What if I told you that 50% of soccer coaching drills should focus on enhancing the trapping skills of your players? You’ll easily reject it as a silly assumption. But No! Research shows that trapping along with passing and dribbling skills alone decide whether your team is capable of winning matches or not.
When a player catches the ball and is able to maintain its possession with him, it’s trapping. These are soccer exercises that permit the use of chest, thighs and feet while doing so.
It is imperative that your players know how to trap the ball. Failing to do so would mean that they can never be in command of the game since this is imperative. Some of the following techniques help in enhancing the trapping skills of the players.
Involve the Feet: Primarily, the coach must teach the players to use their feet in tackling the ball. Kids soccer drills should predominantly include practicing the kids on use of the inside of their foot. This is because the inside area of the foot id wide and very useful in engaging with the ball.
If the players are advanced and mature, teach them to use the instep or top of the foot as well as the whole foot in trapping the ball during the soccer coaching drills. In cases where the ball bounces a lot, it is best to make them use their shin or ankle to tackle the ball.
Thigh Movement: To control high-speed and bouncy ball, thigh can be used very efficiently. Guide the players to come in front of the ball, take one thigh up to capture the ball and other thigh to stay grounded. Most importantly, practice dropping your knee once it connects with the ball for the ball to drop down and stay with you rather than getting away.
This exercise of dropping the knee needs to be done repetitively so that the players master the art of first stopping the ball using the knee and then drop it so that the ball trickles down the feet.
Use the Chest: Similar to the role of a thigh, the chest also plays an important part in trapping the ball that is high up in the air. Train the players to confront the ball head on by taking their chest out in full force in order to control the ball. When they do so, the ball will instantly loose its speed and easily get down to the feet.
However, in the soccer training drills, it is important to realize that young players should not be exposed a lot to this technique. It is very typical of them to use their hands while trying to stop the ball with the chest. This can prove to be dangerous as the kids might develop a habit of using their hands while tackling the ball.
These soccer coaching drills should be then acted upon instantly. Advice players to practice more progressively. If you wish to learn a great deal of such tips and tricks, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community.
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 training fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: http://www.soccerdrillstips.com – Youth Soccer Training Drills.
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