Coaching Child Soccer
Games Guy | October 18, 2011
Soccer is a fantastic way to present team playing and sports to children. When you elect to coach your kid’s soccer league, you may want to follow some basic training ideas and tips. Getting kids to enjoy practice is a great way to begin. You will want to train them how to have fun, while understanding the game with some basic training skills. Game based training sessions are a great way to go. This type of technique teaches them the game, while keeping training at a high intensity level, making them more ready when it comes to game day.
There are a few basic rules to consider when you use game style practice for children. It is valuable that they all get a chance to touch the ball. Their confidence will expand, and you will be giving every player fair playing time. It will be important not to punish or reward players based on their playing and skill levels. Coaching and training kids can get tricky. This type of practice will only be useful by replicating real games. Let them play a game without overly worrying about drills, as you can practice on that later.
Some other game playing style drill ideas are Hit The Coach, which allows children to practice dribbling and passing. This forces them to play the field while keeping their head up. Red Light-Green Light is a great children’s game that can be used in drilling. This will help them dribble with control, stop, and change speeds quickly. A wonderful training game called Monkey in the Middle teaches how to work on receiving a ball and in turn passing it off quickly, all while under pressure. A fun way to teach players how to play as a team with one touch passing, is a training skill called Kickball. This also prepares children with running drills, learning how to catch a pass and run without the ball.
Dealing with your players’ parents will be an even larger battle than creating fun practices. The most difficult part of teaching children to play soccer will be learning how to deal with their folks. It is almost inevitable during drills and games to have parents standing in the portable bleachers yelling at their kids and at you. Don’t ever go into the bleachers during a game or practice to confront a parent. Discuss any problems you might be having with them alone.
One of the most fun and rewarding things you will ever do is training children how to play soccer. Knowing how to deal with difficult parents and making practice fun will help you find success. You will have no regrets training as long as you remember to have fun.