Soccer Trainer

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 one more thing that is equally important towards shooting; an aggressive 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.

There are so many things that may result from a shoot. Shots can be redirected into the goal. It may happen that the goalkeeper drops the ball right in front of your forward. Wild shots can turn into great passes. Ground shots may bounce back. A goal might result out of a straight shot.

During the soccer practice, attacking players are always on a lookout to shoot the ball into the goal at every possible opportunity. They are conditioned in a way that the only thought that keeps roaming inside their mind is getting the ball into the nets. In England, these attacking players are known by the term 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. They are always present when the opportunity is right. They always make the most of every situation even if it is not favorable. 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. One of the most effective techniques of driving the ball is through its middle with the help of laces of the foot. The player’s head should be over the ball, his toe extended, and his upper body should remain 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. This is because goalies find it difficult to stop the ground shots as they have to stretch their hands relatively more.

While practicing with regulation sized goals, players get to score more by hitting the ball over and above the goalkeeper’s head. You need to discourage your players on this as this leads them to a 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.

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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.

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 has to be in total balance and the leg used for kicking the ball 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 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. Yet, it is the kind of contact of the ball with the foot that decides what type of kick would originate.

For example; it could be knocked very high, driven low, turn left, or sway to the right.

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

Soccer Coaching

The side foot pass: In teaching soccer, this is the most widely used and the simplest pass. It is generally used for making 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 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. The most essential rule pertaining to various kicking action is this. Teach the players to stiffen their ankle and the foot only when they need to get into 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. A contact is made with the ball between the laces and outside edge of the foot with the foot extended and turned inward. With the help of the foot, the pass is modified into a quick flick 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. There is also an option to adapt this style 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 ball then comes into contact with the laces and inside of the foot which must be hard 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.

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.

Unfortunately, not all coaches realize that teaching soccer involves designing coaching plans specific to the players’s requirements. 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.

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. It is therefore the duty of the coach to act along with the lines of this principle.

It’s easy to find out the reason that pushes a player to take on the duty of a coach.
His desire to remain associated with the game even after his days as a team player are over. This is what makes some successful players take a plunge and become kid’s coaches. But they fail to seriously consider the nature of this job.

Soccer Coaching

Some look at youth coaching as a stepping stone to coaching adults. 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 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.

Communication is main aspect in coaching soccer drills, but unfortunately it’s very complicated for almost everyone to acknowledge. The fact that someone has been a successful soccer player for a long time and has countless achievements does not hold well when it comes to being a successful 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. As a coach, make sure that during the soccer practice, players feel comfortable in openly expressing themselves by way of the game.

In a team, there are players with varied talents, stamina, and caliber. 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.

This needs to be understood that every soccer player, no matter how skilled, renowned, and competent he may be, is not capable of coaching young players. He must possess a unique ability to connect easily with kids; a natural gift for individual contact and emotional relations.

Some food for thought; give some serious consideration to what actually motivates you as it is a condition 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.

Here, it’s easy to lose track of the fun part if you are not cautious. 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.

You, being the coach are solely responsible to set high standards for sportsmanship. Encourage attitudes like fair play, team spirit, and sportsmanship. In addition to the above goals, you are free to set as many goals as your feel necessary while teaching soccer to your team.

The theory of winning is one concept that I’d like to stress upon when it comes to coaching youth soccer. Infuse an open concept of winning in your player’s minds when you are coaching them. Make it clear to the players that it is the level of their performance that makes them a winner no matter what the final decision is.

Soccer Coaching

This will take away the pressure off the kids and they’ll focus more on playing their best game rather than just winning it.

In coaching soccer drills, make sure that your instructions are very precise for them to be effective. 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 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. It is because kids have a tendency to learn quickly by watching than by listening. If you decide to give them plain instructions, they will not appreciate it very much. Rather they are pretty good at imitation.

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

In the end, but still important is to keep the kids involved in several activities. This becomes even more important when the weather is windy, wet, or cold. 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.

Ensure that in situations like these, the kids are wearing proper soccer gear as well as additional protection.

Go ahead and make these tips a part of your plan. You will be astonished 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.