JV Girls Soccer Practice Plan

Coach: Dylan Spencer Date: 5/1/2017

Location: UNC Practice Field 6 Start Time: 4:00 p.m.
Number of Athletes: ~20 Duration: 120 minutes

Equipment & Materials: 30 cones, 20 soccer balls, 4 red pennies, 4 green pennies, 4 blue pennies, 4
pop-up goals, water jug.

Safety / Liability Concerns: Sprinklers on the field, divots in the grass, appropriate clothing and
equipment (shin guards, cleats, socks), hydration.

Practice Objective: Teach athletes to use and understand the tactic of drawing in defenders with short
passes and sending the ball to the created open space.

Practice Schedule
Time Activity
3:30 3:40 Warm Up
3:40 3:50 Skill Review: One Touch Passing
3:50 3:52 Water Break
3:52 4:10 New Tactic: Drawing Defenders Drill 1
4:10 4:12 Water Break
4:12 4:35 New Tactic: Drawing Defenders Drill 2
4:35 4:37 Water Break
4:37 4:50 Conditioning
4:50 4:52 Water Break
4:52 5:00 Cooldown
3:30 3:40:
Warm Up
Written Description: Line up athletes on a sideline. Set up a line of cones 10 yards away parallel with
the sideline. Begin the warm up with a light jog from one sideline to the other and back, then instruct
the athletes to perform the following exercises to the line of cones and back: high knees, butt kicks,
quad stretch, toy soldiers, lunge twist, karaoke, side shuffle, back pedal. Finish the warm up with 2
strides across the width of the field.
Progression: Light jog across field, high knees, butt kicks, quad stretch, toy soldiers, lunge w/ twist,
karaoke, side shuffle, back pedal, strides (x2).
Cones
X
X
X
10 yards
X
X
Sideline

X
X
X
X
X
X
X

Coaches

Key: X= athletes
Coach Comments:
 3:40 3:50:
Review Previous Skill: One Touch Pass
Written description: The players partner up, obtain a ball and position themselves at a set of cones
that are 10 yards apart. Players begin the activity with simple passes back and forth. The receiver
controls the pass and sends it back to their partner. After allowing the players to pass for 1 minute,
progress into one touch passes back and forth between partners. Combine partners into groups of 4
and have the players one touch pass within their groups. Lastly incorporate motion by having each
group one touch pass to each other while circling the square formed by the cones they are positioned
at.
Progression: Easy partner passes -> one touch passes -> one touch passes in group of 4 -> one touch
passing while rotating

10 yards
X X X X X X

10 yards

X X X X X X

Cues:
Lock ankles, square to target, contact the middle, follow through
3:50 3:52 Break for Water
Coach Comments:
3:52 4:10
New Tactic Practice: Drawing Defenders in with Short Passes Drill 1
Written Description: Set up cones as shown below. The player at the starting position begins the drill
by passing the ball to his nearest teammate who either takes a touch with it or one touch passes it
back. When the player that started the drill receives the ball again, they pass a long ball to their
teammate positioned at the cone farthest away from them. The receiver of this ball repeats the
sequence with the teammate at the cone closest to them. Players rotate through positions after
sending the long ball. As players get comfortable with the drill, add in a defender to the middle and
have the players draw him in with the short passes before sending the long ball.
Progression: Slow walkthrough of drill to understand pattern -> Increase tempo -> light pressure from
defenders -> heavy pressure from defenders

Without Defenders: With Defenders:

1 X Coach Coach X
~ 10 yards
XX 2
X D

~ 320 yards 6

5 XX D X
~ 10 yards
4
X X

Key: 1,2,3= Drill pass sequence, X= Passer, D= Defender

Communicate to Players: Wait until defender commits to send long ball, passes need to be accurate

Cues: short-short-long, communicate, draw the defender

4:10 4:12 Break for Water
Coach Comments:
4:12 4:35
New Tactic Practice: Drawing Defenders in with Short Passes Drill 2
Written Description: Set up 4 pop-up goals on each corner of the 18 yard box as shown. Split team
into 3 groups of 4 and assign each group different color pennies. Two teams will play at a time trying
to score in goals 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 as determined by the coach. The first team to 3 points wins. After
a game is over rotate in the third team for the team that lost. Restart the game with the new teams.
After a few progressions add in the option to score on the big goal but teams can only score using a
volley. Have a member of the team that is not currently playing be a goal keeper for the big goal.
Progression: 4v4 games to 3 points, cant score on big goal -> 4v4 to 3 points, can score on big goal

Goal 1 RRR Goal 2

X O
X
O

O
X
Goal 3 Goal 4

O
R X

Key: X= Team 1, O= Team 2, R= Team 3

Communicate to Players: Draw defenders close to a goal on one side and look to send a long ball to
the other side when left undefended. Emphasize the tactic of drawing in defenders. Make sure the
team that is sitting out is actively engaged in watching and identifying instances of good tactical
decision making.

Cues: short-short-long, communicate, draw the defender, move to space

4:35 4:37: Break for Water
Coach Comments:
4:37 4:50:
Conditioning
Written Description: Form athletes into a circle. Instruct athletes to do 15 repetitions of the following
exercises: squats, push-ups, v-sits, lunges, reverse plank tricep dips, oblique twists. Allow 30 seconds
of rest between each exercise before moving on to the next one. Finish conditioning with 5 sprints
down the width of the soccer field with 10 seconds rest between each sprint.
Progression: 15 reps/ 30 seconds rest squats, push-ups, lunges, reverse plank tricep dips, oblique
twists -> 5 sprints with 10 seconds rest.

Coach X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X X
X X
X X

4:50 4:52 Break for Water

4:52 5:00:
Cooldown
Written Description: Instruct athletes to jog at an easy pace around the grounds for 8-10 minutes until
5:00 p.m.
Coach Comments: