No matter how experienced you may be in the field of soccer, a query like how to coach soccer gets you into a thinking mode. All said and done, soccer coaching is a daunting task and calls for a great deal of patience and skill on the part of a coach to keep the players motivated.
Let me share with you 5 simple yet great tips to help you take your team’s performance to the next level.
1. Always plan comprehensively: Your planning should be careful and detailed for you to succeed in coaching young players. Before deciding on anything, sit and have discussions with your players, set your goals and objectives as well as the timelines. Goals not met within the time frames decided for them, get in the way of a team’s progress.
After finalizing the plan, do not deviate from it except for making a few changes, if needed. Even the best plans need modifications due to unanticipated situations.
2. Practice sessions should be thrilling and fun-filled: When designing a practice schedule for kids, give due importance to the fact that variety in drills and exercises does the trick. You can practice this rule in lot many ways. For example: encourage players to participate in games and activities for some time after practice so as to develop a feeling of team spirit in them.
3.Discipline and freedom go hand-in-hand: As a coach, maintaining discipline should be your top priority. However, you must also understand that freedom and some respite from control is as important as the respect for rules. Don’t underestimate the value of freedom and relaxation in teaching soccer.
Permit players some time for them to indulge, relax, or simply unwind. In preaching how to coach soccer, it is also extremely important to venture out with the kids on a picnic or an outdoor get together.
4. Be Supportive and tolerant: Always inspire the team to experiment on new things and when they make mistakes, be tolerant. Keep a close watch on their activities. If a situation is serious enough to require your action, jump in and correct it but without punishing the kids.
Keep in mind that angry behaviour leads to fearful players while compassion and encouragement leads to fearless players.
5. Maintain balance: A practice session is where the kids get to know their talent and soccer skills. It is accepted that all the players in a team are different ranging from the best to the worst. As a coach, it is your duty to use your best players to inspire and motivate the others.
Make the best and bad players pals so that they share tips and techniques while in a session and also after it. It is essential that the players do not feel being compared with each other.
Your goal; to start utilizing the tips that you’ve just learnt in providing answers to the thought of how to coach soccer.
To know more about youth soccer and the latest trends and techniques, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community.
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: Youth Soccer Training.
Tags: How to coach soccer, nteaching soccer, soccer coaching, soccer skills