Coaching Soccer
In this section you will learn key strategies to coaching youth soccer players. More than just tips, this section will deliver practice plans, scouting tips, slump busting and more.
A soccer coach for youth players has a great chance to be more than just on the field. A coach can literally play a role in individual lives of the players. With this as a background, this section is not only about influencing players off the field. You have a chance to make the players on the field experience a good one. Remember it is only game. A youth coach can make soccer unenjoyable by being too hard, yelling too much, and applying other negative influences too often. The idea is to develop the players and in my opinion keep the game fun at the same time.
What is the Responsibility of a Youth Coach?
To be effective you need to take the whole player in mind. As was previously mentioned you are more than a coach, you have the opportunity to affect the personal lives of your players forever. Sports crosses over into the personal rhelm all the time. How you treat a player, what you allow them to get away with, how you let them play the game, and the discipline you put on your players are all important factors.
As a coach you should provide influence in these areas:
- Discipline
- Injury Prevention
- Physical Fitness
- Soccer Skills Development
- Psychological-Attitude and other attributes
- Being part of a team
- Personal Development-Selflessness
- and more
Coaching Resources
Here is a list of additional coaching resources to help you take your coaching to a new level. These websites are not part of Youth Soccer Skills but should help glean information about this important topic.
Coaching Resources
- Socceru-Soccer Training DVDs for U8 to U18 Soccer Players.
- US Youth Soccer-US Youth Soccer is non-profit and educational organization whose
- mission is to foster the physical, mental and emotional growth and development of
- America's youth through the sport of soccer at all levels of age and competition
- Footy 4 Kids-Coaching for Youth
- Better Soccer Coaching-Free tips on tactics, Fitness, team management and more.
Its a mistake to not focus on Injury Reduction
Two goals exist in physical development training. Its more than just performance enhancement, its also about reducing injuries. It is a big mistake for any coach to skip injury reduction. You need players on the field playing at their best. If a player is injuried they can't play.
Can you eliminate injuries? No. Can you reduce the liklihood of injury? Yes. You can reduce ACL injuries and other types of injuries if provide good guidance to your players in this rhelm.
Here are two programs to follow and use for injury prevention:
U.S. Soccer Coaching Education and Curriculum
Ex US Soccer start Claudio Reyna who is now US soccer's technical director talks about the U.S. Soccer Youth curriculum.
Soccer Practice Games
This article explains the basics of progression and how many points to emphasize in training a team as well as provides a couple soccer games.
Soccer Attacking from the Wide Areas
This article on attacking will help you understand attacking from the wide areas so you can teach your team.
100 Point Self Evaluation and Assessment for Soccer Coaches to Measure Performance
Every training session I prepare on one A4-page making notes on a soccer field-drawing to organize the exercises (number of players, balls, cones, distances, timing, etc.). This way I can see what kind of problems can pop up with distances and moving material and change things. The idea is to switch to another area of the field without moving stuff. After the session I give myself a score on the back of this A4 for this session...
67 Coaching Tips for Soccer Coaches
This list is a collarboration of tips compiled by readers of the newsletter. It includes tips on how to be a great coach. Follow these tips and you will find your relationship with your players better. Your players will also perform at higher levels which means winning more games.
Reflection on the US goal vs Algeria-Heart and Tempo
It illustrates the importance of goalkeepers controlling the tempo and players making runs
Coaching Kids Soccer
As a kid’s soccer coach you should fully realize the role you will play in the emotional, mental and physical development
How to watch soccer
Soccer is a fun sport to watch, and watching the professional game can also prove very educational.
How to coach a soccer game - In Game Coaching
Coaches who react game to the game only trying to fix the problems of the previous weekend...
Captaincy-Who to choose and what is their role?
Captaincy can be an overused position on a soccer team.
Slump Busting - How to get out of a rut
A loss of confidence and performance, commonly referred to as a slump is a difficult situation for a soccer player
How to be a good Teammate
Physical fitness and skills will help you, but are not the only factor in succeeding as a soccer player. Soccer is a team game and being a good player means having the ability to contribute to the success of a group.
Team Energy Leaks-How players who lack skill, fitness or in other ways cause energy leaks in the team.
The technical, psychological, physiological abilities of players play a huge role in their individual success and the team’s success. Players lacking skills cause energy leaks and decrease the effectiveness of the team.