Eight tips for training youth soccer
This is an intensive course to coach a youth soccer team. Follow these eight tips to help your team have a winning season. The most important thing for kids is to have fun, but it’s always easier to have fun when your team wins. You will learn how to start and end each practice, and how to use the stick and wedge formation to build a defensive-minded team that results in wins rather than losses. This article will be especially helpful for those who want to know how to coach u8 or 810 soccer, but it applies to all age levels.
These are the tips to coach a winning team:
1- Team race
Have your players line up along the goalkeeper area. Have them hold hands and run to the opposite side of the field and back. Tell them they need to jog as fast as the slowest player. This simple exercise creates unity and a sense of purpose.
2- Find a goalkeeper
Line up your team in midfield and have them run to the penalty line and back to help you identify the fastest from the slowest players. Have them line up and kick the ball. Ask the first two or three children who can kick the ball further if they would be the goalkeeper. If not, ask if they would be a reservation.
If you can’t find a player interested in the position, ask the top candidates if they would only play for the goalkeeper during one half and the forward in the next. Most kids want to play in the forward / forward position and score goals, so offering to rotate two players as goalkeeper in one half and forward in the next makes the goalkeeper position more attractive.
3- Defense of the stick
Make defense a priority. Use a “stick” defense in which you stack five children in front of the goalkeeper. The stick rotates around the goalkeeper like a hand on a clock, pointing towards the opposing ball handler attacking your goal. It can extend to the midfield line as the ball moves into the opposite penalty area.
Generally, there is a fifty percent chance that the other team will have a star player who can dribble across the field and score. Traditional teams have three or four forwards and three or four midfielders. These lineups leave three players to defend the goal (and a runner or two pursuers). Five defenders are better. If you are playing less than 11 due to illness or vacation, you can shorten the suit to three or four players. Even with nine players, there are still three defenders.
The players in the suit are numbered from one to five, with one being the closest to the goal. You want your slower and less skilled players to play at the stick. It is important to have a bigger and faster player in both places to control the club. When the ball is on the other side of the field, # 2 signals the others to move up and stretch the stick. The less skilled player should be in spot # 3 where the two can direct the player while defending the goal.
4- Wedge Halfbacks
The midfielder or midfielder positions form a three-person “wedge”. The wedge is sent to stop the opposing offense and deflect the ball into the opposing territory. The center position is flanked by a left and right player who is five feet behind and ten feet to the sides of the center. They travel together in search of the opposition attacker. They do not cross the midfield and act as a protective “stopper” for the club. The center, like all “first” defenders, must follow the attacker to force him to stop or slow down. The center maintains a mattress five to ten feet from the attacker, retreating as necessary. The attacker should go left or right, but will likely slow down as the left or right wedge player presses closer to the center. Attacking the formation is frustrating. Trying to go through seven players rather than a few is difficult.
If the attacking player passes to his left or to the right side of the formation, the right wedge player becomes the center and follows the ball handler while the center stays behind and takes the right side. The wedge is re-formed when the left wedge player slides and holds the left side of the wedge.
5- Two forwards
The remaining two players are flexible positions. One should play as a center forward, playing as high up as possible. The center forward plays as far as he can without being offside. The other forward plays as an outside forward and moves left or right, following the ball when on defense. The outside forward hangs near midfield and needs to catch the ball to push to the sideline or pass to the center forward.
6- The first half is all defense
This formation seems slow since it is not oriented to attack. The strategy of the stick and wedge formation is to physically wear down the opposition in the first half, allowing the formation to advance into the opposition’s goal later in the second half.
Starting with a strong defense and adapting to a bigger offense is always the right move in youth soccer. A strong offense does recently when his team is trailing 0-2 in five minutes into the game. The stick and wedge formation draws more opposing players on offense to equalize their defensive player count, weakening their defense as the game progresses.
7- The weakness of each team
The weakness of almost all formations is when an opposing team moves the ball quickly down the sideline and into their penalty area. It may take an additional player to mark your star player, resulting in one less on the suit. The club must not extend sideways outside the penalty area. Let your forwards tire between the penalty area and the sideline. When they snap the ball, you will have plenty of defenders to dispute their attack.
8- PK are fine
There is nothing wrong with a tie. Prepare your team for penalty kicks. It’s fun to finish your practice with penalty shootouts. A great drill is to put an assistant coach in goal with your goalkeeper and another player. Have all three spread out, each defending a third of the goal. Have your players line up in an arc around the goal and throw balls into the net at the same time. It’s great practice and makes a real pk easier as there will only be one goalkeeper and not three.
Teach your children to “pass” the ball into the net with the inside of the foot instead of trying to throw it with the inside of the foot. This is a more accurate shot from a short distance and almost as powerful.
This stick and wedge works and provides a formation with the highest defense. Start strong on defense and add more offense as needed later in the game. First find a goalkeeper and complete the rest of your team. There is nothing wrong with a tie. Now you have the knowledge to put your team in position to win and have a successful season!