Soccer Lessons

I’m not sure if you know this but young players have real trouble in kicking the ball by using a straight leg? In coaching soccer drills, this is the trickiest part as far as the players and the coaches are concerned. It calls for the player to keep complete balance and bend the leg at the knee in order to kick the ball. 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 speeding up of the foot from below the knee generates a great impact on the ball. This offers great amount of power to players for carrying out different types of kicks. Still, the style of kick that would emerge would depend upon the nature of contact of the ball with the foot.

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

There are three basic passes in soccer namely, a side foot pass, the outside of the foot pass, and the instep drive. Let’s talk about them further.

Soccer Coaching

The side foot pass: In teaching soccer, the simplest and the most commonly used pass is this. This is by and large applied to make 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, the players should be trained to keep their bodies relaxed all through the action. This is the most basic rule with 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.

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

Outside of the foot pass: Al though a little tricky to learn, this pass needs to be taught to the kids correctly as it’s quick, unpredictable, and accurate. 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: 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”. Since 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 contact with the ball is made between the laces and the inside of the foot and it should be stiff and extended.

So, go ahead and teach your players these basic kicking techniques with variations to make the ball do slightly different things.

If you would like to enhance your knowledge on coaching soccer drills for kids, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community that has a huge amount of information in form of articles, newsletters and videos.

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 may know this already that in coaching soccer drills, every other skill leads to one final aim, a shot at the goal. It takes skill as well as gut feeling to produce quality shooting. But other than this, winning attitude is also equally important.

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.

There a number of things that may come out of shooting. Shots can be positioned towards a goal. It might be that the goalkeeper drops the ball at the foot of your forward player. Rowdy shots can turn into accurate passes. Ground shots can get a timely rebound. You can even score a goal by a straight shot.

When conducting soccer practice, the attacking players try to convert every goal scoring opportunity into a goal. They are accustomed to think only about scoring a goal when in the field. 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 shot as if it was the last chance to score a goal. You’ll always find them at the right place at the right time. They have the skills to even convert negative situations into positive ones. So, in coaching soccer drills motivate the players to kick the ball whenever they can.

Normally, anytime the ball is kicked with an intention to put it inside the goal is taken as a shot. 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. 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.

While practicing with regulation sized goals, players get to score more by hitting the ball over and above the goalkeeper’s head. This must be discouraged otherwise players form the habit of shooting very high goals. In coaching soccer drills, don’t allow the kids to play in adult sized goals to stop this practice.

So now go teach you kids to become master shooters when it comes to scoring goals by checking the goalie’s position once before they are ready to shoot.

You can lay your hands on loads of relevant information pertaining to coaching young players in form of newsletters, articles, and videos by subscribing to our youth soccer coaching community.

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.

You’ll more that agree with me that when it comes to coaching soccer drills, the toughest part is where the most suitable mode of organizing the player’s conditioning schedules is to be decided upon. 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.

I’m sorry to say that even today, there are many coaches who fail to recognize the importance of designing player specific coaching plans in teaching soccer. 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.

Nevertheless, while deciding on the coaching drills that kids are to perform; one rule should be kept in mind. Any player who wishes to become a great soccer player of huge prominence should first attempt to grow as an individual. The coach must therefore base his strategy on the above stated principle.

If we try to figure out something that cheers a former player to become a coach is pretty easy.
Once his playing days are over, he desires to remain involved in the world of soccer. This is the reason that a lot of soccer players end up as soccer coaches. But they don’t truly recognize the seriousness that this role calls for.

Soccer Coaching

Majority of them attempt to get inside the arena of coaching adult players by becoming kid’s coach initially. 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 along with this, there are some ethical responsibilities as well that come hand in hand with being a coach.

When it comes to coaching soccer drills, communication is the key concept and unfortunately, it is still very difficult for people to accept. 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.

To become a youth soccer coach, the goals that one needs to set for himself are well defined. It’s for the coach to encourage kids to look at soccer as a constructive and an inspiring experience in their lives so that they tend to love the game. 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. 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 must possess a unique ability to connect easily with kids; a natural gift for individual contact and emotional relations.

Some food for thought; you should seriously consider what truly motivates you as it is a major requirement in this context.

You can lay your hands 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 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.

Even though I’m not very sure about how you work, I’d still like to discuss some simple yet effective teaching techniques in coaching soccer drills before you start your practice sessions. 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 time, it’s essential to follow your goal and not feel distracted by other things. 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.

It is your duty to set reasonably high standards for players in relation to sportsmanship. Cheer them to have an attitude of fair play, sportsmanship, and team spirit. When teaching soccer, you have the option to include any number of relevant objectives along with the ones stated above.

One more concept that needs to be highlighted in youth soccer coaching is the notion of winning the match. When you coach your kids, you must instill an open concept of winning in their minds. Make them understand that so long as their play is up to the mark, they are the winners, irrespective of the final outcome.

Soccer Coaching

This ultimately takes away all the unnecessary pressure off the players and enables them to play their original game by carefully following the strategy.

Coaching soccer drills requires you to give clear and precise instructions to your team so that they get the desired results. 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 is great idea to first demonstrate to the kids about 5 to 6 times a specific drill and then let it di it themselves. This is because young players generally do not respond to oral instructions very well. If you endeavor to explain in instructions, they will not understand it. Instead, they take demonstrations more enthusiastically.

Hence, make it an imperative exercise to give a demonstration at every possible opportunity.

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, 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.

Go ahead and make these tips a part of your plan. The results will make you happy.

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 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.