Where to start...

In order to make practices run smoothly and be fun, it is important for us to have a basic understanding of the intellectual, emotional, and physical developmental stage of the players we are coaching. Here are some typical characteristics of the 9U player.

• Enjoy playing in pairs 
• Are now able to take another's perspective
• Still unable to think abstractly - begin working on spatial relationship between player and a partner, but not ready for larger tactical concepts
• Enjoy playing, not watching - every player or pair should have a ball in practice, eliminate lines and waiting, play games where everyone can participate at the same time
• Limited attention span - keep directions concise and to the point
• Moving from active imagination towards a more serious focus on practice - continue to include some imaginative games, but they should start to look more like an actual soccer game
• Beginning to develop more speeds - players begin with extremely fast and stopped, but are now developing different levels in the middle and can process the difference between a jog, a run, and a sprint
• Cooling systems are less efficient than adults - need frequent water breaks
• Have an understanding of time and sequence - "If I do this, then that happens."
• Very aware of adult reactions - be very aware of your reactions and what they are communicating to players
• Seek out adult approval and need reassurance - be supportive
• Begin to become aware of peer perception - a social order is beginning to develop
• Still developing confidence and bravery - must take risks and try new things to learn, if it doesn't work the first time coach should celebrate the attempt in order to build confidence to try again
• Becoming more competitive and learning how to handle failure - players often struggle with getting scored on or losing the ball, remove the negativity from your response to these experiences and instead encourage players to use it as motivation to try to dribble down field or score a goal themselves
• Wide range of abilities between children at this age - try to create opportunities for every player at every level to continue improving and experience success
• Beginning to develop motor memories - activities should provide lots of repetitions of the important technical skills

Practice Structure: Play - Practice - Play

1. The (Initial) Play Stage - Empirical data has shown that children learn best when they get to experience periods of unstructured play where they can experiment on their own. It promotes enjoyment, inclusion, and development. These three factors have proven to increase motivation to continue playing. The coaches role during this Play stage is to ensure safety and monitor the games. Monitoring the games includes making sure the games are not lopsided and providing adequate stoppages to allow the players to stretch and rehydrate. During the stoppages the coach is encouraged to ask guiding questions to lead the players towards the goal and objectives of the session.
2. The Practice Stage - This stage uses activities to create game-like situations that create problems for the players to solve and the coach to assist with the problem solving process. A simple checklist provided in the session plans includes questions such as: Does it look like Soccer? Is it organized? Is it challenging? Are there repetitions of the topic being worked on? and Is there coaching consisting of positive reinforcement? Mistakes are an essential part of the learning process and players should be encouraged to work through them and try again. This stage utilizes group activities that focus on the topic being worked on that day. After starting with the Core Activity section, coaches can choose between the "less challenging" and "more challenging" options for the second activity based on how challenging the initial Core Activity was for the team.
3. The (Final) Play Stage - In this stage we are checking to see how much if any of the practice stage has transferred with each player into the game. It is recommended in this stage that the coach sets up 2 teams of equal numbers and that one team is set up as close to the starting line up for the upcoming game as possible. In ideal circumstances this should be in the 6v6 format that players will experience in the upcoming game, but adjustments can be made based on number of players at practice. The players should experience extended periods of uninterrupted play with the coach just monitoring the safety of the players and reviewing the checklist and guided questions to empower the players to solve problems on their own.

Optional Practice Plans

Practices for this age should be focused primarily within 3 categories; 1. Attacking - Shoot, dribble, or pass forward; 2. Defending - Pressure and steal the ball, protect your goal; 3. Technical Training - Games that offer repetitions of ball control, deceptive dribbling, and shooting to build muscle memory. The following practice plans are made available to assist coaches in providing engaging, educational, and fun practices for 9U teams. You may choose to go through them in order, or pick them based on topic. If you find a particular session useful, it is ok to repeat the same lesson multiple weeks. The games from the Technical Training section are short. Multiple of these games can be combined together to fill a practice, or they can be used individually at the beginning or end of the Attacking and Defending lesson plans for warm up or a fun change of pace from the practice plan.

 The plans in the Attacking and Defending sections were created and shared by Massachusetts Youth Soccer in good faith and must not be utilized for assignments for US Soccer or United Soccer Coaches education courses. Coaches are welcome to use and build upon these plans as long as appropriate credit is given.

  Attacking - Shoot, dribble, or pass forward

  Attacking Lesson 1

  Attacking Lesson 2

  Attacking Lesson 3

  Attacking Lesson 4

  Attacking Lesson 5

  Attacking Lesson 6

  Defending - Pressure and steal the ball, protect your goal

  Defending Lesson 1

  Defending Lesson 2

  Defending Lesson 3

  Technical Training - Games that offer repetitions of ball control, deceptive dribbling, and shooting to build muscle memory

  Game 1

  Game 2

  Game 3

  Game 4

Sources

http://www.mayouthsoccer.org

The City of Republic Parks and Recreation would like to thank Ian Mulliner and Massachusetts Youth Soccer for providing this shareable content for coaches. Before joining Massachusetts Youth Soccer, Ian Mulliner served as the Director of Coaching of Illinois Youth Soccer Associaiton for over ten years. Originally from Manchester, England, Ian has been coaching in the U.S. since 1992. Ian has served as a member of the National Coaching Committee for US Youth Soccer and worked with US Soccer to develop the new Grass Roots Coaching Licenses. He holds the USSF "A" License and National Youth License, F.I.F.A. Futuro III certificate, F.A. Preliminary Coaching Awards as well as the Dutch KNVB Coach's License.