Youth Soccer Drills

I’d like to ask you something. Almost all soccer coaches tend to ignore the soccer training tips while designing training programs for kids with the intent of just making up the numbers and going through the motions. Are you doing the same thing?

Before planning your next training session, set some goals for the team. Ascertain what you specifically wish to achieve from the training session and do everything required to get that done.

Add to your training program such soccer drills that are new, innovative, and fun to perform so as to add variety. It will allow the players to try something new instead to repeatedly doing the same drills every day. Once the kids enjoy participating in the training sessions, their performance will improve drastically.

Make your players learn to respect you and listen to you, irrespective of their age or the level at which they play. Appreciating each other’s feelings creates an environment that is pleasant for both the coach and the kids.

Soccer Training

Soccer players get an edge over others when they are highly flexible. There are 3 types of flexibility.

Dynamic flexibility: It refers to a player’s capability to perform fast movements within the full range of motion in the joint, like twisting from side to side.

Static active flexibility: The ability to stretch a tough muscle by using the tension within that muscle is termed as static active flexibility. One example is to hold one leg in front of you and keep it as high as you can. The hamstrings are stretched while the quadriceps and hip flexors hold your leg up.

Static passive: It is the ability to hold a stretch using your body weight or some other external force. For instance; hold your leg out in front of you and rest it on a chair.

Let’s now move on to the next step in following soccer training tips. Here, you need to check if the kids are clad in appropriate clothes that suit the weather conditions.

Training for soccer should be complemented by a fitness program that is designed to identify and improve upon the weak areas. Following are the factors that must be kept in mind when designing a training program like this.

Player’s age: Decrease in the flexibility of soft tissue with aging is directly related to the reduced range of movement as one grows older, irrespective of the gender. However, decrease in flexibility can be significantly slowed down if we keep active.

Gender: Girls show greater movement, no matter what their age.

Activity: When it comes to displaying soccer skills, active individuals demonstrate a greater range of movement than inactive individuals.

Injury: Injuries also hamper the range of motion in a joint.

Pain: Flexibility decreases as pain increases, resulting in muscle spasms. On the other hand, strength training does not affect flexibility if you are doing the exercises correctly and in full range of motion.

Genetics: The amount of flexibility that a player possesses also depends upon his genetics.

Therefore, soccer training tips like these should always be a part of the training program that makes it more useful and effective. Subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community that has tons of articles, newsletters, and related videos to improve your coaching skills.

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: Soccer Drills For Kids.

Let me tell you that stretching is an vital part of soccer training tips and professional coaches highly recommend it along with almost every player in every sport practicing it daily? As a sport, soccer is growing and developing incessantly in its superiority.

There are two kinds of stretching; static and dynamic, that are slotted in planning training for the soccer season.

Static stretching requires players to stretch their muscles to a point of resistance and hold for a given duration of time. Rebounding, rhythmic bouncing, and recurring motions are involved in dynamic stretching. Generally, static stretching is considered as more effective and involves less risk than dynamic stretching.

In this article, you’ll find some good points of stretching that can help average players become great players.

Soccer Training

Stretching reduces injuries: Stretching helps bring down the risks of injury when performed over a period of time by stretching the muscles daily, thus promoting their growth. Stretching provides a way of growing the muscle mass and strength as well.

Stretching shapes flexibility: Stretching puts a stop to any loss of flexibility. Nevertheless, stretching works best when performed for a greater length of time than for shorter periods of time.

Performing stretching for a few minutes before starting any playing activity is likely to enhance flexibility. When it comes to soccer training tips, the best bet is to distribute a stretching program over a predetermined length of time to continuously increase the range of motion.

Stretching perks up performance: When stretching program is designed specifically to suit soccer needs of the players, their performance improves.

Stretching can be great fun for the kids: If you include a lot of different types of soccer drills in your practice sessions, it can be a lot of fun. Keep varying the warm-up activities you do before stretching. Try tag games, ball tag, and keep away.

Concentrate all your energy on stretching, experience and identify with each stretch while checking for soreness.

For almost all players, one single 15-30 minute stretch for each muscle group is sufficient but some may need longer stretches and more repetitions.

The reason is that when the temperature of muscles is higher than normal, tension decreases and extensibility increases. Those players who wish to sustain or increase their flexibility can partially attain this goal by stretching. It’s advisable to perform stretching exercises when the body temperature is higher than normal as it is safer and more useful.

That’s why some experienced coaches recommend stretching after a workout also. Stretching for five minutes after practicing soccer skills prevents muscles from tightening too fast.

Usually, players who practice an active warm-up ahead of stretching get a superior range of motion than those kids who just stretch. So if injury prevention is your aim, stop stretching before exercise and increase the warm up time.

I again reiterate that the most important of all soccer training tips is to remember that hurried stretching does not help kids become flexible, gets monotonous and pointless, so let them take their own time to warm up before stretching. Join our youth soccer coaching community and enhance your knowledge about soccer through loads of articles, videos, and podcasts available there.

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: Youth Soccer Drills.

The importance of soccer training tips for goalkeepers can be easily made out from the fact that a goalkeeper is the only player on the field who can touch the ball with both arms and hands.

And so, soccer skills that a goalie possesses give him an edge over other remaining players. But this makes a coach’s job tougher and more complex when training goalkeepers for soccer.

Soccer Goalkeepers are often the first line of the offense and the last line of defense, depending upon the technique of play. They wouldn’t mind using their body in every possible way to stop the ball or obstruct a shot from getting inside the goal. They are always prepared to grab hold of the ball by pitching into any direction whatsoever.

A goalie’s training for soccer can be very challenging, keeping in view their specific role requirements and their level of play. You must also keep in mind, his mental state when you are training him/ her on all important skills and techniques.

Soccer Training

The only player in the team who can match the vigor of a goalkeeper is the striker. Actually some of the best goalies have already been great strikers at some point in their career. You’ll often see a goalie and the forwards in a direct battle at different levels of competition.

One of the most important soccer training tips for a goalkeeper is to stay balanced and know the center of gravity of the body. This will benefit a game setting by enhancing the activity of a goalkeeper and the promptness of other players.

Even though most of the goalkeepers are tall, have long arms, and big hands, but even if it isn’t so, they can compensate for it with good vertical and lateral mobility.

Goalkeepers need unvarying motivation even though they have a good sense of self-worth and the coaches should never forget this. Soccer Goalkeepers need to do their regular warm ups with the team, but then separate from the team and perform the specific soccer drills that will prepare them for the game.

Goalkeepers have a dominant personality and in that sense they are also the leaders of the teams. So they should be placed in a voiced and representative capacity so that they can successfully accomplish their duties with the support of all the team members.

The goalie can handle the ball only in the 18 yard box. When the ball gets touched by the arm of any player other than the goalie, the opponent team gets a free kick. If it is a goalie’s teammate, it’s a penalty shoot from “the spot”.

So go ahead and use these soccer training tips in improving the overall performance of the team by supporting the goalkeeper who’s the leader in the 18 yard box and should be appreciated for that. Join our youth soccer coaching community that has loads of relevant articles, videos, and newsletters to update your knowledge on the subject.

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 Drills.