Soccer Coaching Tips

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 by far the biggest problem that a coach and the players face. 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.

This is the starting point for almost all styles of kicks in soccer practice. 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. 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 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 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. 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 makes a contact on the inside of the foot and ankle, and the foot is turned outward.

In coaching soccer drills, players should know that their body need not be tense during the movement with the ball. This is the most basic rule with all types of kicking actions. 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 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 into contact between the outside edge of the foot and the laces with the foot turned inward and extended. With the help of the foot, the pass is modified into a quick flick for short distances.

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

Here, the ball gets into contact in between the inside of the foot and the laces which is extended and very firm.

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

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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’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. The reason I say this is because in the last few years, the fine line between coaching and educating has gradually dissolved.

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 certain situations, it has been observed that this educational side in soccer takes a backseat.

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. The coach must therefore base his strategy on the above stated 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. 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. 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 these reasons are valid and well accepted. It’s not just these responsibilities that follow your choice but also certain ethical duties that must be looked at while making a choice.

When it comes to coaching soccer drills, communication is the key concept and unfortunately, it is still very difficult for people to accept. 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. 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. 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, there are players with varied talents, stamina, and caliber. It is not important whether each of them has great potential and skills of a winner or not. What is most important is that every single player must be able to reach his own ability ultimately.

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; try and figure out the true motivations that cheer you to follow this prospect since it’s a pre requirement 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.

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 both skill and instinct to develop the art of good 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 you are teaching soccer, give shooting top priority.

So many things may come out of a shoot. Shots can be directed towards a goal. It might be that the goalkeeper drops the ball at the foot of your forward player. Wild shots can turn into great passes. Ground shots may spring 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 made to think in a way that they always have goal scoring on their mind. In England, these attacking players are called sniffers. This is because they are always sniffing out scoring chances.

Soccer Coaching

To them, every opportunity is the last one they will get and hence shoot ferociously. You’ll always find them at the right place at the right time. 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 rule, a shot is whenever the ball it hit in the direction of the goal with the intent to score. But the most successful technique to drive the ball is striking it through the middle by using the laces of the foot. The player’s head should be over the ball, his toe extended, and his upper body should remain steady.

The players should be taught in coaching drills to shoot the ball low and wide of the goalie. In such a scenario, high shots are less preferred that low ground 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. As a result of it, the players develop the tendency to shoot high goals so this must be discouraged. In coaching soccer drills, stop this practice by not letting your players to practice in adult sized goals.

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.

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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.

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. Let’s say that the soccer practice has one broad goal for both the coach and the player and it is to have fun while participating in the practice sessions.

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 example; develop a sense of team spirit and a sporting attitude in your players, help them identify their individual soccer skills, and emphasize on improving their physical fitness.

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. When teaching soccer, you have the option to include any number of relevant objectives along with the ones stated 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. 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 coaching, you need to teach your players about some explicit do’s and don’ts in soccer. The difference in coaching and teaching is that the former is done with a group of players who are already familiar with the basic skills and concepts of the game.

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. This is because young players generally do not respond to oral instructions very well. If you try to explain everything as a lecture, they may not get it. Instead, they take demonstrations more enthusiastically.

Consequently, at all possible times, give a demonstration.

Lastly, but still no less in importance is to keep the kids engaged in meaningful activities. This becomes even more important when the weather is windy, wet, or cold. It’s a fact that all kids love to play 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 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 surprised by 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.