Soccer-practice

Soccer Training, Practice and Games During COVID-19: What’s Safe?

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly disrupted just about all aspects of our lives. And while the highest concern is of course reserved for ensuring that our families, friends and wider communities stay safe, it’s undeniable that we still want to be able to enjoy some of our favorite activities. And this brings us to soccer. The current status for the coming year is in flux for all levels of sports, and soccer hasn’t looked the same and likely still won’t for the upcoming year.

Looking ahead, numerous youth and adult leagues, as well as school districts, have cancelled their fall seasons, while others are intending to move forward with adjustments and safety protocols.

Is Soccer Safe to Play During the Coronavirus Outbreak?

With soccer as with other areas of society, you’ll hear people advocating for a return to normal as quickly as possible while others urge for restrictions in the name of caution. So what’s actually safe? This is a complex question as the guidelines and recommendations have changed over the past several months, but we can take some main conclusions from what has been said. First, there are distinctions to be made between low-risk sports where social distancing is easily implemented like golf and tennis, and higher-risk sports, like soccer, where contact between players is a part of the game.

The CDC breaks down activities for these sports on a continuum from least to most risky, which starts with training at home alone or with family and ends with competition against other teams requiring travel. There are other general recommendations too, such as frequently disinfecting shared surfaces, limiting shared equipment, and refraining from “unnecessary” contact between such as high fives and celebratory hugs.

US Soccer also has launched an initiative known as “Play On” that recommends a safe approach to continuing to play soccer with increased safety measures. (They also urge that all players, coaches and parents only implement them when their local authorities have authorized returning to play and practice. In many areas, this has not yet happened) Their plan also comes in phases with the first being “Individual and Small Group Training” followed by full team training, full team competitions (emphasizing single-day, local competitions with safety protocols), and finally a return to normal activity without restrictions. But all of these phased approaches are contingent on continuous monitoring of cases, spread, and other key virus indicators. Many local authorities are keeping relatively strict restrictions on such activities, or mandating quarantine periods for those who are traveling, which make things like interstate competitions impossible.

Despite all of these considerations, however, there’s one clear takeaway. At a time when competitions and even full team practices are iffy or altogether impossible, there’s nothing stopping players from continuing to play on their own (or in family or small groups with safety precautions).

All of the phased guidelines start with individual soccer training, and we’ve repeatedly shown why individual training is crucial to reach the next level even when you are regularly playing and practicing with a team. (We look at this question in more detail in our article Why Your Soccer Practices Aren’t Making You a Better Player)

Players, especially those who are still developing, can’t afford to fall behind during this period of uncertainty. So we strongly advocate getting out there a few times a week, be it at a local field or just in your backyard, and working on your game. What specifically should you work on? Take a look at a few of our popular individual training articles for some ideas:

5 Ways to Improve Your Soccer Skills in Your Backyard

How to Practice Shooting by Yourself at Home

5 Soccer Challenges That Will Help Hone Your Skills

Finally, you can also check out our Individual Soccer Training System for more detailed activities and training plans.

Get the Most Out of Practices to Become a Better Player

By Parker & Walsh 3 Comments

344px-Allen_Iverson_Smile — Talking about (soccer) practice

Soccer practices can be lackluster and inefficient. Sometimes your coach’s practice plans or drills do not turn out the way they are supposed to, even though they are all made with good intentions. But on the other hand, a practice plan or drill might be absolutely perfect but if the players don’t go out and perform at a high level, it won’t do any good.

Whether the practice plan or drill is the greatest or worst in the world, you still must try to get the most out of each practice because you should want to get better, and that takes a daily commitment.

The following are some simple guidelines that take mental fortitude and toughness to perform day in and day out to get the best out of practices and to become a better player:

1. You must never let a day go by, meaning you never know when your last day of playing might be.

2. You must always try to improve.

3. You must try to outwork everyone.

4. You never know who is watching so you should always want to play your best whether it is in practice or a game.

Why Your Team’s Soccer Practices Aren’t Making You a Better Player

By Parker & Walsh 3 Comments

soccer-huddle There’s no denying that being on a soccer team is the best way to improve your skills.

Practicing regularly with your teammates under the instruction of a professional coach is crucial to your development as a player.

And the games provide a fun and effective method of testing out those new techniques as you learn them.

But for many players, their official soccer practices just aren’t cutting it.

Even after years of club or high school soccer, they just don’t seem to improve as much as they want to.

The same mistakes continue from season to season, and certain skills seem to be always just out of reach. What’s the deal?

Although organized soccer practices are great, they aren’t enough! Becoming a skilled player requires a deeper commitment to the game and a personal desire to get better even when no one else is around.

There are also some unavoidable limitations of official soccer practices which hinder your development.

In many club environments, for one, you will sometimes only have practice once or twice a week. Even if your club practices three or four times a week, you still need to put in work on your own.

Also, soccer is often not an all-year activity for many players, due to another sport or other activities, and a lot of regressing happens during those months without playing soccer.

We’re all busy, though, and I’m certainly not saying that you need to play soccer 24/7, 365 to become great.

Instead, you need to recognize the need to set individual goals for your own game, and then work hard to accomplish them.

Your team’s practices will obviously help you, but they will also involve tactical training, a variety of different drills, and preparation for particular opponents.

You won’t always be getting a ton of touches or working on the part of the game you need to improve the most.

Because of this, you need to dedicate yourself to training outside of your team’s structured environment.

You do not need to spend long hours doing it, but the more practice and time you put in, the more likely you will become better.

Be sure to remember that practicing bad habits will not help you, so concentrate on getting the correct fundamentals down.

Next I’ll outline some more specific examples that will hopefully get you going.

For an individual soccer goal, you might pick something like improving your first touch. To achieve this goal, you would then set a training plan that you are able to stick to.

Maybe you only have time to train once a week outside of practice.

But if you break your goal down into clear steps, like pledging to receive a ball into space 30 times with your laces, inside, outside, thigh and chest once every week, you’ll be surprised at how much your touch will improve.

And obviously, the more you can train, the better.

Other types of individual goals that might be appropriate to your game include heading technique, driving a ball, or shooting.

Finally, if you want some more tips on what you can do to train on your own, check out our post on 5 Ways to Improve Your Soccer Skills in Your Backyard.

You also might want to try our list of 5 Soccer Challenges That Will Help Hone Your Skills.