"The 25 Most Important Things You Should Teach Your Players"
by Andre Botelho
1. Always play fair and by the rules.
2. Maintain dignity under difficult conditions.
3. Always lend support and encouragement to your teammates.
4. Always play your hardest and your best in practice and games.
5. Whether you win or lose, always demonstrate respect for your coaches, referees, your opponents, your teammates, and the game.
6. A good soccer player must display conditioning, skills, and tactical knowledge.
7. The team that has the ball is on offense; the team that doesn’t have the ball is on defense.
8. Regardless of the position you play, you need to know all the skills of a soccer player.
9. Never aimlessly "kick" the ball unless you need to get it away from in front of your goal. Always know where you are sending the ball.
10. Always maintain your position on the field, regardless of what is happening around you.
11. If you run forward when your team has possession, you will need to run back when the other team has posession.
12. The person who loses the ball is the first to defend and give immediate chase.
13. When you shift from offense to defense, sprint to get between your opponent and your goal.
14. When you are defending your goal, the player closest to the ball should attack it. The other defenders should fall into a supporting role and "mark" opponents on the other team who could receive and shoot the ball.
15. Move the ball toward the touchlines on the defensive side of the field and toward the center on the offensive side of the field move the ball toward the center of the field, or “center” the ball.
16. Pass the ball before you get into trouble, not after.
17. Always move the ball a good distance when you kick it.
18. If you have the opportunity to shoot, TAKE IT!
19. If you have a shot to take on goal, take it even if you are not near the goal line.
20. As most players are right-footed, so attack and watch for attacks on the right foot.
21. Develop your passing, kicking, and dribbling skills with both your feet so that you can use your left foot to fool your opponents.
22. Always maintain possession of the ball. Moving laterally with the ball or falling back is better than your opponent gaining possession of the ball.
23. When on offense you must always "support" your teammate with the ball by being open and close enough for a pass.
24. No matter the outcome of the game, if you have given 100% be proud of yourself.
25. Don’t limit yourself. YOU CAN DO IT!
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"Teaching Soccer - What Coaches Need to Know"
by Andre Botelho
There are several factors that a coach must take into careful consideration while teaching soccer tactics, especially while training young players.
The expert coach always starts with teaching the players about the simple soccer tactics. You should teach the tactics that the players can use with the skills they possess. Once you start seeing the improvement in their game, it is only then you should offer them more advanced tactics.
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Appropriate To The Players' Age
This is again one of the most important things that the coaches must keep in mind. This is something that many soccer coaches overlook and they start teaching the same tactics to everybody irrespective of their ages. This is something that can bring adverse effect to your team’s performance. Therefore, make sure that you teach them the basic soccer tactics that are appropriate to the players' age and match.
The language and the way in which you give instructions to the players must be simple, direct, and unambiguous.
True that you need to make your descriptions easy to understand, but it does not mean that you should tell them everything in such detail that it should eat up most of your training time. It is equally important for you to keep in mind the time factor and be as brief as possible.
However, you should not compromise on clarity just because you need to brief in your instructions. It is not at all a good idea to use long lectures in the training session. Furthermore, many coaches use sarcasm in their instructions.
Always remember that is not good for the health of the game and for your team’s performance. Therefore, make sure that you are not using any sarcasm that could be misinterpreted. It is better to avoid jargon as well. You should try your best to speak carefully and be specific and brief.
Always remember that seeing is better than hearing and doing is better than seeing. Therefore, when it comes to teaching soccer, an expert coach should introduce his topic, show it, and get the kids doing it quickly.
Yours in soccer,
Andre Botelho
President, SoccerDrillsTips.com
