Heads and Volleys Soccer Podcast · LeeDunneSoccer

79. Team Huddle

October 6, 2023·14 min·1 clip
Lee Dunn teaches young soccer players to take three deep breaths before practice to improve focus and calm excitement.
Soccer coach Lee Dunn shares practical methods for activating and connecting with players at the start of practice, emphasizing personal relationships, team huddles, breathing exercises, and creating safe emotional spaces for young athletes. He provides specific techniques for greeting players, gathering feedback, and adapting coaching to individual player needs and moods.

As heard by us

The first 10 minutes are treated like the whole lesson, and that changes the feel of practice.

It follows a simple coaching problem and makes it feel consequential: how to greet players, get them moving, and use the first minutes well. Lee Dunn treats that opening stretch as part of the lesson, with play-practice-play, personal check-ins, a shared three-breath reset, and…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want your first ten minutes to settle young players and still get them moving?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
Listen to the show on