U6 Soccer Drills, Under 6, U8, Under 8

New Testimonial (I love to get emails like this) --

Coach David-

I have been coaching my four kids, ages 4-11, for the past 6 years, almost exclusively using the soccerhelp games and drills (supplemented by the DVD's offered and Coach Doug's website). Recently, my two middle children ( age 8 girl, age 9 boy) decided to try-out for Guam's elite soccer training program. I wasn't surprised that they were accepted. I was surprised to find that they could equally compete with other children who had been in the program for a year or more.

Thank you for the effort you place into the website, drills, approach, etc. It has enabled me, a father who never played the sport, to successfully prepare many young kids to reach their best and have fun at a high level of competition.

Coach Scott, Guam, Premium Member and Patches customer for 5 years

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The links to Soccer Drills and Practice Games below are to SoccerHelp Premium. If you're a Premium Subscriber, you should only have to log in once as long as you leave a link open.

You don't need to play different Soccer Drill or Practice Game at every practice. It is better to play the games that are most effective and use the additional time to play games that teach skills you need to work on (such as "Chipping the Ball", Throw-Ins or "Winning the Ball") or to teach defense or positions.

Here are the games you should start with (Remember, it's VERY important to have at least one ball per player):

For U4 and U6 - "Hit The Coach", "Monster Invasion", "Soccer Bees", "Follow The Leader", and "Animal Soccer" These games are easy to set up, fun and teach dribbling and kicking the ball. Your players will want to come to practice, the parents will get involved, your players will learn quickly and everyone will have fun, including you. You will be a very popular coach. Watch "Hit the Coach" on Coach Doug Video Clips

For U8 and older - As a Warm-Up, start every practice by playing "Dribble Across A Square Game" and if you have time, "Tick Tock" and "Tap-On-Top Race" (see the 3 Practice Plans below for examples). Then play "Dribble Around Cone & Pass Relay Race" a LOT (use it to teach passing and Aggressive Receiving), "Shoulder Tackle & Strength On The Ball Game" (for as many practices as needed), and either "Win the 50/50 Ball or be the First Defender 1v1 Attacking & Defending Practice Game", "Defend The Goal & Clear Game", "Chips/Lofted Passes Game", or "Throw-Ins Teaching Game", depending on which skills you need to work on. Scrimmaging is NOT a good way to practice -- it's inefficient, the best players get most of the touches, and it reinforces bad habits. However, if you scrimmage, ONLY scrimmage at your first practice so you can evaluate your players (play the "Small Sided Scrimmage Without a Goalie" game) AND at subsequent practices ONLY scrimmage for 10 minutes at the end of practice by playing the "Small Sided Scrimmage Without a Goalie" game.

Premium Practice Plans are at Premium Practice Plans.

Thanks for recommending us to other coaches and for being our customer.

David at SoccerHelp