How to Run an Effective Practice
Play-Practice-Play
Cambridge Youth Soccer bases its training curriculum on the Play-Practice-Play (PPP) model of running practices. Along with Mass Youth Soccer and the US Youth Soccer Federation, we believe the PPP approach is the best way for your players to enjoy soccer, learn the game, and develop their skills.
The basic idea is that players play a small-sided game upon arrival, then undertake two practice activities to target a specific skill or tactic, and finally end the session with a scrimmage. This approach avoids the traditional approach of standing in lines or doing drills that have little to do with actual games. Not only is Play-Practice-Play a better teaching strategy, it’s a lot more fun!
Step One: Choose Your Practice Theme
Select a single topic for your practice plan. This will give your session a focus and provide learning continuity as you advance from activity to activity. Some basic practice themes:
• Dribbling
• Passing & Receiving
• Defending
• Possession
• Finishing
There are many subcategories to these themes. For example, you may start with “Dribbling” one week, then follow-up at your next practice with “Dribbling to Beat Pressure”, and sometime later in the season focus on “Dribbling to Penetrate.” Your themes will become more advanced and tactical as you develop practices for older players.
Step Two: Select Two or Three Exercises/Activities that Support Your Theme
There are many ways to choose appropriate exercises. We recommend that you use the CYS curriculum developed by our professional coaches which give you ready-made practice themes and activities. The CYS curriculum offers activities that:
• Offer the right level of challenge for your age group – one that strikes a balance between success and failure
• Resemble the actual game
• Involve decision-making by your players
•Allow for creative problem solving.
Time to Lead Your Practice!
Stage One: Play
As your players arrive, they immediately jump into a small-sided game (ideally 3v3, but no bigger than 4v4) with the emphasis on having fun playing soccer. Think of this stage as street soccer or a pick-up game led by the players themselves while coaches observe. It is an opportunity for players to figure out things for themselves, such as learning positional play. It is not a time for lectures or instructions from coaches. You may discover it is also a chance for players to get a little socializing out of their system after not seeing teammates for several days.
Stage Two: Practice
Practice 1:
In this stage, you introduce your first learning activity, one that introduces your practice theme. This first activity is typically focused on a technical skill and should permit players to get plenty of repetition on a skill without having to deal with the level of opposition or competition one typically encounters in a game.
The role of the coach is to guide players while using effective teaching actions. You should be able to run a short technical activity while keeping the atmosphere fun and enjoyable for your team. In a few words, keep it moving and engaging!
Practice 2:
Your Practice 2 activity introduces a game-like condition that promotes the same skill as Practice 1, but with more opposition, more speed, more chaos, etc.— just like a real soccer game. We call this a “progression” in the practice. Some game-like variables or “progressions” you can introduce are:
• More pressure from defenders
• Larger numbers of players and more complexity
• Bigger spaces
• Increased competition, i.e. keeping score
The key to success is to introduce a Practice 2 activity that:
• Builds on the technical skill introduced in Practice 1
• Remains focused on your overall session theme
• More closely approximates your team’s weekend match.
Stage Three: Play Again (Scrimmage)
You conclude your practice with a scrimmage that gives players the opportunity and freedom to play without interruption in an environment that mirrors an actual game. The focus in the final Play stage is to encourage players to express themselves, be creative, and utilize what they learned in the Practice stage. You should offer only targeted direction or suggestions. Observe instead the ability of each player to understand and deploy the goals of the training session. A few considerations…• Be mindful of the field size. For example, if the game devolves into “breakaway fest”, consider making the field smaller.
• Rules should be as game-like as possible.
• Let the kids play. It’s good to ask them to think about their positions (“Hey, who are my backs on this team?), but don’t spend a lot of time assigning positions.
• Scrimmage is also an ideal time to give players a low-stakes chance to try playing goalkeeper.
That’s it! Time to look forward to your game.