Coaching Youth Soccer - Top 8 Common Mistakes

When Coaching Youth Soccer and as with any profession, there is a list of things that a soccer coach should always follow. Most of these are based in common sense and as a result, are pretty easy to remember:

1. Don’t make speeches. Especially if you’re coaching young kids, making them sit through long lectures is a great way to bore them out of their minds and disinterested in soccer really fast. The age of your players is nor important. What is important is that you keep your speeches short, sweet and right to the point.

2. Don’t complicate things. If you’re demonstrating an exercise, try to break it down to its basics. Complicated things never work and this is not different. You can test this by showing the kids a complicated soccer diagram of a drill with fancy arrows and dozens of instructions, you’ll lose their interest.

3. Don’t be a ball boy- during a soccer practice ball will be travelling all over the field. Leave them alone! This can affect your authority and control over the players and severely damage the respect they have for you. They need to go get it.

4. If you do have special ball-boys on hand to help out, make sure they don’t join the practice. This simply signals a laxity in discipline- ball boys are just there to get the ball. If they want to join in the practice, they have to join the team like everyone else.

5. Never, ever criticize the player. If a player misses a shot or fumbles, don’t blame them. Point out the flaws in their technique or skill and do that calmly. Screaming at a player for being ’stupid’ is a great way to make them want to leave your team.

6. While Coaching Youth Soccer, explain it clearly and as briefly as possible. Now make a demonstration for your players so they can implement it and perform it properly. Conversely, don’t try and demonstrate something that you can’t do.

7. Health and safety should always be foremost in a coach’s mind. This means making sure that the ground and the equipment are in good shape before your soccer training session starts. Remember that if a kid sprains his ankle because the ground was slippery, then it’s technically your fault.

8. Don’t leave the parents out in the dark. It’s important that you interact with your player’s parents in a way that they feel integrated and well informed of what it’s happening. Always remember that your player’s parents can be your best ally.

When Coaching Youth Soccer, these are important aspects that every coach should consider. If you want to dramatically improve the skills of the kids and keep their interest and focus during practice sessions, you can learn that and much more at SoccerDrillsTips . com.

About The Author:

Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching. If you want to learn how to explode your players’ skills and make practice more fun and interesting, get your free Soccer Coaching guide at http://www.soccerdrillstips.com - Coaching Youth Soccer Drills.