Soccer Practice Games

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 requires both skill and character to produce quality 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. While teaching soccer, put shooting on the top of your priority list.

There are so many things that may result from a shoot. Shots can be redirected into the 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 return. You might even score a goal directly from the shot.

At the time of soccer practice, the attacking players always try to make the most of every goal-scoring opportunity. They are trained in a way that they think of nothing else but scoring goals. In England, these attacking players are called 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 when the opportunity is right. Amazingly, they have the ability to be 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. But the most successful technique to drive the ball is striking it through the middle by using the 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.

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.

Young players while practicing inside regulation sized goals, tend to score more by kicking the ball over the head of the goalkeeper. You must discourage your players to do this as it instills the habit of shooting high goals. In coaching soccer drills, stop this practice by not letting your players to practice in 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.

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.

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. 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 concentrate on their professional grooming and simultaneously educate them about the game. In some situations, it is seen many a times that the educational aspect in soccer is neglected totally.

However, we should always remember one principle while working out the coaching drills for 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. 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.
It’s the feeling to stay with the game in either ways after he has stopped playing for the team. As a result, many successful players become soccer coaches. But they don’t realize the seriousness of taking up this role.

Soccer Coaching

It is considered by some as the first step that’ll take them towards the prospects of coaching adult players. 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. 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.

Communication is main aspect in coaching soccer drills, but unfortunately it’s very complicated for almost everyone to acknowledge. The absolute qualification of a youth soccer coach is not necessarily his successful career as a brilliant player consecutively for some good number of years.

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. The players should be able to express themselves openly at any time during the soccer practice and it’s for the coach to ensure.

Each player in the team has individual talents, resistance, and competence. 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. He should have a special bent for working with young players; an innate gift for human contact and emotional relationships.

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

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. 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. So, it is suggested that more specific objectives are decided upon that benefit not only the team but also the coach. 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.

You, being the coach are solely responsible to set high standards for sportsmanship. Encourage attitudes like fair play, team spirit, and sportsmanship. 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. During the training sessions, introduce the open concept of winning and try to place it in their minds. 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

It has the effect of encouraging the players to give it their best shot and play the game without unnecessary pressure to win anyways.

When coaching soccer drills, always keep in mind the importance of giving clear and correct instructions if they are to be helpful. Before coaching, you need to teach your players about some explicit do’s and don’ts in soccer. 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 because kids have a tendency to learn quickly by watching than by listening. If you try to explain everything as a lecture, they may not get it. Instead, they take demonstrations more enthusiastically.

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 more valid if the weather prevents you from having a regular session. 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 get out there and start incorporating these teaching suggestions into your practice sessions. You’ll be amazed to see the results.

To gain more knowledge on coaching soccer drills, register for our youth soccer coaching community that will keep you updated on topics of youth soccer.

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, 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 position and control to kick the ball appears from below the knee.

In soccer practice, this is the starting position for almost all types of kicks. The acceleration of the foot from below the knee creates a powerful impact on the ball. This gives players the power to execute a variety 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.

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

Soccer Coaching

The side foot pass: This is the easiest and the most widely used pass in teaching soccer. This is usually employed to make 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 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. The most essential rule pertaining to various kicking action is this. Players should strengthen the ankle and the foot only at the time of making 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 into contact between the outside edge of the foot and the laces with the foot turned inward and extended. By using the foot, the pass is converted into a quick toss 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”. 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 makes a contact with the laces and inside of the foot, which should be firm and extended.

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

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.