Practice plans for youth soccer coaches

Practice at six.
Plan done.

Soccer Protocol writes the whole session. Play, Practice, Play, timed to your slot, with the setup, the coaching points, and the cues for every activity. Ready in minutes.

Tell it the age group and how many players are actually coming. Nine showed up instead of fourteen? The plan is built for nine.

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Youth soccer players training on a grass field

01 · What you get

A session you can run tonight.

A real plan in the shape the app writes it. Four timed blocks that add up to the session you booked, each with the setup, what to look for, and the adjustment to reach for when it is going wrong.

Sample session · Receiving and first touchU10 · 14 players · 60 min
Play
15 min
Practice
30 min
Play
15 min
Play · Arrival game15 min

Sharks and Minnows

Minnows line up on one side with a ball each. One or two sharks in the middle without a ball. On the call, minnows dribble across. A minnow who loses their ball becomes a shark.

Coaching points

  • Head up before the first touch, not after it
  • Change of speed beats change of direction at this age
  • Say nothing for the first two rounds and watch instead

Cues

  • Eyes up
  • Push and go
  • Find the gap
Practice · Core activity15 min

First Touch Across the Body

Pairs twelve yards apart with a cone gate beside each receiver. Pass in, receive with the far foot into the gate, then pass back. Twenty each side, then add a passive defender showing one side.

Coaching points

  • Receive with the back foot so the field opens up
  • First touch travels into the gate, not under the body
  • Look over the shoulder before the ball arrives

What usually goes wrong

  • Stopping the ball dead and then needing a second touch to move
  • Receiving with the near foot and ending up facing backwards
  • Standing square to the passer

Cues

  • Back foot
  • Open your body
  • Touch into space
Practice · Game-like activity15 min

Possession to target players

Two teams in the middle, one target player from each team in the opposite end zone. Six passes earns the right to find your target. Ball to the target and the passer swaps in.

Coaching points

  • Receive on the half turn so the target is already in view
  • The pass before the pass is the one that opens it
  • Support at an angle, never in the passing lane

What usually goes wrong

  • Everyone runs toward the ball and the space disappears
  • Six passes get counted sideways with no intent
  • Target stands still instead of checking to the ball

Ask, do not tell

  • Where was the space when you lost it?
  • Which foot should that first touch be on?
  • What did your target need you to do?

Too easy

  • Two touch maximum in the middle third
  • Add a second target and make them switch to score
  • Reduce the area by five yards each way

Too hard

  • Drop to four passes before the target is live
  • Add a neutral player who always joins the team in possession
  • Widen the area and let them breathe
Play · Scrimmage15 min

7v7 with a build-out line

7v7 including keepers, build-out line in effect. Coach in moments only. Rotate every player through at least two different roles.

Coaching points

  • Look for the back-foot touch showing up without being asked for
  • Freeze the game at most twice, and only for something everyone can learn from
  • Let the mistakes run. They are the lesson
PDF · Print · YouTube linked

02 · The model

They came to
play.

Every session is built on Play, Practice, Play, the model used across grassroots coach education. Players arrive into a game with the ball at their feet inside a minute. The middle of the session teaches one idea through two activities. Then the session ends back in the game.

The structure is the point. Drills expand to fill whatever time you give them, and the scrimmage is what gets cut. Here the clock is allocated before the plan is written, so the football at the end is never the part that disappears.

03 · The ladder

A U6 is not a small U16.

Every age group gets its own session structure, its own match format, and its own limits. Heading does not appear before U12. The 2 to 4 group does not scrimmage at all. You pick the age and the rest follows.

  • Tots

    2 to 4

    No matches. Games only

    A ball each, parents on the field, and a story instead of an instruction. No teams, no scores, no scrimmage.

  • Foundation

    U5 to U6

    4v4, no keepers

    Comfort on the ball. Everybody touches it constantly and nobody stands in a line.

  • Discovery

    U7 to U8

    4v4 to 5v5

    Dribbling and 1v1 confidence. Trying a move and losing the ball is the point, not the problem.

  • Development

    U9 to U10

    7v7, build-out line

    First touch and passing under light pressure. Shape arrives through the game, not a whiteboard.

  • Skill acquisition

    U11 to U12

    9v9

    The highest-yield window there is for technique. Volume of quality touches under real pressure.

  • Game training

    U13 to U14

    11v11

    Technique inside team tactics. Growth spurts are happening, so load is a coaching decision.

  • Performance

    U15 to U19

    11v11

    Position-specific detail, speed of play, and managing a game against a real opponent.

04 · The library

Written for the age you coach.

A curated library rather than a scraped one. Every activity carries the ages it suits, the number of players it needs, the space it takes, and the kit it requires, so nothing reaches your plan that you cannot actually run.

Topics

  • Ball mastery
  • Dribbling
  • 1v1 attacking
  • 1v1 defending
  • Passing
  • Receiving and first touch
  • Possession
  • Finishing
  • Crossing and finishing
  • Group defending
  • Transition
  • Heading
  • Goalkeeping
  • Set pieces
  • Attacking principles
  • Defending principles
  • Speed and agility
  • Fun and movement

Activity types

  • Warmups
  • Fun games
  • Technical
  • Rondos
  • Skill games
  • Small sided games
  • Finishing
  • Set pieces
  • Scrimmages
  • Cooldowns

05 · How it works

Set the session. Get the plan.

  1. Step i

    Set the session.

    Age group, how long you have, how many players are coming, what space and kit you have. Tots through U19, one session or a whole block.

  2. Step ii

    Build it.

    A complete plan in minutes, timed to add up to your slot. The teaching activities will not repeat anything you ran with that team inside your repeat window.

  3. Step iii

    Take it to the field.

    Read it on your phone, print it, or export to PDF. Every activity links to a YouTube search so you can see it before you run it.

06 · Built in

What makes it work.

  • Headcount

    Built for who actually turns up.

    A rondo needs five bodies and a 4v4 needs eight. Tell it how many are coming and nothing you cannot staff ever reaches the plan.

  • Clock

    The blocks add up to your slot.

    Every block is timed and the times sum to the session you booked. No more discovering at 6:50 that the scrimmage has four minutes left.

  • Memory

    It knows what repeats and what does not.

    Warmups, rondos, and scrimmages come back on purpose, because reps are the point. The two teaching activities are tracked and will not double back.

  • Range

    Every block has a gear up and a gear down.

    One activity, two adjustments. When it is too easy or falling apart you already have the next move written down.

  • Questions

    Ask, do not tell.

    Each block comes with questions to put to the players instead of answers to hand them, which is how coaching at this age actually lands.

  • Teams

    Each team keeps its own history.

    Coach three sides across three nights and none of them accidentally gets the same session twice.

07 · Pricing

Priced to match how you coach.

One credit builds one session, and running it again is always free. One account covers every sport we make. Start free with no card.

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5 credits
$19/ mo

5 sessions / month

One team, once a week.

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25 credits
$49/ mo

25 sessions / month

A couple of teams through a full season.

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100 credits
$125/ mo

100 sessions / month

A club schedule, or a few coaches sharing.

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08 · Questions

Common questions.

What is Soccer Protocol?
It writes structured practice plans for youth soccer coaches. You set the age group, how long you have, and how many players are coming. It returns a complete session broken into timed blocks, each with the setup, the coaching points, the cues, and what to do when it is too easy or too hard.
What is Play, Practice, Play?
It is the session model used across grassroots coach education. Players arrive into a game rather than a line, then the middle of the session teaches the topic through two activities, then the session ends back in the game. Every plan here is built that way, so the football never gets squeezed out by drills.
What ages does it cover?
Two year olds through U19. The 2 to 4 group gets a genuinely different session, built out of imagination games with a ball each and no scrimmage, because a three year old is not a small soccer player. From U5 upward the sessions follow the age group's real match format, ball size, and attention span.
What happens when only nine players turn up?
You tell it how many are coming and it only offers activities that work with that number. A rondo needs five bodies and a 4v4 needs eight, so a plan built for twelve falls apart at nine. Player count is a hard filter, not a footnote.
Will it repeat activities?
Only the ones that should repeat. Ball mastery, rondos, warmups, and scrimmages come back week after week on purpose, because that is how players accumulate reps. The two teaching activities in the middle of the session are tracked against your team and will not come back inside your repeat window.
Do I need a lot of equipment?
No. You tell it what you actually have and anything needing kit you do not own is left out. Plenty of the library runs on cones and a ball each. Some of it runs on nothing at all.
Can I plan a whole block of sessions at once?
Yes. Ask for several and they come back as a connected block with a theme, ordered so each session builds on the one before it, rather than as unrelated plans that happen to share a title.
I coach more than one team. Does it keep them separate?
Yes. Each team is its own program with its own history, so your Tuesday U10s and your Thursday U13s never accidentally get the same session.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. Start free with no card. Plans are credit based and start at $19 a month, where one credit builds one session. Running a session again is always free.

Give them a great hour.

Free plans on signup. No card. Build your first session today.

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