U12 Soccer Drills

Twelve is where combinations start to work. Not just a pass, but a pass with a second player already moving because she knows what happens next. That's a genuine step up and it's worth building the year around.

Y combination to finish, third man combination, one-two circuit, up-back-through. These look like passing drills and they're really relationship drills — two or three players learning a pattern well enough to run it without discussion. Get one of those working by Christmas and you'll see it in a match, which is a good feeling for everyone.

Receiving on the half-turn deserves a session of its own at this age. The player who receives facing forward has three options; the player who receives facing her own goal has one. That single habit is worth more than any formation change you could make.

Possession work moves up to 4v2, 5v2 and the three-zone game. Direction matters now. A rondo with no direction teaches keeping it; a position game teaches keeping it in order to go somewhere.

Introduce pressing lightly. Not a full team press, but the idea of a trigger: when the ball goes backwards, we go. Back-pass press trigger is enough for a year.

Most groups are on 9v9 now, which is the format where width and depth become real. Wide lanes 5v5 and switch the play 6v6 teach both without a lecture.

Keep a game at the end, always. Twelve-year-olds will forgive an ordinary session that finishes with a good game. They will not forgive the reverse.