Five Golden Rules To Keep Your Players Happy

Sourced from http://www.footy4kids.co.uk/

Five Golden Rules To Keep Your Players Happy

1. Play games, don't use lots of drills.

There is a place for drills in youth soccer coaching when introducing new skills or techniques. But they should be used sparingly.

The coaching sequence should be: warm up, demonstration (five minutes), then unopposed or 1v1 practice for another five minutes. If appropriate, continue with small group activities (groups of three or four players for 10 or 15 minutes). Then set up a conditioned small-sided game (SSG).

What's a conditioned SSG?

It's simply a 3v3, 4v4 or 5v5 match where you change the rules to allow your players to practise a skill or technique in a game-like situation. For example, if you've been working on improving your team's goal kicks, play a SSG where every time the ball goes out of play, the game is re-started with a goal kick.

Note: Don't forget to finish every session with a free for all match with no coaching from you. Playing soccer is what your players came to do!


2. Use age-appropriate activities.

Young soccer players should always be challenged to improve, but you have to be realistic.

Don't expect six-year-olds, for example, to master the wall pass! Equally, 12-year-olds who play to a good standard should not be spending too much time practising the side foot pass. They need to be working on more advanced skills. Combination plays (for example, overlapping runs) and more advanced skills, such as step overs, should be on the agenda for these guys.

3. Be aware of relationships.

Young players are not just learning soccer skills at your sessions. They are learning social skills - how to interact with one another, self control and how to resolve conflicts. This inevitably leads to situations where children will be seen to fall out with one another.

Emerging egos and raised hormone levels can also lead to bullying. And that's not easy to spot if you're totally focused on what your players are doing with their feet. The child who no one passes to, or is always the one no one wants in their team, is being bullied and you have a duty to do something about it.

So be sensitive to what is going on around you. If you feel that cliques are being formed and some players are being left out in the cold, it's time to take action.

Talk to your players about teamwork, why they should be nice to one another ("treat others as you would like them to treat you"). Split groups of friends up when you play SSGs and end-of-session matches.

4. Treat your players with respect.

Children are people, with feelings and emotions. Just like you! You wouldn't be happy if you were being ordered around and expected to do things without being told why. So don't treat your players like that!

Explain to your players why you want them to play a certain game and invite their feedback. Ask them if they are enjoying your coaching sessions, what they like best and what they don't like. Then act on what they say.

5. Smile a lot!

If you try to follow these guidelines you will have a happy bunch of players, I assure you. And, ultimately, that's what youth soccer coaching is all about... happiness.