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Weston Soccer Club
How to Be a Great Coach
How to Be a Great Coach
- Emphasize DEVELOPMENT Over Winning - focus on teaching the skills and concepts in your portion of the Development Progression and expose your players to all positions, and your players will improve. Results are likely to follow!
- No Yelling!! - coach the players who are on the bench. Trust the players on the field. Your advice usually can’t help them anyway. Stand behind your bench and talk to the players who aren’t in the game about what is going on out there.
- Pick a Theme for the Season - e.g. Keep the Ball, and communicate it to your players and parents. This helps them understand why you play the games you play in practice, and what constitutes success in games and throughout the season.
How to Run a Great Practice
- Pick One Theme for Each Practice - e.g. Dribbling, Passing and Receiving, Shooting and Finishing, Attacking, Defending, and make everything you do reinforce that day’s theme.
- BUILD Your Practice - from simple, individual exercises in warmups through games of gradually increasing numbers, intensity and pressure.
- Plan Practice Ahead of Time - not preparing is preparing to fail! Make a list on an index card of all the games and all the teaching points you want to use during the practice. You’ll keep your players moving all the time when you plan ahead, and you will earn their respect with your command.
How to Run a Great Practice (of roughly 90 mins)
- Warmup - 10-15 minutes. Usually each player with a ball.
- Skill-Building Games - 20-30 minutes. Usually involving smaller groups of players (1v1, 2v1, 2v2)
- Small-Sided Games - 20-30 minutes. Begin to use larger groups (3v3, 4v4). Create 3 or 4 teams and run 2 games at once or alternate teams.
- Scrimmage - 30 minutes. Incorporate your theme for that practice, e.g. a “goal” for each dribbling move tried or for 5 consecutive passes, in addition to regular scoring.
At U11 and younger, aim to have your players spend 30-40 minutes of EACH practice with either a 1:1 or 2:1 player-to-ball ratio before moving to larger exercises. MAXIMIZE TOUCHES.
How to Choose the Right Formation
Formation Dos
- Width, Depth and Passing Options
Formation Don’ts
- Don’t isolate players at the front or the back of your formation
- Don’t create narrow spines of players
For a detailed discussion on choosing a formation for your 6v6, 8v8 or 11v11 side, please see our "Formations and Tactics" outline on this website
How to Teach the Right Tactics
Please see our "Formations and Tactics" outline on this website
You CAN Be a Great Coach
Just Remember:
- There is LOTS of support if you need it. Write to
for mentoring, practice ideas, soccer websites and books. We have coaches and Board members who can help.
- Parents write us every season to tell us what an impact you have on their children.
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