In your opinion, at what age should a team move from 2 practices per week to 3 per week? It's tryout season by me and my son's team ('09) is moving from 2 to 3 practices in the Fall. Also adding a winter session of 2 practices per week. Seems early to me, but admittedly I don't have a lot to go on. I should add that part of the reason they're doing this is they're entering (rightly or wrongly) a tougher league in the Fall.
Believe his team does that next year, so we'd be right in line. Going to make our schedule nuts with multiple sports. Thanks.
My U11 daughters club only practices twice a week and i actually like that. It gives her the opportunity to take some private or small group lessons which she does every week.
My 2005 gets 3 practices per week (1.5 hours) with the first few minutes running - about 2 miles. She has "street soccer" on Fridays for 1.5 hours which is a mix of older ages - both boys and girls. Then there is a 5th day of strength and conditioning with a paid professional - not a coach. That's another 1.5 hours. She's done most of everything. I like the 3 practices and street soccer because she typically makes them all. So if she misses one or two - here or there, she does not feel so bad. The strength and conditioning is serious business. She is much stronger and more confident - calls me fat and eats better now. She's sore for 2 days after but has grow to really like that.
Cheerleaders, dancers and gymnasts practice more than soccer players. They have to be perfect so they practice. And those activities have as much or more impact on the body. Not sure if it was a busy parent or a coach with a hot significant other but whoever said “if you practice more than twice a week you will irreparably harm the player” was an alarmist. If kids said they wanted to go to the pool every day or ride bikes every day or just run around the neighborhood every day nobody would file a claim with human services. A 50% increase in training time at young ages would have a big impact. Many people say the formative years for soccer skill are the younger years...if anything they should practice 3x a week when they are little gumbies who can run all day and do less when they are 15+ and need recovery. Just an opinion.
I've always thought that practicing 2x per week instead of 3x at the younger ages was more for the prevention of mental burnout than physical. Like you said, at those ages stuff like proper recovery (and warm up) isn't as big a concern as it is later on. The physical strain of a third practice should be minimal. They could play pick up sports from sun up to sun down, but a structured practice seems different when it comes to things like concentration and focus.
I’m not disagreeing...but i think that is more of a question for the coaches out there. Can you design 3 practices a week to keep kids involved? They go to school 5 days a week for 7 hours a day...seems like 4.5 hours spread over 3 days should be doable with some planning. They go to soccer camps for multiple hours a day for 5 days in the summer. I am only half kidding when I say I think somebody came up with the burnout theory to explain why they didn’t want to lead 3 practices for little kids and everyone just repeats it.
I think one session should be for open play or street soccer - no coaching and no refs. Absolutely zero pressure. There should be a format where these kids can feel they can take risks. That leaves only 2 training sessions. By u13 I would add a 4th day of strength and conditioning.
Putting aside whether there's any burnout risk (physical or mental) to having 3 practices at the younger ages, is there a big demand for it? Adding that 3rd practice makes it tougher to play another sport or do another activity that season. Most of the parents I know would balk at that level of commitment at that age, but that's a completely unscientific sample
I don't agree. Street Soccer is an entirely different experience that really makes the sport more enjoyable. Strength and Conditioning should be available when the kids hit the big field. That does not have to be mandatory - not does street soccer, but those who enjoy the game will participate and improve. Those who don't have no reason to expect to find themselves on the second team - which is fine as well.
There are a lot of practical reasons not to do 3 or more...I guess I’m just suggesting the burnout factor is, in my mind, more myth than reality.
I do think you have to start with -- what is the goal for your player? Meaning how far do you want this, or any, sport to take him or her? If soccer is your players primary sport, and you want to see how far s/he can go, then I agree with a lot of what is written here. By U12, 3 or 4 practices a week is a must. Having had 4 kids play beyond that age I have seen a huge difference in teams and players at U12 and above who commit to soccer with 4 trainings / week vs the ones who decide to multi-sport or only train 2x / week. And I do think you can multi-sport but by U12, if you want to excel, one sport has to take precedence when there are conflicts. I agree with what VolkIP said, working in street soccer as 1 of the 3 or 4 trainings at u12 and above is important.
If your club doesnt offer more than 2 trainings a week i think by U12 you have to be suplementing it with outside private or small group trainings as well. In fact, i think 2 team trainings plus 1-2 extra trainings is the best recipe since most team trainings dont focus on individual technical skill.
Luckily, our club offers extra training for travel players (at no extra charge) every weekday if you want it. We have two outdoor practices and one futsal training scheduled per week. Outside of that, you can do more futsal, goalkeeper training, strength and conditioning/agility, and pickup games. It comes in handy if you have regular practice rained out, so you can still get some work in on other days.
I think this is the way to go. A team coaches can lean on players to participate more. A 5 day schedule allows flexibility for other sports. Not easy to accomplish but it would get the players time on the ball essentially.
Yeah, this is the first year his team, going into U11, goes to 3x per week and we're going to continue with multiple sports, but I think next year he'll have to make some decisions simply because there aren't enough days in the week to do it all. I really have no idea what direction he'll want to go in so at least he has this year to hopefully figure it out.
I'm not opposed to three practices a week, but I disagree that it's a "must". A must for what? DS's team won state, and (so far) is doing well in the top level of the region.
I’m coming at it more from the idea of playing better soccer. Training 2x per week, young US players spend 3 hours a week for parts of each year practicing soccer. If that standard is set to address the risk of burnout etc. then every player will get the bare minimum of formal training during the formative years of soccer development unless their parent pays for more training or has the ability to train them. The default is 2 practices a week during the skill building years...then we go to 3. Is that the formula in Germany, Brazil, Spain etc? I’m not suggesting forced practices 6 days a week, but 3 hours a week for 42 weeks a year is 130 hours of practice a year. I don’t know how much of that time is spent standing in lines, listening to coaches etc. but let’s say they get 100 hours of effective skill training a year unless somebody pays for private training. Of the 8,800 hours a year, 100 is spent on soccer skills. Maybe another 100 of game action? According to a 2017 CNN report, kids under 8 spend over 2 hours a day watching some kind of screen. My suggestion is kids can handle more than 2 practices and they won’t all be in hospitals or on analysts’ couches...at least not due to soccer.
Before the age of the 13, it should be 2 (max 3) sessions a week and a weekend game. Let the kids play other sports and play bounce games with their friends. It's not rocket science.
Indeed, not rocket science. There is a relationship between the amount of training and proficiency in almost every endeavor. Less training, less proficiency. Simple math.