What follows is a simplistic way of bearing in mind the essential soccer coaching factors ate determine the team philosophy and moving along with it. We can apply this philosophy to our youth team very easily as it is easier than we can imagine.
The elements which are essential for an effective youth coaching philosophy are 6; parents, coaches, excitement, selection, time, and success windows.
Regular communication with Parents: When it comes to soccer training, parental influence is the key influence in the mental and physical well being of your players, especially on the day of the match. “Parental responsibilities”, the brochure supplied when the term starts is not sufficient. Regular meetings should be arranged with the parents to highlight the key points again and discuss issues.
Developing soccer coaches: Training of soccer coaches should be an integral part of your philosophy instead of targeting the players. You may try if one of your kid’s parents can become a soccer coach? They would be most suitable and a great option for the future.
Selection: One of the biggest reasons why players with great soccer skills drop out is non-selection. According to studies, players say they would rather get selected for a bad team than not getting selected for a good team. Therefore, with the help of a rational selection system all the player could be given equal game time.
Time: The session should be started on time and the parents should also be told to be on time. The start and finish times that are clearly defined make for an effective session.
Excitement: Is it a must that each soccer coaching session is interesting? Try to make every session an enjoyable one but also remember that you cannot do it all the time. Hence, choose enthusiasm as a substitute.
While training the kids, it is natural for every coach to run out of ideas on how to make practice drills exciting and enjoyable. So, the biggest challenge in teaching soccer is to be creative enough and keep introducing new and innovative ideas so that the kid’s remain interested in the game.
In soccer drills, it is a good idea to keep increasing the level of difficulty every time. The best way of doing this is to get started with a game, look for a problem, and then rectify it with a drill.
Success windows: Try and incorporate a “success window” for the season as a significant element in your training sessions. This actually requires you to determine a lower limit and an upper limit of time with a view to measure the level of success that needs to be achieved.
To take an example, time frame of minimum four and maximum eight weeks. This can be done for both team as well as individual team members.
Favor yourself and have a soccer coaching philosophy like this become a part of the development phase of your kid’s training once the basics have been covered. If you would like more such knowledge and resources, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community.
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: Soccer Coaching Drills.
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