Highlands Soccer Coaching Manual U6-U10

Thank you for volunteering to coach with Highlands Soccer!! This manual is designed to give you an idea of what types of skills we are looking for your players to develop in this age group and how to get them those skills while still making practices and games enjoyable for everyone involved.

We are looking for 4 primary skills from your players, the drills and games in this manual are designed to teach and develop these skills:

1. Pass and Trap – Our players should be able to effectively distribute the ball to other players on their team and take meaningful control of the ball when it comes into their area or they receive a pass, with both feet.

2. Dribble – Our players should be able to control the ball while moving on the field and we want our players to quickly take open space on the field, with both feet.

3. Mark and Tackle – Defensively our players should be able to mark a player by staying in front of them, between them and the goal, and make a tackle (take possession of the ball) when the other player makes a mistake

4. Know Positions on the field – We would like our players to have a basic understanding of where defenders, midfielders, and strikers are supposed to be on the field at any time.

Practice Schedule – In this age group we practice 1 hour per week. It is very important that we maximize the touches on the ball during the practice time because there is so little of it. All drills should be done with both feet with even time on each foot. It is very important to familiarize your players with using both their feet. Their young brains will initially reject the thought of using their weak foot, but they will quickly grow in ability to use both feet.

We have broken down the

Practices generally should include the following:

Example Practice:

Warmup / Dribbling Drills

1st Group Skill Drills

2nd Group Skill Drills

Training Game

The next sections of the manual have descriptions of Dibbling Drills, Group Skill Drills, and Training Games. Each Drill should be done with both feet!!

Warm Up:

We would like every practice to start with the following warmup. Set 4 cones in a rectangle. Make enough space for the kids to all have some room. Start them dribbling. Try to get them jogging the whole time and encourage the to “Move to Open Space.”

As they are constantly moving to open space have them focus on the following for about 1 minute:

1. Right Foot Only 2. Left Foot Only 3. Right Foot Inside of Foot only 4. Right Foot Outside of Foot Only 5. Left Foot Inside of Foot only 6. Left Foot Outside of Foot Only 7. Stop and tap top of ball with Right then Left Foot

As the kids learn some of the Dribbling Moves incorporate them into the workout. So for instance they are dribbling with Right Foot and then call out a move and have them execute.

Dribbling Moves: There are lots of moves and tricks in soccer to beat a defender. We encourage you to teach 1 move per practice. These moves are designed to help get the kids a softer touch on the ball and gain confidence with dribbling. Encourage these moves to be used in 1 on 1 situations in drills and games. You can teach these or any other moves you may know. Work the moves into your warm ups and drills.

Pull Back: Place one of your feet on top of the ball, pull the ball behind you and then dribble in the opposite direction.

Stop and Go: Place your foot on top of the ball and stop your dribble. Then with either your laces or the inside of the opposite foot go forward with a burst of speed past the defender.

Shoulder Drop: As you approach a defender you drop one shoulder to trick the defender in one direction and then use the OUTSIDE of the OPPOSITE foot to move the ball in the other direction.

Scissors: While moving forward you touch the ball with one foot. You then circle your foot around the ball from the inside to the outside of the ball and then take the ball in the opposite direction with the other foot. For instance, Right Foot: 1. You touch the ball with the right foot to continue your dribble.

2. You move your right foot in a circle from behind to ball, to the left, to the front, to the right and back behind. It will look to the defender you are going right.

3. Take the ball with your outside of your left foot around the defender.

Inside/Outside: Touch the ball with the inside of one foot and then quickly again with the Outside of the same foot to open space.

Cruyff: Touch the ball at the defender. Then with the inside of the foot touch the ball behind your leg. Move off to open space in that direction.

Try to get the kids to execute the moves in the warmup box while moving to open space. Exact execution is not as important as getting the kids to touch the ball.

Group Skill Drills: These drills work the pass and trap, mark and tackle, and field position skills sets. These drills should make up the bulk of your practice time.

1V1 Scramble Two Gates:

Setup: 30 x 15 yard grid, two 3 ft goals on either side.

How its Played: Players start at the short sides of the grid. The coach puts a ball into play. The players fight for possession and then try to dribble, not shoot, the ball through the goals. Play is finished when one of the players dribbles the ball through one of the goals. Try to keep the lines small. Mix up who goes against who.

There are tons of variations on 1V1. This is a great drill for practicing the dribbling moves under pressure

1V1 One player gets the ball:

Setup: 30 x 15 yard grid, 3 ft goal on one side.

How its Played: Players start at the short sides of the grid. The player calls for “Ball!”. The coach puts the ball into play by passing to one player. The player with the ball has to trap, dribble, and then make a move around the defender. The defender has to close the distance to the ball, mark the ball, and then tackle when the player makes a dribbling mistake. Play is finished when the players dribbles the ball through the goal, or the defender tackles the ball away. Mix up who goes against who.

There are many different changes you make make through this. Make each interaction short and move them through fast.

Ball

2V2 Scramble

Setup: 20 x 15 yard Grid, two goals on the short sides of the box

How its Played: Coach puts ball into play. Teams rush to ball and then have to dribble or pass prior to shooting for a goal. Defenders can win the ball and go on attack. Play ends with the ball going out of the box or goal being scored.

There are lots of options for 2V2. Make up some rules and let the kids play. For instance you can let one team start with the ball. You can take one defender away to encourage passing. The options are limitless. You can add an option that the coach can be outside the box, but always a target for the offense to pass. This lets the offense always have an option to pass and teaches them to get open.

2V2 Offense Defense

Setup: 40 x 30 yard Grid, two goals on the short sides of the box

How its Played: Coach passes ball into play. Offense works as a team to move the ball down the field. The defense rushes out marks the offense and tries to tackle the ball away. Play ends with the ball going out of the box or goal being scored. You can make extra rules like they have to make one or two passes before shooting. Encourage the player without the ball to move to get open. You can add the coach as a passing outlet outside the box.

Pass Around the Box

Setup: 20 x 20 yard Square

How its Played: 3 Players are outside the box with the ball. 1 – 2 defenders are inside the box. The defenders have to stay in the box and the offense has to stay out. Players need to pass the ball to an open player. The open player should call for the ball. The defender should rush to the player with the ball and stay in front, but not tackle. The drill is designed to get players to pass, trap, work to get open, and communicate.

Encourage the kids to run to get open and only yell ball when they are open.

Pass, Dribble, and Cross

Setup: Use cones down one side of field, standard goal

How its Played: 3 players start at the half, ball starts in center. Winger calls for “Ball!” Center player passes to winger. The winger weaves through cones towards end of field and then crosses. The middle player moves to near post, far player to far post. Have the other kids call for the cross after he finishes dribbling through the cones. After the cross the players try to trap and take a shot.

3 v 2 half field

Setup: Have 3 players at half field with one ball. Put two players at the penalty box. You can have a goalie or not, U10 goalie is recommended.

How it works: Players move the ball downfield and pass to open players and take a shot when the opportunity presents. Defenders move to ball and try to stop the play. Open player should be calling for pass or cross.

Bum Rush

Setup: Establish a 20 x 40 yard box with a middle line of 4-6 balls.

How its played: Split the kids in two teams. Start each team at the end of the box. The goal is to get the balls and dribble them back to their end line or into a goal. This works dribbling, aggression, marking, and tackling.

Training Games: These games are designed to be fun for the kids but also to get them a lot of touches on the ball and reinforce their skills.

Partner Passing

Setup: Setup 4-6 pairs of cones about 3 ft apart

How to Play: Partner the kids up with one ball per pair. They need to run around to different pairs of cones and pass between them. First pair to 10 successful passes and traps wins.

Pugs vs Pirates

Setup: U6-U8 bring the goal into the middle of one of the halfs of the field. For U10 just use the penalty box.

How its Played: All the kids start out with a ball. The coach is the pirate. The pirates have to steal the ball and shoot it into the goal. If a player’s ball gets stolen and ends up in the goal they become a pirate. The last player with a ball is the winner.

Space Invaders

Setup: Make a grid 40 x 20, split into three sections like below

How Its Played: Split the kids up into teams. The team in the middle tries to PASS (not kick) their ball and hit the other team as they cross. The other team has to cross to the other side. Run it 5 times and then switch it up and let the other team run it 5 times. Whichever team has more successful crossings wins.

Ouch!

Setup: Make a grid 30 x 20 grid

How Its Played: Each kid has a ball. They need to be constantly dribbling. They have to kick the ball and hit the coach. Each time they hit the coach the coach yells “Ouch!” and the player gets a point. The idea is to get them dribbling and looking up for a shot or pass. Play with both feet, right foot only, and left foot only.