Youth Soccer Coaching

What if I told you that young players find it really hard to kick a soccer ball using a straight leg? Both coach and the kids feel that this is by far the greatest trouble in way of coaching soccer drills. 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 position and control to kick the ball appears from below the knee.

In soccer practice, this is the opening pose for just about all types of kicks. The rushing of the foot from below the knee creates an immense impact on the ball. This offers great amount of power to players for carrying out different types 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 chipped very high, driven low, swerved left, or swung right.

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

Soccer Coaching

The side foot pass: In teaching soccer, this pass is considered as the most extensively used and the simplest. This is usually employed to make short distance passes. Despite the fact that this is somewhat slow and predictable, it’s easy to learn and simple to execute. The ball touches the inside of the foot and the ankle with the foot turned outwards.

In coaching soccer drills, guide the players to keep their bodies totally relaxed throughout the entire movement. This is by far the most critical rule applicable to all types of kicking actions. The ankle and the foot need to be stiffened only at the time when the players is about to get in contact with the ball.

Once the players become confident, their overall action should seem relaxed, smooth and effortless.

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 into contact between the outside edge of the foot and the laces with the foot turned inward and extended. With the use of a foot, the pass is transformed into a speedy throw for short distances.

In the course of these coaching drills, players should keep their stance relaxed.

The Instep Drive: Both the versions of instep drive i.e. the low driven version and the lofted version are brought into play to pass the ball over longer distances. Once mastered, this style can also be modified to make a “chip pass” or an “in swinging pass”. Because the approach of the instep drive is angled to some extent, the non kicking foot is positioned about 12 inches toward the side of and behind the ball.

The ball makes a contact with the laces and inside of the foot, which should be firm and extended.

So, go forward and make the kids try different things with the ball by teaching them the basic kicking techniques as well its variations.

You can also get your hand on loads of relevant information pertaining to coaching soccer drills in form of newsletters, articles, and videos by subscribing 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: Soccer Training Drills.

You’ve probably heard it a hundred times that in coaching soccer drills, all tactics, skills, and teamwork taught to the players ultimately lead to a shot on the goal. It is both a matter of skill and intuition to cultivate the art of shooting. But there is something more that is equally important and that is a persuasive attitude.

Every player should take care of this but it is more upon forward players to shoot the ball. When teaching soccer, shooting should be at the top of your list.

So many things may come out of a shoot. Shots can be positioned towards a goal. The goalkeeper might drop the ball exactly at the feet of your forward player. Unruly shots can turn into brilliant passes. Ground shots may bounce back. You might even score a goal directly from the shot.

When in soccer practice, attacking players are always looking for a chance to shoot the ball right into the goal. They are trained in a way that they think of nothing else but scoring goals. These attacking players are known as sniffers in England. This is due to the fact that they are always on the lookout for scoring chances.

Soccer Coaching

They take every chance for a shot as if it is the last chance that they’ll ever get. You will see that they are always available when the situation is favorable. They have the skills to even convert negative situations into positive ones. So in coaching soccer drills encourage your players to shoot the ball whenever possible.

As a general rule, any kick that causes the ball to go towards the goal is considered as a shot. But the most successful technique to drive the ball is striking it through the middle by using 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 coaching drills, your players should learn to shoot the ball low and wide of the goalie. In such a scenario, high shots are less preferred that low ground 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.

When kids practice inside the regulation sized goals, they are likely to score more by striking the ball above the goalie’s head. You must discourage your players to do this as it instills the habit of shooting high goals. This practice can be put to stop in coaching soccer drills by not allowing players to adult sized goals.

So get going and train your team members to see and confirm the goalkeeper’s position before they shoot the ball into the goalpost.

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I don’t know a thing about you, but I’ll bet that it is necessary that you look at some common teaching suggestions before starting out with the coaching soccer drills. In your soccer practice, identify one goal that is common to both the team and the coach for example; to have a lot of fun while playing the game.

Herein, you must remain careful otherwise you’ll not be able to follow the fun part. So, it is suggested that more specific objectives are decided upon that benefit not only the team but also the coach. For instance; constantly remind the players to remain physically fit, develop them into sporting players with a positive attitude towards the game, and concentrating on skills unique to them.

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

Winning is another important concept that I’d like to emphasize in coaching youth soccer. Infuse an open concept of winning in your player’s minds when you are coaching them. Teach them that as long as their performance is out of ordinary on the field, they are winners, no matter what the final result.

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.

When coaching soccer drills, always keep in mind the importance of giving clear and correct instructions if they are to be helpful. There are some clear dos and don’ts in soccer on which the players must be taught before you go ahead with your coaching sessions. 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 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 effective because young players are more receptive to seeing than listening. If you endeavor to explain in instructions, they will not understand it. Rather they are pretty good at imitation.

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

Lastly, but still no less in importance is to keep the kids engaged in meaningful activities. This is all the more important when it rains or the weather is extremely cold. You must understand that kids are just thrilled at the prospect of playing in the rain. Hence, instead of simply cancelling the session, it makes more sense to have them play soccer games or something like that.

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

Now, it is time to add these tips to your training program and make the most of them. You’ll be amazed 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.

If you are like me, you probably feel the same way that the biggest problem that a coach faces in coaching soccer drills is to decide on the best way of organizing conditioning schedules for its players. This is because in the past few years, the distinction between educating the players and coaching them has diminished.

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 concentrate on their professional grooming and simultaneously educate them about the game. Many a times, this educational characteristic of soccer gets totally neglected in almost all scenarios.

Yet, there is just one code that must be adhered to while determining the coaching drills for the kids. Any player who wishes to become a great soccer player of huge prominence should first attempt to grow as an individual. A coach should therefore act according to the above principle.

The main reason why an individual decides to become a coach is fairly simple to make out.
His desire to remain associated with the game even after his days as a team player are over. As a result, many successful players become soccer coaches. However, what they don’t understand is the seriousness that this role requires.

Soccer Coaching

It is considered by some as the first step that’ll take them towards the prospects of coaching adult players. Some look at this opportunity as a way to be able to share their passion for the game of soccer with the budding players. Theses reasons are both suitable as well as acceptable. But at the same time, the person should also be aware of the moral responsibility that his choice implies.

Communication is the main feature with respect to coaching soccer drills, and unfortunately it’s the trickiest for a majority of people to understand. It is not enough to have a great career history spanning many years of top rated success and achievements to qualify as a professional coach.

There are some very important goals that a youth soccer coach needs to set for himself. 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. The players should be able to express themselves openly at any time during the soccer practice and it’s for the coach to ensure.

In a team, different players have their different styles of playing and a varying potential. The important thing is not that each one of them should have skills and potential of a champion. What is most important is that every single player must be able to reach his own ability ultimately.

So we must understand that not every soccer player is cut out to be a skillful and a proficient youth team coach. Working with kids must come naturally to him; an inherent gift to get in touch with their human side and emotional feelings.

Some food for thought; serious consideration of one’s real motivations should always be a precondition in this context.

Register to our youth soccer coaching community that has loads of knowledge on coaching soccer drills available in form of newsletters, articles, and videos relevant to 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.