practices per week (2 hours each) 1 Futsal per week (1.5 hours) 2 games per week (1.5 hours) 4-5 tourneys (4 hours) I am jealous of the parents who have their kids in their local club and drive 5 minutes to and from practices.
Is that 3-4 practices plus futsal for 4-5 training sessions per week or does futsal replace the 3-4 practices during the winter?
4-5 per week sessions (one futsal - which odd enough is optional). Some kids can have 2-3 games a week - others 1-2.
U13 player. 3 club practices per week in fall/spring, 2 in winter(1.5 hours), 1-2 small group or individual sessions per week(1 hr), 2 games per week. (In winter 2 indoor games and 1 Futsal game). 1 day off(sometimes two, but always have 1). 6-8 tournaments per year.
U12 boy Non DA- Last year his club had two 2 hour practices per week. But for some unknown reason this year it was reduced to 2 1.5 hour practices. The team above him was doing three practices per week with permission. Starting this spring they went to a few of the better players on each team and said they could practice with the team a year up. I think they were asking mainly the better players who were more committed and most likely wanted to practice more. So here is what my son does on average. (2) 1.5 hour team practices (1) 1.0 hour game per weekend. Throwing in extra games at tournaments and it probably makes up for a few weekends when they don't have a game. (1) 1.5 Optional practice with the U13 team 3 to 6 hours practicing at home - This goes up during the summer when he doesn't have team practices. 8.5 to 12 hours practicing per week I'd say. The home practice is where he gets way more touches. And hence that is where his development is really progressing the most. In my area we don't have a DA team that is close by at all. One kid left the team after the end of last year and is now traveling to a DA team spending a total of 18 hours just to get 6 hours of practice. To me that isn't worth it. And seeing how my son is coming along I'd say most kids might actually be better off practicing at home. Technical skills are so important and it requires putting in the time. It would be nice if there was a DA team in our area because I do get that from a team play stand point, playing with better players would really help with the teamwork part of the game.
Burn out is something we all discuss. The things I've seen when it comes to injuries in little tikes. Strained groins, back problems, knees, ankles... Many of us wonder how many of them will make it in one piece to 15!
On top of injuries--which are a serious enough issue on their own--there's also the problem of mental fatigue and having all the fun knocked out of the game at a young age.
Sure. It's no wonder that at fifteen many kids just drop out either due to that fatigue, or merely from the fact that as they grow, so do their interests, and soccer just doesn't rate that high anymore.
The best advice I ever got from a coach when my son was just a kid took a while to sink in, but in retrospect he was right. And I'm not even sure he knew he was saying anything profound. He ran a week-long summer "soccer camp" for kids at a local park, and when my son was in early grade school we signed him up for it. It went well, he had fun, and on the last day I asked this coach what I should be doing so that our son would continue to improve as a player. He told me "Make sure he's having fun." That might have just been a brush-off, frankly. I didn't have the perspective then that I have now, and I likely came across as yet another pushy sports parent with unrealistic expectations--if I'm being honest with myself, I would have to say that's a good description (the fact that my son stuck with it and did become a serious player as a young man was ANYTHING but guaranteed at that point, and I don't give myself any credit for it). But as time went by, I recognized the value of that observation--young kids will soon enough become teenagers, and once they're in their teens they will A) find many more distractions and activities than when they were younger; and B) quickly decide what it is they want to do versus what it is their parents want them to do. Sports as a teen can be a grind--they take time away from other things, and the little injuries, sprains, bruises, etc. take longer to recover from. They need rest and recovery to a degree they didn't as kids. So the best way to be sure they'll stick with it as teens is if they already love the game. And they're much more likely to love it as teens if they had fun playing it as kids.
This is such a big deal. Mine is 13 now and I backed off coaching him at U10 in part because he just didn't enjoy having me as a coach (he was also ready for some better coaching, which his club provides and I couldn't). If I'd insisted on continuing (and I really enjoyed coaching kids), like your situation, there was absolutely no guarantee my son would have continued on the path he's on. I still try to pick my spots to occasionally offer a thought or two or point out something cool from a pro game, but I work hard to bite my lip and just let him play.
It seems almost too simple, too obvious, but yeah, if the enthusiasm is not there, and playing the game is more task then a joy, it will end sooner than later. Just heard a story about a 11-year-old boy who commutes a couple of times a week to Prague, some 60 miles or so, to practice with the team in Prague. He also practices with another team closer to home. He was supposed to play a game recently in Prague, but said to his parents he'd had enough with all the traveling. Apparently, it's the father pushing him to practice here there and everywhere. The kid's good, but small, probably due to the fact he's just juiced...