Pre-season in Youth Soccer Football. 
13th August 2011

Pre-season is one of the most important times for your team; laying the foundations, by doing the groundwork and preparing well for the season ahead will give your team the best possible start.  

The junior youth football season can be long and stretched out, with matches usually beginning in September and lasting up to April, depending on the winter weather, which is then followed by the summer tournament season, which often runs into July. This means the only time for a break from football for the players is August, the very time you as a coach are preparing for the new season, which starts again in September.  

The summer and school holiday period is a headache for the coach, especially with most of the players on holiday with their families just a few weeks before the first match. In addition the coach may also have planned a holiday away during this period.  

However, despite the absentees, this is the right time to get the players in and take stock of the squad and highlight if there is a requirement to strengthen the team. In every team, every season, players leave and are replaced by new recruits.

The challenge for the coach is to ensure they not only have enough players to start the season, but they also have at least as good a quality squad as the previous season.  

It is ideal to give the players time off throughout June and July and get them back in at the start if August. This gives a good 6 or 7 weeks to get fitness to the right levels and work on improvements picked up at the end of the previous season.  

It is very likely that your players will have done no additional exercise during the break, and they have probably spent their time gaming or watching TV. Because of this you will need to bring their fitness levels up slowly and gradually, so that sometime during the pre-season build-up they will be in as good a physical shape that they can be.  

Fitness should be the main focus in training in the early weeks, with more emphasis on running than ball work or drills. Improving pre-season fitness makes it easier for the players to quickly pick-up the drills they are being asked to do.  

A plan of how you will approach your sessions, starting slowly and then building up to full match fitness is essential for all the players. Each session should be planned individually and also as a programme of sessions.  

Having taken stock of the squad it might be necessary to bring in new players. Some players will have moved on to other clubs, for various reasons, though often through friendships. A friend playing for another team is often the main reason they move on, though these players usually find the grass is not always greener. Teams also lose players because they feel they are not being used enough or getting a fair amount of football. All teams seem to have these fringe players, who are left on the side-lines due to the win at all costs mentality of the coaches, and in many cases they are probably better off finding a new team.  

A coach has a few simple ways to look for new recruits. Ask members of the team if they have friends who might want to join. Contact old players who have left and who have struggled at their new club, or place and advertisement in the local paper asking for players. A newspaper ad can be quite positive, especially if clubs have folded and the players without a team will be looking in places like the local paper to find a new team. League websites are also good places to advertise for players, because this is one of the first places players look.  

Once you have your squad of players, perhaps between 15-18, for an 11-a-side team or 9-11 for a seven a-side team, you can then decide which position suits which players and direct your pre-season drills for those specific groups.

Further Reading:

• The FA's Youth Masterplan

• FA Small Sided Football Guide

• FA Coaching Badges