The links below provide a wealth of coaching information. The USYS practice plans, in particular, are very useful. Remember to keep your practices active. Drills with lots of lines give a player 1 or 2 touches on the ball every minute. Activities as suggested by USYS give a player 20 or 30 touches on the ball every minute. Besides being more fun for the players, they will also develop skills much faster
As a youth sports coach, you naturally want to prepare your team to win as many games as possible, and as a Responsible Coach, you want to prepare your players to win off the field, too. Follow this link and learn how to achieve both of these goals.
The Soccer Coach-L coaching manual is highly recommended for youth coaches. It is a compilation of a nationwide team of coaching experts. Follow the link below to get a free pdf copy of this manual.
Soccer Coach-L Manual
USYSA has some good lesson plans here. along with some great info for all levels of coaches.
Decature Sports is a gold mine of coaching tips, articles, practice plans, and ideas.
Decature Sports (Link Updated 4-30-07)
COACHING PRACTICE PLANS
Matt Callahan's Practice Plans (Link Updated 4/30/07)
Matt Callahan's plans cover virtually every coaching topic for U-6's through U-14's. Try one of these off-the-shelf practice plans....you'll be surprised how well they actually work, the improvement in play, and how much fun the kids have.