If you are like me, you will probably have no difficulty in understanding the significance of soccer practice games as compared to drills. Firstly, it’s imperative that kids are more focused on acquiring the skills and working upon them to better their movement with the ball. But there are certain points that you must check when they advance in their soccer training.
What works best is that kids are randomly grouped so that they get to develop their individual styles along with having fun just like we talked about before. To begin with, the size of these groups must be small enough so that the kids have more freedom and liberty to take their own decisions.
Such an arrangement also ensures that the kids have more space to move about in the field, get more touches on the ball and become more accountable for their choices since there are very few players in the group.
However, as players get accustomed to smaller groups and their skills improve, it is time to make some variations. In soccer practice games, it’s the time to initiate progressions. What it implies is that you should add more players, the rules should be made stricter, and the games be played in larger fields. It’s time when team’s overall objectives should also be catered to together with player’s individual development by bringing in a more elaborate strategy.
Here, I’d like to mention something that needs particular attention. Many coaches go wrong when they teach too many things too soon to their kids in the anticipation of preparing them well in advance. Please remember that shortcuts don’t work here. It won’t help you to mechanize the process here as it does in soccer drills. Kids should progress naturally with time.
The plans suffer and results decline when coaches lay a lot of emphasis on competition, introduce players to soccer terminologies early, or make a lot of rules and regulations. This causes problems in their natural learning and growth.
When kids progress from smaller groups to larger ones, they should inculcate team spirit and understand the objectives behind the games. It is an important transition from concentrating on your own skills to thinking about how your skills will help the team win.
In this phase along with games, it is also crucial to hold important meetings and discussions. Know that the players now understand the various techniques of soccer. Hence, it is an error of judgment to doubt their abilities in soccer exercises.
When you invite them to share their views, they feel good about it and become more responsible.
The games should now make them think out of the box to win matches. When the players think themselves as a team and not as individual players, you have succeeded in your job as a coach.
Now make good use of this learning in your plan. Soccer practice games are essential for making the kids learn naturally and so you must be very creative in selecting them. sJoin our youth soccer coaching community to gain more knowledge on such games and strategies.
Andre Botelho is known online as “The Expert Youth Soccer Coach” and his free 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 ebook at: Soccer Practice.
Tags: soccer drills, soccer exercises, Soccer practice games, soccer training