Coach Youth Soccer: 5 Ways To Make Drills Exciting
Let’s face it! When it comes to coach youth soccer, every coach runs short of ideas on how to make practice drills interesting and enjoyable for the kids. While teaching soccer, the biggest problem is to keep coming up with new ideas so that the kids are always interested in the game.
Following are some drills that you can teach youth soccer players. These help them not just focus on the game, become proficient in soccer, but also enjoy the game.
Get the kids going with dribbling and shooting: This is a simple drill that involves all the players at the same time. Instruct the players to stand on a single goal line. Now, scatter a lot of balls all over the field. Then, tell the kids to move with the ball towards the opposition’s goal in an attacking position. They should also shoot the ball as soon as they have an opportunity.
This drill goes a long way in improving the stamina, dribbling skills, and confidence of the players. As the players do not have any opposing players, it makes them showcase their personal styles too.
Passing the Ball: In this game, make the kids stand in a queue at a distant corner of the field. Tell them to run towards you as fast as possible as soon as you have finished counting till 3. While they are running towards you, they also need to steal the ball from the other player who is kicking the ball. When you shout stop, the ball must be passed by the player who has it to someone else.
When you coach youth soccer, these games make the kids showcase their best skills in passing and dribbling. They also learn the art of stealing the ball from other players which is very important.
Touch and Go: It’s an exciting game that kids enjoy playing. In this game, tell them to make two lines at a distance of less than 40 feet from the goal post. Also, the goalie should defend the goalpost. Position yourself anywhere amongst the two lines.
You pass the ball to one line and subsequently coach them to shoot or pass the ball with one stroke only. The purpose must be to convert it into a goal. Once the goalie returns the ball, carry on with the practice.
If you have more than one goalkeeper in the team, keep them alternating between different sessions. This sport encourages team effort and helps improve shooting skills. Also, the goalkeepers learn to save the ball from hitting the goal post.
Retaining the possession of the ball: This drill helps the players learn to move forward with the ball saving it from opponents. Engage two players, one protecting the ball and the other attacking it. The players should then to told to proceed as per their part and try to get a point every time by leading another player.
These are simple techniques to coach youth soccer. When you have your kids do these drills, they’ll not only learn but enjoy as well. You can connect to our youth soccer coaching community to get more of these tips and information.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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.
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