As the spring season approaches, I find myself wrestling with the perennial question, “What now?” The foundation of the coaching cycle is that all coaching is retrospective. That is, we watch our players in a game, decide what aspect of the game needs the most work, design and conduct a series of practices to improve that area, and then we watch the next game and start the process again. But what about the preseason? What do you work on when you have a series of practices before the first game?

For my regular season team of U10 boys, I know that some have played soccer off and on all winter, while others have not even seen their soccer ball since Halloween. So the first practice I plan is designed to shake off some of the rust. Because many of my players are fairly new to the sport and not very accomplished, I will use the three practices before the first game to work on possession. Of all the objectives of the game, maintaining possession is the one that makes all other game play possible. And it is an area where nearly every team can improve.

For my less accomplished players, I want them to be able to maintain possession while dribbling and beating an opponent. For my more accomplished players, I want to add decision making about when to dribble and when to pass. So, I will start with foot skills, toe touches, drag back turns, etc., then move to dribbling toward and around a simulated defender. (I use a couple of corner flags to represent a defender.) Then I will have them attempt to beat a real defender one-on-one. When they are trying to beat a defender, I will vary the conditions to make sure everyone is challenged by controlling speed, space, and opposition. In a practical sense, that means the less accomplished attackers will be paired up with the less accomplished defenders. The best dribblers may have to face two defenders or beat the defender and shoot in a small space. Once the players are having some success with dribbling, I will add in the option to beat the defender or pass. I will do that with two attackers against a defender going toward a goal. For the best dribblers, I will add a second defender.

I will follow this practice with one on passing to maintain possession. That will probably involve some static passing to get the hang of it, then go in to a keep away game with more attackers than defenders, say 5 vs 3. Until the team can maintain possession for 6 passes in unlimited space while having a two player advantage, you can’t expect to have much success on the field. Once the attackers can routinely maintain possession for 5 or 6 passes, I will even out the numbers or decrease the space. This kind of practice is great when followed by a small sided game that requires possession. One good game is half court soccer with one or two neutral players playing for the attacking team and a three pass rule before the shot.

I’ll talk more about small sided games in a future post.

Good luck!