Warm-up: (15-20 mins)
Warm-ups will always involve the
ball, revolving around fun activities, whilst working
on various concepts of the game. Stretching at an early
age, although not really needed, is performed before
each practice, as this concept needs to become second
nature to our players and will prevent many injuries
as they mature through the older ages. As the players
mature so do the warm-ups and intensity of the activities.
A good warm-up is the building block to every good practice.
The player's should be ready to play both mentally and
physically.
Skill work: (15-20 mins)
Depending on the age, this is
an area that will be used as a major part of training,
and will be prolonged, or as a warm-up to training depending
on the age and level of the player. Repetition of the
same skill will be repeated over and over again in order
for our players to master the skill.
Topic/Concept of the day: (25-40mins)
The two previous
stages of the training session should have involved some
aspect of the Topic of the day. However, some days this
may vary and the beginning 10-15 minutes of this time
slot would be a basic concept of what the team will
eventually get to. Depending on the amount of skill
work the team is doing will depend on the time allotted
to this area of the training session.
Game (For duration of practice and a minimum of 15 minutes)
Depending on the age of the team, the topic of the day
may have involved normal game play with restrictions,
however, the last portion of training should be for the
players. All that is required is effort. The game should
be open for our players to enjoy themselves in a coach
free environment.
Finally, each coach is handed a curriculum by the club at the start of each season and their goal is to teach the players what they need to know. Therefore, as parents you may question from time to time why the things that went wrong on the field are not necessary the things we work on in practice. Remember that this is a progression for your child and that there overall development and understanding of their game is what is important.
