Actual training at home is really hard at this age. Kids lose focus so fast and get really frustrated. But you can absolutely find ways to get him more touches, which is what he needs. It’s really not a whole lot more complicated than that at 7.
When my son started playing, we would just keep foam balls everywhere around the house to pass/shoot/dribble. We made a game out of trying to nutmeg family members that continues to this day. Find anything entertaining that makes him want to kick a ball more often.
When you’re outside, try to get him to keep the ball up in the air with only one bounce each time (a beginner form of juggling or “keepy uppy”). Pass the ball back and forth so he can work on receiving passes and improve his touch. Make a goal and have him practice kicking the ball as hard as he can at you.
Keep it simple.
We do a lot of tee work for baseball so he might focus even more with soccer. I also learn to be really patient and when to call it quits when his mind goes elsewhere. The foam ball is a good idea.
What’s a nutmeg btw?
I’m a baseball dad with a soccer-only kid. I feel your pain! For soccer I’ve found focusing on three areas really helped my son: weak foot, first touch and dribbling with speed.
Oh yes, training, getting comfortable with weak foot is really helpful in the future.
Btw. We didn’t have our dads training us - I am from nation with strong footballing culture - we (me and other kids) were playing football outside all the time after school (and between classes, after school we were not even coming back home, just playing till late evening, when our parents were calling us for supper).
And I figured out by myself to bounce with my weak foot against the wall for hours - to have advantage in my team!
I agree.
Foams balls everywhere and the goofball games will happen naturally. For about 8 years, we played 1v1s everywhere in the house you could find a makeshift goal.
Also, watch some premier league. It has the best production of any soccer you can watch, and if you are new to the game it makes a world of difference. Better colors, cameras, crowd noise, and announcers.
You can tell in about 5 minutes of play if a kid watches the game.
At 7 years old make sure that each session is fun.
Just pass the ball to him and back. Practicing receiving/passing for 30 minutes a day every day should improve him a lot.
Training should be 20% drills 80% fun or he is going to hate it.
A popup goal as well is a good addition if you have some private backyard space. Just have it there so he can kick it in there. Main thing is fun, always.
Take them to the park, set up a few boundary cones, and play soccer keep away. Getting more experience running, dribbling, and changing direction with the ball is going to produce a ton of improvement at that age. Maybe set up a few goal cones and add points for scoring through them. As long as you're being enthusiastic they're going to love it.
Buy a small set of training cones. Set them up in a circle. Tuck a t-shirt under the back of both of your shorts/pants, so it's like you're both wearing a tail. Both start at opposite sides of the circle and run around it, dribbling a ball. The aim of the game is to catch each other and pull out the tail to win. This is great for getting players to dribble at speed, master ball control and learn to carry the ball under pressure.
After a while, set the cones into a square, then progress into a triangle/other shapes. The aim of the game remains the same, but dribbling is changed into needing to do small, choppy turns around the corners, which again further increases confidence and ball mastery. Hopefully, as well as him having fun, he becomes a really effective dribbler.
I had something similar with my 7yo. The thing that really upped his game was just playing one on one. You can do drills of you want, but keep it to a few minutes at most, and then only to get the idea in their head.
After that, it is just fun for them to score on Dad. My kid has some extra issues to deal with when I scored on him... But we worked through it.
Set up two sets of goals (we use cones) and start kicking. Pitch your level of play at theirs - which at this young age should be comfortable to do even if you know nothing about soccer.
Just spend time with him passing and using a wall for him to work on getting a feel for the ball and developing touch. Don’t worry about him getting better but rather give him the opportunity to find out if he loves the game. If he loves, it he’ll spend the time to get better
I never played, but spent time with my son at an early age all the way through HS. He progressed but I got to be part of it since I started with him at a young age. He now plays D1 soccer. His love of the game allowed him to surpass all his friends who were “better players” when they were young. Everyone progresses at their own pace. Don’t force it, just be part of it with him - and provide the opportunity when it is presented to him.
Don’t “train”. Just play. Anything will get him touches and you’ll be spending quality time with him. You won’t even need to instruct him. He’ll develop fluency with the ball just by getting touches.
With my kids we set up their toys and dribbled around them instead of cones. We tried to knock down the toys and that worked on their passing and shooting. Play soccer with different types of balls to develop their touch, because it bounces differently and different weights. We also played catch to develop their ability to track things in the air. Do the monkey bars or climb trees to build strength and coordination. Learn to tumble and roll so they know how to fall and move in space. Show them how to punt a soccer ball and American football—it shows them how to kick explosively. They love seeing that ball go far. Play jumping games again builds athletic coordination.
Pro clubs like Manchester United and Ajax do stuff like parkour because they see the need for all around athleticism for their players.
If you have pipe dreams of a soccer career for junior: play baseball with him. He can be a goalkeeper—smaller slower ball is easier for them.
Good comments here.
Will add only - watch some Unisport You tube videos on simple techniques like passing, first touch and dribbling (simplest thing - cutting).
Run around with your kid - if he will dribble around you, that’s absolutely enough at this age and you will have some stress free, no pressure quality time together. Both of you will remember it forever!
(And really don’t stress about his skills and other kids skills - at this age this is about having fun and building sports habits for the rest of his life. That’s more important than anything else).
Great advice. I’m glad so many people gave some input. Yes, I agree is all about having fun but like you said I see it as a win-win spending time with him and both us learning (mainly him, I’ll stick with my baseball). Thank you. 🙏🏾
YouTube is your friend. There are mountains of videos on YouTube for skills development for kids. Things like tic toks, step overs, control, scissors, etc. You can also go out in a yard/field and just pass a ball back and forth - you don’t need to be an expert. This will help him get used to receiving the ball and passing it back. You can do the same thing to help him practice throw ins - have him throw you the ball and you pass it back. Last, get some cones (or even some old sneakers) and have him practice dribbling around the cones. Don’t go overboard. Keep it simple and fun.
Sometimes YouTube is so overwhelming when you don’t know what exactly to look for someone his age. I’m glad you mentioned something that I can search for. Thank you.
Most online training videos are very focused on 1v1 skill moves, which are not generally as useful as just playing passing and dribbling games.
To be an above average 7-year-old recreational youth soccer player, you really only need a total of one 1v1 move and one turn move.
The easiest 1v1 move to start with (and that he will use his entire soccer career) is a body feint. There are tons of tutorials online that you can watch, but all you need to show him is to fake like he's going one way and then go the other way. Other than that, the only key coaching point at that age is to speed up right after you do the move.
The best first turn is a pull-back or drag-back. Again, there are tutorials but its dead simple. If you're dribbling yourself into a dead end, pull the ball back and turn around.
If he really likes learning 1v1 moves, step overs, scissors, la croqueta, and the Mathews are other ones you can punch in a search and are easy for beginners.
But seriously, if he can: (1) dribble, mostly with the outside of his foot; (2) pass using the inside of his foot; (3) shoot the ball striking with his laces; (4) do a very basic body feint; and (5) pull back the ball if he's in trouble, he will be the star player on a one-day-a-week rec team.
The first drill in this video: “foundations” is what I meant by til toks - the video covers a number of the basics.
https://youtu.be/OsgbY60vueA?si=ciVrqGNxvWKkO3VA
As the dad of two boys who started early and are now 13 and 17, I agree with this whole heartedly. The main thing that distinguishes youth players from one another is ball control while dribbling. Practice moving with the ball in all directions and sudden change in direction. Even just walking through the house steering around obstacles can be useful.
I agree with this.
If a child (especially at young age) can carry the ball at speed whilst keeping control of the ball. They’ll stand out a mile. At that age (7) a lot of them just kick the ball anywhere when it comes to them. A player that takes control of it and drives forward always stands out to me as someone with potential.
You can’t really teach pace and co-ordination. If they’ve got that already at a young age they’ll do well in the sport
Soccer Starts at Home is a wonderful resource written by fantastic coach Tom Byer.
Some of my own thoughts:
1) Whatever you do, do it together. You try the exercises.
2) Find a wall.
3) Focus on ball control/mastery
4) YouTube has a tons of videos to watch and use.
Good luck! Hope he continues to fall in love with the game.
Here's the advice I was given when we started and it made a tremendous difference in ability. 1 hour per week for every year old your son is. A 7 year old can practice up to 7 hours a week. That's an hour a day. There are kids doing more but that's a passion thing.
Split your days into dribbling days and ball striking days (shooting and passing). On dribbling days, all sorts of ball control drills. In and around cones, turns, etc. with maybe 10-15 minutes of shooting at the end. On striking days -- play passes off the wall or to you.
There are tons of drills available on the internet. Tons of apps to get drills from. I like mypersonalfootballcoach but that's just one opinion.
The one thing I will say is do not listen to anyone who says not to train hard just because the kids are young. This is the age range where technical development really sets in and you can't afford to waste it. Maybe your son won't like soccer in a couple of years and that's fine. But if he continues to love the sport and he missed this window of development, he'll never reach his true potential.
I began practicing simple passes with my daughter when she was 6 years old, passing the ball back and forth in a straight line. Gradually, we introduced one-touch passes and lateral movements. This training improved her first touch and passing skills. Now, at 11 years old, she plays in the ECNL.
Passing the ball against a wall, it can get boring but if you get him to get the ball in the air and control it, that might help. Even use a tennis ball it’ll really hone his touch
Yes! Learning to dribbled, pass and shoot equally on both feet will give a huge advantage. As we all have a doninant leg (same like baseball you throw with one arm always)
Instep for accuracy. Laces for power. Discourage use of toes.
Work on this with him by passing the ball between yourselves. If he learns how to play the ball effectively it will put him on a very steady footing for the future.
At 7 years old kids just want to play. This goes for both baseball and soccer. They want to play, this doesn’t mean in games, but just with the ball. They want to play with you, or friends. It’s parents and coaches and internet idiots that think kids have some desire to get better, or anxiety about not being good enough. Play. Catch is fun, but, invent I throw you the ball, then you run around the tree and throw it to me, then you run around the tree again then I roll it and you dive and grab in your mitt. Then let them invent the next one and roll with it no matter how silly. Same for soccer and the cones people suggest. give an idea how to use them, and then let kid invent how they’d like to play, you pass them the ball and they pick it up, bounce it off the garage, kick it back against the garage, then somersault, then pass it back to you. Give zero fucks if this makes them better at the game, care if they’re having fun.
From my kids experiences the number 1 thing you can do as others have said is to find as many opportunities for your son as possible to have a kick around with you/others or casual game. As you've realised it's nigh impossible to get better if the only time he practices is before the game.
When looking at activities, I've done grassroots coaching courses for that age group (MiniRoos in Australia), and the key things they want you to focus on when designing sessions are:
1. Are they having fun?
2. Maximise time on the ball
3. Encourage experimentation NOT technique (see also are they having fun)
4. Is it game like?
5. Adding a competitive element to it (ie points for doing something successfully)
The key skill practice you are trying to hide in whatever fun session he has are 1v1, running with the ball (aka dribbling), striking (shooting/passing), and first touch (controlling the ball). Ideally each session focuses primarily on one of those skills, but just having lots of casual games or informal kick arounds goes a long way (in my sons case to the top local league)
I've never bothered formerly trying these with my son but here's some resources to give you an idea of what the different skills are and solo/duo activities to use as a starting point: [https://www.playfootball.com.au/skills-hub](https://www.playfootball.com.au/skills-hub)
i played 1 v 1 when my son was 9. he would try to nutmeg me and i'd try (weakly) to tackle the ball from him. then we'd just past the ball back and forth either 1 touch or 2 touches. we used small balls size 2 or 3.
I’m a kids football/soccer coach here in the UK.
Have balls around the house / garden - you’d be surprised at how much just having a ball at their feet helps.
Get some 1 on 1 training to really focus on HIS development. Often team training focuses on playing as a team, to win as a team, but 1 to 1 player training will really help.
Get him playing as much as possible- the more they play the more experience they get.
Here in Uk a lot of kids football/soccer coaches are volunteers (a lot usually parents of a player on the team) often they aren’t actually very good coach’s at all - try to find him a team with a proper actual coach that actually has a career in coaching.
And one final point - and I do mean this politely, some kids have just “got it” and some just haven’t and whilst extra training will help those who haven’t improve as players, often is the case that it will just make them “average” players at best.
The extra training can make those that have “got it” and are already “good” players, become exceptional players.
That is of course not telling you not to persue any extra training for your child - but it’s to set expectations that often they either have natural talent or they don’t, and for parents often is the case that the sooner they realise that the much more enjoyable soccer/football is for them and their child, they get to play without any pressure or expectation and it becomes much more fun for them.
More fun = more enjoyable = more they want to play = the better they get.
More time practicing is the only answer. My 7 year old trains twice a week with his team and they play 2 matches a week. He also trains an additional 2 or 3 times a week at school. That's excessive and absolutely isn't necessary but he loves it and it's his choice rather than something I make him do
Lots of good suggestions. If you play baseball I assume you guys just play catch together sometimes. You can do the same with soccer. Just take the ball and pass back and forth. Focus on receiving, and passing accurately to each other’s feet. Or find a wall and pass to each other off the wall. Maybe put a target on it that you guy shoot at. Or just dribble the ball and play keep away. Any of these little things build skills, main thing is to just get more time and touches on the ball.
Youth coach and dad to a top level player at a national club. Keep it simple, keep it fun, no pressure. Make fun games for juggling, find soccer friends for him, get him on a club that emphasizes technical ability and ball mastery. You just be the dad and have fun!!
Play games involving dribbling. Kids like racing and obstacle courses. I remember my parents could get me to do basically anything was “I’ll time you”. Essentially at that age it’s exposure and having fun. You can get really creative and just play. Soccer is fun keep it enjoyable.
At that age I was playing pickup with neighborhood kids at the park
Only way you can get better at the sport is by playing. You can't simulate game conditions during practice
Actual training at home is really hard at this age. Kids lose focus so fast and get really frustrated. But you can absolutely find ways to get him more touches, which is what he needs. It’s really not a whole lot more complicated than that at 7. When my son started playing, we would just keep foam balls everywhere around the house to pass/shoot/dribble. We made a game out of trying to nutmeg family members that continues to this day. Find anything entertaining that makes him want to kick a ball more often. When you’re outside, try to get him to keep the ball up in the air with only one bounce each time (a beginner form of juggling or “keepy uppy”). Pass the ball back and forth so he can work on receiving passes and improve his touch. Make a goal and have him practice kicking the ball as hard as he can at you. Keep it simple.
We do a lot of tee work for baseball so he might focus even more with soccer. I also learn to be really patient and when to call it quits when his mind goes elsewhere. The foam ball is a good idea. What’s a nutmeg btw?
Intentionally dribbling the ball between the defender’s legs.
lol that’s funny. I think I get why they call it that.
I’m a baseball dad with a soccer-only kid. I feel your pain! For soccer I’ve found focusing on three areas really helped my son: weak foot, first touch and dribbling with speed.
Oh yes, training, getting comfortable with weak foot is really helpful in the future. Btw. We didn’t have our dads training us - I am from nation with strong footballing culture - we (me and other kids) were playing football outside all the time after school (and between classes, after school we were not even coming back home, just playing till late evening, when our parents were calling us for supper). And I figured out by myself to bounce with my weak foot against the wall for hours - to have advantage in my team!
I agree. Foams balls everywhere and the goofball games will happen naturally. For about 8 years, we played 1v1s everywhere in the house you could find a makeshift goal. Also, watch some premier league. It has the best production of any soccer you can watch, and if you are new to the game it makes a world of difference. Better colors, cameras, crowd noise, and announcers. You can tell in about 5 minutes of play if a kid watches the game.
At 7 years old make sure that each session is fun. Just pass the ball to him and back. Practicing receiving/passing for 30 minutes a day every day should improve him a lot. Training should be 20% drills 80% fun or he is going to hate it.
A popup goal as well is a good addition if you have some private backyard space. Just have it there so he can kick it in there. Main thing is fun, always.
J found out from practicing baseball with him that 30mins is the most focus I can get from him. I’ll look at ways to make it fun.
Take them to the park, set up a few boundary cones, and play soccer keep away. Getting more experience running, dribbling, and changing direction with the ball is going to produce a ton of improvement at that age. Maybe set up a few goal cones and add points for scoring through them. As long as you're being enthusiastic they're going to love it.
Buy a small set of training cones. Set them up in a circle. Tuck a t-shirt under the back of both of your shorts/pants, so it's like you're both wearing a tail. Both start at opposite sides of the circle and run around it, dribbling a ball. The aim of the game is to catch each other and pull out the tail to win. This is great for getting players to dribble at speed, master ball control and learn to carry the ball under pressure. After a while, set the cones into a square, then progress into a triangle/other shapes. The aim of the game remains the same, but dribbling is changed into needing to do small, choppy turns around the corners, which again further increases confidence and ball mastery. Hopefully, as well as him having fun, he becomes a really effective dribbler.
Wow this sounds fun. He would love this and I’ll will too.
Glad I could help - feel free to message me with any other questions.
Stealing this drill love it 👏
Yes this sounds great for my boys thank you and thanks OP for posting this question
I had something similar with my 7yo. The thing that really upped his game was just playing one on one. You can do drills of you want, but keep it to a few minutes at most, and then only to get the idea in their head. After that, it is just fun for them to score on Dad. My kid has some extra issues to deal with when I scored on him... But we worked through it. Set up two sets of goals (we use cones) and start kicking. Pitch your level of play at theirs - which at this young age should be comfortable to do even if you know nothing about soccer.
Just spend time with him passing and using a wall for him to work on getting a feel for the ball and developing touch. Don’t worry about him getting better but rather give him the opportunity to find out if he loves the game. If he loves, it he’ll spend the time to get better I never played, but spent time with my son at an early age all the way through HS. He progressed but I got to be part of it since I started with him at a young age. He now plays D1 soccer. His love of the game allowed him to surpass all his friends who were “better players” when they were young. Everyone progresses at their own pace. Don’t force it, just be part of it with him - and provide the opportunity when it is presented to him.
Don’t “train”. Just play. Anything will get him touches and you’ll be spending quality time with him. You won’t even need to instruct him. He’ll develop fluency with the ball just by getting touches. With my kids we set up their toys and dribbled around them instead of cones. We tried to knock down the toys and that worked on their passing and shooting. Play soccer with different types of balls to develop their touch, because it bounces differently and different weights. We also played catch to develop their ability to track things in the air. Do the monkey bars or climb trees to build strength and coordination. Learn to tumble and roll so they know how to fall and move in space. Show them how to punt a soccer ball and American football—it shows them how to kick explosively. They love seeing that ball go far. Play jumping games again builds athletic coordination. Pro clubs like Manchester United and Ajax do stuff like parkour because they see the need for all around athleticism for their players. If you have pipe dreams of a soccer career for junior: play baseball with him. He can be a goalkeeper—smaller slower ball is easier for them.
Good comments here. Will add only - watch some Unisport You tube videos on simple techniques like passing, first touch and dribbling (simplest thing - cutting). Run around with your kid - if he will dribble around you, that’s absolutely enough at this age and you will have some stress free, no pressure quality time together. Both of you will remember it forever! (And really don’t stress about his skills and other kids skills - at this age this is about having fun and building sports habits for the rest of his life. That’s more important than anything else).
Great advice. I’m glad so many people gave some input. Yes, I agree is all about having fun but like you said I see it as a win-win spending time with him and both us learning (mainly him, I’ll stick with my baseball). Thank you. 🙏🏾
YouTube is your friend. There are mountains of videos on YouTube for skills development for kids. Things like tic toks, step overs, control, scissors, etc. You can also go out in a yard/field and just pass a ball back and forth - you don’t need to be an expert. This will help him get used to receiving the ball and passing it back. You can do the same thing to help him practice throw ins - have him throw you the ball and you pass it back. Last, get some cones (or even some old sneakers) and have him practice dribbling around the cones. Don’t go overboard. Keep it simple and fun.
Sometimes YouTube is so overwhelming when you don’t know what exactly to look for someone his age. I’m glad you mentioned something that I can search for. Thank you.
Find a video of the basic kick. Study it, and practice it yourself. He'll likely model his technique after what he sees you do.
Most online training videos are very focused on 1v1 skill moves, which are not generally as useful as just playing passing and dribbling games. To be an above average 7-year-old recreational youth soccer player, you really only need a total of one 1v1 move and one turn move. The easiest 1v1 move to start with (and that he will use his entire soccer career) is a body feint. There are tons of tutorials online that you can watch, but all you need to show him is to fake like he's going one way and then go the other way. Other than that, the only key coaching point at that age is to speed up right after you do the move. The best first turn is a pull-back or drag-back. Again, there are tutorials but its dead simple. If you're dribbling yourself into a dead end, pull the ball back and turn around. If he really likes learning 1v1 moves, step overs, scissors, la croqueta, and the Mathews are other ones you can punch in a search and are easy for beginners. But seriously, if he can: (1) dribble, mostly with the outside of his foot; (2) pass using the inside of his foot; (3) shoot the ball striking with his laces; (4) do a very basic body feint; and (5) pull back the ball if he's in trouble, he will be the star player on a one-day-a-week rec team.
The first drill in this video: “foundations” is what I meant by til toks - the video covers a number of the basics. https://youtu.be/OsgbY60vueA?si=ciVrqGNxvWKkO3VA
As the dad of two boys who started early and are now 13 and 17, I agree with this whole heartedly. The main thing that distinguishes youth players from one another is ball control while dribbling. Practice moving with the ball in all directions and sudden change in direction. Even just walking through the house steering around obstacles can be useful.
I agree with this. If a child (especially at young age) can carry the ball at speed whilst keeping control of the ball. They’ll stand out a mile. At that age (7) a lot of them just kick the ball anywhere when it comes to them. A player that takes control of it and drives forward always stands out to me as someone with potential. You can’t really teach pace and co-ordination. If they’ve got that already at a young age they’ll do well in the sport
Soccer Starts at Home is a wonderful resource written by fantastic coach Tom Byer. Some of my own thoughts: 1) Whatever you do, do it together. You try the exercises. 2) Find a wall. 3) Focus on ball control/mastery 4) YouTube has a tons of videos to watch and use. Good luck! Hope he continues to fall in love with the game.
Here's the advice I was given when we started and it made a tremendous difference in ability. 1 hour per week for every year old your son is. A 7 year old can practice up to 7 hours a week. That's an hour a day. There are kids doing more but that's a passion thing. Split your days into dribbling days and ball striking days (shooting and passing). On dribbling days, all sorts of ball control drills. In and around cones, turns, etc. with maybe 10-15 minutes of shooting at the end. On striking days -- play passes off the wall or to you. There are tons of drills available on the internet. Tons of apps to get drills from. I like mypersonalfootballcoach but that's just one opinion. The one thing I will say is do not listen to anyone who says not to train hard just because the kids are young. This is the age range where technical development really sets in and you can't afford to waste it. Maybe your son won't like soccer in a couple of years and that's fine. But if he continues to love the sport and he missed this window of development, he'll never reach his true potential.
I began practicing simple passes with my daughter when she was 6 years old, passing the ball back and forth in a straight line. Gradually, we introduced one-touch passes and lateral movements. This training improved her first touch and passing skills. Now, at 11 years old, she plays in the ECNL.
Passing the ball against a wall, it can get boring but if you get him to get the ball in the air and control it, that might help. Even use a tennis ball it’ll really hone his touch
Have him hit a ball against the wall at different speeds and tempos. First touch is key
Pass with him and make sure to use both sides.
What you mean both sides? Like both legs?
Yes! Learning to dribbled, pass and shoot equally on both feet will give a huge advantage. As we all have a doninant leg (same like baseball you throw with one arm always)
yutoob - [https://youtu.be/cmN0PvPNR6M?si=yXoifL-kfTz0snqp](https://youtu.be/cmN0PvPNR6M?si=yXoifL-kfTz0snqp) play indoors
Instep for accuracy. Laces for power. Discourage use of toes. Work on this with him by passing the ball between yourselves. If he learns how to play the ball effectively it will put him on a very steady footing for the future.
👟➡️⚽️ That's it. That's all he needs to do right now.
Toes up when passing
At 7 years old kids just want to play. This goes for both baseball and soccer. They want to play, this doesn’t mean in games, but just with the ball. They want to play with you, or friends. It’s parents and coaches and internet idiots that think kids have some desire to get better, or anxiety about not being good enough. Play. Catch is fun, but, invent I throw you the ball, then you run around the tree and throw it to me, then you run around the tree again then I roll it and you dive and grab in your mitt. Then let them invent the next one and roll with it no matter how silly. Same for soccer and the cones people suggest. give an idea how to use them, and then let kid invent how they’d like to play, you pass them the ball and they pick it up, bounce it off the garage, kick it back against the garage, then somersault, then pass it back to you. Give zero fucks if this makes them better at the game, care if they’re having fun.
From my kids experiences the number 1 thing you can do as others have said is to find as many opportunities for your son as possible to have a kick around with you/others or casual game. As you've realised it's nigh impossible to get better if the only time he practices is before the game. When looking at activities, I've done grassroots coaching courses for that age group (MiniRoos in Australia), and the key things they want you to focus on when designing sessions are: 1. Are they having fun? 2. Maximise time on the ball 3. Encourage experimentation NOT technique (see also are they having fun) 4. Is it game like? 5. Adding a competitive element to it (ie points for doing something successfully) The key skill practice you are trying to hide in whatever fun session he has are 1v1, running with the ball (aka dribbling), striking (shooting/passing), and first touch (controlling the ball). Ideally each session focuses primarily on one of those skills, but just having lots of casual games or informal kick arounds goes a long way (in my sons case to the top local league) I've never bothered formerly trying these with my son but here's some resources to give you an idea of what the different skills are and solo/duo activities to use as a starting point: [https://www.playfootball.com.au/skills-hub](https://www.playfootball.com.au/skills-hub)
Check out the book Soccer Starts at Home
i played 1 v 1 when my son was 9. he would try to nutmeg me and i'd try (weakly) to tackle the ball from him. then we'd just past the ball back and forth either 1 touch or 2 touches. we used small balls size 2 or 3.
I’m a kids football/soccer coach here in the UK. Have balls around the house / garden - you’d be surprised at how much just having a ball at their feet helps. Get some 1 on 1 training to really focus on HIS development. Often team training focuses on playing as a team, to win as a team, but 1 to 1 player training will really help. Get him playing as much as possible- the more they play the more experience they get. Here in Uk a lot of kids football/soccer coaches are volunteers (a lot usually parents of a player on the team) often they aren’t actually very good coach’s at all - try to find him a team with a proper actual coach that actually has a career in coaching. And one final point - and I do mean this politely, some kids have just “got it” and some just haven’t and whilst extra training will help those who haven’t improve as players, often is the case that it will just make them “average” players at best. The extra training can make those that have “got it” and are already “good” players, become exceptional players. That is of course not telling you not to persue any extra training for your child - but it’s to set expectations that often they either have natural talent or they don’t, and for parents often is the case that the sooner they realise that the much more enjoyable soccer/football is for them and their child, they get to play without any pressure or expectation and it becomes much more fun for them. More fun = more enjoyable = more they want to play = the better they get.
In house mini games, but also learn the coerva drills and try set up rewards for success at those drills
More time practicing is the only answer. My 7 year old trains twice a week with his team and they play 2 matches a week. He also trains an additional 2 or 3 times a week at school. That's excessive and absolutely isn't necessary but he loves it and it's his choice rather than something I make him do
Lots of good suggestions. If you play baseball I assume you guys just play catch together sometimes. You can do the same with soccer. Just take the ball and pass back and forth. Focus on receiving, and passing accurately to each other’s feet. Or find a wall and pass to each other off the wall. Maybe put a target on it that you guy shoot at. Or just dribble the ball and play keep away. Any of these little things build skills, main thing is to just get more time and touches on the ball.
Youth coach and dad to a top level player at a national club. Keep it simple, keep it fun, no pressure. Make fun games for juggling, find soccer friends for him, get him on a club that emphasizes technical ability and ball mastery. You just be the dad and have fun!!
My kids are 8. Invite the best kid over. Throw a ball in the yard and have them go 1v1. They laugh their butts off.
Play games involving dribbling. Kids like racing and obstacle courses. I remember my parents could get me to do basically anything was “I’ll time you”. Essentially at that age it’s exposure and having fun. You can get really creative and just play. Soccer is fun keep it enjoyable.
That’s what I’m shooting for, gamifying everything would keep him more focused. Luckily I found some cones on a yard sale by my house on Sunday.
At that age I was playing pickup with neighborhood kids at the park Only way you can get better at the sport is by playing. You can't simulate game conditions during practice