Let’s accept this! In order to coach youth soccer, it is always difficult to think and create new drills that are interesting as well as useful for the kids. In teaching soccer, the biggest difficulty is to keep thinking about new ideas that make the training for kids interesting.
Following are some drills that you can teach youth soccer players. These help them play the game well and have fun at the same time.
Employ the players to do dribbling and shooting: This is an easy drill that helps all the players practice at the same time. Instruct the players to stand on a single goal line. Now, spread the balls all over the soccer field. Once done, tell the kids to play with the balls as if they are moving towards the opponent’s goal. They should also hit the ball as soon as they get a chance.
This drill goes a long way in improving the stamina, dribbling skills, and confidence of the players. Since the kids do not have any opposition while they dribble, it also brings out their individual style.
Passing the Ball: In this game, make the kids stand in a queue at a distant corner of the field. Start counting till 3 and when you finish, order them to run to you as fast as they can. When they are running for you, they also have to capture the ball from the other player who has the possession of the ball. When you say stop, the player who has the ball must pass it to another player.
To coach youth soccer, these drills are the best tools to teach the kids passing and dribbling. This way, the players also learn a very important skill of snatching the ball from other players.
Touch and Go: It’s a very interesting game which kids love to play. In this game, tell them to make two lines at a distance of less than 40 feet from the goal post. Also, the goalie should defend the goalpost. Place yourself somewhere between the two queues.
Pass the ball to either of the queue and with only one tap teach them to shoot or pass the ball to another. The purpose must be to convert it into a goal. Continue practicing the game after the goalie has returned the ball.
Swap your goalies in between the practice meetings if there are more than two goalkeepers. This sport enables players to perk up their shooting skills through team effort. The goalie also gets to learn the art of keeping the ball away from goalpost.
Keeping the control of the ball: This exercise allows the players to learn to advance with the ball while retaining its control. Play with two people where one becomes the attacker and another, the protector. Instruct them to start moving the ball as per their roles and when a player dominates the other, reward him with a point.
These are the easiest ways to coach youth soccer. You can make your kids perform these as they help them learn along with having loads of fun. Become a member of our youth soccer coaching community for more knowledge and tips on the same.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andre Botelho is known online as “The Expert Youth Soccer Coach” and his free ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players’ skills and make practice sessions fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: Soccer Drills.
Permit me a straight question. In order to coach youth soccer, what 3 things should a coach do? Before you jump into answering this question, realize that youth soccer means that kids should enjoy the game. The concentration should be on turning the drills into enjoyable exercises so that the players get motivated.
So, to teach youth soccer, keep in mind the following three tips. These will instill the ability in the kids to become mature players.
Let the players have fun: As discussed, youth soccer translates into fun sessions for the players. As a coach, prepare each of the sessions beforehand. For example, make them start with warm-up drills that prepare them for the sessions. After that, get to the advanced exercises such as dribbling, passing, trapping etc.
In addition, help the kids do some creative thinking on their own. Encourage them to try new things and even of they are doing something wrongly, do not interrupt them. Talk to them about it after the session. Parents need to be actively involved if the game has to be made enjoyable for the children.
To coach youth soccer, it is critical because the kids stay at home more than they are on the field. Seek the parent’s help in keeping a check on kid’s diet, inspiring the kids, and achieving regularity.
Get used to the age: Teaching soccer to young is usually between the age of 7 to 14. At this age, it is a challenge to define the drills that actually catch their attention. So, you must think proactively to consider drills that are fun for the kids. And, ensure that you keep the age level of the players in mind while communicating with them and remain very casual in your conversation.
It is always a great trick to divide them into teams and also give them individual names. This instills brotherhood. It is advised not to conduct a lot of trials too. A good session is one that has a mix of new and old time-tested techniques.
Pen down the drills: It makes sense to pen down the exercises and also the objectives related to them. It achieves a road-map for the efforts of the team. The documentation also helps you in evaluating the progress of the players. If anything requires to be changed, you can easily do so in a written documentation.
Also, with everything documented, it is easy to track your goals. It is perfectly usual for a few things to go wrong and in that case, you can always get back to the original plan.
It can be safely said that youth soccer is an enjoyable and ever changing job. With this information at your disposal, you will without doubt be able to do full justice to your job.
Put this to test right away! These tips on coach youth soccer are guaranteed to bring you marvelous results. Subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community where there is a wealth of resources on youth soccer.
Andre Botelho is the author of “The Expert Youth Soccer Coaching Guide” and he’s a recognized expert in the subject of youth soccer coaching. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make coaching sessions fun in less than 29 days! Download your free pdf guide at: Soccer Coaching Drills.
Can you imagine that just a few soccer coaching tips can change the way a soccer team plays the game? Quite possibly No since it is widely assumed that it is several years of coaching that makes a successful coach. In this article, we share some important kids soccer drills that will put the kids on a winning track.
The game of soccer demands being healthy, quick, and strategic. As a coach, it is important to make the kids understand that. Begin with the fundamentals. Make them understand what soccer is all about, everything from agility to fitness, to food, and discipline. Make sure that you are not talking all the time and the kids are also throwing their part. Motivate the kids to talk to you. There is only one way to make the kids love soccer and it is to be friendly to them.
Be very cautious executing youth soccer coaching drills. Before each practice session, give the kids instructions. The instructions should not be very long. If the session is going to be for 30 minutes, keep this initial meeting not more than 5 to 10 minutes. In order for kids to benefit from the drills, leave them on their own. Take account of the issues and speak about them after the session. When you interfere in a session, it will irritate the players, so do it only when it is absolutely necessary. These soccer coaching tips are time-tested and proven to be effective.
Frame the feedback carefully. The young players have a tender heart. Keep the age of the players in mind when talking to them. It is suicidal to use foul language. If you realize what kids are capable of at this age along with their weaknesses, you will talk to them better. It is important that you pay attention to what others have to say. At times, even young players have powerful ideas that can be translated into great results.
The parents are always keen on the amount of strides their kids are taking in soccer. Ensure that you make it a team effort and get them involved. This is mainly because they will not be spending the whole day with you. For the kids to succeed in each endeavor, their parents play a major role by directing their life in the right direction. Communication is the key to keep the ideas flowing from both the sides. But keep these meetings either before or after the drills, never during the sessions. Please ensure that kids are not a part of these meetings. Update the parents about your vision and strategy and seek their cooperation.
Kids must stay motivated to continuously work towards the stated goals and it depends on how well their hard work is recognized. It will bring positive results in form of greater confidence levels by being accepted for their work. To make sure they don’t get complacent, keep enhancing the level of difficulty from time to time. In soccer conditioning, there is no harm in testing the capabilities of the young ones and also present a few challenges but do not go overboard with them.
Stay cautious and anticipate the consequences. Many sportsmen feel that youth soccer is not as popular as other sports for they don’t have the requisite information, suffer from inadequacy of understanding and fail to look beyond their area of expertise. These soccer coaching tips will help you move forward in creating a winning team. Even a diamond in its raw form needs polishing by a professional, so you must also become a part of our youth soccer coaching facility to go places in your profession.
About The Author:
Andre Botelho is known online as “The Expert Youth Soccer Coach” and his free ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players’ skills and make training fun in record time. Download your free soccer coaching ebook at: http://www.soccerdrillstips.com – Youth Soccer Training Drills.
