Soccer Drills For Kids They Just Can't Get Enough Of
Soccer drills for kids that are fun, enjoyable and also an effective teaching tool is the Holy Grail for soccer coaches trying to encourage the game to our youth.
Perhaps you or your kid are ready for the next step and want to know about playing in professional youth soccer clubs around the world, then this is also the place for you.
Try some amazing Kids Soccer Drills at your practice that they are sure to love such as:
If you're looking for a full list of soccer drills for all ages feel free to use this site, 900+ Free Soccer Drills for Kids.
Advanced Soccer Drills For Kids Videos
|
|
|
What’s The Most Important Thing I Can Teach The Kids?
Plain and simple, to enjoy themselves! At any level of soccer if it’s not fun you shouldn’t be doing it. Especially when your young soccer drills for kids are suppose to be enjoyable above all else.
Other things you want to remember to stress to them are:
- The importance of teamwork!
- Never to give up and keep trying no matter what.
- Listening to instructions properly.
- Working on your game at home to improve even faster.
If you love seeing the kids on your team, group or camp leave practice with a smile and not being able to wait until tomorrow then these fun kids soccer drills are for you, and more importantly for them.
What's More Important? For The Kids To Learn Or To Have Fun?
Well the easy answer is both and both elements should be included when doing soccer drills for kids.
Spice it Up and Be Creative!!
To be honest if we are talking about strictly getting the kids to enjoy their practice then the game you play isn’t that important. Sure you want something that’s going to get them moving and that they enjoy but the way you dress the game up is what it’s all about.
What Do You Mean?
Well you could play a simple game of tag, where one player is “it” and they go around tagging other kids and they also become “it”.
Orrrrrr,
you can dress the game up and call it EVIL MONSTER, or HUNTER!! And talk about how if you hear the evil Monster ROAAARRR! Run for it! If you get tagged then you mutate into part of the MONSTER CLAN!!!!
Kids will love games like this much more than your standard game of tag or whatever it may be. This is just one example you can make up all kinds of different fun variations to classic games.
When it comes to teaching versus enjoyment at this age use the 70/30 rule. 70 fun, 30 teaching.
Should The Parents Join In?
Absolutely. In fact having the parents join will increase the fun for all involved. Have one of the kids parents get involved as the focal point of the drill or have them team up with their son/daughter for one of the drills.
The kids are going to be looking over at their parents for approval anyways the entire time why not get them in the mix. Not only will this provide a little extra fun but the kids will be much more engaged knowing their mom or dad are participating with them.
Kids love seeing their parents join in on the fun and the parents will appreciate your creativity and inclusion, just make sure none of them need some CPR by the end of it!
How Do I Get The Kids More Involved?
There is always a kid or two that’s just not into it that day or giving you a hard time but don’t sweat it. Have the kid be the focal point of the drill; the hunter of the deer’s for example or something where they are forced to be interactive and engaged.
If this doesn’t work have them team up with somebody for the next drill to see if that will get them going.
If this still doesn’t work you can be their partner for a particular drill and try and get the best out of them, at the very least you can pick up the slack and not let one kid ruin the fun for everyone else.
Team building, basic soccer skills and fun are they key things to remember when running soccer drills for kids. You need to bring enthusiasm as well so the kids can feed off of it and make it more enjoyable for the both of you.
Kids love it when somebody can joke around with them so don't forget to have fun with it by messing around with your players a little bit.
What Basic Soccer Equipment Do I Need To Run Soccer Drills For Kids?
You aren't going to need anything too fancy from an equipment perspective when it comes to kids under the age of 13. No fancy agility ladders, wall dummies or ball rebounders for this age. Focus on the basic equipment below and you will be able to run a proper organized session for all to love and enjoy.
Equipment List
1. Soccer Balls
- Always aim to have at least one ball per person at a minimum, you are going to need to make sure they are pumped up and size appropriate for their age.
- Size 5 for 14+, Size 4 for 8-13 years and size 3 for anything under that.
2. Coloured Bibs/Pinnies
- You are going to need at least two different colours of 10 to be sure you have enough bibs for a large amount.
- If you can look to have three different colours of bibs in case you break into small sided games or drills that have three teams.
3. Standard Size Cones
- Just the regular disks will do for cones will do.
- You will probably need about 20 of them to be able to mark out grids and other lines that you will need.
- It's always good to have a couple sets of colours to indicate different starting points and zones within a field or particular drill.
4. Portable Goals
- You may need to bring some portable goals if they aren't provided at the field.
- Depending on the age and type of drills you will be running you need to decide how many are necessary.
- If it's just small goals you need maybe a couple foldable goals will do or even cones to save you lugging all the equipment around.
This list above are the basics, just like when you leave the house and you double check if you have you keys, phone and wallet you're going to do the same by asking yourself do I have balls, bibs and cones.
If the answer is yes then you're all set, now having a clean set of bibs is a story for another day.
How Many Kids Can One Person Handle With Running Drills? What's The Best Coach To Kid Ratio?
Of course 1 on 1 is the holy grail to give them your full attention and be able to see every little move and correct them as you need to but that may not be realistic if you're working with a small group or a full team.
They say the best ratio is about 1 coach to 9 players but you can probably handle up to 15 before you lose the full attention of the group.
This is why with a full team of over 20 players you need assistant coaches to help you with the numbers and give every player their full attention.
If you're just running soccer drills for kids at a local field then anything under 10 is more than manageable and easy to get the best out of every kid in a quality training session.
What Can I Do To Come Prepared To Run these Soccer Drills For Kids?
Whether you're training just one kid, a group of kids or an entire team there some important things you can do to make sure each drill or practice goes as smoothly as possible. No matter the age, skill level, gender or anything else you can use these four things to ensure a safe, fun and effective training session.
1. Be Flexible & All Knowing
- It's one thing to know what drills you want to do and it's entirely another to know what drills you want to do if you have 5 players, 10 players or 15 players.
- If two kids get inured during a drill how do you adjust? If no goalies show up? If you only have half a field and so on and so forth.
- Knowing what drills you're going to do and being all knowing and flexible enough to adjust on the fly are two completely different things.
- They say top coaches show up to a training session with three sessions prepared, one on defence, one on attack and a fun one, they feel the mood of their team and choose the one that is most appropriate for the day.
- I know they are just soccer drills for kids but how prepared are you really?
2. Anticipate The Coaching Points
- Now that you know what drills you're going to run start thinking about the 3 to 5 different coaching points you want to really get across during the drills.
- Whether it's a technical issue like flexing the foot or a body positioning issue like being side on know what coaching points you want to reinforce and continually go back to them over and over throughout the session.
- If you're smart you know which drills will produce which teaching moments and you can implement them accordingly.
3. Brief Your Staff
- If you have someone helping you on the particular day send them the practice plan or drills you plan on doing that day with the coaching points so they know how they can help you.
- There's nothing worse than having a capable person to help you who is as clueless to what's going on as the kids are.
4. Come Early
- Get to the field early, lay out the cones, balls and bibs and walk through in your mind on the field how you envision training going.
- You might find that after walking through a certain drill that a grid may be too small or too big.
- It's always nice to see you practice laid out and mentally prepare yourself about how things are going to operate.
Most Important Things To Remember During Soccer Drills For Kids
1. Enjoy it as much as they do if not more so, make fun of yourself kids love it!
2. Make sure everybody is staying involved
3. Make sure nobody is treating each other poorly
4. Be creative and dress the drill up as we say as much as possible
Most Important Things To Avoid During Soccer Drills For Kids
1. Getting frustrated if they aren’t doing the drill exactly as it’s suppose to be, their kids just let them enjoy it.
2. Yelling or singling somebody out.
3. Concentrating so much on who wins or loses, just roll with the punches that isn’t what’s important.
Soccer training for kids is as important as anything that goes on in soccer, except scoring on a half volley from outside the box with your non dominant foot of course, that's just sweeter than apple pie.
At the end of the day the kids won't particularly remember the drills you showed them or even the skill, but what they will remember and what will get them to love the sport is the connection they build in that time with their teammates and with you the coach. That there is a sign of great soccer drills for kids.
Make sure to involve the parents as much as possible, kids love seeing their parents get involved in the fun section of practice as well. Remember combining a little bit of soccer, with a lot of fun makes practice and the players experience unforgettable.
