Kids Soccer Drills

It is well known that in coaching soccer drills, every skill and teamwork imparted to the players has only 1 objective; to shoot the goal. It requires both skill and character to produce quality shooting. But there is something more that is equally important and that is a persuasive attitude.

Even though, all players must do this but it is more onto the forward players to shoot the ball. When teaching soccer, shooting should be at the top of your list.

There are so many things that may result from a shoot. Shots can be directed towards a goal. It might be that the goalkeeper drops the ball at the foot of your forward player. Unruly shots can turn into brilliant passes. Ground shots can get a timely rebound. You might even score a goal directly from the shot.

During the soccer practice, attacking players are always on a lookout to shoot the ball into the goal at every possible opportunity. They are conditioned in a way that the only thought that keeps roaming inside their mind is getting the ball into the nets. In England, these attacking players are called sniffers. This happens because they are always reviewing scoring chances.

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They consider every chance the last chance to score a goal and hence shoot accordingly. They are always present at the right time at the right place. They always make the most of every situation even if it is not favorable. Therefore, in coaching soccer drills you must ask the players to hit the ball at every opportunity.

In most cases, when the ball is knocked with a view to get it through the goalpost, it is termed as a shot. But driving the ball through the middle using the laces of the foot is by far the most effective technique for shooting. Make sure that the player’s head is over the ball, his toe remains extended, and his upper body keeps steady.

In coaching drills, your players should learn to shoot the ball low and wide of the goalie. Here, low ground shots are preferred over high shots. This happens due to the fact that goalies have to stop the low ground shots by stretching their hands a lot more in comparison to high shots, thus making it difficult.

Young players while practicing inside regulation sized goals, tend to score more by kicking the ball over the head of the goalkeeper. You must discourage your players to do this as it instills the habit of shooting high goals. In coaching soccer drills, don’t allow the kids to play in adult sized goals to stop this practice.

So get going and train your team members to see and confirm the goalkeeper’s position before they shoot the ball into the goalpost.

To know more about tips on coaching young players, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community that offers effective and practical knowledge to help you excel in your career as a soccer coach.

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: Youth Soccer Drills.

Before you get on with coaching soccer drills to kids, let me share with you some teaching ideas that are sure to help you, whether you agree or not. Work out a common objective for the team as well as yourself as a coach, for instance; during soccer practice the players must enjoy the game while they are a part of it.

Herein, you must remain careful otherwise you’ll not be able to follow the fun part. For this reason, I suggest that your goals should be as precise as possible both for your own good and for the good of your team. For instance; constantly remind the players to remain physically fit, develop them into sporting players with a positive attitude towards the game, and concentrating on skills unique to them.

You, being the coach are solely responsible to set high standards for sportsmanship. Promote the feeling of sportsmanship, team spirit, and fair play amongst team members. When teaching soccer, you have the option to include any number of relevant objectives along with the ones stated above.

Winning is another important concept that I’d like to emphasize in coaching youth soccer. When you coach your kids, you must instill an open concept of winning in their minds. Teach them that as long as their performance is out of ordinary on the field, they are winners, no matter what the final result.

Soccer Coaching

This will take away the pressure off the kids and they’ll focus more on playing their best game rather than just winning it.

In coaching soccer drills, make sure that your instructions are very precise for them to be effective. Before coaching, you need to teach your players about some explicit do’s and don’ts in soccer. The variation between coaching and teaching is prominent because coaching deals with a bunch of players who already play soccer pretty well.

While coaching drills, it is preferable to first demonstrate the drill to the kids and then give them a free hand in executing it themselves. It is due to the fact that kids grasp visualizations more effectively than simple instructions. If you decide to give them plain instructions, they will not appreciate it very much. Relatively, they imitate perfectly.

Therefore, consider giving demonstrations wherever you can.

Last but by no means the least; keep your players active with several purposeful activities. This is more valid if the weather prevents you from having a regular session. You must understand that kids are just thrilled at the prospect of playing in the rain. Therefore, in place of cancelling the training session, rearrange it in a way that the players make the most of their energy and time.

Just be sure that the kids have additional layer of clothing and proper shoes in situations like these.

Now get out there and start incorporating these teaching suggestions into your practice sessions. You’ll be amazed to see the results.

To know more about coaching soccer drills, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community that offers effective and practical knowledge to help you excel in your career as a soccer coach.

Andre Botelho is a recognized expert in youth soccer coaching. He influences well over 35,000 youth coaches each year with his unique coaching philosophy, and makes it really easy to explode your players’ skills and make training more fun in record time. To download your free youth soccer coaching guide visit: Coaching soccer drills.

Would you be surprised if I let you know that it’s really tricky for the young players to kick the ball with a straight leg? In coaching soccer drills, it’d not just the players but also the coaches who have a problem here. The player is required to maintain absolute balance and the leg with which ball is to be kicked at is bent at the knee. Both power and stance to kick the ball emerges from below the knee.

In soccer practice, this is the opening pose for just about all types of kicks. The acceleration of the foot from below the knee creates a powerful impact on the ball. This provides the players with a lot of power to act upon a range of kicks. Still, the style of kick that would emerge would depend upon the nature of contact of the ball with the foot.

For example; it could be chipped very high, driven low, swerved left, or swung right.

There are three basic passes in soccer namely, a side foot pass, the outside of the foot pass, and the instep drive. Let’s discuss them further.

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The side foot pass: In teaching soccer, this is the most widely used and the simplest pass. It is generally used for making short distance passes. Though it is a little slow and quite predictable during the game but is very easy for the kids to learn and execute accurately. The foot turned outward, ball comes into contact on the outside of the ankle and the foot.

When you are in the midst of coaching soccer drills, teach the players to be at ease with respect to their body. When it comes to different kicking actions, this rule is the truly indispensable. Teach the players to stiffen their ankle and the foot only when they need to get into contact with the ball.

The moment players feel confident about carrying out this task well; their action should seem relaxed, simple, as well as smooth.

Outside of the foot pass: Since this pass can never be predicted, is pretty accurate and quick, players must be trained on this even though it’s a little tough to master. The ball makes a contact between the laces and the outside edge of the foot, when the foot is extended and turned inward. By using the foot, the pass is converted into a quick toss for short distances.

In the course of these coaching drills, players should keep their stance relaxed.

The Instep Drive: Both the lofted version and the low driven version of the instep drive are used to pass the ball over longer distances. Once the players are confident in executing it, make a “chip pass” or an “in swinging pass” by introducing some changes in it. The approach of the instep drive is slightly angled and the non kicking foot is placed about 12 inches to the side of and behind the ball.

The ball makes a contact with the laces and inside of the foot, which should be firm and extended.

So, go ahead and teach your players these basic kicking techniques with variations to make the ball do slightly different things.

You can also get your hand on loads of relevant information pertaining to coaching soccer drills in form of newsletters, articles, and videos by subscribing to our youth soccer coaching community.

Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching and has already helped thousands of youth coaches to dramatically improve their coaching skills. Learn  how to explode your players’ skills and make training fun by downloading your free ebook at: Soccer Training Drills.

If you think the way I do, I’m sure you’ll agree that in coaching soccer drills, zeroing down the best method to organize conditioning programs is by far the most difficult part. That’s probably because the similarity between coaching and educating the players has been getting some recognition in past few years.

Sadly, in teaching soccer, a majority of the coaches still don’t realize that it’s pertinent to devise the coaching plans as per the needs of the players. They should make an effort to develop them professionally together with educating them on the game. Many a times, this educational characteristic of soccer gets totally neglected in almost all scenarios.

However, we should always remember one principle while working out the coaching drills for kids. Any young player must first endeavor to grow as an individual and only after that he can become the best and a high ranking soccer player. The coach must therefore base his strategy on the above stated principle.

The main reason why an individual decides to become a coach is fairly simple to make out.
Once his playing days are over, he desires to remain involved in the world of soccer. As a result, many successful players become soccer coaches. But they fail to seriously consider the nature of this job.

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Some look at youth coaching as a stepping stone to coaching adults. There are still others who take this up because they truly love working with kids and wish to share with them their passion for soccer. Both are compelling and very well acceptable reasons. But it’s not only these duties but additional principles too that need to be taken into consideration.

In coaching soccer drills, the key factor is communication and sadly it’s the one that people find most difficult to recognize. The fact that someone has been a successful soccer player for a long time and has countless achievements does not hold well when it comes to being a successful coach.

There are a few standards that a youth soccer coach is expected to not only set but also meet. It’s a capable and an expert coach who alone can cheer his players to fall in love with soccer so much so that they begin to experience it as an upbeat and a stimulating practice. During the soccer practice, a coach should ensure that the players can openly convey their feelings through the game.

Each player in the team has individual talents, resistance, and competence. The important thing is not that each one of them should have skills and potential of a champion. What is actually important is that each player ultimately reaches his own potential.

It is therefore of great importance for us to realize that only brilliant players having successful careers make excellent and expert coaches. He should have a special bent for working with young players; an innate gift for human contact and emotional relationships.

Some food for thought; serious consideration of one’s real motivations should always be a precondition in this context.

You can lay your hands on loads of relevant information pertaining to coaching soccer drills in form of newsletters, articles, and videos by subscribing to our youth soccer coaching community.

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.