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Writer's pictureChris King

โšฝ ๐Ÿณ ๐—ง๐—œ๐—ฃ๐—ฆ ๐—ง๐—ข ๐—ž๐—˜๐—˜๐—ฃ ๐—ฌ๐—ข๐—จ๐—ฅ ๐—ฃ๐—Ÿ๐—”๐—ฌ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—ฆ ๐—™๐—ข๐—–๐—จ๐—ฆ๐—˜๐—— ๐—”๐—ง ๐—ง๐—ฅ๐—”๐—œ๐—ก๐—œ๐—ก๐—š!

Soccer players will be soccer players - theyโ€™re hyper and ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฎ ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜. So instead of getting frustrated, be prepared! Here are a few tips on how to keep players (or younger kids) focussed at soccer training...

Amazon - Coaching Book: https://amzn.to/3aqhtjn To buy a colour PDF of the 5 book bundle directly, visit www.chriskingsoccercoach.com or Email: chriskingsoccercoach@gmail.com


๐Ÿญ. ๐—ž๐—˜๐—˜๐—ฃ ๐—ฌ๐—ข๐—จ๐—ฅ ๐—ง๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—ž๐—ฆ ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—ง!

Soccer players come to training to play soccer, not listen to the coach yabber on. ๐—ฆ๐—ผ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฎ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด, ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น. Give them a short description of the main points and get into the drill!

Once youโ€™ve been going for a couple of minutes then you can stop and adjust it quickly and give them any more instructions. Or even just give instructions to a player as the drill is going so that youโ€™re not constantly stopping it.

If you give them 10 different things to remember at the start itโ€™s a waste of everyone's time.


๐Ÿฎ. ๐—ž๐—˜๐—˜๐—ฃ ๐—ง๐—›๐—œ๐—ก๐—š๐—ฆ ๐— ๐—ข๐—ฉ๐—œ๐—ก๐—š!

Hands up who likes to stand in a line and wait? I thought so. So why make players wait in line when they could be getting in more repetitions of the skill?

So instead of having long lines or players waiting to come on, do this:

๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐˜‚๐—ฝ ๐—บ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ (๐—œ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ ๐— ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐——๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น). It may feel a bit crazy but so what? It stops the long wait in lines and therefore stops getting bored and creating trouble . If you set the drills up side by side you can be in the middle and keep an eye on everything.


๐Ÿฏ. ๐—จ๐—ฆ๐—˜ ๐—ž๐—˜๐—ฌ ๐—ฆ๐—œ๐—š๐—ก๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—ฆ

Getting players attention can be hard. ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ž๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฆ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป!

One of my fellow coaches says โ€œEyes!โ€ to his group of young players. Itโ€™s amazing to watch, itโ€™s like heโ€™s a magician or hypnotiser.

As soon as he says โ€œEyes!โ€ his players know to stop what they are doing, if they have a ball sit on it and make eye contact with him. Itโ€™s simple but very effective. If they are sitting on the ball they arenโ€™t kicking or bouncing it. And if they are looking at him he knows they are paying attention.

Another fun one is to say โ€œSoccer Pose!โ€. This is where your players stop what theyโ€™re doing, put one foot on top of the soccer ball, fold their arms across their chest, turn their heads slightly to the side and look at you as if theyโ€™re the best soccer player in the world. Kids love it! And it achieves the same as the โ€œEyesโ€ - all players stop and look at you.

More for young players, but a third one is to say โ€œKnee, Shoulders, Heads!โ€. Players know to stop what theyโ€™re doing and place their hands firstly on their knees, then shoulders and then head. This one works well because no one wants to be the last to put their hands on their head.


๐Ÿฐ. ๐—”๐—ฆ๐—ž ๐—”๐—ฆ ๐—ช๐—˜๐—Ÿ๐—Ÿ ๐—”๐—ฆ ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—ข๐—ช & ๐—ง๐—˜๐—Ÿ๐—Ÿ

This simply means when explaining a drill or skill, ๐—ฝ๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป so the players are more involved.

An example would be if youโ€™re explaining how to do โ€œHappy Feetโ€ (quickly moving the ball back and forth between your feet), ask the group โ€œWhat does a good Happy Feet look like?โ€ and then whoever puts their hands up, get them to show the group.

Even getting the players to choose which drill they want to do to practice a particular skill will keep them engaged. Plus you get to see what type of drills they like.

An example of this would be if you were focussing on crossing ask the group โ€œWhat drill can we play that will help us with our crossing?โ€


๐Ÿฑ. ๐— ๐—”๐—ž๐—˜ ๐—œ๐—ง ๐—–๐—ข๐— ๐—ฃ๐—˜๐—ง๐—œ๐—ง๐—œ๐—ฉ๐—˜

This doesnโ€™t mean that there is a winner or loser each time. It may just be competing against themselves - if it's a shooting drill see if they can score more goals each round of the drill. Or can they use their non-preferred foot? ๐—ข๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ "๐—ฝ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜" ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ (or punish the coach!).


๐Ÿฒ. ๐—”๐—–๐—ง ๐—Ÿ๐—œ๐—ž๐—˜ ๐—ฌ๐—ข๐—จโ€™๐—ฉ๐—˜ ๐—›๐—”๐—— ๐Ÿฏ ๐—–๐—”๐—ก๐—ฆ ๐—ข๐—™ ๐— ๐—ข๐—ก๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—˜๐—ฅ & ๐—๐—ข๐—œ๐—ก ๐—œ๐—ก

Sometimes ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐˜€๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฑ! Wave your arms around, bring lots of energy, be animated! Be that crazy uncle or aunty that your nieces love.

Jump into a drill and be the target for a few minutes (players get a point for beating/scoring past/hitting the coach. Make it so it has to hit you below the knees though otherwise balls will be going everywhere!)! Or jump into a game, join one of the teams and say โ€œI am the best player in the world! No one can beat me!โ€ and watch the energy level go up from all the players.


๐Ÿณ. ๐—Ÿ๐—˜๐—”๐—ฅ๐—ก ๐—”๐—•๐—ข๐—จ๐—ง (& ๐—™๐—ฅ๐—ข๐— ) ๐—ฌ๐—ข๐—จ๐—ฅ ๐—ฃ๐—Ÿ๐—”๐—ฌ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—ฆ

Itโ€™s easy to go through a whole season without learning too much about your players or team mates outside of football.๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜€๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ฑ!Ask them about family, school, favourite soccer players, favourite foods, music, etc.

I coach a men's team (mostly 18 to 30 year olds) and in the Facebook group chat I get them to put a thumbs up or down for who can attend training that week. And along with asking who can attend training I ask them a question for the week as well. For example it might be something as simple as โ€œWhat did you do on the weekend?โ€.

Or I have asked โ€œWhat do your parents do for a living?โ€, โ€œWhat can you cook?โ€, โ€œTell us your best jokeโ€, or โ€œHardest thing youโ€™ve had to deal with?โ€.

If itโ€™s a fairly personal thing make sure to say โ€œIf you feel comfortable sharing something aboutโ€ฆโ€ so they donโ€™t feel pressured.

And if itโ€™s a brand new group I might start it off with answering the question myself to break the ice.

I have found this to be a great experience in bringing the players closer together and they enjoy their time around each other no matter win, lose or draw.

If you find this drill useful, there are ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐˜€ & ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ๐˜€ available through Amazon, my website or email directly at chriskingsoccercoach@gmail.com to purchase the PDF of all 5 books:

Amazon Book: https://amzn.to/3aqhtjn Or a PDF directly from my website www.chriskingsoccercoach.com ๐—˜๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น: ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต@๐—ด๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น.๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ

Happy coaching! Chris King.







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