It’s sad to know that people fail to appreciate the importance of warming up in kids soccer drills. It is something that being a coach, I would want to stress that warming up is obligatory and an important practice to lead the team towards a better start of the day. In youth soccer drills, coaches fail to take this aspect into consideration. This has a direct affect on the health of players in form of injuries while practicing.
In this article, you’ll find some useful tips on warming up the players. Train the team to use the body movements in a way that all the muscles get worked up. This is by far the best way to activate all the body parts. Doing things fast can lead to cramps or stiffness in the muscles.
Tip 1: In this make the players go for a light 5 to 7 minute jog. It’s advisable to begin with a light jog and then move on to sprinting.
This must increase the pulse rate to at least 120 beats per minute. But, slow improvement is better. Then make them swing their legs forward cross-body for about 10 times each. Finally, over 20 yards, make them stretch actively.
Tip 2: When we talk about this active stretching over 20 yards, a few warm up exercises of its own must go along with it. For instance, the players should practice hopping forward and backward. You can also teach them cross stepping. High-knee carioca can also be taught to players. These must be carried out just like sprinting.
Running towards the back also accounts a very efficient warm up drill in soccer drills for kids. Yet, the correct method of doing it is to rise up the heels to the butt. No doubt, it is a little difficult to practice it this way but there’s no other way of correctly doing it.
Tip 3: There are various other warm up drills in kids soccer drills that build up the energy for practice sessions. The players can be taught to hop with swings and loops. These give an extra dimension to the skipping exercises. You can also make them cross-over skip. Quick Hip Swings is somewhat difficult to practice but it highly useful and a tried and tested technique to warm up the body.
Subsequently the players can be made to do long shuffle with spins midway. Tell the players to practice backward and forward leg swings. It’s a very efficient activity and helps in toning the body. High leg forwards and backward is just as efficient in toning the body.
Tip 4: Stretching should be carried out properly and sufficiently. For the legs, stretch hinging works the best. Guarantee that all kids work out their hamstring, groin, calf muscles, and quadriceps without missing any of these. Stretching has the benefit of preventing injury along with increasing the muscle range.
Also ensure that in soccer drills for youth, kids are discouraged from overdoing anything. They tend to get carried over by enthusiasm and injure themselves unnecessarily.
In kids soccer drills, you have to guarantee that kids attend the warm up sessions before the drills as you are now equipped with all the necessary information. There is a wealth of news and articles of similar nature on our youth soccer coaching community. Sign up now to benefit from it.
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