Anonymous wrote:It’s Simple at 13+

1. Get Faster
Start with a proper warmup, then hit short sprints on turf or grass. Keep your mechanics clean, and focus on explosive effort over short distances (10–30m).

2. Build Speed Endurance
Sprint longer distances (40–100m) at near top speed with full recovery between reps. Think “repeat sprint ability” — crucial for the game.

3. Cardiovascular Endurance
Run, forest, run! Go for longer jogs at a steady, moderate pace. Use your body, track it with AI, or apps like Runna to stay consistent.

4. Get Stronger (Muscular Strength + Endurance)
Use bodyweight calisthenics or start lifting weights. Focus on key lifts (squats, presses, and pulls). Adjust reps/sets based on your goal:
Strength (low reps, high weight)
Hypertrophy (moderate reps, moderate weight)
Endurance (high reps, lower weight)

5. Touches on the Ball
Every day. Dribble, pass, finish. Play alone, with friends, join pickup games or adult leagues. The more touches, the more comfortable and confident you become.

This a generic ChatGT response?

It’s Simple at 13+

1. Get Faster
Start with a proper warmup, then hit short sprints on turf or grass. Keep your mechanics clean, and focus on explosive effort over short distances (10–30m).

2. Build Speed Endurance
Sprint longer distances (40–100m) at near top speed with full recovery between reps. Think “repeat sprint ability” — crucial for the game.

3. Cardiovascular Endurance
Run, forest, run! Go for longer jogs at a steady, moderate pace. Use your body, track it with AI, or apps like Runna to stay consistent.

4. Get Stronger (Muscular Strength + Endurance)
Use bodyweight calisthenics or start lifting weights. Focus on key lifts (squats, presses, and pulls). Adjust reps/sets based on your goal:
Strength (low reps, high weight)
Hypertrophy (moderate reps, moderate weight)
Endurance (high reps, lower weight)

5. Touches on the Ball
Every day. Dribble, pass, finish. Play alone, with friends, join pickup games or adult leagues. The more touches, the more comfortable and confident you become.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, it’s a waste of time and money.

no its not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, it’s a waste of time and money.

Why do you say that?

Waste of time to ask them for a response

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, it’s a waste of time and money.

Why do you say that?

Honestly, it’s a waste of time and money.

I wouldn’t hesitate to try private sessions with a current club coach. It might be the most convenient option.

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the input.

My kids will play around outside, bouncing off the rebounder, juggling, taking shots on the small goal in our backyard, etc. Beyond that, I don't know what else they can really do on their own at their ages.

It sounds like some individual training sessions could be useful to improve on specific areas, depending on the quality of the trainer.

I know that some kids sign up with a coach or assistant coach from their current team for individualized training. Does that typically work well, given that the coach has more familiarity with the player from seeing them at practice and in games, therefore knowing what they need to work on in individual training? Or it an outside perspective better for individual training?

I know people sometimes gripe about a conflict of interest when a coach or assistant coach offers private training for team members that might bleed into perceived favoritism on the team, but let's set that dynamic aside for now. Just more interested in what would work better for actual improvements from individual training.

Anonymous wrote:I'd be interested in hearing about any experiences with signing up for private training sessions for your youth soccer players (in my case, kids are 11 and 13) and how it compares with the training they are already receiving playing on their club teams. One of my kids is at the second-team level and one is on the first team (MLS Next) but we've never gone in for private training for either of them.

Is this something that many players do to improve specific areas of their game that might be lacking, as identified by their club coaches? Is it effective or just a waste of money? Just trying to gauge whether it's a good idea / worth it. I used to try to help them train on my own for fun, but to be honest they're both far above my skill level at this point and I don't think my "dad training" fun sessions are really doing anything to help them very much, due to my own lack of technical skill etc.

-Private training will help your kid a bunch over team training. My kid is in the middle third of the players on her team. With the team training alone, there is no way she would ever exceed that ranking. The top third kids will continue to dominate the session, the coach mostly pays attention to the best kids and the bottom third kids who need the most help. The middle third kids receive less attention. At team training, if your kid is just going through the motions (because they have done it a thousand times before) the coach will just let them go through the motions. If your kid makes mistakes at team training, it will probably go unnoticed by the coach because of the ratio of players to the coach.

At private training, your kid will receive corrections, repetition and motivation they probably just aren't getting at team training.

-Yes, a private trainer can help improve speed, fitness, body position, technique and build overall confidence.

The two things I will caution you about is to make sure the trainer just doesn't do the same thing for all their clients. We tried one trainer who just did mostly the same training for all the kids, regardless of whether they needed it or not. Make sure, they can tailor the training to your kid's position and needs -vs- just implementing a training session that they put on for all players.

Secondly, do not let them force you into a "training package" right away. Get a trial run or two and go from there.

Yes, a lot of top team players or aspiring 2nd team players are doing extra training outside of team training to improve. If you find the right fit, it should certainly help a lot!

Absolutely recommend it if your kids want to compete at top level. You see a-lot of change and cuts at top teams at U13-U15. So dont assume because they made it to top they will stay there. Next season if your kid is not a starter it will be a sign.

Whether you're paying for it or not, your kid has to be doing a lot more work than team training to be a top level player.

Consistently, with quality being more important than quantity.
Focusing more on their weaknesses than their strengths.

Its not fancy nor sexy. Just consistently putting in the work.

I think the first thing you should ask is whether your boys are on the ball outside of team practices, either doing stuff on their own or together. We did not do private training until I noticed my DS creating his own exercise and drills from YouTube.

We do small group training regularly as well when we know the group is on a similar level since that fuels their competitiveness

Anonymous wrote:I'd be interested in hearing about any experiences with signing up for private training sessions for your youth soccer players (in my case, kids are 11 and 13) and how it compares with the training they are already receiving playing on their club teams. One of my kids is at the second-team level and one is on the first team (MLS Next) but we've never gone in for private training for either of them.

Is this something that many players do to improve specific areas of their game that might be lacking, as identified by their club coaches? Is it effective or just a waste of money? Just trying to gauge whether it's a good idea / worth it. I used to try to help them train on my own for fun, but to be honest they're both far above my skill level at this point and I don't think my "dad training" fun sessions are really doing anything to help them very much, due to my own lack of technical skill etc.

Ideally, you are doing it correctly. Development begins at home.

We do private at least 1x a week mainly to focus on technique. The rest of the development is at home. I find it worth it “depending” on the trainer.

Some are no different than me. The ones who drill down on technique are worth the money IMHO as they teach things I could never teach my son and they will never learn from the team.

Anonymous wrote:I'd be interested in hearing about any experiences with signing up for private training sessions for your youth soccer players (in my case, kids are 11 and 13) and how it compares with the training they are already receiving playing on their club teams. One of my kids is at the second-team level and one is on the first team (MLS Next) but we've never gone in for private training for either of them.

Is this something that many players do to improve specific areas of their game that might be lacking, as identified by their club coaches? Is it effective or just a waste of money? Just trying to gauge whether it's a good idea / worth it. I used to try to help them train on my own for fun, but to be honest they're both far above my skill level at this point and I don't think my "dad training" fun sessions are really doing anything to help them very much, due to my own lack of technical skill etc.

I don’t think you need private training necessarily, just time on the ball outside of team practices and games. Ur son is alrdy on an MLSNext team. If they’re getting lots of playing time and are getting better, then perhaps they don’t need additional training.

On DS MLSnext, the top 3 players are training often outside of team practices usually in small group training. They probably are also doing strength, speed, and agility training.

I'd be interested in hearing about any experiences with signing up for private training sessions for your youth soccer players (in my case, kids are 11 and 13) and how it compares with the training they are already receiving playing on their club teams. One of my kids is at the second-team level and one is on the first team (MLS Next) but we've never gone in for private training for either of them.

Is this something that many players do to improve specific areas of their game that might be lacking, as identified by their club coaches? Is it effective or just a waste of money? Just trying to gauge whether it's a good idea / worth it. I used to try to help them train on my own for fun, but to be honest they're both far above my skill level at this point and I don't think my "dad training" fun sessions are really doing anything to help them very much, due to my own lack of technical skill etc.