How does your team develop players?

After seeing the following comment on the "National Team. Why not?" post - most coaches only work on tactics, team strategy and rarely do 1v1s, 2v1s and letting the players know that you can dribble as much as you want, but use your teammates as help - I was wondering how much time your teams / coaches spend on skills training vs. coaching.

"Skills training" - activities directed more towards individual improvement - individual ball handling and control drills, footwork, 1 v. 1, 2 v. 2, dribbling, as my dd says - "soccer moves", proper utilization of the body, etc. - basically, those things that help an individual improve their skills, but not directed towards "team" development

"Coaching" - those activities directed more towards the team - scrimmages, set plays, kick-offs, corner kicks, working various offensive lines "together" against a defense, tactics, team strategy - basically, those things that help the team to develop as a unit

In addition - how much scheduled practice time does your team have per week?


I will start -

3 1/2 hours scheduled practice per week (unless games conflict)
1 game per week
90% skills training / 10% coaching

I find it interesting, that after 100+ views, not a single additional person has posted what percentage of time their academy coach spends developing individual player skills vs. "team" development. Why is that? Are people concerned about how their coach will be preceived if they spend most of their time coaching to win, over developing your daughter's skills?

Normally, our 2 hr practices are broken down into 1 hr with head coach, 1 hr with skills coach. 2 x a week. But some of the 1hr with the head coach is also skills. We play 1 game a week but futsal is very much encouraged and when possible added into our schedule in the form of pick up, additional training offered but not required and some futsal tournaments when they come around. During the winter, we do pretty much all skills with small sided scrimmages/practice. Our girls are learning to play the game "beautifully" IMO.

Hey I will be bold for ya. My dd is select rather than academy but here you go...

7 hours practice per week
1 game per weekend
30% skills/10% conditioning/60% coaching

Type 1 left-footer wrote:Hey I will be bold for ya. My dd is select rather than academy but here you go...

7 hours practice per week
1 game per weekend
30% skills/10% conditioning/60% coaching

7 hrs practice? ouch. Do you mind my asking what age? How many sessions is that a week? We drive a loooooong way and I wondered if that is what I have to look forward to in the near future. My dd is an 02 and we do 2/week, 2hrs each. With an hour drive each way, she already has 2 days a week that soccer takes 4 hrs, plus games and she does additional training at least once a week that takes about 1 hr with a 40 min drive. Now that I think about it, I guess we already do 5hrs a week. hmmm it sneaks up on you doesn't it

mommabear wrote:

Type 1 left-footer wrote:Hey I will be bold for ya. My dd is select rather than academy but here you go...

7 hours practice per week
1 game per weekend
30% skills/10% conditioning/60% coaching

7 hrs practice? ouch. Do you mind my asking what age? How many sessions is that a week? We drive a loooooong way and I wondered if that is what I have to look forward to in the near future. My dd is an 02 and we do 2/week, 2hrs each. With an hour drive each way, she already has 2 days a week that soccer takes 4 hrs, plus games and she does additional training at least once a week that takes about 1 hr with a 40 min drive. Now that I think about it, I guess we already do 5hrs a week. hmmm it sneaks up on you doesn't it

yes it does sneak up on ya
We are lucky DD has practice 15 minutes from the house not a huge drive to/from
She's 3 years into select
2 hours scheduled 3x a week. but the practices always run about 20 minutes over because coach does not break until he feels girls are understanding what he is working on that night.

I'd say my DD does 75% individual skills/pass/touch, per week. No tactical training or team play to speak of.

SoccerDad75033 wrote:After seeing the following comment on the "National Team. Why not?" post - most coaches only work on tactics, team strategy and rarely do 1v1s, 2v1s and letting the players know that you can dribble as much as you want, but use your teammates as help - I was wondering how much time your teams / coaches spend on skills training vs. coaching.

"Skills training" - activities directed more towards individual improvement - individual ball handling and control drills, footwork, 1 v. 1, 2 v. 2, dribbling, as my dd says - "soccer moves", proper utilization of the body, etc. - basically, those things that help an individual improve their skills, but not directed towards "team" development

"Coaching" - those activities directed more towards the team - scrimmages, set plays, kick-offs, corner kicks, working various offensive lines "together" against a defense, tactics, team strategy - basically, those things that help the team to develop as a unit

In addition - how much scheduled practice time does your team have per week?


I will start -

3 1/2 hours scheduled practice per week (unless games conflict)
1 game per week
90% skills training / 10% coaching

I was the one who made that comment about coaches rarely doing 1v1s and 2v2s, dribble as much as you can and use your teammates. That is what the coaches teach their players overseas. Dribble first or beat someone 1v1 and pass if you have to. This what my child is being taught and everytime I see a flashes of greatness since her role models are Messi, Marta, Ronaldo etc. She is fun to watch.

2 hr practices 2X a wk. 1 hr is used for ball control, 1v1s, man on man defending, skills etc and the other 1hr is used to go over tm tactics, strategy and etc. So gets the best of both worlds. She does an hr or skills training, shooting and more individual work during the week as well. So I would ration it out to 65% skills training to 35% tactical tm training. It's served her and the team well. After being together 8 months and playing a few seasons in PPL, her team is headed to LHGCL and made the state tm. Great job Coach Kenny!

My DD's team recruits developed players just like the moms buy developed chests.

90 minute practice

15 minutes juggling (most important)
15 minutes dribbling
30 minutes skills going to goal
30 minutes scrimmage with little interference

0 minutes tactics. I give guidance. I want them to develop tactics on their own. I do not want them to look like robots on the field.

Pompey wrote:90 minute practice

15 minutes juggling (most important)
15 minutes dribbling
30 minutes skills going to goal
30 minutes scrimmage with little interference

0 minutes tactics. I give guidance. I want them to develop tactics on their own. I do not want them to look like robots on the field.

Forget you. Sounds like your team doesn't win silverware!

Did I mention the $5 per game win bonus

Pompey wrote:Did I mention the $5 per game win bonus

Now we're talking!
Honestly, try to get your kids to watch the documentary "Pelada". They'll see what soccer is really about.

coachr wrote:

Pompey wrote:Did I mention the $5 per game win bonus

Now we're talking!
Honestly, try to get your kids to watch the documentary "Pelada". They'll see what soccer is really about.

Interesting story!!