From Soccer Journal, September/October 1986, reprinted July/August 2003
NSCAA members may often wonder just what our Academy courses offer in terms of curriculum. One emphasis in both our National and Advanced National Courses is on the design and implementation of a lesson to be taught during the course of the Academy week.
Prior to the assignment of a topic, each Academy candidate is given a handout which I now share with all NSCAA members in hopes that it will help them in critiquing their own practice sessions as coaches and perhaps even aid them in examining how successful the session was in reaching its intended objective.
NSCAA National Diploma School
Designing a Training Session
1. What are the targets of the session?
- Don’t try to do too much – pick two or three targets
- Be specific. The more you can narrow down a target and be definitive, the easier it will be to design your session. The clearer you can define your goal, the clearer it will be for the players.
2. What are the most important factors involved? i.e. how does it happen?
3. Where does it occur on the field?
4. What players are involved?
- What are the most likely exceptions to the rule?
- Why is it important to them?
5. In how much space does it occur in the game?
6. Why does it occur?
- Why is it important to them?
Now you have enough information to design a practice session to achieve your targets/goals. Depending on the level of players and how close your team is to the target, you can determine where you want to begin. You must develop the session to the point where it will look like a part of the game, i.e. proper support players, a proper number of opponents who will have a goal of their own to accomplish.
7. What is your best coaching position?
8. What kind of warm-up will lead up to this activity?
9. How will I start and restart the exercise in order to get plenty of repetitions of the targeted action?
During the Session – An Example of an Evaluation
1. Does the coach do things in a confident and authoritative manner?
2. Do the players get straight into the session or does the coach slow things with lengthy explanations?
3. Is the warm-up appropriate? Is it simple? Can the players actually do it as described?
4. Is the activity going to highlight what is trying to be achieved?
5. Is the space appropriate?
6. Is the part of the field appropriate?
7. Are the numbers of players appropriate?
8. Are both teams clearly distinguished?
9. Are your instructions clear and simple?
10. Does the coach interest/motivate the players? Or intimidate them?
11. Does the coach coach the players or merely impart information?
- Does the coach start the exercise at the right instant and try to improve the execution of a player or group of players?
- Does he correctly identify technical vs. tactical errors?
The following is from the current NSCAA Regional Diploma Course. The topic of “Planning a Practice Session” is described in the following outline.
NSCAA Regional Diploma: Planning a Practice Session
1. Equal in length to the length of the game.
2. Choose a topic. Have practice objectives set from a seasonal plan or from what you as the coach saw as areas needing work during the last (or recent) games. The older the players, the more the game observation will provide direction for training.
3. Activities in practice should flow into one another to minimize down time.
4. Teach from the simple to the complex. Practices should be clear and realistic.
5. Sections of the practice:
- Warm-up or preparation time: The purpose of this is to prepare the player physically and psychologically and should take up to 20 percent of the practice time. The warm-up should be related to the activity/goal of the day. Remember, movement is the key to learning skills.
- Main activity: This activity should be related to the game and should take about 50 percent of the practice time. The coach can change the subtleties of the session by changing:
- Size of the space – in general, space is 10 yards/player
- The number of players – this adds pressure from opponents
- The time to complete the task
- The number of touches the player can use
- The number of goals to attack/defend
- The number of soccer balls
- The concluding activity/end of the game: This should use 25 to 30 percent of practice time and:
- Should be as game-like as possible. The players want to play and the coach can relate teaching points to the game.
- Allow all games to go to goal –full-size goals if possible.
- The smaller the number of players involved, the clearer the teaching points. As the numbers are increased, the teaching points become less frequent.
- Restrictions are permitted to help “paint the picture” and emphasize the goals of the training. Lift restrictions as soon as possible. Use restrictions no more than one-third of the game.
- Observe the game for a few minutes to make sure the outcome is what the coach wants. Make corrections as necessary.
- It is a good idea to stop the activity when the coach sees exactly what the game is designed to train and reinforce the positive.
- Don’t be afraid to let the players play. Let the activity self-correct or do teaching when possible.
- Instead of telling players what to do, pose questions to let them come up with solutions.
- Warm-down: This should cover five percent of the session.
- Stretch and permit players to cool down – don’t forget the upper body.
- Use the time to positively reinforce the efforts of the players.
