Soccer Training Tips

What if I told you that stretching as a part of soccer training tips is highly recommended by professional soccer coaches and is widely practiced by players in almost every sport? Soccer is a sport which is continuously growing and developing in its intricacy.

There are two kinds of stretching; static and dynamic, that are slotted in planning training for the soccer season.

Static stretching requires players to stretch their muscles to a point of resistance and hold for a given duration of time. Rebounding, rhythmic bouncing, and recurring motions are involved in dynamic stretching. In comparison with static stretching, it is more risky and less useful.

This article shares some of the benefits that stretching provides in helping average players become champions.

Soccer Training

Stretching reduces injuries: When players do stretching every day and keep doing it for a long time, it promotes their muscle growth that reduces the risk of injury. Stretching also provides a way of improving the size and strength of muscles.

Stretching affects flexibility: Stretching prevents loss of flexibility. Still, the effects of stretching are way better when it is done for a long period of time than for a shorter duration.

Stretching increases flexibility when it is performed for a few minutes before any soccer activity. But the best of all soccer training tips is to spread a stretching program over a period of months, leading to a constant increase in range of motion.

Stretching betters’ performance: When the stretching program is planned after considering the player’s soccer specific needs, their performance improves.

Make stretching fun for the kids: You can do this by including a variety of soccer drills into your training regimen. Keep changing the warm up activities that are performed before stretching. Try games like the tag game, ball tag, and keep away.

Concentrate all your energy on stretching, experience and identify with each stretch while checking for soreness.

One 15-30-second stretch for each muscle group is sufficient for most players, but some kids require longer stretches and more repetitions as well.

This is due to the fact that when the temperature of muscles is higher than normal, inflexibility decreases and extensibility increases. Kids who hope to retain or boost their flexibility can somewhat reach this goal by stretching. When their body temperature is higher as against normal, it makes it safer and more productive to stretch.

This is why some coaches tend to make their kids perform stretching exercises after a workout as well. If your kids stretch for 5-10 minutes after performing soccer skills, their muscles will not tighten too fast.

In general, players who do an active warm-up before stretching get an improved range of motion than kids who only stretch. So if injury prevention is your aim, stop stretching before exercise and increase the warm up time.

Some food for thought; one of the most important soccer training tips is that hurried stretching is meaningless and boring and doesn’t help your players gain flexibility, so allow them some extra time when they are feeling inflexible or stiff. Join to our youth soccer coaching community and you can get access to numerous articles, videos, and periodic newsletters.

Andre Botelho is the author of “The Expert Youth Soccer Coaching Guide” and he’s a recognized expert in the subject of youth soccer coaching. Learn  how to explode your players’ skills and make coaching sessions fun in less than 29 days! Download your free pdf guide at: Youth Soccer Drills.

I don’t know a thing about you, but I’ll bet that you must acquaint yourself with the essential soccer training tips, especially when you are participating in the game as a coach. These ideas can then be easily incorporated in your soccer drills sessions carried out 4 or 5 times in a week depending on the standard of your game.

You can help your players to perk up their performance by coaching them on these very important tips and techniques. These are as follows;

Coach your kids to keep moving the ball with one or two touches: It is also called inter-passing in case of a team setting. Guide the players to play the ball with speed and make hard solid passes, whether it’s a 3 meter or 20 meter pass.

Play the ball and keep travelling: Playing and moving encloses the basic idea behind making runs. But what is important here is to see that these movements are effective enough to create spaces for team mates and goal scoring opportunities.

Soccer Training

Soccer skills are primarily aimed at developing kid’s ability to create goal scoring options. The key here is setting up your defender. Instruct your players to draw near towards the defender, assuming that he or she is going to be able to get the ball, then give it and go, speed up into the open space to receive or return the pass.

Tell the players to keep changing their pace after moving about to beat the opponent. They should quickly attack and try to keep the ball moving as fast as possible. The moment they get a chance to break, they must even the score with a few accurate passes.

When controlling the ball, teach players to keep the ball near their feet: Of all soccer training tips, the one to keep the head up and be aware of the movements in the field is very important. They should make sure to touch the ball at every step while dribbling the ball. This perks up the player’s ability to get the ball from the defenders and ensures total control over the ball.

Get the cross in: During the first part of the game, keep an eye on the goalkeeper and take shots on the goal. If you know that you are going to make runs into the open space, let your team-mates know this. This kind of communication is very important for developing young players into great players.

When training for soccer, teach players to try and aim for the area flanked by the 6 and 18 yard boxes. This will make the goalkeeper come out in an attempt to collect the ball. This will have the effect of making the open and unguarded.

Keep an eye on the ball: Keep an eye on every player’s movement on the field at all times. Coach your players in such a way that they strictly follow the team’s approach and strategy for the day.

So now, start making use of these soccer training tips in your regular training sessions so that they come instinctively to the players when on field. For more such tips and ideas, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community and get access to innumerable articles, videos, and periodic newsletters.

Andre Botelho is a recognized expert in youth soccer coaching. He influences well over 35,000 youth coaches each year with his unique coaching philosophy, and makes it really easy to explode your players’ skills and make training more fun in record time. To download your free youth soccer coaching guide visit: Soccer training tips.