Coach Youth Soccer: A Guide to Youth Soccer

To coach youth soccer is not a simple job and you’ll know that if you are just like me. It involves some good amount of enthusiasm, and a intellect along with innovative thinking to carry it out. Use many different training exercises and drills while teaching your kids different soccer practices.

People have different views in relation to this. Some think that the sport in itself is a great coach while others feel that training exercises are the best method to teach soccer. The opinions of the coaches also differ significantly. Yet, all different activities must be combined in a way that the monotony does not set in. The kids will get bored and soon get disengaged from soccer.

A great mix of all the activities will have the effect of making the kids learn newest things and include them in their practice sessions.

The difficulty with Drills-only sessions: Coaches have a tendency to focus extra on drills to coach youth soccer. It’s not wrong. Drills are a key element in any practice session. But the likelihood of kids getting disinterested in the game will be high when your plan only has drills in it. Worse still, this may drive them away from the practice sessions altogether. It has to be a blend of games, drills, and talk sessions. Introduce as many different activities as you can.

The kids feel energized if they remain engaged in different kinds of activities. Such as it is senseless that a player uses his same foot every time he attempts to hit the ball.

Moreover, he will not be able to relate the exercise with the actual scenario on the soccer field. Teach the right technique: While teaching soccer, always focus on the right techniques to do things. Their practice sessions can therefore include these techniques too. You can complement the sessions by introducing fun-filled games, outdoor picnics and so on.

Afterwards, they can enjoy a game of soccer. It is crucial that there is a lot of concentration on the system of playing so that there can be match winning performances. If the players are practicing incorrect techniques, it is crucial to correct them else they will get used to that particular technique.

It makes sense to divide the group into teams and make them play different games. Ensure that the directions are accurate and to the point. This can be achieved only if you have prepared in advance.

Make it a point to work out the activities in advance that you would like the players to do. Remember always, kids will play soccer only when they enjoy it.

If their interest is not developed, they will soon move to something else. So there you have it. Know what it takes to coach youth soccer, create a fun-filled and engaging practice session and implement it. When you subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community, you will have tons of tips, tricks and knowledge articles on youth soccer. Register now!

Andre Botelho is the author of "The Expert Youth Soccer Coaching Guide" and he's a recognized expert in the subject of Coach youth soccer. Learn how to explode your players' skills and make coaching sessions fun in less than 29 days! Download your free Coaching Youth Soccer guide at: Coach youth soccer.

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How To Coach Youth Soccer

To coach youth soccer is not a simple job and you’ll know that if you are just like me. It calls for some a logical approach to execute things differently with enormous energy and resourceful thinking. When you teach your kids soccer methods, you can take up a whole host of training activities and drills.

People have different views in relation to this. One says that drills are the best way to teach soccer whereas others believe that the game itself is the best coach. The opinions of the coaches also differ significantly. Still, it is notable that unless various activities are mixed well, the task will become repetitive. The kids will get bored and soon get disengaged from soccer.

But if different activities are suitably combined, the kids are sure to discover new things and use them while practicing the game.

The issue with Drills-only sessions: There is a great deal of attention paid by coaches on drills to coach youth soccer. Not that it is a bad thing. Drills are an essential part of a good practice session. However, if you include only drills in your plan, there is great chance that the kids will stop enjoying the sessions. As a result, players may feel forced to miss out on the practice sessions. It has to be a blend of games, drills, and talk sessions. Include a lot of diversity in the plan.

When kids get busy in different activities every now and then, it delights them. Take an example of a player striking the ball many times with the same foot is futile.

Moreover, he will not be able to relate the exercise with the actual scenario on the soccer field. Teach the right method: In teaching soccer, your concentration should be on teaching the right method to carry out tasks. They can then practice these during their sessions. Supplement these with properly organized scrimmages, small games, and a few outdoor excursions such as trekking, biking and so on.

After that, you can make them move on to playing a regular soccer game. It is crucial that there is a lot of concentration on the system of playing so that there can be match winning performances. If the players practice things that are wrong, it will eventually become their style and will be difficult to correct later.

One way is to divide the big groups into teams and then instructing them to play varied games. Make certain that the orders are carefully drawn and executed right. This is probable only if you have prepared beforehand.

Always get to the field prepared with what you want the kids to do. Remember always, kids will play soccer only when they enjoy it.

If the interest is lost, they will deviate from it. So this is it! Understand what needs to be done to coach youth soccer, create an enjoyable training session and execute it. Register today and take advantage of the inexhaustible resources, tips, and ideas available at our youth soccer coaching community. Sign up today!

Andre Botelho is the author of "The Expert Youth Soccer Coaching Guide" and he's a recognized expert in the subject of Coach youth soccer. Learn how to explode your players' skills and make coaching sessions fun in less than 29 days! Download your free Coaching Youth Soccer guide at: Coach youth soccer.

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5 Simple Steps To Coach Youth Soccer

Let me ask you if these traits are a part of your personality? Kids look at some specific traits in their coach to coach youth soccer. If you display all of the mentioned traits, the odds are high that kids may score you pretty good as a coach.

We often discuss as to how kids and their parents should be informed about the training drills. However, it is almost always neglected as to what kids expect from their coach. To teach youth soccer, following skills are required to take any decision on the capability of a coach to build a champion team fast.

Thoughtful: Spend quality time to identify and respect their yearnings and objectives. Value their hopes, dreams and desires. Be patient and listen to whatever they have to share. Besides, showing your funny side to the kids will make it easy for you to manage them.

Awareness and Experience: It is natural for the kids to expect familiarity with soccer and updated knowledge on the game. As such you qualify as a coach only if you have a wide experience in playing soccer, and complete know-how of its intricacies.

Admire and Feedback: Make sure you congratulate a kid when he performs well. In the same way, when the kid makes a mistake, identify it and correct him. However in both the situations, do not go overboard. At the same time, it’s vital to give negative comments to the players in seclusion. Buck up the team from outside the ground. This is important to coach youth soccer.

Sincerity: At times difficult for the kids to make up their mind whenever something difficult comes up. In situations like these, they expect you to show them the way. Speak with them, discuss your thoughts, know their concerns and build a rapport with them. They’ll believe in you when you help them in their decisions.

Managing: Kids like their soccer coaching sessions well organized and planned. You therefore also need to have great administrative skills. Make sure that time is productively used in every situation, whether it is a pleasure trip, field drills, or small meetings.

An experienced guide: A coach and an experience trainer are the same. Try to impart correct and accurate instructions, be compassionate to their problems, be appreciative and never ever reprimand, unless absolutely necessary.

Be a Friend: Along with being a coach, be a companion. The kids feel like sharing many things with you but will be reluctant to share them when they cannot bond with you. Generally, kids get intimate only when they believe that their coach is friendly and open with them.

Always keep in mind that youth soccer means learning and entertainment simultaneously. If either of these is not there, kids will have no interest in the game. You can make a proficient coach if you get to absorb all such qualities in you.

So starting tomorrow, coach youth soccer after amendments in your everyday practice sessions. Find out which traits you need to develop and start imbibing them. Grow in your coaching career with the help available at our youth soccer coaching community offering exhaustible tips, tricks, newsletters, and articles.

Andre Botelho is known online as "The Expert Youth Soccer Coach" and his free Coach youth soccer ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players' skills and make practice sessions fun in record time. Download your free Coaching Youth Soccer ebook at: Soccer Coaching Drills.

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Coach Youth Soccer: A Guide to Controling The Ball

Allow me to put a question in front of you? When it comes to coach youth soccer team, what is the most important skill? You will get a variety of answers to your question but in reality, it’s the skill of dealing with the ball and maneuvering it. For a team to be successful, it needs entire team’s support along with the individual talent of any player to deal with the ball.

To teach youth soccer, start with teaching the players various positions on the field. When these are associated with other rules of the game, along with the skill to move about in the filed to make best use of the space make for main lessons. As time passes, they should try and recognize strengths and weaknesses of their teammates.

Also make the entire team understand their role by sustaining the player having the ball to be able to translate it into a goal. Tell the players about the quantum of coordination that is required to complete this task and coach them as well.

When you coach youth soccer, it is important to observe how long players can keep the possession of the ball. It would be great if they do it for extended period of time. It is also good to make them understand the quality of passing the ball smartly and with control. As mentioned before, the responsibility of other players is crucial in such situations.

Teach them to stay away from the path of the ball when the pass is made. Also, ensure that when the pass is about to be made, the players should have 3 different choices to pass the ball to. The players must adapt to the spaces around them so that when they receive the ball, they can control it well enough.

In teaching soccer, it extremely important to make the players aware of the circumstances where they struggle to control the ball. Also, if possible, it is ideal to have at least 2 more players supporting the pass so that after the pass is made, it can be moved about in an attacking position.

A great characteristic of a great team is that they are able to handle the ball even in unexpected circumstances. Conditions such as these are common and the team that adapts to them quickly becomes the winner. As a different story, if the team ignores this feature, it can end up loosing the game.

Lastly, any practice session will surely fail if it is devoid of any fun element. It doesn’t matter if the players are beginners or mature, if the drills are not exciting and energetic, they will drive the players to boredom. There are several games that help the players learn the ability to tackle the ball. The best part is that they learn while having fun.

Take a start and use these tips to effectively coach youth soccer team. These will go a long way in making them victorious. Our youth soccer coaching community has ample resources, tips, and techniques to help you learn the nuances of youth soccer coaching. Get onboard today.

Andre Botelho is a recognized expert in Coach youth soccer. He influences well over 35,000 youth coaches each year with his unique coaching philosophy, and makes it really easy to explode your players' skills and make training more fun in record time. To download your free Coaching Youth Soccer guide visit: http://www.soccerdrillstips.com.

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Soccer Coaching Drills : Learn 3 Essential Goalkeeping Drills

In soccer coaching drills, you would agree with me on that drills for goal keepers are vital. It is not difficult to imagine why. This is because the greatest amount of tension and constant pressure from opponents is faced by the goal keeper. So it is natural that the soccer drills to train the goalkeeper are such that sharpen his goal saving and focusing skills.

For a goalie to execute his tasks well, he should be fit, quick, and focused. Therefore, it’s your duty as a coach to select appropriate drills for the goalie.

Kick and Throw: An important element to understand is that the goalie must kick and throw the ball in 6 seconds straight. Coach the goalie on this and train him on making an Outlet pass that is rapid and precise. The goalie must be informed not to let go of exactness in place of rapidity.

If this pass is accurate, the player who receives the ball will be in a better position to handle the ball. Also, you must instruct that goalie to walk to the front edge of the penalty area before making the pass. All this would depend on how fast can the goalie think and act.

Another important aspect in teaching soccer is throwing the ball to the players. Goalie should be taught to throw the ball near the ground. Make sure he practices it with players running along the ground and also with those fixed. It might get difficult for the player to correctly capture the ball when the ball gets sky-high and looping. Also the speed of the ball should be reasonably fast.

Be careful! Do not be aggressive on the players with these drills. Its absolutely fine if they take time to get used to these soccer coaching drills. Harshness or enforcing can lead to frustration and ultimately dislike for the drill.

How large is the field: It is also important to note whether the field is small or big. One common notion is that the bigger the field, and the further the ball from the goal, the farther the goalkeeper must play from the goal. This has a significant difference on the angle at which the rival player hits the ball at the goal.

Move in a semi-circle from the center of the goal: Instruct the goalie to move in a semi-circle from the center of the goal. This allows them to be ready for the onslaught on the goals as also pass the ball.

It is crucial to teach the goalie about evaluating the momentum of the ball. It is hard to expect it and so it makes sense to make the goalie carry it out many times. Train them to always concentrate on the ball. These soccer coaching tips train your goalie to be adequately speedy and alert.

Act now and instruct your players with these soccer coaching drills. There is every possibility that they will be victorious. Join our youth soccer coaching community to access the vast knowledge base and tips on youth soccer coaching.

Andre Botelho is the author of "The Expert Youth Soccer Coaching Guide" and he's a recognized expert in the subject of Soccer coaching drills. Learn how to explode your players' skills and make training fun in less than 29 days! Download your free Soccer Drills guide at: http://www.soccerdrillstips.com - Youth Soccer Practice Drills.

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Soccer Coaching Drills: Uncover the Secrets Of Throw-Ins

Have you ever thought of the importance of throw-ins in soccer coaching drills? Just like passing skill, it lets the player attack the rival team by easily covering up the ground. Include drills like these in the soccer practices to make your kids shine in the field.

Retain possession of the ball as long as possible: As is obvious, this is very important and the primary objective of every coach should be to teach the players never to lose the possession of the ball. Make it a point to catch and keep the ball with you first thing after a throw-in has been carried out. If it is lost, the team has lost an opportunity.

Decide on the right player: It has again of great significance. Your players should always know that in defending third, if the opponent team attacks, it is very likely that your players will loose the possession of the ball. Soccer coaching drills require opting for an appropriate player to allow other players spot and cover exact spaces.

Keep your eyes on the ground: For someone taking the throw-in, it is important to scan the ground to ascertain which player the ball should go to. Players may be orderly arranged or might get picked at once. The player should be selected promptly so that the rival team fails to identify your choice.

Make use of simple throw-in methods: The throw-ins need not be complex. Truly speaking, there are 3 simple tricks in football coaching drills, which when taken up, will produce big results. The important thing though is that players practice these ways on a regular basis.

In 1st approach, you need to flip the ball back with a lot of force and run towards the opposite side of field.

In approach 2, encourage the players to make runs to create space and beat marking. Moreover, instruct the players to hurl the ball towards the open player.

In the 3rd approach, instruct the players to toss the ball to back-to-goal player who must then drop the ball for the thrower.

As mentioned before, it is not difficult at all to understand and execute these approaches in soccer drills. However, what really matters is that the players practice these as much as possible to achieve perfection.

Encourage the players to throw to feet: This is another vital drill for throw-ins. It is of utmost importance to instruct the players to push the ball to feet with precision. It speaks a lot about your expertise as a coach when you understand that all the players can perform well when they receive a throw-in to feet. This is totally different from their personal abilities.

It is a proven fact that when the players feel forced under expectations to perform, they do well when they receive a throw-in to their feet.

Now that you are armed with the information on what it will take your kids to perfect the skill of throw-ins, teach your kids to execute them. There are thousands of tips and tricks along with discussions on soccer coaching drills in our youth soccer coaching community. Join today and you will be able to gain from our treasure of resources on youth soccer coaching.

Andre Botelho is known online as "The Expert Youth Soccer Coach" and his free soccer coaching drills ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players' skills and make training fun in record time. Download your free soccer drills ebook at: http://www.soccerdrillstips.com - Youth Soccer Training Drills.

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Teaching Youth Soccer: Speed Work Sessions Can Be Merged In Warm Ups

If you are teaching youth soccer, but do not have much time for the job, you will have to have a very creative and prudent approach so that you could train your players regarding the various soccer skills in little time with more efficiency.

For example, in order to make the best use of the time that you have for coaching youth soccer, you can include the speed work in the warm up sessions.

You just have to design and develop the warm up drills in a way that should include lots of speed work. Such strategies will bring dual advantages for you.

You will save a lot of time while the players will have practiced the warm up as well as have achieved some soccer speed skills. However, it does not mean that you have to use only the speed drills in the warm up session.

No, instead, you have to use variations as creatively as possible. Speed work must be included towards the end of the warm up session. I

t means that when you are teaching youth soccer, you should include the speed work in warm up session just as a part and not as a whole of it.

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Coach Youth Soccer: Stick To The Fundamentals

You want to coach youth soccer with the sole objective to build a winning soccer team, but that is possible, only if you work on a proper strategy and keep in mind certain factors associated with the same.

• The secret to coaching youth soccer drills is nothing, but just to stick with the basics. If you are following the fundamentals, while teaching soccer to your players, you are simply making your task much easier.

• While you are training your soccer players, your basic approach must be to keep the lectures short and let the players do more. This acts as a very strong motivation and helps you keep the interest alive in your players.

• Feedback is important, but make sure that you are not giving lengthy and boring feedback. Keep it short and to the point. Do not try to criticise much on your players’ mistakes, as it may work against your efforts and may demodulate the players.

• Whatever you do, it is very important for you to understand that you have to communicate, keeping in mind the specific age group of the players.

• What is more, since you have to coach youth soccer, you also need to communicate effectively, with the parents of your players.

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Teaching Soccer: Teaching Ball Control Skills With Rapid Fire

When it comes to teaching soccer, rapid fire is one of the best youth soccer drills that will help your players acquire some great soccer skills regarding ball control.

• As per this drill, you need to have six or seven of your players form a circle around one player. The middleman will not have a ball, but all the remaining players will have a ball with them.
• Now, each of the players positioned on the perimeter of the circle will start passing the soccer ball to the middleman.
  
• As the middleman receives the ball, he or she will first trap the ball and then after getting control of the same, he or she will kick the ball back to one of the players standing on the perimeter of the circle.
  
• This player will then again pass the ball to the middleman. This way, the process will go on until the middleman passes back the ball to all the players on the circle.
  

While teaching soccer and ball control skills using this drill, you have to make sure that you keep switching the middleman with one of the players, standing on the perimeter of the circle.

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Teaching Youth Soccer - The Various Fouls And Penalties

When teaching youth soccer, it's important to teach the players about the various fouls and the consequent penalties so that they can save their team from getting into problems.

• The Red Card And Yellow Card

There's one simple but overlooked way for younger players to avoid most of the penalties.

- They must keep their hands away from ball! During a soccer game, it is not the hand, but the feet that the players have to use.

However, you should teach your soccer players that it is not just touching the ball from hand that can result in penalty, but pushing, tripping or holding the other players will certainly bring penalties.

Keep in mind that in almost every soccer teams there are some malicious players that "attract" the most common penalty. When it is about young players, it is very difficult to have a "malicious free" team. Such players intentionally foul on their opponent players, but the coach must teach them that if they do so, they will get a warning in the form of a “yellow card”.

If a particular player repeats the same behavior again and again, he is “rewarded” with a red card and is taken out from the field and from the game. Let me just remind you that a player with a red card is not replaced, but the soccer game continues (with your team at disadvantage with less one player).

• Offside Player

When a player dribbles the ball, and gets nearer to the goal line of the opponent team than one defensive player and the goalkeeper, the player is offside.

The offside soccer rule is not applicable when it comes to goal kicks, throw-in's or corner kicks. The main objective of the offside rule is just to stop an offensive player from ‘camping-out’ at the goal awaiting passes.

The coach needs to train the players so that that "keep an eye" at the offside to avoid penalties.

Teaching youth soccer is a challenging task, and the soccer coach needs to train his players keeping in mind all these aspects.

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Teaching Soccer Coaching Tactics Properly

There are several factors that a coach must take into careful consideration while teaching soccer coaching tactics, especially while training young players.

• Begin With Simple Soccer Tactics

Always start with teaching the players about the simple soccer techniques. Adapt the specific soccer training drills that the players can perform with the skills they possess. Once you start seeing the improvements, you should offer them more advanced tactics.

• Always Appropriate To The Players' Age

This is something that many soccer coaches overlook and they start teaching the same tactics to everybody irrespective of their ages. This is something that can bring adverse effect to your team’s performance. Therefore, make sure that you teach them the basic soccer tactics that are appropriate to the players' age and match.

• Communication: Simple Language

The language and the way in which you give instructions to the players must be simple, direct, and unambiguous.

• Do Not Complicate - Use Brief Instructions

True that you need to make your descriptions easy to understand, but it does not mean that you should tell them everything in such detail that it should eat up most of your training time. It is equally important for you to keep in mind the time factor and be as brief as possible.

However, you should not compromise on clarity just because you need to brief in your instructions. It is not at all a good idea to use long lectures in the soccer training session. Furthermore, many coaches use sarcasm in their instructions.

Always remember that is not good for the health of the game and for your team’s performance. Therefore, make sure that you are not using any sarcasm that could be misinterpreted. It is better to avoid jargon as well. You should try your best to speak carefully and be specific and brief.

Remember that seeing is better than hearing and doing is better than seeing. Therefore, when it comes to teaching soccer, an expert coach should introduce his topic, show it, and get the players doing it quickly.

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Soccer Skill Drills - Teaching Soccer Trapping

Soccer trapping is an important element when it comes to teaching soccer skill drills.

1. The Foot

It is very important for the coach to teach players how to use the foot to ‘capture’ balls descending, near or on the ground. For this, the players should get in front of the ball. They should learn to extend the leg and foot forward of the body, anticipating the arrival of the ball.

When the ball meets the foot, the coach needs to teach the players how to pull the leg back to slow the ball, or ‘cushion’ the ball. The ball will carom off the foot and out of control of the player if they do not pull back their foot. If you are coaching a team of younger players, it is better to start with the inside of the foot.

If you are coaching a soccer team of more advance players, you can practice trapping with the instep or top of the foot and both inside and outside of the foot. You should teach the players how to eventually advance to using the shin and ankle for higher or wildly bouncing balls.

2. The Thigh

The thigh has a larger size and contains higher fatty tissue. Thighs could be a very effective method for trapping both slow and fast airborne passes below the chest. Have the player get in front of and square to the incoming ball.

Teach them to stand on one foot and raise the other knee and thigh to meet the ball. Once contacted, the players should quickly drop the knee, allowing the ball to shortly ‘stick’ to the thigh. This soccer practice should be continued until the ball rolls from the thigh to the feet.

3. The Chest

For the chest theory is the same as the thigh, but execution is slightly different.

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Teaching Youth Soccer Coaching Drills Properly

Here are some good practice tips that can be used when teaching youth soccer coaching drills:

• Use A Parent Or Soccer Field Player In Goal

Tel them to intentionally muff, drop or parry any shots. In this method, it is not prudent to use your regular goalkeepers. If you do so, the regular goalkeeper will only catch the bad habit of parrying or muffing shots.

The attacker who is ready to shoot knows that the “bad” keeper will drop the shot somewhere in front of the net. Now, this is the catch. The main objective of the attacker here will be to put that muff into the goal.

• Going To The Goal Every Time The Players Shoot

This is an important soccer coaching tip. Some attackers are skillful but lazy and they have the tendency to watch their shots when they “know” that the shot is going in. This most of the times results in missing the opportunity to score when the ball hits the posts or bar or is batted down by the keeper.

Whenever an attacker takes a shoot, that attacker should have three seconds after shooting to enter the goal and touch the net. If he does not do so, the goal should be disallowed. Once the players make it a habit, the defenders will learn to count out-loud at every shot.

This does not improve perfection in hitting the goals in the players, but it also teaches the defenders to follow up and clear missed shots.

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Soccer Coaching Tips - How To Teach The Drills Properly

As soon as you're at the soccer field, there are some important soccer coaching tips all soccer coaches should have in mind.

The coach must stand in a position where all the players can hear him. Again, he must be brief in explaining the objective of the drill and key coaching points. For a 15-20 minute drill, the coach must not take more than 3 minutes with explanations and demonstrations. Always remember that it is not the quantity that matters, but the quality.

However, you must make sure that all the players have understood the things he explained. Ask them if everything is clear to them. If not, clarify the same.

Once, you have explained the objective of the drill and key coaching points; you should stand outside of the drill area, not in the middle. Keep a close watch on the activities of the players, observe them and see if they can solve any issues by themselves.

If there is something you need to correct, you should stop the soccer drill and demonstrate the step to correct the mistake. Psychology plays an important role in coaching soccer. Therefore, do not forget to praise players for correcting it. Now, once you find perfection in the players, increase the complexity to keep players challenged.

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