What to train with U17–U19 players, with a sample session
By Marco Baleato · · About the author
Between 16 and 18 (the juvenil category in Spain) the last step before senior football begins. Players are physically almost adults, they can handle a full tactical plan and many of them will soon train with a first team.
Training now looks like senior training: a game model, positional play, rest defence and a mid block that presses on signals. What still makes it youth football is that the goal is to develop players, so individual improvement matters as much as the result on Sunday.
What to work on at this age
Positional play: occupying lanes and lines so that there is always a free player between the opponent's lines.
Rest defence: when the team attacks, who stays behind the ball and how they stop the counter before it starts.
Defending as a block: a mid block that stays compact and presses on clear signals, instead of everyone chasing the ball.
Individual work by position: finishing for strikers, 1v1 defending for full-backs, playing out for goalkeepers and centre-backs. And recovery, because the weekly load is high.
Sample 90-minute session
Warm-up (10 min): dynamic mobility. Hips, ankles and hamstrings, with progressive runs at the end.
Rondo (14 min): 3v3 + 3 positional rondo. Three neutral players help the team in possession; the team that loses the ball defends straight away.
Main part 1 (20 min): positional game in five vertical lanes. No more than two players per lane and never two in the same lane and line, so the team keeps width and passing angles.
Main part 2 (18 min): attack with two in rest defence. The attacking team must always keep two players behind the ball; the defending team scores double on the counter.
Game (20 min): mid block with pressing signals, 8 + goalkeeper against 8 + goalkeeper. With fewer than 18 players, use a 7v7 with the same rules. Cool-down (8 min): yoga flow.
Coaching tips
Explain the game model and connect each task to it. Players this age want to know how the drill fits into Sunday's game, and they work harder when they see it.
Plan the week, not only the session. After a match, a lighter day; the hardest session two or three days before the next game; short and sharp the day before.
Give individual feedback. A short video clip or a two-minute chat after training helps a juvenil player more than another speech to the whole group.
