Soccer Training Drills

Before you get on with coaching soccer drills to kids, let me share with you some teaching ideas that are sure to help you, whether you agree or not. During soccer practice, focus on a specific objective like kids must have loads of fun in the game as it benefits both the coach and the players.

At this point, it’s important to stay alert or else you’ll get distracted by other things. I therefore recommend that you decide on more specific objectives for yourself and your soccer team. Some examples are; focus on player’s individual soccer skills, promote the importance of their physical fitness, and help them grow into mature, professional, and sporting soccer players.

Since you are the coach, you only are responsible for setting high standards of sportsmanship for players. Encourage attitudes like fair play, team spirit, and sportsmanship. There are several objectives important in teaching soccer that can be incorporated in your list along with these.

One more concept that needs to be highlighted in youth soccer coaching is the notion of winning the match. Infuse an open concept of winning in your player’s minds when you are coaching them. Make it clear to the players that it is the level of their performance that makes them a winner no matter what the final decision is.

Soccer Coaching

The players as a result will feel totally relaxed but much more responsible to play the game sensibly with the team’s objectives in their mind.

In coaching soccer drills, make sure that your instructions are very precise for them to be effective. It’s imperative that your kids are aware of the dos and don’ts that are critical to the game of soccer before you go any further with their training. The variation between coaching and teaching is prominent because coaching deals with a bunch of players who already play soccer pretty well.

In coaching drills, it’s best to give the players 5 or 6 fine demonstrations of some specific skill and then let them perform it themselves. It is due to the fact that kids grasp visualizations more effectively than simple instructions. If you attempt to explain an action in words, they won’t understand it. Instead, they take demonstrations more enthusiastically.

So, as a general rule, demonstrate the skills yourself whenever possible.

Finally, but still very important is your ability to keep the kids engaged in important activities. This is all the more important when it rains or the weather is extremely cold. It is well known that the kids love playing in the rain. So, instead of revoking the session, it makes more sense to find alternative ways to let them have fun.

Just make sure that in a situation like this, your kids have an extra layer of clothing and proper footwear.

Now get out there and start incorporating these teaching suggestions into your practice sessions. You will be surprised by the results.

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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: Coaching soccer drills.

Would you be surprised if I let you know that it’s really tricky for the young players to kick the ball with a straight leg? In coaching soccer drills, this is the trickiest part as far as the players and the coaches are concerned. The player keeps overall balance and the leg to be used to kick the ball is bent at the knee. Both poise and power to kick the ball comes from below the knee.

This is the preliminary position in soccer practice for almost all kinds of kicks. The rushing of the foot from below the knee creates an immense impact on the ball. This gives players the power to execute a variety of kicks. Nevertheless, it depends upon the type of contact that the ball has with the foot which concludes the kick’s style.

For example; it could be thumped very high, driven low, turn sharply to the left, or move to the right.

In soccer, the three critical passes are the instep drive, a side foot pass, and the outside of the foot pass. Let’s now discuss them some more.

Soccer Coaching

The side foot pass: In teaching soccer, this pass is considered as the most extensively used and the simplest. It is generally used for making short distance passes. While this pass can be easily predicted and is a little slow, it is extremely simple to learn and easy to carry out. The foot turned outward, ball comes into contact on the outside of the ankle and the foot.

In coaching soccer drills, guide the players to keep their bodies totally relaxed throughout the entire movement. When it comes to different kicking actions, this rule is the truly indispensable. The ankle and the foot should be stiffened only at the time of contact with the ball.

After the players are confident in it’s execution, their action should appear comfortable, smooth, and natural.

Outside of the foot pass: This is a little difficult to learn but is extremely important to master because it is accurate, quick, and cannot be predicted. The ball gets in touch between the outside edge of the foot and the laces with the foot extended and turned inwards. With the use of a foot, the pass is transformed into a speedy throw for short distances.

In coaching drills, it’s imperative that the players maintain a comfortable posture.

The Instep Drive: Both the versions of the instep drive namely, lofted version and the low driven version are applied to pass the ball to longer distances. Once mastered, this style can also be modified to make a “chip pass” or an “in swinging pass”. The approach of the instep drive is slightly angled and the non kicking foot is placed about 12 inches to the side of and behind the ball.

Here, the ball gets into contact in between the inside of the foot and the laces which is extended and very firm.

So now coach your kids the various techniques of kicking the ball and with variations to let them do different things with the ball.

To know more about coaching soccer drills, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community that offers effective and practical knowledge to help you excel in your career as a soccer coach.

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: Soccer Training Drills.

It is well known that in coaching soccer drills, every skill and teamwork imparted to the players has only 1 objective; to shoot the goal. It takes skill as well as gut feeling to produce quality shooting. But apart from this, there is something else that is equally important and that is forceful attitude.

It is the responsibility of every player but more importantly that of the forward players to shoot the ball. When teaching soccer, give a lot of emphasis on shooting.

So many things may come out of a shoot. Shots can be redirected into the goal. It is a possibility that the goalkeeper may very well drop the ball at the foot of your forward player. Rowdy shots can turn into accurate passes. Ground shots may bounce back. A goal might result out of a straight shot.

When in soccer practice, attacking players are always looking for a chance to shoot the ball right into the goal. They are conditioned in a way that the only thought that keeps roaming inside their mind is getting the ball into the nets. In England, these attacking players are known by the term sniffers. This happens because they are always reviewing scoring chances.

Soccer Coaching

They take every chance for a shot as if it is the last chance that they’ll ever get. They are always present at the right time at the right place. They’ll even make the most of being in the wrong place at the right time. So, in coaching soccer drills motivate the players to kick the ball whenever they can.

As a general rule, any kick that causes the ball to go towards the goal is considered as a shot. Yet, one technique that is most effective is driving the ball through the middle by use of the laces of the foot. To carry this out, the player should have his head over the ball, his toe should be extended, and his upper body should keep steady.

In the course of coaching drills, teach your players to shoot the ball wide and low to the goalie. Herein, low ground shots take priority over high shots. The reason is that low shots are especially difficult for the goalies to stop as they have to move their hands a greater distance than for high shots.

Young players while practicing inside regulation sized goals, tend to score more by kicking the ball over the head of the goalkeeper. As a result of it, the players develop the tendency to shoot high goals so this must be discouraged. In coaching soccer drills, stop this practice by not letting your players to practice in adult sized goals.

So go ahead and make your players expert in shooting the ball to score goals by confirming the position of the goalkeeper once before shooting.

To know more about tips on coaching young players, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community that offers effective and practical knowledge to help you excel in your career as a soccer coach.

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: Youth Soccer Drills.

If you think the way I do, I’m sure you’ll agree that in coaching soccer drills, zeroing down the best method to organize conditioning programs is by far the most difficult part. There is a reason why I’m saying this and it’s because the thin line between educating and coaching the players has somehow vanished.

Regrettably, many coaches still don’t understand that when teaching soccer, drawing a coaching plan based on the player’s needs is of paramount importance. At the same time, they should focus not only on professionally coaching the kids but also educating them. There have been a number of situations where this educational facet of soccer has not been considered at all.

Yet, there is just one code that must be adhered to while determining the coaching drills for the kids. A young player becomes an elite player of great renown only when he grows as an individual first and then as a soccer player. Therefore, the coach should act strictly as pre the above mentioned principle.

If we try to figure out something that cheers a former player to become a coach is pretty easy.
His desire to remain associated with the game even after his days as a team player are over. This is what makes some successful players take a plunge and become kid’s coaches. However, what they don’t understand is the seriousness that this role requires.

Soccer Coaching

Some look at youth coaching as a stepping stone to coaching adults. Many of them consider this as their only chance to get one with the sport and contribute to the game by sharing their experience and techniques and helping the kids grow. Both are compelling and very well acceptable reasons. But at the same time, the person should also be aware of the moral responsibility that his choice implies.

In coaching soccer drills, the key factor is communication and sadly it’s the one that people find most difficult to recognize. It is not necessary that anyone who has achieved great success for ten consecutive years in various age groups can be regarded as a skilled youth coach.

To become a youth soccer coach, the goals that one needs to set for himself are well defined. Being a competent and skillful coach requires helping young players to love soccer and consider it as a positive and an exciting experience in their lives. During the soccer practice, the players should feel at ease all the time so that their feelings are conveyed openly in course of the game.

In a team, different players have their different styles of playing and a varying potential. What’s not important is that every player must possess the competence and talents of a great player. What is truly important is that each one of them eventually reaches his own aptitude.

So we must understand that not every soccer player is cut out to be a skillful and a proficient youth team coach. He should have a special bent for working with young players; an innate gift for human contact and emotional relationships.

Some food for thought; try and figure out the true motivations that cheer you to follow this prospect since it’s a pre requirement in this context.

If there is more information that you’re looking for on coaching soccer drills, just join our youth soccer coaching community and get an access to tons of news, views, and articles that help you give an insight of coaching young players.

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.