Soccer drills at home for 16 year olds

At a glance

At 16

107 soccer drills the app opens for a 16 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 50 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 75 minutes for a 16 year old.

How often

At most 5 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 16 hours for a 16 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: soccer balls (68 of the 107 drills), cones (50), wall (16), goal (7), to 5 soccer balls (5), goal or 2 targets (3), soft grass or mat (3), colored cones (2). 4 drills need nothing but space. 43 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.

107 at-home drills

Soccer drills for 16 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for a 16 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

• Keeper Confidence RoundAges 7 and up · 6 min
• Goalkeeper Collapse SavesAges 14 and up · 12 min
• Keeper Save and RecoverAges 14 and up · 12 min

dribbling

Dribbling

• First Touch Off Varied ReboundsAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Weak Foot WeekAges 7 and up · 10 min
• 1v1 to the End LineAges 14 and up · 12 min

fitness

Fitness

• Hamstring and Lunge StrengthAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Shuttle Run Fitness TestAges 11 and up · 12 min
• Side Plank SeriesAges 11 and up · 8 min

pace & agility

Pace & Agility

• Turn and Recover RunsAges 14 and up · 12 min
• Dribble Sprint and StopAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Dropped Ball Reaction StartsAges 11 and up · 10 min

passing & receiving

Passing & Receiving

• Scan and Play Under a Pressure CallAges 14 and up · 12 min
• Two Looks, Then Drive ItAges 14 and up · 12 min
• Cross on the RunAges 11 and up · 12 min

A 50-minute session

A home soccer session for a 16 year old

A warm-up, 3 drills and a cool-down, 50 minutes in all. Do it up to 5 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Soccer Warm-Up, Ages 14 and UpA 12-minute moving warm-up for soccer players 14 and up: moving stretches, strength, single-leg control, cuts and build-up runs, then soccer moves at practice speed.12 min
2. 2Agility LadderLight feet, quick taps.10 min
3. 3Shuttle Run Fitness TestPace yourself early, finish strong.12 min
4. 4Scanning HabitCheck your shoulders early and often.8 min
5. 5Soccer Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 14 and UpA 8-minute cool-down for soccer players 14 and up after training: stretches for the legs, hips, inner thighs and lower back, each held 20 to 30 seconds, never to pain.8 min

At 16

What changes in soccer training at 16

The app opens the same 107 at-home drills at 16 as at 15; 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 16 hours for a 16 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting soccer into a week at 16

At 16 the limit is 16 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 5 sessions of 50 minutes is 4.17 hours, which leaves 11.83 for team practice and games. Even 5 days at the app's longest, 75 minutes, is 6.25 hours.

The research behind it

• Ages 13 to 15 are the "specializing years", after the sampling years of 6 to 12.

  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