Soccer TBC

At the highest levels of youth soccer, volunteer coaches have been replaced in many leagues with paid trainers. Parents shell out big bucks for private training in the hopes of turning their child into the worlds next Freddy Adu.

Things are getting serious, and regardless of your opinions of how the game has evolved at the youth level, one thing is for sure: The games are more competitive then ever! Of course the majority of kids play in less competitive leagues and on teams coached by volunteers. These coaches are dedicated individuals that usually do their best to help the team but are often limited by their knowledge of the game.

I dont mean to beat up on soccer coaches too bad because after all, they are what allows youth soccer to function, but many lack the ability or the time to invest properly in putting together a plan for developing their players. Against a coach like me, they simply stand no chance.

Why? I know the game and I have a plan for training my team . I know what I want to teach them and I have a way to go about doing it. Most importantly, I know more and I cover more ground over the course of a season.

Other coaches flat our wing-it. They throw out a few cones, dribble around them and kick the ball around for awhile. They do what the kids want to do which is always scrimmage, and no one really learns a thing.

It goes without saying that players who have well-informed coaches will learn more, have more fun, and be more likely to play soccer the next season. As sad as it is to say, one bad season or coach is enough to ruin the game for some kids. If you fall into the category of the wing-it coach, you better do something about it!

Choosing quality youth soccer coaching drills can really make a big difference in the fun factor of your practices. Young players want to play soccer, not stand in lines waiting to kick the ball. I recommend using activities that have multiple balls involved along with lots of movement and well-defined objectives.

Here are a couple of my favorite passing drills for kids:

Passing Speed Drill

Split your team up into groups of 3 or 4 players. You will want each team to have the same number of players. Set the teams up on a line facing open field. The coach will serve the ball into the space while calling out a team’s name or color. The players must get to the ball, and then complete a pass to all four players. Once the fourth player receives the ball, he must quickly play it back to the coach.

The coach should be counting slowly 1-2-3-4, etc. He will stop counting when he receives the ball and all the players get back to the line. Each team gets an opportunity, with the team taking the least amount of time declared as winners.

You can add all sorts of requirements to this exercise to work on different techniques. For example, require all passes to be made with the outside of the foot, or only allow players to pass the way they are facing (this forces players to really move into supporting positions).

Pass Through Gates

Set up a number of “gates” using two cones throughout the inside of a 30×20 yard grid. The players on the team will each pick a partner. Each group of two players will have one ball. On your command, the players will move around in the space, and pass the ball through the gates to their partner. Limit the players to only using one pass in a row per gate (no gate can be used twice consecutively).

With young players you can have the kids play for one minute, and then see how many passes each group made. Challenge them to try to beat their score the next round. For older players, you can have them race to 10 or 15 passes.

Keepaway

This drill is geared towards players that are a little bit older as it requires more technical skill to execute. Set up 4 players around a 10×10 grid. One player will be in the middle. The outside players will attempt to pass the ball around to each other without the defender getting the ball.

If the players are able to handle it, put them on two-touches. I don’t recommend requiring them to use one-touch unless they are extremely proficient with passing/receiving. You can either have the player that makes a mistake go to the middle when the ball is lost, or play the game for 1 minute and then switch the players out.

If the defenders are having too hard of a time getting the ball back, you can reduce the size of the grid, or add a second defender making it 4v2.

Road Kill

This one is a huge favorite with all of the kids I have played it with. Set up a long narrow grid. Have two players on the short ends of the grid. The other players will partner up across from each other along the long edge of the grid.

Kids soccer drills are an important part of building a successful team. Remember that no matter what drill you’re using to train your team, it’s important to instill a sense of accomplishment and value to the team by giving them a taste of success every time they do a drill. Three popular and effective drills for kids soccer are the Cone Dribbling Race, the Kickball drills and Speed Passing.

Cone Dribbling Race
As the name suggests, the goal of the game is to dribble past a series of cones as quickly as possible. There are many ways to set this up. For example, you might setup ten cones, each five feet apart. There are two rows of cones and two teams. The goal is for the whole team to finish the dribble as quickly as possible. The next player cannot start until the previous player finishes. This is a great way to build dribbling skill as well as instill a sense of teamwork.

Kickball Drills
Kickball drills are a great way to build up soccer kicking skills. A Kickball is simply a ball that’s tethered to your foot. You can use this to practice curve shots, power shots, goalie shots, etc without having to pick up the ball again every time. This is a great way to work on your shots and kicking skills in a short period of time. You can practice just about any type of shot with a Kickball.

Speed Passing
Speed passing is a great way to get players used to passing the ball quickly. This drill builds passing skills, attentiveness and faster reflexes. Here’s the setup. It takes at least four players. Setup two sides, each with the same number of players. One player kicks off the ball to a player on the other side. The player on the other side must pass the ball quickly, touching it only once. The ball then goes back and forth as quickly as the players can go. The game can also be played in a small circle. The intention is that the passing gets faster and faster and faster over time.

These are 3 great kids soccer drills to get you started. Using the proper drills is a great way to build up a winning team.

Soccer jerseys are now one of the most popular sportswear items in the world and this is purely down to the massive and ever increasing popularity of the sport. Soccer really has become the number one supported sport in the world which has increased fans interest in different soccer jerseys. Every team has at least a home and away jersey but many often have a 3rd jersey, usually used for playing in some sort of competition like the Champions League.

Most fans buy at least one of the jerseys for their club sometimes getting the name and number of their favourite players on the back of their jersey, or indeed their own custom name and number. What has been increasing though is the interest in not just your teams but also other teams jerseys from around the world, with Premiership soccer jerseys in particular being very popular at the moment largely due to the fame of players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Fernando Torres.

The top teams in the world usually change their jerseys either every year or every two years meaning that the designs are always having to change. One of the biggest changes we have seen over the last few years is the move towards synthetic materials for making jerseys. Soccer jerseys had previously been made of cotton but this stuck to players when they began to sweat so new materials have been developed for the jerseys that make them absorb less moisture which makes it more comfortable to wear whilst playing soccer.

Major international competitions like the World Cup are major sporting events on the soccer calendar and give fans the chance to support their country. International soccer jerseys are very popular throughout the competitions as it allows fans to show their support for their country or their favourite player.

The top football jersey manufacturers in the world are Nike, Adidas, Umbro and Puma but more and more manufacturers are starting to come on the scene most notably the like of Lotto and Canterbury have began to grab themselves a foothold in the market.

With the soccer season just finishing we are just about to get to the time of year when the new jerseys are getting released. A lot of the new soccer jerseys will be available for pre-order at the moment with the official release date likely to be towards the end of June for most shirts.

Soccer has reached the highest popularity ever since the buzzing vuvuzela faded in last July 2010. From poster boys to veterans, world-class soccer players gathered on the African soil for the first time. They performance were inspiring many people, especially the youngsters to learn some soccer tricks.

Soccer is played with the objective to score a goal. The formation is originally 4-4-2. One goalkeeper, four defenders, four midfielders, and two strikers. The trick is four defenders must develop their skill to set an offside trap. In the past tense, Arsenal had four solid defenders to cause the opponent striker got offside. They were Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Nigel Winterburn, and Lee Dixon.

But recently there is a progress in soccer trick, when two defenders are running on right and left wings make some overlaps and switch with the midfielders to supply the ball for the forward (striker). Overlapping needs a high skill. And the player should be a fast sprinter. This way could deliver a goal from defender himself. Roberto Carlos, Ashley Cole, and Glenn Johnson are very good defender to perform this overlapping.

In soccer, goal could be delivered by a corner kick. Here is the trick, if you have a left handed player, put him ask executor at the left corner. In 1998 World Cup Final between the host France and Brazil, Emmanuel Petit took a perfect left corner, and Zinedine Zidane jumped at the ball and put it on the net. That was the first goal for France. The second came from the right corner-which also from Zidane-and the third goal was taken open-play by Emmanuel Petit in his solo-run. The score was 3-0 for France.

Free kick is another opportunity to create a goal. David Beckham, Luis Figo, Wesley Sneijder are perfect players for this. Make a goal in dead ball situations (corner, penalty, and free kicks) are easier than in open play. If your opponent control ball possession, your team still can deliver a goal from counter attack. This is frequently happened in matches between top team and underdog.

At the match when every effort failed to deliver a goal, every player should become an opportunist finding a niche to kick the ball to the net. For example is in the match between United Stated versus Algeria in 2010 World Cup, a late goal at the stoppage time from Landon Donovan that took the opportunity from Clint Dempsey who fell out to put the ball to the net.

Some coaches like to change his team formation from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 or 4-3-2-1 or 3-4-3. Using three strikers is potentially to create more goals but it is also push the goal keeper and the defenders work very hard to keep the net clean sheet.

Soccer needs good cooperation. The good coach must orchestrate the most perfect players for their position. There are also some dirty tricks. Diving (pretending fall out) especially in a penalty box at some case could make the referee give you a penalty. But it is risky, because if you are a bad actor, the referee could give you yellow or even red card. Another dirty trick is to provoke the opponent player so that caused a yellow or red card.