The Coaches' Room
5v5U8Coaching & Sessions

Can a training session have too many different practices?

Asked by Lucy_94
2862 views 3 replies
Our U8 session last week had a warm-up game, a dribbling practice, a passing practice, a shooting practice and then 5v5. The kids enjoyed it but it felt like we were constantly explaining the next thing. Is fewer activities with more time playing generally better at this age?

VERIFIED COACH ANSWER

VERIFIED COACH RESPONSE

UEFA C Coach

Grassroots session design

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Yes, a session can definitely have too many practices. Five good-looking activities can still produce a poor hour if the players spend most of it moving cones and listening to the next explanation. At U8 I’d normally rather have two or three blocks that connect. You might start with a 1v1 or 2v2, develop that into a slightly bigger game, then finish with football. The players get more repetition and the coach gets more chance to notice whether anything is actually changing. You can still vary the challenge inside one game instead of constantly replacing it. A useful check is how often the children are actively playing compared with waiting or listening. If they enjoyed the session, nothing is “wrong”, but fewer transitions usually gives you more football and more learning time.

COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

Join the football discussion. 3 replies

C

ColdTouchline82

Community Member

I think coaches sometimes confuse variety with quality. You can change the picture inside one game without building a completely new practice every ten minutes.
T

TeaAndToast

Community Member

This is me. I used to spend Sunday night designing six drills and Tuesday moving cones between all of them.
N

NatAgain

Community Member

We cut ours from five activities to three and the session improved straight away. Less explaining, more chance to actually coach what was happening.