Coaching youth soccer drills can be exciting and fun but there are important aspects every coach needs to take into consideration. You may say that some of these are just simple common sense, but they are not for sure common practice:
1. Don’t make speeches. If you’re a youth soccer coach and your teaching young kids, it’s especially important that you don’t bore them with long speeches and lectures. Whatever you have to say to your player during a training sessions on game, just make sure you keep it simple and short.
2. Don’t complicate things. Strip every drill to its basics and test it with your players making sure they are ready to move forward and perform it well. You can test this by showing the kids a complicated soccer diagram of a drill with fancy arrows and dozens of instructions, you’ll lose their interest.
3. Don’t be a ball boy- during a soccer practice ball will be travelling all over the field. Leave them alone! Make your players go run and get the balls that they shoot out of the field. You can even make it a rule that if they score they don’t have to catch it anymore for that day.
4. In case you have some kids to help in getting the balls, make sure they do not participate in the drills. This simply signals a laxity in discipline- ball boys are just there to get the ball. If they ask to be part of the practice session, make them know that they can’t do both.
5. Never, ever criticize the player. If a player misses a shot or fumbles, don’t blame them. Point out the flaws in their technique or skill and do that calmly. Screaming at a player for being ’stupid’ is a great way to make them want to leave your team.
6. While coaching youth soccer drills, explain it clearly and as briefly as possible. Then demonstrate it- your players will pick it up quickly if they see how it’s done. Conversely, don’t try and demonstrate something that you can’t do.
7. Health and safety should always be foremost in a coach’s mind. This means making sure that the ground and the equipment are in good shape before your soccer training session starts. Remember that if a kid sprains his ankle because the ground was slippery, then it’s technically your fault.
8. Don’t leave the parents out in the dark. Make sure you hold meetings from time to time with parents and keep them informed about future events and the team’s concerns. Keep in your mind that parents can always help you improve your coaching activities.
When coaching youth soccer drills, these are important aspects that every coach should consider. If you’re a youth soccer coach and you’d like to learn how to dramatically improve your players’ skills and make training more fun in record time visit us right now at SoccerDrillsTips . com.
