If you're a coach who is looking at the restrictions on what you can do soccer-wise this summer and are wondering how to plan a training session, the good news is there is plenty you still can do.

The Phase III, Step 1 guidelines allow "individual or socially distanced group activities (no-contact workouts, aerobic conditioning, individual skill work, and drills)" for soccer. This means no scrimmages or games.

Players aren't required to wear masks when maintaining six feet of physical distancing during training. (Coaches, however, are required to wear masks at all times.)

While maintaining physical distancing is encouraged, players are allowed to come within six feet of one another if they are wearing masks.

Below is an example of a 60-minute practice. Don't be afraid to use a phone with a timer to keep things on track schedule-wise. And always try to ask as many questions as possible, rather than making statements or issuing instructions.

Here's what a physically-distanced practice might look like:

0:00 - Welcome & instructions to players

Check in with your players to see how they're doing as they arrive, making sure they have:
- a ball (give them one from your supply -- to keep if it's the first session and they don't own a ball)
- shin guards
- hand sanitizer
- an appropriate face covering
- a FULL water bottle

When you have enough players there, call the players together for a quick (physically distanced) team talk. Remind them that they are allowed to drop their masks during practice whenever they are at least six feet apart, otherwise they'll need to keep their masks on. Go over what you're planning on doing for that session.

0:03 - Progressive Warmup & Hip Openers

Explain to the players the importance of warming up properly to prevent injuries -- especially after the long layoff. The pros they watch on TV do this every training and game.

Have the players sit or lie down do a hip-opener and adductor warm-up. Reclined Pigeon Pose and Cobbler's Pose (Butterfly Pose) are great options.

Instruct the players to line up (physically distanced) at one of the field and do the following (down and back):

1. Jog at 40% intensity
2. High knees
3. Butt-kicks
4. Side shuffle (alternating direction facing on the way down and back)
5. Gate openers
6. Gate closers
7. Sprint at 70% intensity

Note: With older ages, as the players learn the stretching and progressive warmup routine, you can designate a captain at the start of each practice and let that player lead the rest of the group in warmups that evening. Eventually this can be something they do on their own as they're arriving at the field.

0:09 - WATER BREAK

Remind the players to stay hydrated and point out that they're not used to playing soccer in this heat. Tell them to regroup in 60 seconds and come up with a competition about not being the last one to rejoin the group. Count down to a minute to encourage any stragglers to rejoin.

0:10 - Individual ball skills

Set up either an area for each player with cones or design a dribbling obstacle course with cones, making sure players stay physically distanced as they're getting started on this.

Instruct the players to work on specific things like dribbling only with a particular foot, inside-outside with a particular foot, and penguins (box dribbling). Have them work on stopping the ball and turning with it, possibly using a specific turn like a pullback (dragback), Cruyff, or hook turn.

Demonstrate proper technique for dribbling (which surfaces of the foot to use) and watch for proper technique, correcting any incorrect techniques you see. Work on different speeds of dribbling, if you have the space for dribbling with pace. Come up with a contest like the most number of down-and-back laps completed and have the players either compete with each other for top score or beat their previous best scores.

0:19 - WATER BREAK

Make sure every player gets water and remind them again about the different conditions in the summer from what they're used to in the spring and fall. Time this at 60 seconds and make rejoining the group competitive.

0:20 - Tandem passing

Pair up the players (making one trio if you have an odd number of players) and have them start out at least 20 feet apart in areas marked off with cones. Have them work on two-touch passing, starting with their dominant foot. Then have them work on passing with their weak foot. Then do one-touch passing. Then increase the distance between the players to up the difficulty and repeat the above.

Talk about using both the inside and outside surfaces of the foot. Correct any usage of the toe that you see.

0:30 - Group Game

We may not be able to play things that look like soccer games, but that still leaves us a lot of options for game-like drills. In Phase III, Step 1, we can do non-contact 1v1 work and drills that involve defending, as long as players put on their masks for this. A true 1v1 drill might be tough to pull off without contact, but there are other games that shouldn't involve contact.

One of the best training tool for all ages -- from youngsters to the very top players in the world -- is the rondo. Rondos help players develop:

- a good first touch
- quick & accurate passing
- solid decision-making
- poise (especially on the ball)
- defensive positioning
- closing down the ball as a defender (pressing)
- reading opponent intentions
- ball-intercepting skills. 

If you're working with younger ages or the kids don't yet know rondos, start with a 4v0 or 5v0 rondo -- or even a 3v0 rondo if necessary -- with no defender in the center of the group. Have the players form a triangle/square/pentagon/hexagon in at most a 20 foot by 20 foot area and teach them the primary rule that they only can pass to the player to their immediate right or left.

Once the ball is starting to move around decently quickly and you feel like your players are ready, introduce a defender. This will get the competitive juices flowing and you'll see kids enjoying themselves.

Teach the players the basic rules:

1. If you pass across the group, that's a violation and you swap places with the defender.

2. If a player is dispossessed by the defender, the player who lost possession swaps places with the defender.

3. If a pass is off target and the string of passes is broken, the person who made the bad pass swaps places with the defender.

4. If a pass is on target and the receiver of the pass fails to control it, resulting in the string of passes being interrupted, the player receiving the pass swaps places with the defender.

Once the players learn the rules, let them police the rondos themselves, but be on hand to quickly resolve any arguments that go on longer than a few seconds.

Get the players counting up how many passes in succession they can complete as a group, and challenge them to be looking to beat their top score. Have an extra ball always ready to go to reintroduce to the rondo (with your feet, not your hands), so the players don't have to track down loose balls.

0:44 - WATER BREAK

Give them 60 seconds and count down to the restart.

0:45 - Shooting & Goalkeeping Work

Divide into two groups if you have two goals and two goalkeepers. If you don't have players willing to be goalkeepers, have the coach(es) go in goal. Goalkeepers should wear their own goalkeeping gloves and disinfect them before and after this drill.

Design a dribbling obstacle course where each player dribbles before shooting or a drill where one player crosses the ball to a teammate for a shot. Make sure they are shooting from far enough out to where is isn't result in tap-ins.

Have players who have shot collect their balls go back to the starting point using the wings to avoid getting in the way of the next player.  (The goalkeeper retrieves any balls that go into the goal and kicks -- not throws -- the ball off to the wings for the player to collect.)

Make a game of tallying up goals individually or as a group. If a coach is in goal, be as effective or ineffective a goalkeeper as you'd like.

Watch players' body shape when addressing the ball and pay close attention to which surfaces of the foot they're using to strike it. Correct any strikes with the toe that you see or hear.

Announce when it's the final turn for each player to shoot, ideally when there are about six or seven minutes left in practice.

0:55 - Cooldown & Stretching

Jog at 40% intensity for a lap or two around the field as a team, keeping physically distanced. Then do quad stretches and calf stretches as a group.

1:00 - Recap & Dismissal

Go over what you worked on during the session and assign something like juggling, dribbling, or conditioning work to do at home or in the park outside of group training. Thank the parents for bringing the kids and discuss any behavioral issues that arose with parents.

1:02 - Pick up and pack up

Disinfect any gear that was touched by anyone during the session and pack up. Make sure to vacate the field as quickly as possible if there is a session following yours.

The above is just an example of  physically-distanced session plan. Feel free to use all, some, or none of this for your own session planning. Just make sure you're making these sessions fun for the kids in the absence of scrimmages.