Soccer Conditioning Drills by Age Group
Overview
To help improve your game, it is very important to put time and effort into improving your skills through doing conditioning drills. These conditioning drills vary by age group and skill level. For toddlers, these drills are for introducing them to the sport and some skills in a fun environment. For kids, these drills become more focused on helping them to improve their skills and become better at playing soccer. Finally, for teenagers these drills are more intense to help them to be able to play at more competitive levels. Whether you're just starting out or aiming for competitive play, our experienced soccer coaches are here to guide you every step of your soccer journey. In today’s blog post we will be looking at soccer conditioning drills by age group.
Toddler (2 - 4 years old)
At this age the main goal is to give kids beginning skills and knowledge of how to play soccer. The drills should be focused on introducing them to different parts of the game in a fun environment. Kids are just starting their soccer journey at this age, so the main goal is to get them comfortable with passing, dribbling, and shooting in a fun low-stress environment.
Follow the Leader
Goal- Help kids get better at changing directions while dribbling, going faster while dribbling, and stopping while dribbling.
How to play:
- Instruct the kids to grab a soccer ball and follow what you are doing with the ball
- Have the kids follow you while you kick the ball in a straight line, making sure to continue to prompt them to continue to follow you or where to kick the ball
- As the kids build their skill, change the direction that you are dribbling the ball and you can speed up the pace of dribbling
Pack the Marshmallows
Goal - Teach kids how to quickly score goals
How to play:
- Get the kids to quickly kick soccer balls into the goal, you can prompt the kids by saying “fill the goal with the marshmallows (soccer balls)”. This adds a fun twist to a simple scoring exercise to help kids learn how to score, improve accuracy, and add a little bit of speed.
Even for toddlers just getting started, our caring soccer trainers design fun, age-appropriate drills that build essential skills in a safe and playful environment.
Kids (5 - 12 years old)
At the beginning of this age range from the ages 5 - 7 the main goal is to learn basic drills and to start playing games that aren’t too competitive. At the end of this age range ages 8 - 12 the main goals are to hone their soccer skills, practice teamwork, and start to develop a strategy for the game.
Red Light Green Light
Goal - The goal of this drill is to learn how to run both while dribbling a ball and without.
How to play:
- Line up the kids on one end of a field and stand at the other end or at a further distance from them.
- Then either yell “Red light” for stop, “Green light” for run, or “Yellow light” for walk until one of the kids gets to you. You can also add dribbling to this drill and have kids dribble a soccer ball while they run or walk. And work on stopping and controlling the ball when you say stop.
Obstacle Course
Goal - The goal of this drill is to improve dribbling, ball control, coordination, agility.
How to play:
- Set up a fun obstacle by first adding small hurdles at the beginning of the course, then adding a ladder for the next obstacle, and adding cones in a zig zag pattern for the last obstacle.
- Time the kids as they go through the obstacles making sure to jump over the hurdles, have them single leg shuffle through the ladder by having one foot stay on the outside of the ladder while the other one taps into each square, and dribbling the ball through the cones making sure to move quickly with precision.
- The kid with the best time and accuracy wins!
As children grow, our dynamic drills—developed by our expert soccer trainers—help sharpen their dribbling, passing, and teamwork, setting a strong foundation for future play.
Teenager (13 - 19 years old)
During this age range the goals are to train more seriously, play more competitively, and start to do more physical conditioning to help improve your playing. At the end of this age range, the goal may be to play more competitively—either by going professional or by playing for a college team.
Interval sprints with ball
Goal - The goal of this drill is to increase the players’ explosive speed while also maintaining ball control.
How to play:
- Set markers up at various distances across a field.
- Have the players dribble the ball to the first marker and then sprint to the beginning, then have them dribble to the next marker and then sprint back, and repeat this process for each marker.
- To make the drill harder have the players change directions or perform certain moves while they are dribbling the ball.
Pressure Passing Drill
Goal - The goal of this drill is to improve players’ ability to pass under pressure, which simulates the pressure they would face in an actual game.
How to play:
- Divide players into three lines, one line is the attacker and the other two lines are the passing partners. The attacker’s goal is to interfere with the passing of the soccer ball between the passing partners.
- During the drill the passing partners have to get 3 passes to each other without the attacker getting the ball.
- While doing this drill players want to make accurate quick passes while also maintaining control of the ball.
For teenagers targeting higher competitive levels, our rigorous drills crafted by professional soccer coaches focus on explosive speed, refined ball control, and advanced game strategy.
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