May 14, 2010
Soccer Practice Games: A Guide To Game Progression
In comparison to drills, anyone who has the same bent of mind as mine will understand the importance of Soccer practice games. Firstly, it’s imperative that kids are more focused on acquiring the skills and working upon them to better their movement with the ball. But there are certain points that you must check when they advance in their soccer training.
As has been discussed earlier, it is a great idea to divide the players into groups so that they can enjoy the game as well as develop their own styles. First and foremost, the kids must get the freedom to decide on various issues concerning them and this is possible only when the size of the group is small.
Subsequently the kids will fell free to move about in the large and open field, get a feel of the ball more often, and feel liable for the decisions that they make since the players in their group are significantly less.
On the other hand, make sure you initiate changes as soon as the players get comfortable playing in small groups and are improving. In soccer practice games, it’s the time to initiate progressions. What this means is you tend to make the rules of the game a little more stringent, play games in larger fields, and increase the size of the group. More intricate strategies should now be introduced that not only work upon improving the player’s talents but also achieve team’s broader objectives.
There is something that I’d like to mention here and it calls for your special attention. Many coaches go wrong when they teach too many things too soon to their kids in the anticipation of preparing them well in advance. Please remember that shortcuts don’t work here. Similar to soccer drills, there is no scope of mechanizing the process here. Kids should progress naturally with time.
The tactics may not work well if you are too fast with rules, regulations, and convey too much in a short span of time. This causes problems in their natural learning and growth.
As the players make a move from small batches to large ones, they should understand the purpose behind devising the games. It is an important transition from concentrating on your own skills to thinking about how your skills will help the team win.
In this situation along with games, it is vital to hold discussions also. Understand that the players have now matured themselves in the game. As a result, it is a blunder to ignore their skills in soccer exercises.
When you give them an opportunity to take decisions and respect them, they feel happy and more responsible.
The games should now make them think out of the box to win matches. When the players think themselves as a team and not as individual players, you have succeeded in your job as a coach.
Now you must take this knowledge and incorporate it in your plan. Soccer practice games are an integral part of training routines and you just device them intelligently to help the kids make natural progress in their learning. Join our youth soccer coaching community to gain more knowledge on such games and strategies.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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 training fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: http://soccerdrillstips.com
