One of the most important lessons when you first learn how to coach soccer is how to keep your players engaged and interested during your practices. Unfortunately, the scene you frequently see played out on soccer fields across the country is one where the coach is running 1 or 2 players through a drill while the rest of the team stands around waiting their turn. Most of the time, this scenario leads to a lot of problems, and bored, uninterested players
What usually happens is that the players that are standing start to get bored. Then their attention begins to drift, and they begin horse-playing with each other to pass the time. Pretty soon the coach starts yelling for them to pay attentions so they will know what is going on when it is their turn. The horse-play continues, and before long the coach is frustrated, and the whole team is running laps. New skills are not being developed, and the players and coaches are not enjoying the experience.
As you learn how to coach soccer, you quickly realize that one of the appeals for kids is that soccer is a game of action. There is not much time spent standing around waiting for something to happen. So, why should you run your practices that way?
Fortunately there are a lot of drills and small sided games that make it possible to keep all or most of your players involved. If you do need to run drills the only use 1 or 2 players, then set up multiple stations with small drills going on at each stations. Draft some other parents to help out so the players are supervised. That way everyone is active, but you still get to give your players some individualized attention.
It is important to remember that soccer is a game. Most of the players on your team are there because they want to play. The more you can make your practices seem like play, the more engaged your players will be. The more engaged your players are, the more they will learn.
There is more to learning how to coach soccer than just learning different drills. To be effective you need to create practices that are fun, and keep your players involved. They will learn much more by doing than they will by watching. The more they do during practice, the better they will perform during the game.
Learn how to coach soccer in a way that keeps your players interested in active. Standing around during practices is a no-win situation for everyone.
Jim Smoot writes the "Learn Youth Soccer" website at http://learnyouthsoccer.com. It provides reviews of some great resources that will help you learn to coach soccer.
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