Training sessions will have a training topic, which is the subject being focused on within a session. Training exercises are the components of a training session.

US Soccer’s structure for training sessions include: Warm-Up, Orientation Phase, Learning Phase, and Implementation Phase (WOLI). In my next post, I will break down WOLI.

The first step in setting up a training session is to determine the age and playing level of the players. For pre-academy ( U4-U11) players, their practices are generally 60 minutes long compared to academy (U12-senior) players, which is usually about 90 minutes in length. Playing level is another important aspect to consider when putting together your training session.

The four main playing levels are: recreational, travel, development, and academy. Players within each level may have a certain amount of game intelligence which generally will increase as you go from recreational to academy. With that in mind, the amount of information given should be adjusted to the level of the players.

“He who is best prepared can best serve his moment of inspiration.”
― Samuel Taylor Coleridge