We’ve been thinking about how to support our Coaches and Managers – and are trying a new approach to our existing training manuals. Have a look at this example of an online training plan.

Week 1

Warm Up, Ball Skills, Simple games

Active Time45 mins

Keyword: week 1

Equipment

1 Training Ball per child
Warm-up & Skills: 15m x 15m Square using markers
Game #1: 7m x 7m Square using markers, with 5m x 5m Square inside
Game #2: 20m x 20m square and put a ball on 2 of the markers on opposite sides to each other.

Instructions

Warm Up:

Set up a square about 15m x 15m using markers.
Without a ball, have children running around in it, changing direction.
Run around bringing knees up to chest.
Run around bringing feet up behind.
Side steps within the square.
Dribble with the ball, changing direction and keep head up.
Give children a chance to do some tricks with the ball whilst dribbling.
Encourage them to use their imagination.

Ball Mastery Skills:

Use the 15m x 15m square set up above for the following three activities.

Drop, kick, catch

Aim to have the kids master this skill by doing one drop, kick, catch at a time. Then aim for two, then three etc.
When they can do it 5 times in a row, do the same process, but use the knee rather than their foot.

Toe Taps

Start kids doing toe taps in one spot. Coach then walks around and team follows.
This teaches the kids to not look at the ball, but rather to keep their head up and control the ball.

Dribbling

Start kids dribbling with a ball in any direction. Then the coach yells out a body part (head, knee, foot, chest) and the kids need to stop the ball with that part of the body.

Passing

Set up two lines of markers 5m apart. Put kids into pairs.
Put 1 child on each marker and give each pair a ball.
They pass the ball to each other. Encourage them to use inside of foot, not toe.
One of the partners then stands with their lags apart, and the other partner aims to pass the ball through their legs.
Set markers 10m apart and repeat.

Games

Game 1:

Set up a 7m x 7m square, then an internal square of 5m x 5m using different coloured markers. Put a ball at each internal marker and in the centre of the smaller square.
Split the group into 4, and put each group on a corner of the outer square.
The first child of each group moves to the inner square to start the game.
They all run around the square, without the ball.
When they get back to their corner they try to kick the ball out of the middle of the square, using the ball at their marker.
After each child has had a turn, try running in the opposite direction.

Game 2:

1v1 (1 attacker and 1 defender). Down the track it can be used as a 2v1.
Set up a 20m x 20m square and put a ball on 2 of the markers on opposite sides to each other.
Split kids into 2 groups and put them on opposite sides of the square.
The coach rolls a ball into the middle, and the first child on each side runs in to try and win the ball.
That child then attempts a ball mastery skill to try and hit the ball off the marker with the ball that they have just won.
Continue till all kids have had a couple of turns.

Training plans