Coaching Youth Soccer

You may have heard that in coaching soccer drills, all skills have only 1 goal and that is to take a shot at the goal. It requires both skill and character to produce quality shooting. But there is something more that is equally important and that is a persuasive attitude.

Even though, all players must do this but it is more onto the forward players to shoot the ball. While teaching soccer, put shooting on the top of your priority list.

So many things may come out of a shoot. Shots can be directed towards a goal. The goalkeeper might drop the ball exactly at the feet of your forward player. Wild shots can turn into great passes. Ground shots may spring back. A goal might result out of a straight shot.

During the soccer practice, attacking players are always on a lookout to shoot the ball into the goal at every possible opportunity. 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 called sniffers. This is due to the fact that they are always on the lookout for scoring chances.

Soccer Coaching

To them, every opportunity is the last one they will get and hence shoot ferociously. 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. Hence, in coaching soccer drills, you must instruct the players to hit the ball whenever they get a chance.

As a rule, a shot is whenever the ball it hit in the direction of the goal with the intent to score. One of the most effective techniques of driving the ball is through its middle with the help of laces of the foot. Make sure that the player’s head is over the ball, his toe remains extended, and his upper body keeps steady.

The players should be taught in coaching drills to shoot the ball low and wide of the goalie. At this point, low ground shots are favored over high shots. For the reason that goalies have to stretch their hands a greater distance to stop low ground shots, it is a little tricky for them.

Young players while practicing inside regulation sized goals, tend to score more by kicking the ball over the head of the goalkeeper. You need to discourage your players on this as this leads them to a habit of shooting high goals. When coaching soccer drills, put a stop to this activity by not permitting kids to play in adult sized goals.

Now get out there and start teaching your players to look up once before they shoot the ball with a view to check the position of the goalkeeper.

There is a lot more that you can get to know by just subscribing to our youth soccer coaching community which has tons of information on coaching young players in form of newsletters, articles, and videos.

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.

In coaching soccer drills, there are certain training tips that I’d like to share with you before you initiate your training program even if you have been doing this for quite a long time. Work out a common objective for the team as well as yourself as a coach, for instance; during soccer practice the players must enjoy the game while they are a part of it.

Herein, you must remain careful otherwise you’ll not be able to follow the fun part. For this reason, I suggest that your goals should be as precise as possible both for your own good and for the good of your team. A few examples are promoting the physical fitness of the players, developing a good sporting attitude towards competition, and focusing on the individual soccer skills.

Since you are the coach, you only are responsible for setting high standards of sportsmanship for players. Promote the feeling of sportsmanship, team spirit, and fair play amongst team members. However, in teaching soccer, you can have numerous other objectives that you can add to those mentioned above.

The theory of winning is one concept that I’d like to stress upon when it comes to coaching youth soccer. Try to infuse an open idea of winning the game inside your player’s minds while training 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

This will take away the pressure off the kids and they’ll focus more on playing their best game rather than just winning it.

In coaching soccer drills, make sure that your instructions are very precise for them to be effective. Before coaching, you need to teach your players about some explicit do’s and don’ts in soccer. The dissimilarity between coaching and teaching lies in the fact that coaching is concerned with a group of players who are already familiar with the game to a certain extent.

In the process of coaching drills, it is nice to first impart 5 to 6 demonstrations about a drill to the kids and then let them practice 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. However, they are good at replicating things.

Consequently, at all possible times, give a demonstration.

In the end, but still important is to keep the kids involved in several activities. This is more valid if the weather prevents you from having a regular session. It’s a fact that all kids love to play in the rain. So, rather than just telling them to go home, it is more beneficial to find ways so that they can still enjoy soccer in some form.

Just keep in mind that the kids should be wearing additional protective gear in such weather.

Now get out there and start incorporating these teaching suggestions into your practice sessions. You will be astonished to see 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.

In coaching soccer drills, there’s no doubt that perhaps the most complex part is that of finding out the most appropriate method of managing the conditioning schedules of the players. That’s probably because the similarity between coaching and educating the players has been getting some recognition in past few years.

Sadly, in teaching soccer, a majority of the coaches still don’t realize that it’s pertinent to devise the coaching plans as per the needs of the players. They should make an effort to develop them professionally together with educating them on the game. In some situations, it is seen many a times that the educational aspect in soccer is neglected totally.

Yet, there is just one code that must be adhered to while determining the coaching drills for the kids. Any young player must first endeavor to grow as an individual and only after that he can become the best and a high ranking soccer player. A coach should therefore act according to the above principle.

It’s easy to find out the reason that pushes a player to take on the duty of a coach.
After the player is no more a part of the team, he wishes to continue being associated with soccer. This is what makes some successful players take a plunge and become kid’s coaches. But they fail to seriously consider the nature of this job.

Soccer Coaching

Some look at youth coaching as a stepping stone to coaching adults. There are still others who take this up because they truly love working with kids and wish to share with them their passion for soccer. Theses reasons are both suitable as well as acceptable. It’s not just these responsibilities that follow your choice but also certain ethical duties that must be looked at while making a choice.

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.

In order to be accepted as a great coach, certain standards need to be set and followed. It requires a proficient and a skilled coach to push young players in loving soccer and regard it as an encouraging and an exciting incident in their lives. As a coach, make sure that during the soccer practice, players feel comfortable in openly expressing themselves by way of the game.

Each player in the team has individual talents, resistance, and competence. It is not important whether each of them has great potential and skills of a winner or not. But what’s really important is that every player must reach his own competence in the due course.

The fact that every successful, skilled, and competent player does not necessarily make a talented youth coach must be understood. He should have a special bent for working with young players; an innate gift for human contact and emotional relationships.

Some food for thought; give some serious consideration to what actually motivates you as it is a condition in this context.

There is lot more that you can equip yourself about coaching soccer drills by just subscribing to our youth soccer caching community that offers a great amount of knowledge by way of articles, newsletters, and videos.

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.

How would you react to the fact that one thing that young players find truly hard is to use a straight leg to kick the ball? In coaching soccer drills, it’d not just the players but also the coaches who have a problem here. The player is required to maintain absolute balance and the leg with which ball is to be kicked at is bent at the knee. Both power and stance to kick the ball emerges from below the knee.

In soccer practice, this is the starting position for almost all types of kicks. The rushing of the foot from below the knee creates an immense impact on the ball. This provides the players with a lot of power to act upon a range of kicks. However, what type of a kick would it be is determined by the precise contact of the foot on the ball.

For example; it could be knocked very high, driven low, turn left, or sway to the right.

There are three vital passes in soccer i.e. a side foot pass, the outside of the foot pass, and the instep drive. Let’s now discuss them some more.

Soccer Coaching

The side foot pass: In teaching soccer, this is the most widely used and the simplest pass. It is generally used for making short distance passes. Though it is a little slow and quite predictable during the game but is very easy for the kids to learn and execute accurately. The ball touches the inside of the foot and the ankle with the foot turned outwards.

In coaching soccer drills, players should know that their body need not be tense during the movement with the ball. 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.

Subsequently, as players are convinced of their ability to perform it, the action should come out smooth, natural, and relaxed.

Outside of the foot pass: This pass is a little complex to teach and learn but it must be learnt well as it’s the quickest, most accurate, and unpredictable pass. A contact is made with the ball between the laces and outside edge of the foot with the foot extended and turned inward. By using the foot, the pass is converted into a quick toss for short distances.

During all these coaching drills, the body posture should be relaxed.

The Instep Drive: Here, the two versions; lofted versions and the low driven version are utilized to pass the ball to longer distances. After the players have learnt it, variations can be brought in 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.

The ball then comes into contact with the laces and inside of the foot which must be hard and extended.

So then, go on and train your players on these basic techniques of kicking along with the variations so that the ball does little different things.

Subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community that has tons of interesting articles, videos, and newsletters to help coaches get tips on coaching soccer drills to young players.

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.