U12 session plans
Ready-to-run U12 sessions built on the same structure coaching courses teach: warm-up, skill practice, main practice and a game.
Players can now understand team ideas. Link every practice to a moment in the game they recognise. Each plan below is written for 18 players over 75 minutes. Different numbers? The session planner rebuilds any plan for exactly who turns up.
Your assistant coach: sessions built around your squad and what you're working on.
U12 session plan: keeping the ball
Big circle rondo (8v3)
A large rondo with the whole group: eight on the outside, three inside. Great for team bonding at the start of a session, with lots of touches and pressing practice.
Area: 20 m circle. Coach: Angles: give the passer two options. Pass across the circle when the press comes.
Wing-back rondo for 3-5-2 and 3-4-3
A 5v3 rondo in a central box with a wing-back in each wide channel. Teaches a back-three team to use the wing-backs to escape pressure and switch the play.
Area: 30 x 20 m with 4 m wide channels. Coach: Wing-backs: stay wide and high so the pass to you is open. Back three: draw a defender in before passing wide.
3-5-2 wing-back switch of play
Draw the opposition to one side, then switch to the far wing-back arriving unmarked. The signature attack of a 3-5-2, practised as a pattern then as a 7v5 game.
Area: Three-quarters pitch. Coach: Far wing-back: stay wide and high, don't drift towards the ball. Switch quickly: two quick passes beat one slow long one.
4v4 with four corner goals
Each team defends two corner goals and attacks two. Teaches switching play and looking up, because the open goal is usually on the other side.
Area: 30 x 25 m. Coach: If one goal is crowded, switch to the other. Stay spread: two wide, one deep, one high.
U12 session plan: playing out from the back
Shadow play (team shape walk-through)
The team moves the ball through its formation with no opposition, rehearsing build-up patterns and positions. A calm pre-match warm-up that switches minds on.
Area: Half pitch. Coach: Correct distances: width and depth. Receive on the half-turn.
Directional rondo: play through the lines
A rondo with a direction: defenders start in the middle and the attackers try to move the ball from one end to the other through them. Links rondos to real games, where the aim is to go forward.
Area: 20 x 15 m. Coach: Draw the defender toward you before passing past them. Use the drop player: play in, set back, play through (the third-man pattern).
4-3-3: build through the free eight
A phase of play: the attacking team builds from its keeper against three pressers and looks for the eight who is free between the lines, then plays through the end gates. Puts the 4-3-3 shape under real pressure.
Area: Two thirds of a pitch. Coach: Width and depth before the first pass. Six and eights: never all on one line.
1v1 tournament (up and down the pitches)
Players play 60-second 1v1 games on a row of mini pitches; winners move up, losers move down. Huge numbers of 1v1s and a fun competitive ladder.
Area: Several 15 x 10 m pitches. Coach: Be brave: take players on. Get back goal-side when you lose it.
U12 session plan: pressing
Ball fartlek
Players move round the pitch mixing jogging with the ball, fast dribbling and short sprints on the coach's call. Endurance work that keeps the ball involved.
Area: Full pitch perimeter. Coach: Keep good control even when tired. Recover on the jog.
Double box rondo (transfer)
Two rondos side by side. After a set number of passes, the team switches the ball into the other box; two defenders chase it across. Combines rondo skills with switching and pressing.
Area: Two 12 x 12 m boxes. Coach: Switch when the defenders are drawn in. Receivers in the far box get ready early.
3v3 press and win (pressing in threes)
Three players keep the ball in their half; three pressers enter on the coach's pass and must win it within ten seconds. Teaches first presser, cover and balance in a small group.
Area: 20 x 15 m. Coach: First presser goes; second covers behind; third blocks the easy pass. Press at an angle, not straight on.
Pressing triggers game
A 5v5 (or 6v6) game where the defending team scores a bonus goal for winning the ball within five seconds of a trigger: a back pass, a bad touch, or a pass to the touchline.
Area: 40 x 30 m with goals. Coach: First presser: curve your run to cut off one side. Second player covers; everyone else moves across and up together.
U12 session plan: attacking play
Pass and race
Partners pass across a gap and, on the coach's call, the receiver races the passer to a gate with the ball. Passing, then a sharp 1v1 race.
Area: 20 x 10 m. Coach: Quality passes while waiting for the call. Explode away on the call.
Beat the press: 2v1 in a channel
Two players pass their way through a channel past a pressing defender to stop the ball on the end line. Teaches when to pass, angle of support and passing under pressure.
Area: 20 x 10 m channels. Coach: Draw the defender, then pass. Support player: get level and wide, not behind the defender.
1v1 with your back to goal
The attacker receives with a defender tight behind them and must turn or hold up the ball and shoot. The striker's toughest 1v1, made into a repeatable game.
Area: 20 x 20 m to goal. Coach: Feel where the defender is before the ball arrives. Spin off them when they're tight, protect the ball when they're not.
1v1 tournament (up and down the pitches)
Players play 60-second 1v1 games on a row of mini pitches; winners move up, losers move down. Huge numbers of 1v1s and a fun competitive ladder.
Area: Several 15 x 10 m pitches. Coach: Be brave: take players on. Get back goal-side when you lose it.
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