Soccer Trainer

I’m not sure if you know this but young players have real trouble in kicking the ball by 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 posture and strength to kick the ball comes out from below the knee.

This is the preliminary position in soccer practice for almost all kinds 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 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: In teaching soccer, this pass is considered as the most extensively used and the simplest. Normally, it is used to make short distance passes. Although this pass is slightly slow and almost predictable, it’s very simple to teach the kids and perform accurately. The contact with the ball is made on the inside of the ankle and the foot 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. The most essential rule pertaining to various kicking action is this. 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.

The moment players feel confident about carrying out this task well; their action should seem relaxed, simple, as well as smooth.

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. The ball gets in touch between the outside edge of the foot and the laces with the foot extended and turned inwards. By using the foot, the pass is converted into a quick toss for short distances.

In coaching drills, it’s imperative that the players maintain a comfortable posture.

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

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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 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.

All the players must be involved in this but more importantly; it is up to the forward players to shoot the ball. When teaching soccer, give a lot of emphasis on shooting.

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. Unruly shots can turn into brilliant passes. Ground shots may return. 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 made to think in a way that they always have goal scoring on their mind. These attacking players are referred to as sniffers in England. It is so because they are always looking for scoring opportunities.

Soccer Coaching

To them, every opportunity is the last one they will get and hence shoot ferociously. They are always present when the opportunity is right. They have the skills to even convert negative situations into positive ones. Therefore, in coaching soccer drills you must ask the players to hit the ball at every opportunity.

As a rule, a shot is whenever the ball it hit in the direction of the goal with the intent to score. Yet, one technique that is most effective is driving the ball through the middle by use of 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 the course of coaching drills, teach your players to shoot the ball wide and low to 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.

When kids practice inside the regulation sized goals, they are likely to score more by striking the ball above the goalie’s head. You need to discourage your players on this as this leads them to a 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 go ahead and make your players expert in shooting the ball to score goals by confirming the position of the goalkeeper once before shooting.

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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. 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. The players must be taught about the game as a person along with their professional conditioning and training. There have been a number of situations where this educational facet of soccer has not been considered at all.

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.

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. However, what they don’t understand is the seriousness that this role requires.

Soccer Coaching

Some of them take this as an opportunity to get into the field of coaching and training adult players. Some others decide to take up this role due to their love towards the sport and an intention to instill the same passion in the kids. Both the reasons are equally acceptable and convincing. It’s not just these responsibilities that follow your choice but also certain ethical duties that must be looked at while making a choice.

Communication is main aspect in coaching soccer drills, but unfortunately it’s very complicated for almost everyone to acknowledge. 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 a few standards that a youth soccer coach is expected to not only set but also meet. 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. During the soccer practice, the players should feel at ease all the time so that their feelings are conveyed openly in course of the game.

Each player in the team has individual talents, resistance, and competence. What’s not important is that every player must possess the competence and talents of a great player. 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. 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; give some serious consideration to what actually motivates you as it is a condition in this context.

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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. 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. Consequently, identify such objectives that are particularly important for you as a coach and also equally important for the team. Some examples are; focus on player’s individual soccer skills, promote the importance of their physical fitness, and help them grow into mature, professional, and sporting soccer players.

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.

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

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.

It’s important that your instructions during coaching soccer drills are to the point and exact for players to fetch expected results. Before you start coaching your team, educate your players on some specific do’s and don’ts in the game of soccer. The disparity between coaching and teaching is obvious in the fact that coaching deals with the bunch of players who already know the game to some 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 because kids have a tendency to learn quickly by watching than by listening. If you endeavor to explain in instructions, they will not understand it. Relatively, they imitate perfectly.

Consequently, at all possible times, give a demonstration.

Finally, but still very important is your ability to keep the kids engaged in important activities. This is more valid if the weather prevents you from having a regular session. It is well known that the kids love playing 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.

Now, it is time to add these tips to your training program and make the most of them. You will be astonished to see the results.

To get more knowledge on coaching soccer drills, join our youth soccer coaching community that will help you get more of such immense knowledge.

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.