By Mike Saif
Question - My players don't seem interested in the drills I set up and get bored and distracted easily. What can I do make them more interested?
I’m not sure exactly how you have your drills set up, but just by using the word drills leaves me to believe that they could be what I call ‘static drills’, where players are in lines waiting for their turn. As a player I hated these drills…all I wanted to do was run around and play a game of soccer. As a coach, whenever I did these drills, I could always sense that my players would rather be playing instead of waiting in lines. So although there is a place for static drills, like when introducing and learning a new technique, they should only be done for as short a time as possible and not in lines, before moving on to a more active exercise.
For example, let’s take a look at teaching players to pass and receive. This first drill where players pass to the opposite line and then run to join the other line allows you to teach the coaching points of passing and receiving, but with 3 or 4 players in each line, they are likely to get bored and lose interest.
A better line drill will be to have just three players. This means that each player is either passing, receiving or running.
Another example of a better line drill would be to have a player in the middle receiving passes from a player at one end and then turning to receive a pass from the player at the other end. Do this for 30 seconds or so and then have the players switch positions. This means all players are constantly passing and receiving.
Even better would be to progress from the line drills as soon as you feel is practical. So for passing and receiving, you could set up all kind of small-sided keep-away type games which are more active, game realistic and more fun for the players.
In this example, you could set up 8v2, 7v3, or include neutral players in 5v5+1 or 5v5+2 or even more neutral players depending on the age and ability of your players.
Give it a try and experiment with fewer players in each line drill, or even better, progress to small-sided games much earlier.
By Mike Saif
Founder and President of WORLD CLASS COACHING, Mike has coached 12 State Championship teams and coached the 87G Dynamos to a USYS National Championship.
