How do you help coaches with little soccer knowledge and coaching experience to be confident and successful? One way is to provide coaching aids such as activity guides that they can use to help organize practice while providing useful skill development drills.
The US Youth Soccer Coaching Department has introduced its latest coaching resources with three age-specific practice activity guides. The three guides — for the U6-U8, U-10 and U-12 age groups — give coaches an idea of what should be covered throughout a season while highlighting activities that focus on development in a low-stress, fun-filled environment. The practice activity guides can be very beneficial to those new to coaching youth soccer and act as a useful resource for experienced youth coaches.

Each resource covers multiple types of practice activities, from warm-ups and individual training to small-sided and group games. The exercises are tailored to meet the cognitive and physical characteristics of each age group.

The guides each contain individual activity descriptions with accompanying coaching points, so coaches are aware of what to watch for during each exercise. With 20 sessions broken down in each guide, there are more than enough activities to meet the needs of any youth soccer season.
US Youth Soccer U6-U8 Practice Activities (2 MB PDF)
- Provides a list of varying characteristics of Under-6 and Under-8 players in regards to sports.
- How to play Small-Sided Games with “large” rosters.
- Activities focus on individual soccer skills that build on one another.
US Youth Soccer Under-10 Practice Activities (2 MB PDF)
- Provides a list of characteristics of Under-10 players.
- Advice on how to connect with the youth athlete.
US Youth Soccer Under-12 Practice Activities (1.6 MB PDF)
- Information on inserting tactics into training.
- Activities geared toward development and decision-making.