Soccer drills at home for 11 year olds

At a glance

At 11

78 soccer drills the app opens for an 11 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 30 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 45 minutes for an 11 year old.

How often

At most 4 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 11 hours for an 11 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: soccer ball (49 of the 78 drills), cones (31), wall (10), goal or 2 targets (3), to 5 soccer balls (3), colored cones (2), goal (2), mat (2). 3 drills need nothing but space. 29 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.

78 at-home drills

Soccer drills for 11 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 11 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.

defending

Defending

• Jockey CorridorAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Keeper Color-Cue ReactionsAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Keeper Ball DropsAges 7 and up · 6 min

dribbling

Dribbling

• 1v1 Moves at SpeedAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Ball Mastery: Eight Moves, CalledAges 11 and up · 10 min
• First Touch Off Varied ReboundsAges 11 and up · 10 min

fitness

Fitness

• Ball Mastery IntervalsAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Hamstring and Lunge StrengthAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Shuttle Run Fitness TestAges 11 and up · 12 min

pace & agility

Pace & Agility

• Overlap Run AccelerationsAges 11 and up · 8 min
• Dribble Sprint and StopAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Dropped Ball Reaction StartsAges 11 and up · 10 min

passing & receiving

Passing & Receiving

• Cross on the RunAges 11 and up · 12 min
• Driven and Lofted Passes to a TargetAges 11 and up · 10 min
• End-Line Cross to a ZoneAges 11 and up · 12 min

A 26-minute session

A home soccer session for an 11 year old

A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down, 26 minutes in all. Do it up to 4 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Soccer Warm-Up, Ages 11 to 13A 10-minute moving warm-up for soccer players aged 11 to 13: running, moving stretches, plank, balance, landings and build-up runs, then soccer moves, with a note on growth spurts.10 min
2. 2JugglingSmall, soft touches. Eyes on the ball.10 min
3. 3Soccer Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 11 to 13A 6-minute cool-down for soccer players aged 11 to 13 after training: stretches for the legs, hips, inner thighs and lower back, each held 15 to 20 seconds, never to pain, with growth-spurt notes.6 min

At 11

What changes in soccer training at 11

28 at-home drills join the list at 11.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 11 hours for an 11 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting soccer into a week at 11

At 11 the limit is 11 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 4 sessions of 30 minutes is 2 hours, which leaves 9 for team practice and games. Even 4 days at the app's longest, 45 minutes, is 3 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