The first training

The first training is very important. You have the opportunity to apply the rules and let the players feel you mean business. Start off with an easy going training with exercises everyone is able to do. If you want to keep a positive attitude of the players be positive yourself! I get shivers all over when I see a coach standing on the sideline shouting things like:' That pass is bad, try harder!'. Well, you don't have to be Einstein to see that when your pass ends up directly at the feet of an opponent it's a bad pass. Players see that as well and need to know how they can improve. Thát's your duty as a coach, to teach them how they can improve their play. Simply saying they're doing something wrong isn't going to help them improve.

If you're a coach like I described your players will not believe a thing you said about them having fun and joy is the most important word. The message you're giving your players is that they need to do everything right, which creates stress and finally you end up with players who have no selfesteem and are afraid of getting the ball (I don't want the ball so I don't make mistakes).

For example, the first training I always let them do a passingexercise. I do this because I think passing is the most important thing in soccer, but also because I want to make something clear. The most important thing about a pass is that the pass has to have enough speed. So they need to kick the ball hard to give it speed. If you give it speed, it will go wrong quite a few times because its hard to give it speed and the right direction. I tell them that I don't care if they don't give the ball the right direction the first time, because that's of later importance. Take it step by step. Don't expect them to become Messi or Christiano Ronaldo in one day, or in one year for that matter. Tell them that they're doing a great job when they give the pass enough speed, don't say something like:' Try to give it the right direction the next time'. You can say:' Well done, you've given it speed, try to give it the right direction next time as well!' It may seem like there's little difference but giving players compliments is vital.

Kids experience the most joy when they improve and do well. If you take it step by step they will experience succes and will improve greatly.

How to kick off the season

When starting off with a team great tactical speeches, or critical notes on behalf of your players is the worst way to start. Soccer is a game and is meant to be played with great joy. Joy is the keyword for starting off the right way.

Now you're probably wondering how to do just that, right? Well, first of all, tell your players that you, as a coach, think their joy is the most important thing. Players, and especially children, like a coach who is clear and honest. If you don't mean what you say, they'll soon find out and use it against you.
When you've done this, it's time to state the rules. The coach (that's you!) makes the rules, not the children, not other coaches and certainly not parents! You have to keep the rules simple. I always tell them two things. 1. If I speak, they keep their mouth shut and do as I say and 2. They can make fun in between exercises, not during (!) exercises. This way you can always add rules later. Some teams don't need much rules and others need many. Many times I have seen coaches who do not make this clear and end up with kids doing anything but what the coach says. A strict coach makes players happy, in spite of what you might think.
Next is the first training.

Introduction

Hi everybody,
You're probably here because you are interested in youth soccer. In this blog I will post my thoughts about youth soccer, especially about they way to coach children and the style of play. I hope you will enjoy my blog and maybe learn something!