Soccer Exercises

Let’s face it! To coach youth soccer, it is a challenge to be creative and come up with innovative tips and techniques to train the kids. The biggest challenge in teaching soccer is being creative enough to come up with great ideas so that the interest of the kids is sustained in the game.

Read through some tips below that you can teach youth soccer players. These help them play the game well and have fun at the same time.

Get the kids going with dribbling and shooting: This is a simple drill that involves all the players at the same time. Have the kid’s line up on the single goal line. Now, scatter a lot of balls all over the field. Then, make the kids move with the ball as if they are attacking the opponent’s goal. They must also shoot the ball when they get a chance.

This drill goes a long way in improving the stamina, dribbling skills, and confidence of the players. As the players do not have any opposing players, it makes them showcase their personal styles too.

Coaching Youth Soccer

Passing the Ball: In this game, make the kids stand in a queue at a distant corner of the field. Make them run to you fast as soon as you finish counting till 3. While they are running towards you, they also need to steal the ball from the other player who is kicking the ball. When you yell stop, the player in possession of the ball must pass it instantly to one of his mates.

When you coach youth soccer, these drills bring out the best in kids when it comes to passing and dribbling. They also learn the art of stealing the ball from other players which is very important.

Touch and Go: This is a very enjoyable game which the kids love. In this game, tell them to make two lines at a distance of less than 40 feet from the goal post. Besides, the goalpost should be defended by the goalie. You should stand someplace between the two rows.

The ball should then be passed on to any one row to subsequently pass or shoot the ball with just one contact. The idea is to translate the ball into a goal. Now the goalie should return the ball and continue with the practice.

Swap your goalies in between the practice meetings if there are more than two goalkeepers. This game has the dual benefit of instilling team spirit and bettering the shooting skills. The game also provides the opportunity to learn the skill of saving the ball from getting to goalpost.

Maintaining the custody of the ball: The players will learn the art to proceed with the ball without losing its possession. Take two players, one acts as the defender and the other attacker. Now let them both play their roles in the field and the one who succeeds to take over another wins a point.

These are simple techniques to coach youth soccer. When you have your kids do these drills, they’ll not only learn but enjoy as well. If you’re interested in knowing more about such tips, be a part of our youth soccer coaching community.

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. To coach youth soccer, what are the 3 things that a coach can do? Before you reply to this question, it is vital to understand that youth soccer means that kids should enjoy themselves. The concentration should be on turning the drills into enjoyable exercises so that the players get motivated.

Therefore, to teach youth soccer, take care of the following instructions. These will give you the leverage to turn the young kids into expert players.

Let the players have fun: As discussed, youth soccer translates into fun sessions for the players. As a coach, you must plan each session well in advance. For example, make them start with warm-up drills that prepare them for the sessions. Then move to advanced drills such as passing, dribbling, trapping the ball etc and so on.

To add to that, encourage the players to think creatively. Motivate the kids to attempt new things and when they make mistakes, which is natural, do not disrupt 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.

Coaching Youth Soccer

To coach youth soccer, it is vital because the players are more at home than on the field. Ask for cooperation from the parents since it is crucial in keeping a check on their daily diet, regularity in sessions, and encouragement.

Get used to the age: Teaching soccer to young is usually between the age of 7 to 14. At this stage, it is difficult to come up with drills that engage their attention. So, research a lot over what games you would like them to play. 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 a good idea to divide the group into teams and name them. This inculcates a sense of team spirit. Also, do not experiment a lot. A good session is one that has a mix of new and old time-tested techniques.

Write the exercises: It always pays to write the exercises on paper along with the results that you are expecting from them. It helps in developing a strategy for the team. Recorded data is highly beneficial in depicting the performance of the players. If you need to modify anything, it can be easily done in a written document.

Also, with everything documented, it is easy to track your goals. It is obvious that some things will not work out as you expected and you can always get back.

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.

Examine these tips immediately. These tricks on coach youth soccer will bring you immense results. If you would like access to a mass of resources on youth soccer, join 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.

Imagine how hard it would appear to coach youth soccer team? Actually it is not, if you have the right attitude, flair to deal with the kids, and some handy tips.

It is always logical and best to start with the basics. This is the stage where they their interest in the game will develop and they’ll start to think and act professionally. Also, getting familiar with the fundamentals of soccer will make them confident and get accustomed to the essentials of the sport.

On the road to teach youth soccer, to do nothing is the first step. Let the kids’ act the way they want and observe them keenly. Don’t attempt to be hugely organized or teach a great deal. In this way, kids will only take pleasure in the sport which is of essence.

Kids should be given regular feedbacks to enable them to work upon themselves. Give these feedbacks only at the end of the session, not during them. Remember that they are just kids and so it is important to communicate with them in their language.

Coaching Youth Soccer

Parents are the ones who take much curiosity in kid’s development. So it is a great idea to involve them early. This way you’ll be sure that kids remain interested in the sport even when away from the field. Make sure that you understand their queries and answer them appropriately.

Keep all the communication channels open. Using different modes like telephone, emails and personal meetings are good enough to interact with the kids. But let me warn you! Never instruct the kids are let their parents do that when they are on field. Moreover, negative comments, if any should always be shared when the young players are all alone.

To effectively coach youth soccer, interacting with your fellow coaches is also essential. Every one has unique experiences of their own and sharing them with each other opens new doors to communication and ideas.

Prepare your plans and drills in advance. This essentially means that you do your homework well in advance. The reason that they are dealing with the kids presses on some coaches to take a relaxed attitude. But it’s wrong. In youth soccer also, proficiency and politeness have the same relevance similar to that in professional soccer.

Make the kids do drills that are enjoyable and yet teach them the basics of soccer. Like, it is great if you organize small trips to nearby locations for picnics. Allow them to interact with each other and share their different views. This develops a sense of team spirit and camaraderie between them.

When teaching soccer, help the kids understand the value of regulation in soccer. It is vital that they understand in the beginning itself about the good practices in soccer.

As closing remarks, it is appropriate to say that teach the kids so that they learn to have fun with soccer. These tips can be applied in training your team to get remarkable results.

For more such tips to coach youth soccer, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community. Here you will find several resources on coaching youth soccer as well as a strong and helpful coaching community.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

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: Coach youth soccer.