Introduction

Welcome to coaching soccer within our soccer club!  Whether you are a seasoned veteran or a coaching rookie our mission is to help you to be successful and to have fun.  We have excellent resources for you to use and I am available to take emails or phone calls to offer advice.  I am also available to attend practices upon request to demonstrate teaching skills and to offer observation and feedback.  For U-8 thru U-12 coaches an excellent practical resource is to attend and observe the Wednesday evening training sessions!

Below is an overview of how and when kids can and should learn the various skills in soccer.  The clear message I am hoping you take away from this overview is that it takes years to learn the game of soccer and each season your mission is to teach them several new steps in the right direction and give them opportunities to improve skills that were taught in past seasons.  I will also provide some personal observations that address winning, individuality, and the ’kick’ in youth soccer.

Coaching Overview

Soccer is a very interesting game because it is taught in almost every country of the world.  Because some countries produce better players than others we can take advantage of these cross cultured studies to look critically at what we do in this country in comparison to others.  It is clear that in the US we could do a much better job!  More kids play soccer in this country than any other yet we are unable to produce more than just a few world class players.  US Youth Soccer national and regional experts have been challenged to explain this.  From the many theories that have been offered three important points stand out.  The first is creating too much pressure for kids to perform before they have learned the game.  The second is attempting to teach younger players skills that are not developmentally appropriate.   The third is very simple, not making the play of soccer fun.

We allow kids to have fun with soccer by letting them play freely.  Of course we will offer some guidance and structure but it is actually less than what most youth soccer coaches presently do.   Most of the skills in soccer are learned while playing, so many of the experts are moving away from ‘drills’ and more to play.  At each age there are one or two important skills that can be specifically focused on and given lots of practice.  As kids move through the age divisions they are learning skills that build upon each other and the end result is happier and more successful soccer players.

This ‘progression of learning’ is the same with all games of cognitive complexity including chess.  In the youth soccer arena paying attention to when the brain of kids is ready for new facets of the game to be introduced is called ‘age appropriate’.  The correct term should be “cognitive appropriate” but in our culture kids develop cognitively so consistently by age that the term 'age appropriate' is acceptable.  Most community soccer programs run by parent volunteers make consistent errors in attempting to demonstrate and teach complex soccer too early.  This will not likely happen here in Coupeville as that is why this essay about youth coaching is written.  Over the next several minutes of reading you will begin to see the value of understanding this fundamental and crucial youth coaching principle.

 

 CWSC overview

Our soccer program here in Coupeville is the beginning.   We get to see the game played in its most basic form by 5 and 6 years olds.   As these kids are developmentally all about themselves this is a perfect time to learn the basics of ball control.  Stop, go, left, right, basically do whatever it takes to get the ball around obstacles and get it into the net.  No passing, just dribble and they will love it.  No other technical skills here.  Dribble here, dribble there, dribble everywhere!

By the time 3^rd and 4^th grade comes around, kids, and the games they play, begins to take on a social flavor with cooperation, communication, and teamwork emerging as new exciting strategies.  In soccer this is the magical age of the pass.  Attempting to teach passing prior to this age and before ball control is learned will be frustrating and most kids will not understand or enjoy the experience.   As coaches it is our job not to make this common mistake.  Work on dribbling at every practice regardless of their age and skill!

As kids make the transition from elementary to middle school we typically see variable onset of growth spurts resulting in a few big, strong kids playing against smaller, less developed kids.  This is a particularly challenging time for coaches to maintain their focus on technical skill development.  Team wins can be achieved so easily by allowing the game to be dominated by superior size, strength, and aggressiveness.  We are at high risk during these transitional years for slow physically developing players to lose confidence and quit the sport.  For this reason U-12 can be the most challenging age to teach and also the most rewarding.  Dribble and passing skills are still needed at every practice!

The brain of a middle 8th grader fundamentally changes.  Repetition for mastery is no longer interesting.  Cognitive challenges requiring abstract thought and indirect solutions are now quite engaging.  Best coaching methods here are to present a soccer dilemma and let them experiment and think creatively in finding solutions.  Reward and acknowledge this creativity as it will become one of the games most sought after player characteristics in competitive soccer. Community soccer clubs who do not hire professional instructors, like ours, are at risk of not successfully recognizing and supporting this freedom to create the game.  More on this important topic later.

By age 14 or 15 soccer instruction can shift to emphasize tactical, competitive concepts.  Our mission within CWSC is to get kids to this exciting point in their soccer journey.   Collectively, we parent volunteers can accomplish amazing results by creating supportive and challenging environments for each child, and by sequentially introducing fun, simple, and developmentally appropriate soccer skills.

Individuality 

Each youth player brings a unique blend of personal, social, and intellectual characteristics to soccer and it is our objective to support and encourage the continued growth of this uniqueness.  For a small soccer community like ours to develop quality soccer players we need to support the many different styles of soccer that our kids bring to us.  The important thing for you coaches to remember is that there is no one best teaching, coaching, and playing system.  It is interesting to note that many of the best and most creative soccer players in the world learned the game on their own in the streets and villages of countries that had little structure for these early years.  Creative solutions to the common situations of soccer are best solved with young unrestrained brains.  Thus it is okay to simply observe kids playing soccer rather than feeling compelled to comment on every choice that a child makes.  Allowing kids to make errors and learn from them is a powerful coaching skill that is effective and preserves individuality.

 

Winning 

In the older age divisions the most difficult task you will face over the course of the season is to resist the temptation to make coaching decisions based on your need to win games.  To develop basic soccer skills all players deserve the opportunity to play all positions. They all learn to attack on offense and they all learn to defend on defense.  Once again allow all players learn by trial and error.  Learning from mistakes is an essential method for all of us to learn by, especially kids.  Don’t let your need to win interfere with their need to experience and learn.   For example, at U-10 having one player stay back on defense to kick the ball away when the other teams attacks is a strategy to win games.  The problem here is 2 fold.  The other players fail to learn that they are all responsible to stop attacks and the player staying back gets little action and the action he or she does get is to just give the ball a big kick, which is not a valuable soccer skill.  Also by focusing too much attention on winning you may be creating an environment where players are unwilling to play with risk and creativity, two highly desirable soccer skills.  Find a balance that works for you.

 

The ‘kick’ 

To many people kicking the ball is the game of soccer.  In actuality it is not.  It is no more representative of soccer than throwing a basketball is to the game of basketball.  In soccer we either pass or shoot.  Just like in basketball.  We do not teach basketball players to just throw a ball forward and we do not do that when teaching the game of soccer.  In the little kids we teach them to dribble the ball forward and as they get older and more skillful we teach them to pass it forward.

 

Technical Overview 

As stated above the game of soccer has many similarities to basketball.  The object is to maintain control of the ball by moving it around from player to player to get good opportunities to shoot at the goal.  To achieve this each player needs to be able to control the ball well enough to prevent the opposing players from stealing it.  They also need to be able to pass it to a teammate with the correct pace and accuracy.  These are the technical skills of soccer that you should spend time on at every practice regardless of their age.  These skills are not easy to learn quickly and take considerable practice over time.  Watch any professional game and you will be absolutely amazed at the individual technical skills of the players.  Moving a ball up the field with defenders all around is not easy and takes many years to learn.  Spending time at each practice devoted to developing these technical skills is another area where community soccer programs often come up short compared to professionally run programs.

Fun:  Simply stated, if it is not fun they will not return to play again.  Your mission as a coach is to organize soccer activities that are fun AND teach the developmentally appropriate soccer skills.  You will find that being a successful youth soccer coach is simply being able to organize fun stuff that is challenging.  I have many soccer activities for each age that will make you a success!   Attempting to win games by placing emotional pressure on kids to perform is a recipe for disaster.

 

Developmental Curriculum 

In the young ages we focus all our attention on ball control skills. Simply moving around the field with good speed and ability to change direction if needed while keeping the ball in control.  About the time they master this skill then spacing and passing skills can be introduced.  This usually happens right around age 8 or their 3^rd or 4^th season.  They will then spend the next 3-4 years growing and learning to master ball control, spacing, passing, and simple small group keep away skills. 

As a coach you should expect that the first part of every season should consist of soccer activities that allow you to gauge where your players are on this continuum of technical development.  Even if they are U-12 you may end of spending the first third of the season reviewing and mastering ball control and the correct technique of the pass.  As the Director of Coaches and the Technical Skills Director of our club I have spent time with each age group developing my own sense of where our players are and can help each of you make this assessment accurately.

I believe that if you understand this big picture you can dramatically decrease the time it takes for your players to move along the continuum of development.  Focus your efforts in practice on creating an environment where kids can be free to experiment and take risk and find their own style and solutions.  Give advice and show through simple demonstration.  Young children learn by seeing and doing, not listening.  Favorably reinforce a willingness to try new skills even if it was not successful.  Present soccer activities clearly and simply and give them time to figure out how to find solutions.   

For specific developmental curriculum for each age group click on the hyperlinks on the left upper section of this page.