Coaching Aids - Practices

Where to Start?

We'll continue to add more content to these pages, but please review our Positive Coaching page. It's a critical part of AYSO that all coach volunteers must follow.
The Guidance for Referees, Coaches & Parents is an excellent introduction to the rules and structure of AYSO soccer.
Coaching Supplies
Your TeamPak will include uniforms, a ball, pump and first aid supplies. The equipment sheds at Gallery & Flick Park have containers full of pinnies, cones and age-specific coach manuals, along with coach shirts in a range of sizes.

Managing Your Practices

• Set aside enough time beforehand to prepare a practice plan covering a full 60 minute practice session.
• Review your coach manual, especially the Objectives of the Game, Principles of Play, and Player Techniques & Skills before your first practice.
• U-7 and above coaches – conducting practices before your first game is essential.
• There are no reserved fields for practices. Basically any field that is open is available for practices. Find a school or any field convenient to you and your team, and you can set up and practice. Popular places are Gallery, Flick, Attea, Johns.
• A minimum of two adults are required to be at practices, and at least one of the same gender as the players. If you're lacking bodies for supervision, ask the other parents to take turns attending practices.
• Remind parents and players of equipment requirements, especially about shinguards (and having them completely over socks), no jewelry, and the importance of bringing their ball and water bottle to practices, along with their uniform on game days.
• Regularly encourage parents and siblings of players to become referees. We can always use more (especially youth referees).
• Keep your coaching positive, instructional, and encouraging during practices.

Player Development

Player Development is one of Glenview AYSO's essential philosophies. Glenview AYSO has published a standard curriculum which you're encouraged to use on a weekly basis. Additionally, AYSO's official Coach Manuals contain guidelines for the specific division in which you'll be coaching. They also include enough age-appropriate drills and teaching techniques to fill your practices for an entire year.

U6 Resources

U4 to U6 Training Plan
U6 Coach Manual(previous version)

U7/U8 Resources

Week 1: 8U Dribbling
Week 2: Attacking 1v1
U8 Coach Manual

U9/U10 Resources

U10 Coach Manual
U10 Techniques Manual

U12/U14 Resources

U12 Coach Manual
U14/Intermediate Coach Manual

Player Development Curricula

Glenview AYSO works with Stuart Barlow from P2 Soccer to offer these weekly coach practice plans.

PLAN	NOTES
Week 1   Ages 4-6   Ages 7-10  Ages 11+	Focus is on ball-handling skills and getting the kids active with lot of touches on the ball. This will help them gain confidence in the game and translate into passing plays as the season progresses
Week 2   Ages 4-6   Ages 7-10  Ages 11+	This week's focus is on defending.  Remember, there is a lot to learn here. Layer in the coaching points slowly and ensure players understand before moving on.
Week 3   Ages 4-6   Ages 7-10  Ages 11+	Focus is on passing the ball - oftentimes, we try to coach our players on both the passing and the receiving together: for beginner players this can be overwhelming as there is a lot to grasp. Our advice is to get the passing part down and then move to the trapping. Once they understand the technique you can advance to why/when to pass. Ensure players get lots of repetition.
Week 4   Ages 4-6   Ages 7-10  Ages 11+	The focus is on working with your teammates.  There are many layers to this.  Start simply and feel free to adapt and tweak these lessons to suit your team.
Week 5   Ages 4-6   Ages 7-10  Ages 11+	As we reach the mid-point of the season, notice a pattern emerging in our lesson plans: we're trying to balance out our time between offensive and defensive topics and skills. You may also notice some repetition of drills from week-to-week. This is intentional -- familiarity is good for trainers, coaches and players. We simply adjust the coaching points to suit the topic.
Week 6   Ages 4-6   Ages 7-10  Ages 11+	Focus is on spacing for all ages.   We see a lot of young players shouting "I’m open" despite having opposition players between them and the ball. Try to show them how to actually be open by creating lanes for a pass. Lots of visual demos will help.
Week 7   Ages 4-6   Ages 7-10  Ages 11+	The crux of these lessons is decision making and positioning on the field. Drills for the youngest players focus on basic decision making (dribble or pass?). The intermediate group includes the role of a second defender, which is great for teaching the kids where to be on the field and how to figure that out, as well as taking ownership of the play.  The older group focuses on building out of the back, but includes helpful hints for our more advanced intermediate players. Be sure and take a look at both links
Week 8   Ages 4-6   Ages 7-10  Ages 11+	As it starts to get cold, remember to keep players active, minimize downtime and water breaks as much as possible
Week 9   Ages 4-6  Ages 7-10  Ages 11+	If this is the last practice of the season, we encourage coaches the trainers to make it fun and ask the players which activities they’d like to do.

AYSO Coach Resources

Weekly Newsletters

Sign up for a free subscription in the Newsletters section (top right hand corner) of AYSO's national site.

• Hey Coach! contains articles on coaching techniques, drills and helpful information for managing games and practices.
• Whistle Stop publishes refereeing tips, anecdotes from other referees, Q&A's and advice using real-game situations.

YouTube

AYSO maintains an extensive collection of videos on warm-ups, drills, games, you-name-it. Everything a coach could use when preparing for practice or a game https://www.youtube.com/user/AYSONational.

Coaching: Helpful Tips and Drills