Category: How to coach youth soccer

Experienced coaches use a few simple strategies to keep their players focused and attentive during coaching session and the tips below will help you get your messages across more effectively.

But remember that your players are children – not mini adults – and if you are running a midweek coaching session, they’ve probably been at school all day being forced to sit and listen to their teachers. Once they’re out in the fresh air with a goal to shoot at, the last thing they want to do is listen to more lectures.

Tip 1: Keep it short

When you’re explaining a game or drill to children, try not to speak for more than 15 seconds and never talk for more than 30 seconds.

Give just one or two instructions, check understanding (“are we all OK with that?”), get into the action quickly, (“right, lets go!”) and correct errors as you go along.

Tip 2: Silence is golden

Never start talking until you have your players’ complete attention. Make sure balls are left to one side and keep quiet until your players are quiet too. Even if it takes several minutes.

Tip 3: Avoid distractions

Face your players away from other games or activities that are going on around you and don’t stand with the sun behind you.

Tip 4: Get down to their level

Don’t tower above your players. Get down on one knee if you need to and make eye contact with every player as you speak. Don’t wear sunglasses.

Tip 5: A picture is worth a thousand words

Demonstrations are a key part of football coaching so show your players what you want them to do.

If you can’t do it, find someone who can! Ask for volunteers or get an older or more experienced player to show the others the skill or technique.

Tip 6: Have rules… and apply them

It is essential to have team rules that are discussed and agreed with your players. My number 1 rule is simple: “No talking while I’m talking.”

But don’t be too quick to apply sanctions – if you do, you’ll come across as a sergeant major instead of a coach – but if a quiet word doesn’t do the trick you will have to tell the player concerned to sit out until they are ready to listen.

There’s nothing to be gained by making a player sit out a game or drill that they didn’t really want to do anyway but making talkative players sit out the first few minutes of the end-of-session scrimmage is a powerful deterrent.

Summary

These tips will help you avoid being embarrassed by players who refuse to listen and you should expect and encourage your players to pay attention to what you are saying.

But be lenient with players who are under eight. What you may perceive as discipline problems are really personality tendencies common to that age group: short attention spans, high energy, sociability and an inability to understand detailed explanations. Don’t expect six-year-olds to act like 26-year-olds.

And remember that all children come to coaching sessions to have fun and play football which, ultimately, is just a game. Taking it too seriously, or making practice too much like school, will result in your players switching off altogether and, in the end, they’ll just stop coming.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.

All football players – even top professionals – miss shots on goal, mishit passes and make poor decisions occasionally.

Professional players know that mistakes are a part of life and can put these minor disappointments behind them without too much trouble. Children, however, sometimes find it harder to ignore the mistakes they make on the field.

Mistakes often make young players upset, frustrated and even angry with themselves and these negative emotions can have a damaging effect on their game. One common reaction to what they perceive as letting their team mates down is to hide on the pitch, to stop wanting the ball and to stop making runs into promising positions for fear they might fail again.

So it’s important that you know how to pick players up after they make a mistake and help them to understand that, in the words of John Wooden: “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything.”

Who makes mistakes?

The short answer is, of course, everyone. Teachers, parents, policemen, judges… even youth football coaches sometimes make mistakes!

Young players are no different but some are more affected by mistakes than others.

Most teams have at least one player who is a “football perfectionist”. They work hard at training, listen to every word you say and are regularly the “player of the match” on match days. But they often have unrealistic expectations of themselves, their self-esteem is low and they are prone to being overly self-critical.

For these players, making a mistake, especially during a match, is a big deal. Even the smallest mistake is seen as confirming their worst fear: That they aren’t very good at football.

In contrast, children who have learned that mistakes are unavoidable and expected, will be more resilient and have more confidence in their own ability.

These tips should help you get all your players to that level.

Stay composed

How we respond to our players’ mistakes will teach them how they should respond to their own.

If your striker sees you shaking your head in despair when she misses an open goal, don’t be surprised if she hesitates before “pulling the trigger” the next time she has a goalscoring opportunity.

If your goalkeeper sees you throwing a drink bottle to the ground when she fumbles a catch (and yes, I’ve seen that happen), don’t be surprised when she doesn’t even try to save the next shot.

In matches, nothing should cause you to lose your composure and in training you should take the attitude that “it doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s the effort that counts”.

Don’t use words such as “what on earth were you thinking?” or “you can do better than that!”. And please don’t tell players “to try harder” when they are probably already trying as hard as they can.

Even saying that “it was just bad luck” or “you did OK, they just didn’t understand”, can confuse a player who knows full well that they did make a mistake and it wasn’t someone else’s fault.

Make mistakes a learning point by acknowledging errors calmly and explaining to your players what they should do if they find themselves in that position again – not what they shouldn’t do.

Encourage realistic expectations

You can help minimise the importance your players give to their mistakes by giving them sensible objectives.

Players who go into a game thinking that: “I must score today”, are setting themselves up for failure.

Talk to your players about what they expect to do when they step onto the pitch and replace any hard-to-achieve outcome objectives with more sensible, process objectives such as:

• To tackle hard.
• Get into the box for every cross.
• Move into a good position to receive a pass.

Share the mistakes of famous players

YouTube has dozens of video clips of famous players making some really amazing mistakes.

Goals missed from 2ft, goalkeepers throwing the ball into the back of their own net, defenders scoring stunning own goals… the list is endless.

I have some of the more amusing examples downloaded onto a laptop that I take to training sessions and show them to my players during drinks breaks. It does their self-esteem no end of good to see famous players falling on their backsides!

Conclusion

Persevering when the going gets tough and being able to bounce back from mistakes are not just important skills for a young football player to possess, they’re essential life skills.

Your players are going to encounter many setbacks before they’re much older: College rejection letters, failing exams, not getting the summer job they’ve set their hearts on and more.

You can do them a massive favour by teaching them, in the words of FIFA female World Player of the Year and ex-USA star, Mia Hamm, that “failure happens all the time. It happens every day… what makes you better is how you react to it.”

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.

Coaching very young children is great fun.

Four, five and six-year-olds are so enthusiastic it’s hard not to give them a good time at training sessions. All you have to do is put a ball on the ground and off they go!

But if you want to help them get the most out of your training sessions and set a firm foundation for the “serious” years to come, you should follow a few simple guidelines.

Set the rules

While older football players need to be involved in rule-setting (“what do you think the team rules should be?”), four to six-year-olds need to be told what you want them to do.

You don’t need a long list of rules. One or two is enough. But if you don’t have any rules, you will waste a lot of time trying to get their attention and you will end up feeling a bit frazzled!

Team talk!

Tell your players – in the first session – that if you shout “team talk!”, they should stop whatever they are doing and run to you. If they have a ball, they should bring it with them and sit on it.

Remind your players of this rule at the beginning of every session and give lots of praise to them when they do it.

When I’m talking…

Team talks are your opportunity to explain to your players what they are going to do next.

Verbal instructions should be very brief – no more than 10 seconds or so – and followed by a quick demonstration.

But you need to make sure that your players are listening. So tell them that they can’t listen and talk at the same time!

If a child persists in talking while you’re explaining something, gently ask them to be quiet… or they won’t know what is going to happen next.

Ratios

You should never try to coach big groups of children on your own, however old they are.

If you’re coaching children aged 11 or older, there should always be at least one coach for every 16 children but if you’re coaching four to six-year-olds, the ratio is much lower: One coach for every six or seven players.

Get parents to help out if you don’t have the luxury of assistant coaches. It’s a good way to engage them and when your players are a bit older, you will need engaged parents!

Play very small-sided games

When playing team games, play 2v2, 3v3 or 4v4.

If you allow the size of the teams to get bigger than that, the children won’t get enough touches on the ball and the games will be too complex and confusing for them.

Never say “never”

Allow your players to move the ball with whatever part of the body they want to.

If they want to kick the ball with their toe, let them. But, at the same time, show them that they can move the ball with the inside, outside, sole, heel and instep too.

Forget all about positions

If you play matches against other teams, don’t try to put players in positions. Very young children all want to be where the action is – within two feet of the ball – so let them.

When you see players beginning to move away from the “swarm” of their own accord, you can introduce the concept of team shape.

Rather than tell your players that they are “defenders” or “attackers”. These labels make no sense to four to six-year-olds but they will, eventually, begin to space themselves out and a recognisable team shape will develop. But don’t rush it.

Keep activities short and familiar

Games should be short, no more than five or 10 minutes, and don’t be afraid to repeat activities that they enjoy.

Young children like to play games that they know and enjoy. If your players want to play Sharks and Minnows, Freeze Tag, Red Light, Green Light and simple games of tag every time they step on to the practice field, let them.

You don’t have to teach them a new game very week!

Following these guidelines should help make coaching sessions with four to six-year-olds fun and enjoyable for everyone concerned – including you!

Cup finals, league play-offs and even relegation deciders can be tense, nail-biting affairs. But if you want your players to give their best you have to plan your pre-match routine very carefully.

The warm-up

It’s a good idea to have an established warm-up routine.

Your players shouldn’t be asked to learn anything new just before a game and having a regular routine helps them settle into the right mindset for matches.

But often coaches decide to change their warm-up for big matches to make absolutely sure their players are mentally and physically ready. That’s a mistake.

Introducing a new, super-charged warm-up for just one game will make your players nervous and give the impression that their coach is concerned about the game to come. Sticking to the usual routine, on the other hand, helps your players see the game as just another, winnable, match.

Shall I talk about the opposition?

Don’t talk to your players about the other team and don’t allow your players to compare themselves to their opponents or they can easily become negative and worried.

Instead, talk to your players about their strengths: How well they pass the ball, how strong your defence is and how good they are at goalscoring.

Let the other team worry about you!

I must give my lot a proper pep talk today…

Many coaches think they need to psyche their players up before a big game. But this approach can backfire, especially with young players.

Their parents have probably been talking to them about the match and they are probably going to be on edge. You need to reassure them so be positive and keep your body language nice and relaxed.

Say: “If you play like you do every week you’ll be OK” or “I’m looking forward to this game and I know you’re going to enjoy it too” or “this is going to be tough but if you all try your hardest you’re going to be fine”.

Don’t tell your players to “get stuck in” or “it’s time to prove how good you are”. Statements like that only serve to make players think of the consequences if they don’t get “stuck in” or what you’re going to say if they make a mistake.

Plan to spend two or three minutes on your pre-match talk and plan what you going to say beforehand.

Don’t make it up as you go along!

And team talks should be just that – a talk to the team. If you feel it necessary to remind individuals of their responsibilities, do it in private. If you want to tell Mary that her job is to score goals (not that you would, I hope), doing so in front of her team mates will only add to the pressure she is feeling.

Visualise your way to success

I’ve used the psychological technique of visualisation several times with my girls’ teams before big games and I’m sure it has helped them overcome any nerves they might have been feeling.

What is visualisation?

Children are good at imagining. They can “see” monsters under the bed, have invisible friends and dress up as princesses or soldiers.

Imagination is not just a game for school age children. It helps them deal with problems by thinking through the different outcomes. It also allows children to mentally rehearse and practise the skills they are going to use on the football field.

You can use this to help them before a big football match. Basically you get your players to close their eyes after your pre-match talk and calm themselves by breathing deeply for a seconds.

Then ask them to remember a match where the team played particularly well. Tell your players to remember how they felt on the day and then run a video in their minds of a good tackle they made or a good shot or anything else they did well.

When they’ve done that, I ask my players to share their thoughts and tell everyone what they’re going to do to help the team today.

If someone feels uncomfortable with the sharing, that’s fine, but putting such positive thoughts into words is a powerful motivational tool.

Like many youth football coaches, I’ve sometimes had difficulty making the “right” substitutions during matches.

But eventually I discovered that simply writing a substitution plan down in advance made managing my players on match days so much easier.

For one thing, there’s such a lot going on during a match that it’s easy to make embarrassing mistakes such as replacing all your attackers with defenders (don’t laugh, I’ve done it… ). But a written plan avoids that.

Having a written plan is handy when a child tugs on your sleeve and asks, “where will I be playing when I go on?” and it also allows you to concentrate on the game instead of thinking about whose turn is it to go on or come off.

And, most importantly, you’ll have a record of who played and for how long in each match through the season. That’s very useful information to have if you’re confronted by a parent who thinks their son or daughter is not getting enough playing time.

What you say…

Make players earn their playing time

Coach Don: If you don’t think a kid will get significant playing time, don’t accept him/her on your team. I can’t stress this enough. It is better to have a roster of 15 kids you will play rather than 17 kids, when two of them will have to stand and watch.

As for apportioning actual playing time, my players are guaranteed 10 minutes less than half of the game playing time.

Players can get a full half game by showing up for practice, exhibiting good work ethic and having a positive attitude.

Players can earn even more playing time through ability and making progress. So a weaker player who is working hard and learning new skills can get as much playing time as the strongest player. This helps potential late bloomers break out and keeps everyone motivated.

But all bets are off if a player is injured, ill or if he/she has exhibited bad sportsmanship. There is no minimum at that point. But it’s critical to explain to the player and their parents why you’ve reduced their playing time.

Don’t start with your strongest players

Coach Dave: Many coaches have difficulty because they set up a winning line-up with their weakest players sitting the bench and then wonder where to put the substitutes without hurting the team.

I create a roster with a range of skills right from the start. I trade players with like-for-like skills so that I don’t create a weakness on the field when I make a substitution.

This allows me to put a weak player in a position where they can get good playing time and be a productive part of the team.

Parents have expressed their happiness that their child gets to play much more than they would on other teams, and have even told me that if it wasn’t for me, their child(ren) would have stopped playing seasons ago. Even the parents of the strong players have told me that they are very happy that I play everyone fairly and their kids have noticed and like it.

It’s not rocket science!

Coach Chris: I don’t think managing substitutes is difficult at all. The only way a player can develop is by playing, no matter what level you play at, and I believe until he or she gets to high school, every player should be offered equal playing time. And not just because it is the “right thing to do”.

First, we are in the business as youth coaches to develop players, not win games, and players do not develop by sitting on the bench or playing five minutes a half. It destroys their confidence, they don’t have fun and they soon lose the desire to play.

Second, they pay the same fees as anyone else and you, as a coach, are doing them and the person paying their fees a disservice by having them “ride the pine”.

Third, What happens if you get to that semi-final or final game and the player you have played the entire year gets hurt or sick? Then you have to play the other player and their confidence will be so low that they very possibly could make a huge mistake that causes you to lose.

Coaches who only play the “star players” on the team are succumbing to the desires of the parents to win games and not doing what they should know in their heart is right: To develop every player to the best of their ability.

I also believe until age of 12 or 13, players should play every position including goalkeeper. It helps them understand those players’ roles and makes them a more complete player all around.

You have to play at the right level

Coach Tom: When I coach, I adopt the philosophy that “we win together as a team and we lose together as a team.”

I try to give plenty of playing time to everyone, but will sit my stars out and let the others carry the day whenever possible.

If I handle this properly, by the time I get to the elimination games that count, the stars are due playing time and it all works out.

Key to being able to balance the playing time is being in a league with opponents a similar level. It would be hard to do if we were getting pounded every game as all kids like winning.

However, even lesser players can enjoy the thrill of victory when it means their star pulls it out for them.

But when leaning on stars becomes a coaching habit, team chemistry falls apart. Therefore coaches have to recognise that there are more important things than winning and if we lose once in a while while giving players a fair share of playing time, then so be it.

Think about the opposition

Coach Dave: I have a squad of 17 players playing seven-a-side at U9 level.

I take 10 to matches, put the other seven players in the next game and keep a record of who plays and for how long.

On the day, all players picked for the team WILL get at least half a game but I only have one of my three key players off at any one time.

If we are playing a tough game, the top team will be playing. If we are playing a weak side, my less experienced players will start with perhaps three “better” players on the bench.

By picking my teams with the opposition in mind and getting parents to give their unavailable days a month in advance, all the players in the squad get a decent amount of match time and they all feel part of the team.

With careful planning and working several games ahead you can turn out a well-balanced side week after week and keep all your players involved.

Not all your parents will be happy and you may not win every week but neither do Man Utd!

I could do with fewer players!

Coach TP: My U10s boys play 6v6 and we have 12 players on the roster.

I am in the perverse situation of hoping that at least three of my players don’t show up at any given game as most of them want to play the whole game.

When all 12 are available I substitute them two at a time. This way all the boys get experience playing with each other. And even though my goal is development and not winning, I don’t want the boys to be demoralised so there are still certain players I won’t put in goal or in defence.

Happily, some of the players I couldn’t trust with defending at the beginning of the season have improved enough that now I can put them in the back.

I try to manage my substitutions so that the game is close and my players must fight hard just to draw.

I just wish we had fewer players, so everyone could get more playing time.

Don’t put weaker players in difficult positions

Coach Brian: I coach a pair of teams in New York – U11s and U12s girls.

What I’ve found over the years is that, as the girls became better, the talent evens out and playing time is not much of an issue.

But it was an issue in the early years when there were large disparities in ability. Back then I was careful not to place a weaker player in a position where she would fail so I looked for chances to make substitutions at times when I knew they could do well, enjoy themselves and learn in a low-pressure situation.

I always made sure that every girl played in both halves and tried to give them a minimum of 50% playing time. In games when this was not possible we made sure to let the girls know that playing time would balance out to 50% by the end of the year. This has worked well.

Don’t single players out

Coach Nick: It is very difficult to manage substitutes especially when you have a squad of 16 eager U13 s players but we need to be very careful to differentiate between what’s best for the players and easiest for the coaches.

I have also told my players and parents that as no one wants to defend, it will be the midfield and forwards that will rotate positions and be subbed.

So as not to make players feel they are being singled out, I tend to make “double substitutions” instead of removing players one at a time.

I also make mental substitutions before the match starts so I know what I’m going to do.

I tend to start with lesser ability players in less meaningful matches. It sometimes means we concede goals but coming back from being behind builds character and the kids leave the pitch after a hard-battled draw with a big smile.