Football drills at home for 8 year olds

An 8 year old can practice awareness, catching and speed at home with 25 football drills picked for the age. Keep a session to about 25 minutes, up to 3 days a week, with rest days between. Why: Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week (NATA youth sport specialization recommendations).

A parent's page for an 8 year old: the drills that work at home, one session to follow, what changes this year and how much is healthy. Free, no account.

By Coach Evan Waechtler Youth coach (U11, Cache Valley, Utah) and founder of SSTracker Updated November 5, 2026

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A parent's page. Free to read; no card to start; running a team is always free.

At a glance

At 8: 25 football drills the app opens for an 8 year old work at home, across 6 skills.
How long: One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old.
How often: At most 3 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.
What you need: Most used: cones (13 of the 25 drills), football (5), line or cones (1), line or tape (1), mat (1), paper (1), pencil (1), playbook or notes (1). 1 drill needs nothing but space. 7 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.
Safe at home: One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

25 at-home drills

Football drills for 8 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 8 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

awareness

Awareness

catching

Catching

speed

Speed

strength

Strength

footwork

Footwork

A 23-minute session

A home football session for an 8 year old

A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down, 23 minutes in all. Do it up to 3 days a week, with rest days between.

1Football Warm-Up, Ages 7 to 10An 8-minute moving warm-up for football players aged 7 to 10: easy running, moving stretches, balance and soft landings, then football moves. Before practice, never still stretches first.8 min
2Playbook FlashcardsKnow your job and everyone around you.10 min
3Football Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 7 to 10A 5-minute cool-down for football players aged 7 to 10 after training: an easy walk, then gentle stretches for the legs, hips and shoulders, each held for a slow count of 10.5 min

At 8

What changes in football training at 8

The app opens the same 25 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting football into a week at 8

At 8 the limit is 8 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 3 sessions of 25 minutes is 1.25 hours, which leaves 6.75 for team practice and games. Even 3 days at the app's longest, 30 minutes, is 1.5 hours.

The research behind it

Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.
Côté and Vierimaa 2014
Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.
NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers

What football drills can an 8 year old do at home?

25 drills the app opens at 8 work at home. A few to start with: Playbook Flashcards, Snap Count Focus and What Down Is It?. One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

How long should an 8 year old practice football at home?

One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old. At most 3 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

What do you need to practice football at home at 8?

Most used: cones (13 of the 25 drills), football (5), line or cones (1), line or tape (1), mat (1), paper (1), pencil (1), playbook or notes (1). 1 drill needs nothing but space. 7 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.

What changes in football training at 8?

The app opens the same 25 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.