How to Get Soccer Players to Listen at Practice Want to become a great soccer coach? Check out SoccerHelp Premium and Coach Doug's Site for U4, U5 and U6 Coaches. There is a "no questions asked" money back guarantee. Over 15,000 soccer coaches have become Members. Subscriptions are as low as $11.95 for Coach Doug and $17.99 for Premium.
Your Players will Learn Faster if You Use this Method Free Soccer Patches
Soccer Success Story I coach the U9 co-ed team and using the soccer patches has been a lot of fun this year. I use them to reward the players. I'm using a point system: each patch has a value to it. The kids are loving it and looking forward to it at end of every game to see how well they did. (Trust me they're keeping a tally). Even the parents are getting into it. Most are ironing on the patches and coming to games showing them off to each other. It's been great. Thanx for a great website to get on and learn about the game, great ideas, great practice games, etc. --Ruben, U9 Coach, NY
Guided Discovery Method of Teaching Soccer I want to recommend you consider the "Guided Discovery" method of teaching soccer. It is an approach I like very much because it changes your role from a nagging coach to a coach who is giving his or her soccer players helpful tips that really work. The reason it works is that when your players are playing the SoccerHelp Practice Games they will see IMMEDIATE results... so they are getting immediate positive feedback and seeing that your "tips" really work. They will see that the players who follow the coaches' tips win more games than those who don't... those who listen will win, and those who don't listen will lose. It is a positive approach and instead of criticizing, the coach can talk about what will allow players to win the game, and if they do those things they will improve. There is contant feedback to the players because keeping score measures their improvement. The objective, of course, isn't for the players to win the Practice Games - the objective is to improve players skills - the Practice Games are a way to practice skills under pressure and at Game Speed so players learn to play fast while under pressure. The method is more fun and much more effective than using drills. Your players will improve twice as fast than if you use soccer drills. The "Guided Discovery" method of coaching works great with the SoccerHelp Practice Games that keep score for ages U8 and older (don't keep score for ages U4 and U6). All you have to do to use the "Guided Discovery" method of coaching is have your players play a Practice Game, tell their scores, you give them tips on how to improve their score in the next game (or discuss why the winner won the game), and then play the game again so they can try the tips you gave them. This gives them a chance to see immediate results from your tips. Here is what expert Mark Williams, Professor of Motor Behavior at the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK said about it: "In guided-discovery coaching, a coach guides an athlete into learning a skill by providing opportunity for the athlete to learn the skill: the coach provides cues when needed. The skills the athlete learns are more adaptable and unique, are more resistant to forgetting and less likely to break down under pressure...." Below is an example of how you can use the "Guided Discovery" method of coaching. Let's say you're playing "Dribble Around Cone & Pass Relay Race". Play it once and ask "Who wants to win this game?" Tell them you will give them a tip that will help them win. Here's an example of a tip: Tell them that the player who starts with the ball can kick the ball in front and run to it as a way to go faster. Tell them they will just have to be sure to not kick it too hard. (Demonstrate or have a player demonstrate). Another tip: Pass the ball as soon as you can after you have rounded the cone. Another tip: The Receiver must stay on his toes and watch for whether the pass is going to his left or right and start to immediately move that way - the Receiver's most important job is to STOP the pass, because if one pass gets by him his team will lose the game (this will start to teach Receiver's that they can't just stand still and wait for the ball to come to their feet - the Receiver MUST stop the pass, just as they must in a real game). Another tip: The Receiver can start moving toward the ball as soon as it is passed (that's the rule in this game and probably would also be how you want the receiver to play in a real game), but the Receiver can't just rush at the ball... it's not that simple... he must be sure the ball is coming at him, because if it's a bad pass he may have to move sideways to stop it. Another tip: The Receiver can block the ball in front of him and run to it as a way to speed up (this is called "one-touch" play and allows players to play faster). Another one: The pass MUST be decent because one terrible pass can lose the game... the pass needs to not be too hard, but it can't be too easy either... they will learn the proper "weight" by playing this game. These are some of the things this game teaches, and your players will learn by playing the game. If you use this approach, it changes your role from a nagging coach to a guy who is giving his players tips so the can improve. The reason it works is that when they are playing our games they will see IMMEDIATE results... so they are getting immediate positive feedback and seeing that your "tips" really work. They will see that the players who follow the coaches' tips win more games than those who don't... those who listen to the coach will win, and those who don't listen will lose. This is a "Guided Discovery" method of coaching.
How to Get Soccer Players to Listen at Practice
Your Players will Learn Faster if You Use this MethodCopyright SoccerHelp.com, All Rights Reserved