Formula for Success | Practice Organization
Individual Skills | Teamwork Skills

During the Individual Skill half, players compete at High Impact Skill Activities or HISAs. During the Teamwork Skills half, players break into small-sided teams and compete at Thoughtful Scrimmages or Thoughtscrims.

The practice below will work once players have a rudimentary ability to pass the ball to each other. For younger players, see the U-Littles section.

Note that under the Teamwork Skills half, the scrimmages are all focused on the Possession Part of soccer. That's an appropriate focus for newer players. Until they can keep possession as a team, the other parts won't have a great deal of meaning.

As your players gain experience, two transformations become useful. Advanced activities replace some of the beginner activities. Work on soccer's other parts is included from time to time. And the practice reaches its ideal length of two hours. As you can see below, though, the basic organization is the same.

A great deal is packed into one practice. And the real beauty of the format is its long-term impact. While other teams are addressing each area sporadically, your team addresses each area every time. Not surprisingly, your team becomes the best team.

For a complete explanation of the Two-Part Practice, see Thoughtful Soccer: the Think-First Approach to Playing and Coaching. Find it at Reedswain!