U.S. Soccer’s Youth National Team Directors, April Heinrichs (Technical Director) and Jill Ellis (Development Director) have identified the need to establish nation-wide technical testing and benchmarking. They have created a series of training exercises and a tracking spreadsheet for use by Youth Coaches to implement their suggestions. Links can be found below.

The technical tests were designed with U-12 to U-20 players in mind. They are geared towards motivating players to spend time on their own to improve their ball control, short range passing, speed and agility with the ball, and the use of their instep for driving balls and shooting. A player that can control the ball is a player that helps control the tempo of the game and contributes to the team’s tactical abilities.

The primary vision of the U.S. Women’s Youth National Teams program is, “to deliver more technically skilled and tactically sophisticated players to the full Women’s National Team in an effort to sustain performance success over the next 20 years.”

There are training videos related to each of the exercises and a spreadsheet for tracking the results. A Powerpoint presentation steps Coaches through the program so it can be implemented effectively.

Thanks to SLU Head Coach Katie Shields, who recently assisted with the U18 Women’s team training camp, for pointing to the release of these materials.