Soccer Practice - How To Design Best Games Possible

Just run through the article once and you’ll be assured of the fact that in soccer practice, more than soccer drills, it is the games that play a key role in developing skills. Games are more energizing than drills and they require an equal amount of stamina as in the actual game.

In relation to soccer training, games command passion, is a source of great fun, and in the process of learning it, kids benefit from various phases of the game. There are a few guidelines that you need to keep in mind before introducing games in training sessions.

1. Ensure that each player has the ball and gets to play with it frequently.

2. Make sure each player participates equally in the game. It shouldn’t be that the weak players are deprived of playing with the ball.

3. Abstain from adopting the policy of reward or penalty. They are not required in relation to the games.

4. The focus of the games should always be soccer skill building.

5. Ideally, you should not enforce any rules or limits in a game.

6. Games should be such that are easy to recognize and take part in. Complex games take time to be understood and therefore waste time.

7. Last of all, it’s a good idea to keep increasing the amount of challenge in the game once they have cleared a certain level.

Each session should include minimum 200-300 touches of the ball for every player in soccer practice. This will ensure that they are making progress in improving their skills. Some exciting, well-liked and successful soccer coaching games have been given below that aid in building player’s skills.

1. Shoot the coach: This game requires the kids to travel in a crowd while maintaining their head up and attempt to strike the ball into the goal. It helps improve dribbling and also concentration ability of the player. It always helps to make the kids play the game by starting with 3 kids and regularly introducing more players.

2. Freeze Tag: This game is great for warm ups as well as teaching the kids to keep the ball away from the defender. The game calls for each player to have a ball with the exception of one who must touch and not kick the ball. When it comes about, the player having the ball becomes still and acts like a goal post. The player can be de-frozen only when the other player has hit the ball between his legs. Continue to play till all the players are frozen.

3. Red light, green light: In this game, the kids make a queue. The coach shouts green light and turns his back to the players who must then move forward with their balls before the coach again shouts red light and face the kids. If any kid has not moved forward, he is sent back to the starting line. This is a game that develops dexterity and attentiveness in kids.

So there you have it! If you would like insight on more such soccer practice games, join our youth soccer coaching community that has tons of similar resources on youth soccer.

Andre Botelho is an expert in Soccer practice. He influences over 35,000 youth coaches each year with his coaching philosophy, and makes it easy to explode your players' skills and make training fun in record time. Download your free Soccer Training guide at: Soccer Training Drills.

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Soccer Practice - Pass And Shoot

Teaching soccer pass can be easy and today I'll share with you an effective soccer practice drill to improve passing and shooting skills.

• Pass & Shoot Soccer Drill

As the name suggests, the players have to make certain number of passes before they shoot the ball and score.

1. Go for this soccer drill in a 30 yd x 30 yd grid with two opposing goalpost as in the actual game.

2. There will be two teams: each team will make at least five passes before they attempt shooting.

3. They have to save the ball from stealing by the opponent team.

4. If one team loses possession after less than five passes, they will have to again try to repossess the ball, make four passes, and then shoot the ball, attempting to score a goal. The team that does this successfully gets a point.

5. At the end of this training session, the team with more points wins.

Come up with your own variations of this drill and new soccer drills and soccer moves. For example, in the “cones instead of goal” drill, the coach will place five cones instead of goalpost and the players are then instructed to shoot at these cones. The team that knocks down three or more cones wins. You do not need goalkeepers for this soccer practice.

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Soccer Practice - Shooting Skills

Soccer practice is important for the players when it comes to improving their shooting skills. There are a variety of soccer tryouts, games and drills that can help improve and reinforce the shooting skills of your players. Here's an example...

• Shooting After Winning The Ball

This is an easy and simple way to teach shooting skills, and you don't need any soccer training tapes:

STEP 1: The soccer coach has to let the players stand in two lines – one on his right side and the other on his left side.

STEP 2: Both these lines should be at least eighteen to twenty from the goal.

STEP 3: Start the drill... the coach will serve the ball to the players standing on his one side and one of the players have to take the initiative, get the ball and shoot the ball while attempting to score.

When talking soccer drills at the beginning, you don't need to have a goalkeeper, but as you realize that the shooting skills of the players have increased, you can go ahead and have a goalie. By doing this and add a goalkeeper, the drill will become a little tougher for the players because now they have to shoot the ball, attempting to score a goal saving it from the hands of the goalie.

This is a soccer practice drill focusing in improving shooting skills that you can easily implement.

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Soccer Practice Games - Teaching Lofted Passes

Soccer coaches can implement new soccer practice games to increase motivation. One such a game is lofted passes game.

• The Lofted Passes Game

The lofted passes game is an effective way to practice lofted passes with backspin. Lofted passes with backspin is a fundamental skill that a good soccer coach should teach his team and one that each soccer player must learn. The best thing with this game is that the setup is very simple and easy. There are many touches and the soccer coach can teach many things at the same time.

• What It Teaches

The coach can teach every player about how to loft the ball for shots, for long over-the-top passes and as a way to clear the ball. Lofted ball is the term that is used to any type of pass or shot that goes into the air, including a chip. However, the coaches need to address the team regarding the difference between various types of lofted passes and shots.

The difference depends on how low the ball is struck. It also depends upon the angle of the kicker's body upon contact, such as whether he is leaning forward or backward. It has also to do with the angle at which the ball is approached, and whether the follow thru is long or short. One good example is that a "chip" is approached straight on, while a lofted "drive" is usually approached at more of an angle.

Try these soccer practice games and send me some feedback.

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Soccer Lessons - Practice Plans and Ideas For Coaches

Soccer coaches should have in mind that each soccer training session must include a specific soccer lesson. It is important to make these sessions tailor-made for the individual.

To start with, you may focus on the skill sets, such as ball control, passing and receiving, dribbling, shooting, defending, balance and coordination. After a few such sessions, once you find that the players have developed a strong grasp of these skill sets, continue to the more advanced focus.

Regarding more advanced soccer practices plans you may include specific skill sets, such as juggling, dribbling moves, finishing, plyometric strength training, and heading.

• Written Individual Player Evaluation

A written player evaluation is very important to keep a watch on the individual player’s progress. An expert coach always completes a written player evaluation.

What is more, it is not enough to complete this progress report, but it is equally important for the coaches to mail this written player evaluation to the students so that they could get an idea with the statistics that how impressive are their soccer skills.

Last, but not the least, it is also a great idea if the coaches give the student a "take-home" skill assignment. The coaches must design these assignments for the soccer lessons with the player's improvement in mind.

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