Physical Fitness for Life

Lesson Plan Weeks 1-4 (This lesson plan is only for those locations that had soccer in September! If this is the first time you are instructing soccer with this group of students, follow the fall lesson plan). 

Stretch and warmup 20-25 min, follow instructions for Agility Ladders and Ball Drills (below). 

Play a Game last 30 minutes of each class session. Please go over what parts of the body the students can use to play the game. Explain using the inside and outside of the foot. 

Agility ladder drills are part of soccer instruction for the Spring. The ladders improve acceleration, lateral speed and change of direction while enhancing balance, rhythm, and body control. Each week two new drills will be introduced. You will still play the numbers game at each session, but these drills will come first. Don’t spend over 30 minutes on these exercises. 

The video shows how to implement the drills. We kept them simple, but as the student’s progress, they will become more complicated. If you find that the drills are too difficult for your youngest students, have them step slowly. 

The “Extra” drills at the end can be used after the easier ones are mastered. All 3 weeks of drills are on the same video. 

Instruction: 

Lay the ladders flat on the ground. If you have a solid surface (basketball court or even a large sidewalk) you can place them there if it works better for your groups. Sometimes the grass can hold the ladder in place. The ladders range in rungs from 8-12. Use the smaller ones for the younger groups. More than one student can do the warm-ups at a time. Bring them up in groups and have them stand in front of a rung. The little kids will have to do every other rung to give them space during the warm-ups. Have the students do 10 reps each. 

**The most important instruction is that these ladder skills are done on the toes and some of them involve pumping of the arms. 

Drills for Warm-ups: 

    1. Side Hops-two feet 

    2. Front Hops-two feet 

    3. Alternate Hops 

After warm-ups, add... 

• Week 1 - Quick Steps (1) foot and Quick Steps (2) feet 

• Week 2 - High Knees and Ali Shuffle 

• Week 3 - Icky Shuffle and In-Outs 

• Week 4 - just warmups and play the game. 

To keep the class moving – the students who are waiting their turns on the ladder can do Ball Drills as follows: 

    1. Mirror Drill –  put 2-4 students to a ball. Ball is placed on the ground and 

    each student places their foot on it. Coach calls out body part which they

    will touch with their hands, i.e., head, ears, knees. When coach calls “ball” 

    the student will try and drag the ball out with their foot. The one who drags 

    it away is the winner. 

    2. Ball Taps – Students get in a single file line, come up to a ball placed on   

    the ground and do 10 taps (they either go to the back of line or over to the 

    ladder). 

    3. Numbers game - Give each student a number, throw out the ball and 

    have them bring it back to score. For large groups, throw out 3-4 balls and 

    call more numbers. You can also send out two numbers at a time which 

    helps foster passing. 

    4. If you have enough balls, the younger groups can play guppies and 

    sharks, ball square game, etc. 

*Each group should have 5-8 balls.