What follows is a simplistic way of bearing in mind the essential soccer coaching factors ate determine the team philosophy and moving along with it. This philosophy can be applied to your youth team with relative ease as it is easier than you think.
The 6 essential factors which are required for an effective youth coaching philosophy are; parents, coaches, excitement, selection, time, and success windows.
Consistent Parental Support: When we talk about soccer training the influence of parents is vital in the mental and physical development of your players, most importantly on the day the match is taking place. “Parental responsibilities”, the brochure supplied when the term starts is not sufficient. Regular meetings should be arranged with the parents to highlight the key points again and discuss issues.
Future soccer coaches: A vital part of your philosophy should not just focus on developing the players, but also the coaches. The kid’s parents can also be considered for soccer coaching. They are the ideal candidates, not necessarily to start immediately, but may be in the future.
Selection: The drop out of players with great soccer skills is mostly because of non-selection. Studies reveal, that the players think that they would not get selected for a good team so they opt for a bad team. Hence, a fair selection system should be used so that all the players are given equal game time.
Time: The session should be started on time and the parents should also be told to be on time. The start and finish times that are clearly defined make for an effective session.
Excitement: Is it necessary that every soccer coaching session should be fun? Yes, try to make every session enjoyable for the kids but also understand that it may not be possible every time. Hence, choose enthusiasm as a substitute.
At the time of training the kids, it is valid that coaches face problems with ideas on how to make training interesting. So, the biggest challenge in teaching soccer is to be creative enough and keep introducing new and innovative ideas so that the kid’s remain interested in the game.
In soccer drills, it makes sense to keep escalating the difficulty aspect so that kids get skilled. A way of doing this is to begin a game, take note of a problem, and then remove it with the help of a soccer drill.
Success windows: Make an effort to create a success window for the season as an important part of your training. This necessitates for you to determine a lower limit and an upper limit of time with a view to measure the level of success that needs to be achieved.
For instance, time frame of minimum four and maximum eight weeks. This can be done for both team as well as individual team members.
In your interest, embrace a soccer coaching philosophy like this become a part of the development phase of your kid’s training once the basics have been covered. If you would like more such knowledge and resources, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community.
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.
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