Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 17:25     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
Soccermind wrote:
OP Here,



Thank you everyone for their feedback thus far. I think we are having a healthy and open discussion about players, programs and expectations. For reference, I grew up playing soccer all my life either in rec or members of my ethnic community in the neighborhood and watching a ton on TV. Young 20’s made lot of friends who played D1-D3 college and learned a lot from them. I also could compete pretty much equally.

At the end of the day, I think everyone just wants their children to get better moderately and improve. And that the Club/Team/Coach can help that improvement throughout the season. I do not expect Champions League training or even have the goal for my child to make college.

I think there are a large number of factors here which I’m sure has been brought up in past discussions and soccer as whole in America. #1 We don’t have the culture of kids playing soccer for fun in general at school or at home in the neighborhood. While every other country, they live and breathe it in everyday life by playing and watching. Hence why most kids who have good footwork at young age have parents come from international families. #2 From parental view, we feel we pay too much and because of that may expect certain level of instruction. And the coaches/trainers likely aren’t paid enough to truly care or put effort to set up training, really work with each child 1 on 1, and deal with parents complaining.

And that brings us here to travel soccer. Its a mix and match of both a clubs culture and coaches but also thrown in wide varying of each players interest/love for game, skill level, technical abilities, and understanding of game. There are ton of difference coaching strategies and methods, there is no one right way. I was actually hoping this discussion, everybody could prove me wrong and this is the good path moving forward. This is not to speak negatively about any club or team, this is the situation we are all in. Just hoping to broaden my understanding of the youth soccer in our area today and everyone’s experiences so we could make the best decision to stay or go with another club for our child. Even if I left to a coach who “trains” better but the kids are not friendly on the team or coaches yell too much. If my kid does not have fun and wants to quit, then whats it for.

We are very lucky to have a coach who is committed and providing constant pointers. The kids are happy playing with each other. I do see the coaches on older age groups just sort of stand there which I don’t like. To address what others have commented. Yes their definitely has to be a certain level of fun to it, I agree. Without it, its too easy to lose interest and playing 5 days a week will burn out. Especially at this young age, they don’t understand. Doing drills all day is no fun. Running laps all day is no fun. Most adults wouldn’t like it



I can see small sided games be beneficial to practice what you have been taught before you do games. Even for boys who are not as good at this age, it allows them to get as many touches as they can and develop which is also important. I’m completely fine with that for my age, but my question is more leaning, is that still the best development moving forward in the coming years? Will 3 years of playing small sided games and scrimmages be productive? Which does beg the question, what am i paying for? What is the difference between anyone rounding up a group of kids and letting them play 3 on 3 and scrimmaging. I’m sure most parents can do that and provide small tips here and there. I can’t see that as developing children in soccer for next 3 years. And yes I know recreational is an option and I can coach myself, but it is a team sport and you need better kids to play with for my child to get better.

And if small sided games are the most important, when do you practice all the other aspects of the game as I mentioned. You certainly can not do that very well at home with parent and a child. Because soon in a game at a very basic level, it becomes, when to move, keep formation, learn to do some 1-2 passes, make triangle formations, have skills to beat 1 on 1. And if there is little to none of it as drills, how can they improve. Just telling a child to do any of these things and actually executive in a small scrimmage is not easy.

Luckily for my child, he has seen the benefit of training 1 v 1 at home with dad. He enjoys learning to get better and trying to understand the game. So in that sense, it doesn’t matter what the club is doing. Thank you everyone for contributing.



I mean this humbly and authentically, if you did not care about your kid playing at a high-level, you would not care about the U8 training environment.

You are correct. If you can put together organic pickups and organize small group training 2-3x per week with a few kids and a technical trainer, your kid will develop more at a fraction of the cost. You are not going to get any converts here on DCUM. They are club drones still stuck in the matrix and the status of their kid and team which is connected to their self worth whether they know it or not.

I have built a futsal pickup culture locally in my area but it is all kids 1-3 years older and mainly targets of ICE. My kid plays on a major 1st team and the kids are mostly private school products who have zero interest in this footy culture. I can’t deny my kids are in private but I am still a 1st generation success and not afraid of “the culture.” The club kids have their successful habits being ingrained by successful parents but soccer development does not follow the same steps as becoming an attorney or lawyer. Just trying to keep it 💯 for you. Enjoy the journey!
Soccermind
Post 09/12/2025 13:37     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice

OP Here,



Thank you everyone for their feedback thus far. I think we are having a healthy and open discussion about players, programs and expectations. For reference, I grew up playing soccer all my life either in rec or members of my ethnic community in the neighborhood and watching a ton on TV. Young 20’s made lot of friends who played D1-D3 college and learned a lot from them. I also could compete pretty much equally.

At the end of the day, I think everyone just wants their children to get better moderately and improve. And that the Club/Team/Coach can help that improvement throughout the season. I do not expect Champions League training or even have the goal for my child to make college.

I think there are a large number of factors here which I’m sure has been brought up in past discussions and soccer as whole in America. #1 We don’t have the culture of kids playing soccer for fun in general at school or at home in the neighborhood. While every other country, they live and breathe it in everyday life by playing and watching. Hence why most kids who have good footwork at young age have parents come from international families. #2 From parental view, we feel we pay too much and because of that may expect certain level of instruction. And the coaches/trainers likely aren’t paid enough to truly care or put effort to set up training, really work with each child 1 on 1, and deal with parents complaining.

And that brings us here to travel soccer. Its a mix and match of both a clubs culture and coaches but also thrown in wide varying of each players interest/love for game, skill level, technical abilities, and understanding of game. There are ton of difference coaching strategies and methods, there is no one right way. I was actually hoping this discussion, everybody could prove me wrong and this is the good path moving forward. This is not to speak negatively about any club or team, this is the situation we are all in. Just hoping to broaden my understanding of the youth soccer in our area today and everyone’s experiences so we could make the best decision to stay or go with another club for our child. Even if I left to a coach who “trains” better but the kids are not friendly on the team or coaches yell too much. If my kid does not have fun and wants to quit, then whats it for.

We are very lucky to have a coach who is committed and providing constant pointers. The kids are happy playing with each other. I do see the coaches on older age groups just sort of stand there which I don’t like. To address what others have commented. Yes their definitely has to be a certain level of fun to it, I agree. Without it, its too easy to lose interest and playing 5 days a week will burn out. Especially at this young age, they don’t understand. Doing drills all day is no fun. Running laps all day is no fun. Most adults wouldn’t like it



I can see small sided games be beneficial to practice what you have been taught before you do games. Even for boys who are not as good at this age, it allows them to get as many touches as they can and develop which is also important. I’m completely fine with that for my age, but my question is more leaning, is that still the best development moving forward in the coming years? Will 3 years of playing small sided games and scrimmages be productive? Which does beg the question, what am i paying for? What is the difference between anyone rounding up a group of kids and letting them play 3 on 3 and scrimmaging. I’m sure most parents can do that and provide small tips here and there. I can’t see that as developing children in soccer for next 3 years. And yes I know recreational is an option and I can coach myself, but it is a team sport and you need better kids to play with for my child to get better.

And if small sided games are the most important, when do you practice all the other aspects of the game as I mentioned. You certainly can not do that very well at home with parent and a child. Because soon in a game at a very basic level, it becomes, when to move, keep formation, learn to do some 1-2 passes, make triangle formations, have skills to beat 1 on 1. And if there is little to none of it as drills, how can they improve. Just telling a child to do any of these things and actually executive in a small scrimmage is not easy.

Luckily for my child, he has seen the benefit of training 1 v 1 at home with dad. He enjoys learning to get better and trying to understand the game. So in that sense, it doesn’t matter what the club is doing. Thank you everyone for contributing.

Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 10:59     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No, enjoy and keep doing what you are doing.

Play-Practice-Play is the way to go, more touches and more fun. Drills kill the fun and take the joy out of soccer
Our team, top team, strictly did this at U9/U10. It got old and kids didnt develop at the same rate of other clubs. They need some instruction during play part and there was no technical development. Watching my kid "play" for more than half the practice has me questioning what we are paying the coach for. I dont subscribe to the US Soccer handbook. There is a reason why we are where we are. There can be a balance of PPP and technical development.


I agree. Play-Practice-Play is fine for rec and beginning travel for a period of time. But, there should be development in there. I have watched hundreds of academy videos from other countries and they are not scrimmaging the whole time. I too wonder what I am paying the coach for when they just do rondos, small scrimmages and big scrimmages over and over.

We left one club at U10 because after 2 years of scrimmage heavy practices, the kids were not advancing at the same rate of other teams in the league and the score gap was getting wider. The coaches at our last club did scrimmages for two reasons: The Tech Director was too busy to come supervise practices, so the coaches just did what they wanted. Some coaches put a lot of work into the practice set up. While the coach on the next team would just scrimmage. It really came down to what coach you got. Also, the coach I knew had a very busy day job. He would show up 5 min before practice, put out pug goals and scrimmage vests and that was the whole session...over and over and over.

I have had this exact conversation over and over:
ParentA, "What are you guys doing for practice today?"
Coach B, "Oh, we are going to just let the kids scrimmage. They will like that and that will be easy to run."

-Coaches scrimmage because it is the easiest way to Coach. It takes a lot of effort to design practices to work on skills and weaknesses and to constantly give the kids feedback.

We also have a coach who says, "I will not joystick your kids, the game is a great teacher." This translates to I won't do much coaching, I will only facilitate scrimmages. And I promise you none of your kids will be promoted, they will all stay at the same level and return to this team next year.

Finding the right coach is hard. We have had a coaching bait-and-switch at tryouts 2 times. And sometimes you might know your coach ahead of time, but it takes about 2 months to realize they just fall into a rut and do the same thing over and over at practices.

Hopefully your club has a strong Technical Director or Director of Coaches and the club has some guidelines about what should go into practices and they will share that with you. If not, it really just depends on what the individual coach wants to do or the bare minimum they can get away with.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 10:44     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
what the heck is yellow submarines?
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 10:43     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No, enjoy and keep doing what you are doing.

Play-Practice-Play is the way to go, more touches and more fun. Drills kill the fun and take the joy out of soccer
Our team, top team, strictly did this at U9/U10. It got old and kids didnt develop at the same rate of other clubs. They need some instruction during play part and there was no technical development. Watching my kid "play" for more than half the practice has me questioning what we are paying the coach for. I dont subscribe to the US Soccer handbook. There is a reason why we are where we are. There can be a balance of PPP and technical development.


NP here.

OP wants Champions league tactics at age 7. What 7 year old wants to defend? They want to be on the ball and score at that age. They want to have fun.

The parents want to win thus the commentary in this discussion. Tactics should not even be in the discussion at this age. The best kids on the ball will easily win at this age if your ego is that fragile on the weekends.

The kids who win the arms rest and become the best players are the kids who want to play morning, noon (recess) and night. They are not the kids winning U10 SuperCopa and burnt out at age 15 because soccer was not fun to them.

Could there be more instruction in the club from the OP? Yes, but from the OP’s desires, I imagine there is a heavy mismatch in what is actually taking place and how they perceive what is taking place.

My only caveat is if this is yellow submarines, run. Whoever is running their training methodology here has no clue what they are doing.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 10:25     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
Anonymous wrote:No, enjoy and keep doing what you are doing.

Play-Practice-Play is the way to go, more touches and more fun. Drills kill the fun and take the joy out of soccer
Our team, top team, strictly did this at U9/U10. It got old and kids didnt develop at the same rate of other clubs. They need some instruction during play part and there was no technical development. Watching my kid "play" for more than half the practice has me questioning what we are paying the coach for. I dont subscribe to the US Soccer handbook. There is a reason why we are where we are. There can be a balance of PPP and technical development.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 09:33     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
No, enjoy and keep doing what you are doing.

Play-Practice-Play is the way to go, more touches and more fun. Drills kill the fun and take the joy out of soccer
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 09:14     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
OP I’m with you on your concerns. I find that coaching becomes lazy and they just let the kids scrimmage a ton. I have found the coaches w busy day jobs just phone it in after while. They put out 4 PUG goals, put pinnis out and let the kids scrimmage for 66% of the practices and call it good.

Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 08:14     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
I have two kids playing in the U9-U12 range and their training is generally what you describe. One night a week focuses more on individual skills and the other two they focus on the other things you listed. For the older one speed is emphasized during the individual skills work because they have mastered the basics by now. Both teams always scrimmage at the end of practice either among themselves or against one of the other teams.

I think 1v1’s and 2v1’s are really important and wish my older one had done more of it when they were younger. Old club just worked on passing all the time which is ok but if you aren’t good in 1v1 you lose the ball a lot during games.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 08:09     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
alot of parents mistakes team practice vs individual practice when they join travel. Team practice is for team plays - mostly passing, small sided games, team specific-need plays/setup. learning formations, defense, situational awareness is usually taught during mini games or scrimmages against other teams within club. good coach should be teaching these during team practices. As for basic foot drills/development should be considered individual practice and should be done outside the team practice. there will be some of this type of training during team practices but not really.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 07:34     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
I'd be somewhat concerned too. Small sided games are important, but basic foot drills/development needs to happen too... are the coaches at least monitoring the games and correcting anything? Otherwise, you are just paying for your kid to "play" soccer with other kids.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 07:16     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
Anonymous wrote:Get out now, while you can.


Troll clown
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 06:55     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
Get out now, while you can.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 06:44     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
Soccermind wrote:My child 7 years old (nearly 8) just joined a U9 travel team in the NOVA area. I was very open minded how a club would train kids at this age. Still very young or inexperienced in play in many regards. Its been nearly 2 months of practice, 3 days week. Every practice, 95% of the time, comprises of smalled sided games 3v3 or 4v4. Thats it. Then I started looking at other age groups/ both genders training (through U11) with this club and they all are also doing the same thing.

How can this be, is this normal? I understand the importance of small sided games. Just not all the time i think. I would think there be some combination 1v1, 2v1, 3v1, passing drills, dribbling drills/ moves, learning formations, defense, situational etc. I understand footskills can be done at home,

Can someone explain to me the logic of this training methodology and their thoughts? What are other clubs doing during training at this age?


Consider yourself lucky!

At that age, it is all about having fun and touches on the ball. It actually sounds like they know what they are doing. What club?

Read the Croatian Development Curriculum as an easy resource.
Soccermind
Post 09/11/2025 23:24     Subject: Club Training Methodology / Practice
My child 7 years old (nearly 8) just joined a U9 travel team in the NOVA area. I was very open minded how a club would train kids at this age. Still very young or inexperienced in play in many regards. Its been nearly 2 months of practice, 3 days week. Every practice, 95% of the time, comprises of smalled sided games 3v3 or 4v4. Thats it. Then I started looking at other age groups/ both genders training (through U11) with this club and they all are also doing the same thing.

How can this be, is this normal? I understand the importance of small sided games. Just not all the time i think. I would think there be some combination 1v1, 2v1, 3v1, passing drills, dribbling drills/ moves, learning formations, defense, situational etc. I understand footskills can be done at home,

Can someone explain to me the logic of this training methodology and their thoughts? What are other clubs doing during training at this age?