Soccer Fitness

Let’s face it! Most of the soccer coaches are unaware of the importance of soccer practice games in training. More and more research on the subject of soccer coaching reveals that games raise the interest of the kids in the soccer training sessions. The soccer skills are developed in kids as a result of these games which play a key role here.

Accordingly, there are some aspects that I’ll bring to your notice which make it essential to include a variety of soccer games in your sessions.

Kids enjoy playing games: When games are a part of practice sessions, kids look forward to them. The players are always eager and interested in the sessions and the attendance is also healthy. However, you must bear in mind that these games should help in developing soccer skills, else they are no good.

Include only those games that are not only fun to participate but also train the kids in soccer basics.

Soccer Training

Variety: You can add to your schedule from a variety of soccer games. Furthermore, you have the freedom to formulate training sessions according to your convenience of time, and arranging kids in groups as per their expertise. Therefore, you can use games as an efficient basis for developing exciting training sessions.

More productivity: In comparison to soccer drills, games are more helpful in improving the kid’s productivity in lesser time. The kids will get a good workout without feeling fatigued. In addition, games instill in the players a feeling of team spirit and oneness. The kids as a result identify with the standards and principles that every player must follow.

Make players their own teachers: Soccer practice games, they say are great teachers. Players learn a great deal on their own. As an example, kids learn to play under extreme situations or find ways to manage tough opponents.

They also get to appreciate the real conditions through games designed to create real situation. Especially with young players, developing these traits is of paramount importance.

Simple setup: It only requires a simple setup to allow the players enjoy these soccer exercises. You can make do only with essentials such as medical aid, water, and refreshments. However, for some games, cones are necessary to depict lines.

And then, there is absolutely no need for special fields to play these games. When it rains or the weather is otherwise not conducive for outdoor sessions, you can always shift indoors.

Make you an innovative coach: When you develop new games every week, the kids appreciate your creativity. They trust your methods which will help them in learning soccer better and faster. And you develop originality due to the amount of thinking involved in designing new games.

So go ahead and add a lot of soccer practice games in your training sessions. The results it brings out will surprise you. In order to gain more knowledge about youth soccer, be a part of our youth soccer coaching community that has innumerable articles, newsletters, videos etc on soccer coaching.

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: Soccer practice games.

If you are like me, you will probably have no difficulty in understanding the significance of soccer practice games as compared to drills. Initially, the games must focus on helping the kids acquire the skills and improving their movement with the ball. Nonetheless, it’s your duty to pay attention to some pointers while the kids move forward in their soccer training.

As has already been talked about earlier, kids get an opportunity to develop their own special playing style with having fun when divided into groups. First and foremost, the kids must get the freedom to decide on various issues concerning them and this is possible only when the size of the group is small.

Such an arrangement also ensures that the kids have more space to move about in the field, get more touches on the ball and become more accountable for their choices since there are very few players in the group.

However, as players get accustomed to smaller groups and their skills improve, it is time to make some variations. In soccer practice games, it’s the time to initiate progressions. This means that more players should be added, game rules should become stricter, and make the kids practice in larger fields. It’s time when team’s overall objectives should also be catered to together with player’s individual development by bringing in a more elaborate strategy.

Soccer Training

There is something that I’d like to mention here and it calls for your special attention. A majority of coaches tend to put too much pressure on kids to make them ready to play live tournaments very early in time. Realize that there are no shortcuts to success. You just cannot mechanize the process like in soccer drills. It must be a natural growth with time.

The plans suffer and results decline when coaches lay a lot of emphasis on competition, introduce players to soccer terminologies early, or make a lot of rules and regulations. This obstructs their process of learning and growth.

As the kids make a transition from small groups to large ones, they should instill in themselves a sense of camaraderie. It is crucial to understand the difference between focusing on your own skills at one time and then using those skills to win the games for your team.

At this stage, along with games, it also becomes important to hold regular discussions and team meetings. Know that the players now understand the various techniques of soccer. Therefore, it is not right to underestimate their skills in soccer exercises.

When you invite them to share their views, they feel good about it and become more responsible.

The games should now challenge their thoughts about how to win matches. When they start thinking like team players while playing games, you would have done your job well.

Now you must take this knowledge and incorporate it in your plan. Soccer practice games are the best tools to make the kids learn soccer and so you must choose them creatively. sEnroll for our youth soccer coaching community that has a number of games and strategies to make training sessions fun and educational.

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 Practice.

What if I told you that young players enjoy the soccer practice games the most when they are scoring goals. Yes, you must make it a point to include large number of opportunities for them to practice scoring. In order to create such occasions for them, many options are available that can be performed. For example there are small sided games, shooting drills, and full-field scrimmages.

During small sided games and full field scrimmages, it’s your responsibility to keep altering the various ways to encourage extra goal scoring.  Incorporate games that don’t need goalkeepers, or limit the movement of goalkeepers within the warning lines. Widening the goalpost being used or adding more goals is one more possibility for increasing goal scoring.

Once the players develop their shooting skills and tactical understanding in soccer training, generating more goals gets easier. As in passing skill, it’s a good idea to start shooting skills as early as possible but emphasize them more during the later stages of their development.

Doing soccer drills is also one of the methods to make the players skilled at shooting techniques. With a view to score more goals, these drills help the players develop and improve upon their shooting talents. As a coach, you should therefore work on developing your kids shooting skills progressively.

Soccer Training

Throughout the soccer exercises, train your players to perfectly strike the ball while shooting it. Players can use the inside of their foot to take shots from a close range. In using the inside of the feet, you bring more precision into the shots. In situations when more power is needed, teach players to strike the ball using the instep of the foot, with toes pointed downwards and ankle locked.

It depends on how the non-kicking foot is positioned that determines the height of the shot. Hence, tell the players to keep their non kicking foot further to the ball so that the shot is low. You should eliminate all distractions for example moving balls, moving shooters, or defenders so that the player’s concentration is only on shooting the ball.

You can start the drill progression in soccer practice games with a stationery ball and a stationery shooter. As the players get comfortable with the shooting techniques, make the challenge difficult by putting the shooter in action before he/she hits the ball. This shift will alienate from the accuracy of the striking efforts at first, because the player’s visualization must serve a double purpose.

On one hand, it allows the player kicking the ball to find some space in the direction of the ball and on the other, helps them put their foot right where the ball is.

As the players gain confidence, create a game like situation where both the player and the ball are in motion. Once their shooting ability improves, serve balls at different levels and speeds.

Here it is! Develop more opportunities for the players to score goals in soccer practice games and make the most of practice sessions. For even more tips and tricks on youth soccer, subscribe 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: Fun Soccer Drills.

Have you ever imagined the kind of advantages soccer practice games give the players? In addition to hundreds of opportunities to touch the ball, the players have adequate room to try out other maneuvers.

The system of a 4v4 small-sided game in soccer training is usually small and it is useful for the coach and the players as well. The coach has the opportunity to watch over all the players on one side because there are only 4 players. There is a lot of time available to the players for the purpose of playing with the game. Also, it allows the players to practice the process of distribution – collecting the ball, looking up, and taking quick decisions.

It is the duty of the coach to be present on the field and encourage the kids to use this process. To begin with, the kids may find it difficult to adjust to it. For instance, they may prefer to use the kick and run style. This is normal. Still it’s your duty to make the kids learn the different methods that can be made use of to carry out the distribution process.

You can initially use a diagram for making the kids understand the process. Next a demonstration of the same is also required. With the passage of time, the players will start liking it and adapt to it. Once the players start applying the process, they’ll attempt to utilize the space sensibly when having the ball.

Soccer Training

This brings a sort of structure into the team’s play. This also ultimately leads to the players being able to work on their skills as well as control the rate at which the game progresses. You must keep in mind that this process of distribution is for people who have already made some progress in their learning.

The kids new to soccer should not attempt this in soccer practice games. Their soccer drills must still concentrate on playing freely without a lot of guidance and rules. They should not be bothered about techniques but just enjoy the game.

Along with teaching the players the process of distribution, you should also teach them the need to balance the ball. The player with the ball must keep the possession of the ball and also keep looking up to pass the ball correctly.

Instruct the players on how to create space around the player with the ball so that he has protection and space to move the ball. A 4v4 game is ideal to teach such tactics.

Another thing that the coach must undertake to teach the kids is about positions such as forward, defender, right flank, left flank. The kids should work on understanding these positions and the best method is that the coach calls these positions by name during practice.

You must be patient while the kids try to get used to these soccer exercises. The kids may be slow in learning these things.
So move on and make your kids learn these skills through soccer practice games. For more of such tips on a 4v4 game, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community that has numerous resources on soccer coaching.

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: Soccer Training Tips.