Soccer Passing Drills

I’m not sure if you know this but young players have real trouble in kicking the ball by using a straight leg? In coaching soccer drills, this is the trickiest part as far as the players and the coaches are concerned. The player keeps overall balance and the leg to be used to kick the ball is bent at the knee. Both poise and power to kick the ball comes from below the knee.

This is the preliminary position in soccer practice for almost all kinds of kicks. The acceleration of the foot from below the knee creates a powerful impact on the ball. This offers great amount of power to players for carrying out different types of kicks. Still, the style of kick that would emerge would depend upon the nature of contact of the ball with the foot.

For example; it could be knocked very high, driven low, turn left, or sway to the right.

There are three basic passes in soccer namely, a side foot pass, the outside of the foot pass, and the instep drive. Let’s talk about them further.

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The side foot pass: In teaching soccer, the simplest and the most commonly used pass is this. It is generally used for making short distance passes. Although this pass is slightly slow and almost predictable, it’s very simple to teach the kids and perform accurately. The ball touches the inside of the foot and the ankle with the foot turned outwards.

In coaching soccer drills, guide the players to keep their bodies totally relaxed throughout the entire movement. This is the most basic rule with all types of kicking actions. The ankle and the foot need to be stiffened only at the time when the players is about to get in contact with the ball.

Once the players become confident, their overall action should seem relaxed, smooth and effortless.

Outside of the foot pass: Al though a little tricky to learn, this pass needs to be taught to the kids correctly as it’s quick, unpredictable, and accurate. A contact is made with the ball between the laces and outside edge of the foot with the foot extended and turned inward. With the use of a foot, the pass is transformed into a speedy throw for short distances.

During all these coaching drills, the body posture should be relaxed.

The Instep Drive: Both the lofted version and the low driven version of the instep drive are used to pass the ball over longer distances. Once mastered, this style can also be modified to make a “chip pass” or an “in swinging pass”. As the approach of the instep drive is slightly angled and the non kicking foot is placed about 12 inches to the side of and behind the ball.

The ball then comes into contact with the laces and inside of the foot which must be hard and extended.

So now coach your kids the various techniques of kicking the ball and with variations to let them do different things with the ball.

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Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching and has already helped thousands of youth coaches to dramatically improve their coaching skills. Learn  how to explode your players’ skills and make training fun by downloading your free ebook at: Soccer Training Drills.

You’ll more that agree with me that when it comes to coaching soccer drills, the toughest part is where the most suitable mode of organizing the player’s conditioning schedules is to be decided upon. There is a reason why I’m saying this and it’s because the thin line between educating and coaching the players has somehow vanished.

Regrettably, many coaches still don’t understand that when teaching soccer, drawing a coaching plan based on the player’s needs is of paramount importance. At the same time, they should focus not only on professionally coaching the kids but also educating them. There have been a number of situations where this educational facet of soccer has not been considered at all.

However, we should always remember one principle while working out the coaching drills for kids. Any player who wishes to become a great soccer player of huge prominence should first attempt to grow as an individual. The coach must therefore base his strategy on the above stated principle.

It’s easy to find out the reason that pushes a player to take on the duty of a coach.
Once his playing days are over, he desires to remain involved in the world of soccer. This is the reason that a lot of soccer players end up as soccer coaches. But they don’t truly recognize the seriousness that this role calls for.

Soccer Coaching

Some look at youth coaching as a stepping stone to coaching adults. Some others decide to take up this role due to their love towards the sport and an intention to instill the same passion in the kids. Theses reasons are both suitable as well as acceptable. But at the same time, the person should also be aware of the moral responsibility that his choice implies.

When it comes to coaching soccer drills, communication is the key concept and unfortunately, it is still very difficult for people to accept. It is not enough to have a great career history spanning many years of top rated success and achievements to qualify as a professional coach.

There are some very important goals that a youth soccer coach needs to set for himself. It’s for the coach to encourage kids to look at soccer as a constructive and an inspiring experience in their lives so that they tend to love the game. As a coach, make sure that during the soccer practice, players feel comfortable in openly expressing themselves by way of the game.

In a team, different players have their different styles of playing and a varying potential. It is not important whether each of them has great potential and skills of a winner or not. What is actually important is that each player ultimately reaches his own potential.

So we must understand that not every soccer player is cut out to be a skillful and a proficient youth team coach. A special ability to work with kids is of paramount importance; an inborn gift to make contact with people and nurturing relationships.

Some food for thought; give some serious consideration to what actually motivates you as it is a condition in this context.

If there is more information that you’re looking for on coaching soccer drills, just join our youth soccer coaching community and get an access to tons of news, views, and articles that help you give an insight of coaching young players.

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 Drills.

Even though I’m not very sure about how you work, I’d still like to discuss some simple yet effective teaching techniques in coaching soccer drills before you start your practice sessions. During soccer practice, focus on a specific objective like kids must have loads of fun in the game as it benefits both the coach and the players.

At this point, it’s important to stay alert or else you’ll get distracted by other things. I therefore recommend that you decide on more specific objectives for yourself and your soccer team. Some examples are; focus on player’s individual soccer skills, promote the importance of their physical fitness, and help them grow into mature, professional, and sporting soccer players.

You, being the coach are solely responsible to set high standards for sportsmanship. Cheer them to have an attitude of fair play, sportsmanship, and team spirit. When teaching soccer, you have the option to include any number of relevant objectives along with the ones stated above.

The theory of winning is one concept that I’d like to stress upon when it comes to coaching youth soccer. When you coach your kids, you must instill an open concept of winning in their minds. Make them understand that so long as their play is up to the mark, they are the winners, irrespective of the final outcome.

Soccer Coaching

This ultimately takes away all the unnecessary pressure off the players and enables them to play their original game by carefully following the strategy.

In coaching soccer drills, make sure that your instructions are very precise for them to be effective. Before you start coaching your team, educate your players on some specific do’s and don’ts in the game of soccer. The dissimilarity between coaching and teaching lies in the fact that coaching is concerned with a group of players who are already familiar with the game to a certain extent.

In coaching drills, it’s best to give the players 5 or 6 fine demonstrations of some specific skill and then let them perform it themselves. This is because young players generally do not respond to oral instructions very well. If you endeavor to explain in instructions, they will not understand it. Rather they are pretty good at imitation.

Hence, make it an imperative exercise to give a demonstration at every possible opportunity.

In the end, but still important is to keep the kids involved in several activities. This is all the more important when it rains or the weather is extremely cold. It’s a fact that all kids love to play in the rain. Therefore, in place of cancelling the training session, rearrange it in a way that the players make the most of their energy and time.

Just make sure that in a situation like this, your kids have an extra layer of clothing and proper footwear.

Move forward now and start using these tips to your training sessions. You will be astonished to see the results.

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Andre Botelho is a recognized expert in youth soccer coaching. 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 youth soccer coaching guide visit: Coaching soccer drills.