New Soccer Tips

There is no such thing as a one size fits all soccer training program. How you prepare a team full of eager five and six years olds to play the beautiful game is very different to the way that you would coach a teen or even an adult. Here is a basic breakdown of the kinds of things coaches should be concentrating on working on with their players in different age groups.

Soccer Coaching for an Under 6 Team

When players are this young actual soccer tactics are not something that a good coach will really focus on a great deal. Players who are this young really have little grasp of the concepts of time and space and trying to teach them actual soccer tactics at this point is more than a little futile. What they should be doing is learning how to move with ball and trying all the different positions that make up a soccer team and just have fun. If a child this age decides they do not like soccer it is highly unlikely they will ever change their minds.

Soccer Coaching for an Under 8 Team

By the time they graduate from an Under 6 to an Under 8 soccer team a lot of players can now handle being taught more about soccer tactics and they can also often remember a lot of it from training session to training session and have the ability to demonstrate just how well they can execute these skills on a regular basis. A smart coach won’t expect too much consistency from this age group though, understanding that these players are developing the skills they are best at. They are listening to instructions but they are also experimenting with their new found talents as well.

Soccer Coaching for an Under 10 Team

At this age soccer players are just entering what many soccer coaches call the golden age of soccer learning. Having got a pretty good grasp of the absolute basics they can now be introduced to more complex soccer tactics and moves. It is at this age that players tend to start developing an affinity for a certain position on the pitch as well.

Soccer Coaching for an Under 12 Team

Ask most soccer coaches and they will tell you that this is the age when a light seems to go off and heir players really begin to understand the more complex dynamics of the game and their best role in it. Soccer players in this age group can now be assigned their specific positions and be taught the different techniques and tactics they will need to play it to the best of their abilities.

Soccer Coaching for Players 13+

From the age of thirteen and up soccer training becomes all about maintaining optimal match fitness and developing both better individual playing skills and the ability to play as a part of a disciplined and organized team. Conditioning and endurance training now play a big part of the coaching plan as does a soccer player’s education about the finer points of the rules of the game. 

Soccer is an energy intensive sport so eating a healthy diet that will provide a player with all the nutrition they need is very important. That is not so hard if you are an adult soccer player – you find a good soccer diet and nutrition plan and even if some of the menu items are not quite to your taste you deal with it knowing that it will provide the nutrients and energy you need to stay sharp on the pitch.

Kids who play soccer need to eat a soccer friendly diet as well but as any parent knows kids are picky at the best of times when it comes to eating so how do you get them to learn to love a diet that takes away a lot of their favorite foods and introduces things like – arrgghh! – more vegetables.

The simple fact is, in most cases, you will be fighting a losing battle if you try to force a child to eat and drink the kinds of things that grown up soccer players do to maintain their match fitness. For instance, a favorite energy boosting drink of a number of EPL pros is a puree of raw broccoli, mushrooms, chicken broth and raw oysters. Face it you probably wouldn’t want to drink that, so the chances that any kid will are very slim indeed.

Fuel for the Field

What parents and coaches need to focus on when it comes to soccer nutrition is that their young players are getting enough “fuel” to sustain them through a coaching session or a match and then through the rest of the day. The high performance drinks like the one just described can wait a few years.

Carbohydrates are the foods that really provide that extra, almost instant boost of energy as well as help boost energy in general. And despite what some trendy diets or food experts might say there are plenty of health, low fat carbohydrate foods that 1) kids will eat and 2) will provide them with the energy to put on a blinding performance on the pitch and still have the energy to get up for school the next day.

These foods include all kinds of rice, popcorn, fortified breakfast cereals, fruit, toast and jam, potatoes and pasta, all things that kids tend to like to eat anyway. These foods should be supplemented with enough protein as well, in the form of lean meats and fish as well as nuts and yes, vegetables. In addition too much fat in their diet IS bad for any kid, whether they play soccer or not so cutting down on things like extra mayo on their sandwiches or tons of butter on their potatoes is a good idea.

It is also incredibly important that soccer players at all levels, but especially kids, are adequately hydrated during training sessions and matches, even if it not particularly warm. Every youth soccer player, even the very youngest ones should have a flask of water or Gatorade available to them at all times and be allowed to drink from it whenever they need to, and even forced to if they seem to be getting too wrapped up in the game and are forgetting to take a drink.