U11 the team spent a good part of the practice playing a game on a field that was broken up into zones. Sometimes there would be cones separating the different zones and players had to stay in their area. The coach would change the rules up all the time, number of touches before passing, neutral players on the perimeter, etc. Second half of the U11 year was at least 45 minutes of every practice spent playing games similar to this.

Play practice play is for grass roots level players, AKA recreational players. Some travel coaches use it but others don't. Kids do find it fun to play for a couple of minutes as they show up to practice, but this model is more emphasized for rec players.

RantingSoccerDad wrote:The new USSF license model stresses a "Play/Practice/Play" training plan in which players warm up with small-sided games and dynamic stretches, then get into a session that stresses particular points, then a scrimmage that re-emphasizes those points.

We'll see how many travel coaches actually use that.

We’re at Potomac and they’ve been using the new model since this past winter. My son loves it.

Is it an easy transition from 7v7 to 9v9 for the kids to learn?

My DD’s previous team solely played 1-2-1-3 and the coach had her play exclusively at center forward. I hope she doesn’t get too confused with the new formations.

Field size change is minimal, in fact some of the fields you previously played on was probably sized for 9v9 already. The extra 4 players forces more tactical movement of the ball and overall faster paced game.

I think you will see that some kids will naturally start to settle into 1-2 positions and the goalie position is starting to be set. Same 1-2 kids will play goal every game as opposed to the full rotation of players through the goals.

We didn't see any significant change in practice schedules overall but some drills started to fade away to be replaced by others more suited to the style of play at that age. Stretching became more important and was extended with a few more drills and a more significant warm-down was added as well.

Where we did U10/U11 the biggest change was a larger pitch side and an added player (not sure what the rules are here--we lived overseas). At U11 some of the taller more physical boys started to come into their own with more space to run on a longer field. Some of our more technical (but smaller) players lost the advantage of being scrunched together on a smaller pitch and being able to make plays and instead were forced into running races that they often lost.

As such our practices started to see more running based "north - south" type of attacks (and defending against) vs. the more horizontal kind of play they did at U10s. We played on a strong possession-style team so these through balls and breakaways were a new addition based on some of our players' abilities to really stretch the game. FWIW our U11s and U12s played on the same sized pitch, but U12s had an extra man which slowed the game back down a bit with a bit more of a crowd.

I’m interested in knowing as well. My DD is playing U11 this year.

Just wondering if there's a set curriculum or philosophy per age group. I'm sure it's club/coach dependent, but generally speaking, what do trainers/coaches mostly work on at U11? For U10, our typical training of 1.5 hours went loosely something like this:

15 min warm-up including rondo usually
15 foot skill drills
45 minutes on a particular area like attacking 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and defending 1v1, 2v2, 3v3
15 min scrimmage or some other game

Also on our team, if the coach feels the team needs to work on a specific area like shooting and finishing, he will add a session focusing on that area. But basically everyone gets the same training. GKs have the option for additional training outside of the team training.

I'm guessing that this year it will probably be the same but with the larger field and 9v9, wondering what changes, if any, to expect.