1000 Minutes Program

1000 Minutes to Better Soccer

Coaches, you observe your team in a game and decide what aspect of the game needs the most work in the next week. Then you hold training sessions to work with your players on technique, tactics, conditioning, and motivation focusing on what you saw in the game. But you can only do so much in a couple of hours a week. You can't turn a beginner into a champion in the limited time you have. That's where the 1000 Minutes Program is designed to help.

Players who practice at home, at school, and at the park - away from normal team practice - are the ones who grow the fastest and best. You can use the 1000 Minutes Program to help motivate your players to take that time to work on soccer skills away from your training sessions.

Improve Your Soccer - Enjoy a Party!

The promise of the 1000 Minutes Program is simple and compelling: "Improve Your Soccer - Enjoy a Party." Explain to your players that if they will practice their soccer skills for 1000 minutes or more during the season and keep track of their time, they will get to go to a party at Cliffs Amusement Park. There is a form to keep track of time and other good information on the 1000 Minutes page. You can make a team goal that every player completes 1000 minutes and the whole team can go to the party together. Because a lot of your team members are neighbors, friends, and classmates with one another, you can suggest they get together during the week or at recess to kick the ball around.

So, once you get players motivated to participate in the 1000 Minutes Program, what will they do with all this practice time? As a coach, you can make specific suggestions for each of your players. Or you can offer homework at the end of each practice:

"Ok players, it's been a good practice today. We worked a bunch on beating an opponent using an outside of the foot turn. I want you to spend your 1000 minutes time this week working on perfecting that move. Pay particular attention to getting a good change of speed after your turn."

Then don't forget to check the players' homework at the next practice:

"Alright players, I asked you to spend your 1000 minutes time on the outside of the foot turn. Who wants to show me what they've got?"

If you'd like some good stuff for general practice time, AYSO has created a wonderful manual, 1000 Minutes to Better Soccer. Have the parents download the manual and let the player work through some of those exercises.

If you can get your players to practice without you, you will be on your way to developing excited, skillful players. The 1000 Minutes Program is a wonderful tool to help you accomplish that.

Team Organization

One of a coach's first tasks each season is getting the team organized. You will hold a team meeting at the start of the season to get to know everyone, share your expectations with the parents and players, and get the volunteer support needed to be successful. Some coaches hold their team meeting the park immediately after their first practice. Others hold a meeting at their home or at a park on the weekend before the first practice. It is important that you hold a meeting, but when and where is up to you.

To prepare for this meeting, we have a couple of sample parent letters that you can modify and hand out at your meeting. We also have a signup sheet to help you get your volunteers. After the team meeting, and before the first game, someone (perhaps the coach, but usually the team manager) will need to put together a team roster and a game and snack schedule. We have samples to help you get started with those as well.

• Team Letter 1
• Team Letter 2
• Team Staff
• Team Roster
• Snack Schedule

Practices and Games

In preparing for your games, you will need to create a lineup form that shows who's in and who's out and what positions the players will be playing for each quarter of the game. This is important so that you can make sure everyone gets to play and that the players get to experience different positions throughout the game.

The system your webmaster has used for years is to draw four soccer fields on a piece of paper and fill in the player's name is the appropriate positions. An example from a 7-a-side game with one sub is shown in the "Example Line Up Form." Blanks for your use are also provided.

We've also provided a soccer field diagram that you can use a background for all sorts of diagrams to communicate with your players, parents, assistant coaches, and others.

As a coach, you can get a better understanding of where your team is strong and where it needs work by keeping track of statistics during the game. There are lots of ways to keep track of statistics. Two examples are listed below. And here's a tip: don't keep stats yourself; you have enough to do during a game. Keeping stats is a great way for a parent to help with the team and can be a great distraction for that parent who likes to yell at the kids too much!

• Example Line Up Form
• Blank Line Up Form
• Soccer Field Diagram
• Defensive Statistics
• Offensive Statistics

Laws of the Game

We coaches need to understand the Laws of the Game so that we can train our players appropriately. Below you will find links to the full Laws of the Game and to the modified laws for the younger age groups. We also have links to a very good video example of the offside law that everyone should watch, and a video explaining the field markings and some of the laws of the game.

• Laws of the Game
• U5-U8 Modified Laws of the Game
• Video Explanation of Offside
• Video Explanation of Field Markings