In youth soccer drills, the basis of a game is its defense and though I strongly believe in this, you may have your own opinions. Both sides in the game are said to have played best defensive soccer, when the score remains 0-0.
Nonetheless, in kids soccer drills, there are two facets of winning a game. First is when an exceptional defense is demonstrated. Second is the fact that your team has a great offense competent of defeating the other team’s defense.
If your players are not able to get the ball, they’ll not be able to score. Some coaches have a tendency to train their players in either defense or offense. But, complete training of players requires them to play defense when the ball is with the other team and offense when they themselves have the ball.
Those players who let go of the ball in youth soccer practice should be the ones who chase the ball. This is very important and makes sense because the one who loses the ball is nearest to the ball. So it’s imperative for him or her to put pressure on the player who has the ball now.
In other words, he must try to get the ball back as quickly as he can. This will also provide enough time to other players in the team to return to their form and get into the defensive positions. This will restrict the opponent player’s movement in the field with the ball in his custody.
You can teach the players these skills by demonstrating the following techniques.
Immediate chase: When this is effectively done in youth soccer drills, it puts pressure on the opponent from all the sides. And eventually this has the effect of them losing the possession of the ball or executing a wrong pass.
Fall back and delay: This necessitates the remaining team members to fall back, and challenge the opponent with the ball and delay him or her from getting into their team’s goal area.
The riskiest place on the field being the center, ask your players to force the opponent with the ball towards the touchline. This has the effect of the player losing the mobility to make a pass and also move in different directions.
Arc of Concentration: In terms of scoring, the Arc of Concentration is the riskiest area. Maximum number of goals is scored by players in the arc of concentration. So it’s very important to teach the players in youth soccer coaching to concentrate on moving the ball outside of this area.
This arc is adjacent to the goal. It begins from one corner post of the goal and goes all the way through the corner of the goal box and on to the touchline. When the ball is inside this area, the chances of scoring the goal are increased.
The above methods are the easiest and most effective in teaching players effective game strategies and youth soccer drills.
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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: http://www.soccerdrillstips.com.