It is important to understand the reason youth players choose to participate in any sport. Sometimes players do not come to sport by their own choice, but rather by the choice of the parent’s. As a result, instructors need to give youth players something to get excited about. 
We need to keep in mind that at a very young age learning to play soccer is secondary to most other things in their lives.Let’s look at some things that we can do to energize youth players and hopefully get them to the point where they will learn enthusiastically.Sessions should be geared around touching the ball as many times as possible. Involve the ball in each activity. Movements such as running, skipping, hopping, jumping, rolling, etc. must be emphasized to build coordination and athleticism. Players must develop the physical capacity to perform technical skills. Training sessions should not last for more than 60-90 minutes. Physical fatigue is a factor and attention span is a consideration. Train once or twice a week.FUN is the emphasis while working with the young age groups. Always remember the players’ physical and mental maturity. Each activity should accommodate the players’ level of understanding. Team play and passing is a psychological threat for younger players. The player feels that if they pass the ball, they may never get it back. Sometimes you will notice that teammates will steal the ball from each other. Frustrating to the coach for sure but normal behavior and logical if you understand things from the child/player’s perspective. The coach must understand and accommodate this perspective. This article was featured in the Scuola Calcio Magazine
Scuola Calcio Coaching Magazine is aimed to improve youth players from the age of 5 and up. Every activity will be specifically targeted to the appropriate age group.
The activities in the youth sector, 10 - 12 years of age, have as the main objectives the teaching of all individual abilities that represent the fundamental base of the game of soccer. The individual abilities are what we call, the technical fundamentals, the individual tactical fundamentals and the techniques of the players.
Unfortunately the instructors that work with these delicate age groups do not always incorporate the objectives mentioned above, but instead they turn their attention towards activities related to the adult soccer players. The reasons for these "deviations" may be are because of the desire to reach the "winning" results, which, in many cases can be an easy objective to reach with the young age groups.
They insist by working on the collective tactics instead of the individual tactics, and ignore the development of the individual techniques, as it is an important aspect of the player development growth and require much patience from the instructors as it does not show or bring fast results.
It is in fact important that the young players will use their own individual abilities during the game.
The game in fact represents the moment more important for a self-evaluation of the players and an individual player evaluation for the instructors. It does not make sense for example that a player will work and learn all week to dribble but in the game they will not have the chance to dribble and take the opponent's player on. Therefore playing 11 vs. 11 on a regular size field will not satisfy the technical needs of these age groups.
Moreover, the regular size field would not guarantee the involvement of all players, especially the ones with less skills, and since the possibility to keep possession of the ball is very slim, it would not allow the constant application of the individual technical and tactical fundamentals.
About Soccer Coaching Magazine
Initial success is not what soccer coaching magazines are all about. We understand that initial success may not necessarily translate into long term success. It is distributed through out North America and is already enjoying international distribution. It provides some of the best soccer information in the world. There are several good soccer magazines that are a wealth of information for soccer players, instructors, and parents. They are committed to share the most effectively youth player methods.
Scuola Calcio Coaching Magazine is aimed to improve youth players from the age of 5 and up. Every activity will be specifically targeted to the appropriate age group.
For more information visit: http://www.soccercoachingmagazine.com
