In this article, I will give you five things to think about as you plan and execute your soccer practice sessions. Keep them in mind as you begin your first season, and you will get off to an excellent start with your soccer team as a new soccer coach!

1. Come to practice with a plan.

Nothing says, “I’m new at this” as much as being unorganized. You should have a topic for your practice session—dribbling, finishing, 1 v 1 defending, etc. And all of your practice activities should be geared towards that topic. You work on that specific topic and nothing else. Everything that you say—the instructions you give, the corrections that you make—should be about the session topic and nothing else. If the topic for the day is dribbling, you don’t stop practice to teach defending. Stay on topic and stick with your session plan.

2. Set them up to succeed.

“Where do I start?” is a question that every coach asks himself as the season begins, experienced or not. And your team’s technical level should determine your starting point. So, devote the first day to a scrimmage and watch your team play. After an hour or so, you should be able to pick up four or five areas that will need immediate attention.

And that is where you begin. Pick a topic for the next practice and then choose your level of difficulty based on what you saw during the scrimmage. Your session should be challenging, but within their level of ability. Give the players practice sessions that they can be successful with rather than frustrated.

3. Make practice as game-like as possible.

Your practice should resemble an actual game as closely as possible in terms of time, speed, rest, etc. Stop play as little as possible. From the first whistle, it’s go, go, go. Require your players to defend and attack. Require constant movement and involvement. Don’t allow them to ‘switch off’ and stop playing. Think of it this way—Time wasted is touches on the ball that your players don’t get. It is running that they don’t do.

It is tactics that they don’t learn. Instill a sense of urgency in your players during every single practice.

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4. Talk is Cheap.

To be blunt, coaches talk too much. I talked too much when I first started coaching. But now I don’t, and here’s why: Soccer players don’t come to practice to hear lectures. They come to play. So let them learn the game by playing the game. Pick a few ‘teachable moments’ during the course of practice, excellent examples of what you’re trying to teach. Then make your point in as few words as possible and get them playing again. If the drill gets better and better as practice goes on, then you’re doing a great job. Literally, your players are improving right in front of your eyes. It doesn’t get any better than that.

5. Create a judgement free zone.

Harsh critique and criticism from a coach can really do damage, especially if it’s given on a regular basis. Constant criticism will destroy a player’s self-confidence very quickly, and a tentative, anxiety ridden athlete will not play or learn nearly as well as a confident one. So try hard not to create this kind of adversarial relationship with your players. Instead, create an environment where the players are unafraid to fail. One where they know that they’re not going to get yelled at for missing a shot or losing the ball. As a coach, you need to pick your spots when correcting errors instead of pointing out every single one. And take great pains not to belittle or embarrass anyone when you make your corrections. Just be a teacher. Use a coaching style that works. Yelling does not work. Teaching does.

Have any great tips for the beginner soccer coach? Comment below…

Hope you enjoyed Soccer Coaching 101, the top 5 tips for the beginner soccer coach”

Article By:

Don Herlan

SmedleysSoccerSite.com Owner of

USSF National C Licensed Coach