Lend me your ears even though you may differ with me on this. It’s important in soccer drills that players are able to have a sense of the game and as such teach them the very basics of soccer. This soccer training should always come first in the training schedule before moving on to the more problematical aspects of training or the right approach to play the game.
You as a coach must make it a point that players take their first step in the right direction. So teach them all the essential soccer skills that form the basis of the game. Let’s discuss some basic skills in the game that are important for every player to understand.
Teaching the dribbling and shooting techniques to the players: Dribbling and shooting cover the two basic techniques in the game of soccer. To become a successful player, these skills have a major role to play in their game. But, for teaching these soccer exercises, you should see that all preparations are made in advance.
Start with positioning several players over the soccer field and arrange all players in a straight line on either ends of field.
After that indicate the players to kick off. Running around the field, they would try to grab the ball by their feet as they dribble and shoot the ball in the goal located at the opposite end of the field. These two soccer drills will be easily mastered by the players if they practice it regularly.
Passing the ball and following directions: These are the two skills that help players to discover and practice unity in game. In any case, soccer being a team sport should be uniformly spread among all team mates. The players will find it really difficult to play as a team if they lack good passing skills and fail to understand and follow simple guidelines.
For the purpose of teaching passing skills in the game and making them understand the guidelines, there is a really simple drill. In the beginning, make the entire team line up in a single row at one side of the field. Place one team member stand in front of the single line at a distance of 5-10 feet.
As soon as you tell them to start, the first player in the line will endeavor to grab the ball from remaining team mates on field. As soon as they are told to stop, the player who has the ball would pass it to the player who is first in the line. With the help of this soccer practice, players will learn to listen and also follow your directions.
Handling the Ball: Being the coach, decide and take time to teach players how to handle the ball using other parts of their body besides their feet. This way they’ll be able to perform more spontaneously on the field. An easy way for players to do it is by practicing to stop the ball with the back or bouncing the ball using knees or the head.
These soccer drills offers the simplest way to develop great soccer players who can thereafter go on to learning actual game skills and more complex elements. You can get a ready access to tons of such information relevant to the game of soccer by registering yourself with our youth soccer coaching community. So go ahead and become a member today.
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 drills.