Game-Like Trainings

Practice sessions should be focused on game-like activities. Activities that are not game-like have their place, but they should be limited, and really only used when teaching how to initially do something.

Drills that focus on technique and touches can be effective in short spurts, but when run too long, players tend to zone out and stop thinking about what they are doing. When players are engaged in game-like situations, they are actively thinking and making decisions that will help them in games.

One easy way to see if a training is “game-like” is to see if it encompasses the 4 phases of a game. They are as follows:

1. Offense
2. Transitioning from offense to defense
3. Defense
4. Transitioning from defense to offense

If your activity is lacking any of those 4 phases, it is not game-like, and you should modify your drill to make it more game-like (if possible). Remember that game form activities are the most beneficial for players.

Note: Training activities should be CLEAR on the WHY players are doing something. It is not advised for you to just create or borrow an activity and run it without a purpose. The players should understand the purpose so that it translates to the field.

Practice sessions should be broken up into segments that build upon one another. Many of you will have heard of play, practice, play, and the example below will follow this methodology. However, you do not need to follow this to a tee for every practice. 

However, it is important that players get the “play” portion as much as possible, as this is where mistakes happen and are learned from. The decision making learned at practice translates directly to game days.

Note: Coaches should focus on just 1 or 2 things at a time. It’s easy to fall into the trap of seeing a lot of issues and trying to correct them all, but if you correct a player on 4 things, they won’t remember any of it. If you correct them on a single thing, and reinForce SC SC it by having them repeat it back to you, they are more likely to start forming a habit. In the training shown below, we are switching fields. Even if you see something else, for example, poor defense, you should focus your attention on switching fields if you want the players to better absorb the lesson.

For our example, we will be teaching our team how to switch fields in a play, practice, play environment with the following session:

1. Small sided scrimmages (3v3 or 4v4) where the field is wide, and you talk to the players about the goal – switching fields, beforehand. Encourage switching fields during the scrimmage, and give high praise when one of the players accomplishes a switch, or has a good attempt at it. Scrimmages are considered “play” and are very much game-like.

2. Main activity: This will consist of driving home what you want to do for that day. The drill diagrammed below can be used in a number of ways. It could be used, for example, to teach the players to split defenders (a good tool when teaching through balls). In this example, it will teach the players to switch fields:

This activity is the “practice” part of the training session, and is the least “game-like” scenario in your practice.

3. Scrimmage (the final “play” part of a training). The scrimmage should be as game-like as possible. If you can get two entire teams and use a regulation field, you should. If not, you should modify your scrimmage so that the players can still get a game-like situation. One way to modify a scrimmage for fewer players, but still focus on the idea of switching fields, is to place pop-up goals in a wide area. This will allow for players to switch from one goal to the other when on attack, encouraging them to switch fields.

Note: Every action a coach makes should be intentional. For example, if you decide to run a practice activity that is not game-like, ask yourself exactly why you are doing it. Is there a way we could make it more game-like? If you are altering something to make it less game-like, be intentional, have a reason, and have a behavior that you are trying to get the players to incorporate. Do NOT do it just because you saw another coach do it, or you found a YouTube video and said “that looks like a great drill.”

Many coaches and parents ask how they can get their players to have faster decision making. The solution is actually pretty simple, but can be accomplished in a number of ways. 

If you have watched or coached a futsal game, you know the tempo of decision making is much higher than it is in soccer. Why is that? Some of that can be attributed to the faster playing surface, but most of it comes down to the shape of the field. It’s long and narrow, which leads to quicker play.

If you set up a drill that is long and narrow, and limit your players to 1 or 2 touches, it will probably look sloppy at first. But this does several things. It forces them to work in a more confined space. It also teaches them to get the ball moving quickly in a north/south direction. But what we are looking for, and the last thing it teaches, is speed of play. With 1 or 2 touches, players are moving off the ball, flying around, and making quick decisions. Eventually they will get use to it, the tempo will ramp up, and they will be moving passing, and talking at extremely high speeds. I’ve seen sessions like these on grass run faster than a futsal game.

Confidence can make or break a player, and in turn, make or break a team. Two teams with similar skill and development will look completely different on the field if one is confident and the other team lacks there.So as coaches, how do we instill confidence in our players?

There are two main ways to build up a player, and they are fairly simple. 

1. Repetition. The more touches a player gets, the better they become, and the better they become, the more their confidence will rise. I like to stress footwork. Will they use every move I teach them in a game situation? Absolutely not. But will they understand enough to know they are comfortable on the ball? Yes. I believe footwork breeds confidence.
2. Praise. For your player who is lacking confidence, praise them as much as possible. At water breaks, call them out for doing something great in the last drill. And when coaching their mistakes, tell them something they did great in the last play, but then let them know what they need to correct (“I love your thought process on the last play, but make sure you lock your ankle when making that pass.”). The first time they correct it, treat it like a huge achievement (“YES! That’s what I’m talking about! Give me more passes like that!”).