What if I told you that young players enjoy the soccer practice games the most when they are scoring goals. It is therefore necessary for you to find out and add as many opportunities as you can for their practice. Scores of options are available today that can be carried out to generate prospects like this. For example there are small sided games, shooting drills, and full-field scrimmages.
During small sided games and full field scrimmages, you’re required to keep changing the promotional ways to score additional goals. Add in such games that don’t need a goalie to play or limit the goalie’s movement within the predefined lines. Widening the goalpost being used or adding more goals is one more possibility for increasing goal scoring.
Once players develop good judgment and great shooting skills during the soccer training, it gets easy to score goals. As in passing skill, it’s a good idea to start shooting skills as early as possible but emphasize them more during the later stages of their development.
Doing soccer drills is also one of the methods to make the players skilled at shooting techniques. Shooting skills of the players are developed and they get better in scoring goals as a result of these drills. So it becomes your duty as a coach to help your players grow as experts in shooting techniques.
During soccer exercises, the players should be taught the way to strike the ball appropriately when shooting. Players can take repeated shots at close range from the inside of the foot. When they use the inside of the feet, it increases the shooting accuracy. When circumstances demand more power, instruct the players to strike the ball using the instep of the foot, with toes pointed downwards and ankle locked.
Positioning of the non kicking foot has an effect on the height of the shot. So instruct the players to position the non kicking foot ahead of the ball to keep the shot low. Ensure that there are no distractions such as moving balls, moving shooters, or defenders so that the players can focus only on striking the ball.
You can start the drill progression in soccer practice games with a stationery ball and a stationery shooter. As you move on with the shooting techniques, increase the challenge by putting the shooter in action before he/she hits the ball. Such a shift will distract from the accuracy of the striking efforts at first, because the player’s visualization must serve a double purpose.
On one hand, it allows the player kicking the ball to find some space in the direction of the ball and on the other, helps them put their foot right where the ball is.
As time passes by, increase the challenge by putting both the ball and player in the shooting position. Once they show improvement in shooting the ball, introduce varying speeds for the ball.
Here it is! Develop more opportunities for the players to score goals in soccer practice games and make the most of practice sessions. To know more about youth soccer and enhance your coaching skills, enroll for our youth soccer coaching community.
Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching and has already helped thousands of youth coaches to dramatically improve their coaching skills. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make training fun by downloading your free ebook at: Fun Soccer Drills.
Tags: soccer drills, soccer exercises, Soccer practice games, soccer training