How To Coach Soccer:5 Sure-fire Tips
A question like How to coach soccer needs an answer as simple as the questions itself but we must make efforts to find a precise one. After all, youth soccer coaching is a dynamic and a difficult job and it is not easy to keep the players motivated to deliver under extreme pressure.
I wish to give to you 5 easy yet effective tips that have the potential to better your team’s performance with time.
1. Your plans should be comprehensive: Make complete and methodical plans if you wish to get the desired results in coaching. Have a heart to heart discussion with the players when you sit down to discuss and decide the team’s objectives and the timelines to reach them. The team’s progress is affected when the timelines are not met and desired results are not realized.
Once the plan is finalized, remain loyal to it but do keep some space for minor changes as and when required. Your plans may be foolproof but unforeseen situations calls for final changes in the plan.
2. Practice sessions should be thrilling and fun-filled: When designing a practice schedule for kids, give due importance to the fact that variety in drills and exercises does the trick. It is possible to incorporate this in many ways. For example: encourage players to participate in games and activities for some time after practice so as to develop a feeling of team spirit in them.
3. Discipline and freedom work best together: Discipline in the team should be a priority for you as a coach. Nonetheless, the fact that it is freedom form unnecessary control that motivates the kids to religiously follow the rules. You must always understand the importance of freedom and relaxation while teaching soccer.
Between the drills, leave some time for the players to relax, share time with each other or simply unwind. In preaching how to coach soccer, it is also extremely important to venture out with the kids on a picnic or an outdoor get together.
4.Always be supportive and tolerant: Encourage your team to try new things and when you do so, also be tolerant of the mistakes that they make in the process. Keep their activities under observation. If your intervention is necessary because the situation is out of control, correct it but without scolding the kids.
Remember that punishment inculcates in players, a feeling of rejection while being compassionate and encouraging generates great ideas and performances.
5. Balance things: It is in training sessions that kids get to know about their soccer skills and inherent talent. It is expected that in a team, there are some great players, some regular, while others are poor in performance. It becomes your obligation as a coach to use your best players to improve the poor ones.
Group the bad players with the good ones so that the bad players learn from their good counterparts during and after the sessions. It is crucial that you do not make any sort of comparison between the players ever.
Your goal; to start utilizing the tips that you’ve just learnt in providing answers to the thought of how to coach soccer.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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 Practice Tips