Soccer Practice Plan
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	THEME: PASSING ===FIRST 30 MINUTES=== Welcome the players by briefly talking through the following. We're looking forward to a great season! Introduce coaches Have players introduce themselves Main objective is to have fun becoming better soccer players Respect is critical: for each other, for our opponents, and for the referees; lack of respect is the on thing that will lead to discipline including lack of practice and playing time Our focus will be on "smart soccer" as follows--we'll return to these five points throughout the season Positioning ourselves well to receive a pass Positioning ourselves well to defend Communicating well Making a good first touch Making a good pass Inform players that theme for today's practice is passing. Pre-game warm-up 1: Stationary One-Touch Passing: (Use the sequence of 3 pre-game warm-up activities before each game. Let the players know that you will be doing this.) Players pair up. Begin by passing one touch with inside of right foot. After five each, switch to inside left. Then, outside right, outside left, laces right and laces left. Pre-game warm-up 2: Same pairs, go across the field and back passing the ball (lead the other player a bit). No more than two touches each time. Stay in the same lanes coming back so that the players use the other foot. Pre-game warm-up 3: N v. 1 Keepaway: Nv1 progression is a keep-away game. It starts with one defender. The rest of the players, the attackers, try to pass the ball around to keep it from the defender. Usually, the defender does well to start until the attackers start to improve spacing and decision-making. Once the attackers start to dominate, one at a time convert attackers to defenders until the sides are even or close to even. Keep playing with even sides for a few minutes. [Note: When the NE Revolution warm up before games, they always include a healthy dose of keep-away. Using keep-away as part of pre-game warm-ups correlates to the team playing better. Progressions Progression 1: Make the game two-touch for the attackers Progression 2: Make the game one-touch for the attackers ===SECOND 30 MINUTES=== Remind players that theme is passing. Tag Team: 2. Box with 6 offensive players and 6 defenders (or equal numbers). Attackers pass ball around within the box. Coach has one ball for each two defenders. Use a stopwatch to keep track. On whistle, first pair of defenders go into box to clear ball. When they do, they go back to the sideline and tag in the next two defenders. Sequence ends when all pairs of defenders have gone. Time them, then switch. Boxing Match: 1. Two boxes roughly 20 feet square, separated by about 40 feet. Equal numbers of players in each box (if you have more than four players per box, make the box larger). Players pass ball around in box. Each player in each box gets a number 1-N. At whistle, coach calls a number and the players with that number run to the other box to steal the ball. First one to clear the ball outside of the box wins. Progressions Progression 1: On occassion, call two or even three numbers to send swarms across to the other box. ===THIRD 30 MINUTES=== Remind players that the theme is passing. Scrimmage: Award a goal for 5 "real" passes in a row. Award a goal for 5 "real" back passes.
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