Sunday, May 2, 2010

The Truth About Coaching Soccer Drills



What if I told you that in coaching soccer drills, the main responsibility of the coach is to put more emphasis on offence and less on the defensive aspects? Attack takes the best shape of defense. It’s easy to understand why. Including defensive concepts and notions in teaching soccer result in confusing the young players and as such are taken as bare minimum.

Ball control, shooting, passing, heading, and dribbling are some of the attacking skills. The defensive skills of the players develop naturally when the players are taught just these basis concepts.

In order to develop a successful team, ensure that the players not only have the desire but also the ability to get the possession of the ball. It is critical for the team and the players to acquire this attitude in a strong and a viable manner.

Teach your players in soccer practice to first get to the ball. Instead of standing still or just backing off, teach them to run towards the ball. When it comes to young players, this mistake is very common to young players.

As a coach, remember that soccer is a game of making contacts. This is one aspect of the game that some of the players are going to like where as some others are going to avoid. Teach the players that anytime they get close to getting the ball’s possession, some contact with the opponent’s is required.

In coaching soccer drills, a set of 3 rules helps the players become great at handling contact situations without breaking any rules.

These are as follows. While making contact, only make side-to-side or shoulder-to-shoulder contact. Instruct them to fold their elbows in and play only the ball. When they make a contact with the opponent using the foot, they commit a foul. After the players have developed a positive ball winning attitude, they will make more successful tackles.

In coaching drills, it has no significance if the younger players are not aware of deep understanding of tackles. Know that there is not much skill involved in performing a basic foot tackle. It is most important instead to keep an eye on the ball, kick it hard and perform the tackles with utmost dedication.

These guidelines will help the players win the possession of the ball and reduce the chances of injury. Here the key is to make sure that players only kick the ball when tackling. Always keep the players under observation who tackle the ball hastily.

Tell the players time and again that the primary responsibility of the defender is to tackle the ball away from the opposition.

Your next step! To take what you've just learned and implement every single thing in coaching soccer drills to kids.

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Andre Botelho is an expert in Coaching soccer drills. He influences over 35,000 youth coaches each year with his coaching philosophy, and makes it easy to explode your players' skills and make training fun in record time. Download your free Soccer Coaching guide at: Soccer Drills.


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