Plan a Session

How to plan a football session.

The session should ideally last between and hour and 90 minutes.  In the session you should be looking to involve the following components;

Warm Up
Fun Game/Team Building Exercise
Game Related Practice
Game Time

The session should have a common theme running through so plan your sessions weeks in advance, have a week on passing, a week on dribbling, a week on shooting etc

As soon as your session starts get a ball at their feet.  A warm up does not mean running, jogging and doing sprints.  Pair the players up and start by passing a ball between them, make the gap bigger to extend, but make sure they are moving about.  Make them run about an area in and out of cones doing a step over, drag back, Zidane turn or any other skill the wish.

Move onto a fun game to help bond the players.  It can be something simple like a dribbling race with shooting into a mini goal or a passing race.

Game related practices are an important part of coaching a team.  These can be something from playing a 3 v 1 in a box and after 3 passes the attacker can move and have a shot at goal.  If the defender wins the ball then he can have a shot at goal.

This drill looks more complex than it is.  Player runs forward and has a shot, turns around and faces player 2.  Player 2 plas a 1-2 with player 1 and has a shot on goal.  Player 2 turns and now becomes a defender in a 1v1 with player 3.

Game Time - The reward and most important part of session.  Try and devote at least 50% of the session to the players playing football in a small sided game so they get plenty of touches to develop as players.  Make the games interesting, restrict them to 3 or 2 touches, make them use their non preferred foot, allow them to have a shot only once they have performed a step-over.  There are many ways to make it fun whilst they learn.