Permit me a straight question. To coach youth soccer, what are the 3 things for the coach to do? Before you answer this question, it is important to know that youth soccer is all about letting the kids have fun. The focus should be on making drills and sessions so exciting that they are always full of enthusiasm.
Hence, to teach youth soccer, bear in mind the following conventions. They will help you guide the young kids to becoming professional players.
Let the players have fun: As discussed, youth soccer translates into fun sessions for the players. As a coach, design each of the sessions ahead of time. 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.
As an addition, motivate the players to think out of the box. Encourage them to try new things and even of they are doing something wrongly, do not interrupt them. Chat about it after the end of 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 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 makes sense to split the group into two and name them differently. This pumps in a sense of belongingness. Also, do not experiment a lot. The sign of a productive session is that there are both new and old drills.
Write down the drills: It is a good idea to write the exercises and the results that you are expecting from them. It achieves a road-map for the efforts of the team. A written document is always useful in determining the objectives of the team. If anything requires to be changed, you can easily do so in a written documentation.
You can determine your goals easily too. It is natural that some things go wrong in which case, you can always retrace your steps.
It can be assumed that youth soccer coaching is a fun filled and challenging job. With these handy tips and techniques, you can easily tackle the job.
Put this to test right away! 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.