While AYSO would love to provide every team at least half a field with a goal for every practice, there will sometimes be space restrictions that force coaches to share smaller spaces and/or rotate use of goals. Even still, there will be times before games that you need to practice (warm up) without much space and [...]
AYSO Coaching Manuals: 6uCoachManual 8uCoachManual 10uCoachManual 12uCoachManual IntermediateCoachManual AdvancedCoachManual US Soccer Federation Session Plans: U6 Session Plans U8 Session Plans U10 Session Plans U12 Session Plans Other options: 64 Small-Sided Games Soccer Coach Weekly Coaching Manual (there is a free account option)
This page will serve as a landing page to build out content related to teaching both Core and EXTRA teams to play a possession style of soccer. UPDATE: If you wish to view/print/export the entire series from a single page, go here. What is a "possession style"? Possession-based soccer is characterized by: Methodically moving the ball [...]
At the intermediate level of play and above, tactical instruction begins to outweigh technical instruction. To aid in this instruction, player positions are replaced with a standard numbering system that provides: A consistent scheme/system across the United States, simplifying tactical discussions among disparate coaching staff Refinement of positions (e.g. a defensive vs center vs attacking midfielder) [...]
A document was recently circulated which provides a very rare glimpse into how one of the best youth programs in the world was run. The AFC Ajax have helped create some of greatest players of all time including Johan Cruyff. Though this document was from the late 90's, it's amazing to see how well its held [...]
Small-sided games are at the heart of modern coaching theory. It promotes rapid decision making, gets them many touches on the ball, and asks players to solve problems they're likely to encounter in real games. This was a great article from World Class Coaching that is worth a read. Note the variety of goal (quantity/location/position), objectives, and [...]
Use this decision tree to help guide your session progression. This is targeted at 10u-14u. If you adhering to our Play-Practice-Play philosophy, here are the key questions to help guide your players to solutions in a given situation: Opponent has possession (left side of diagram): Defending when not closest/2nd closest to ball - How do [...]