Soccer Training Skills

Soccer players need to play and experience the play and moves of other team members and opponents in order to improve their soccer skills and game.

Obvious, yes, but sometimes taken for granted.

The following will guide you in "How to pick a soccer team". This is specific to open field and game situations where skills are tried and tested. I say this because there are players who could have developed great individual ball handling skills but are unable to understand and play in a complete game setting. I call these "practice players". Sometimes the reverse is true, that is someone who doesn't show well in a practice setting but comes alive in a game. I call these "gamers".

In picking a team the coaching staff needs to look at the total package. This means not only picking just the best athletes, but also those others who understand the game, have the "right" attitude and are coachable (willing to learn).

Players from 9-13 years of age still need to play with their friends and have the sense of local community. They need to participate in an atmosphere of fun and learning through trial and error.

This is also an age of introduction to a variety of sports through schools and community organizations. Although sports may vary in their rules and regulations, there are great opportunities to learn by association. That is the transference of skills from one sport to another. However please keep the rules of the various sports separate. Try not to get confused with rules that you think might be correct but really belong to another sport. I mean the "cross checking" in hockey and the "boxing out" in basketball.

It is when players are entering secondary or high school that they are able to adjust to a multitude of changes and challenges. This is the time of immense and expected changes through growth and the rights of passage.

Players from 14-16 years of age have reached the "training to train" phase. These players will show their preference and abilities to play certain positions. They should NOT be limited to these positions by not playing them anywhere else. They should be encouraged to develop more coping strategies and skills for a variety of positions.

Players from 16-18 years and in their final years of youth competition have entered the "Competitive" phase. All the training before this has led them into the "must win" attitude. They are competing to win and have built up strategies to cope with a variety of scenarios. This is to win or lose and deal with it accordingly.

I sometimes see a coach who sees a system of play and then wants to emulate it (produce the same format). If you have ALL the players within the team who can fill those positions tactically then great. However, you have to pick the players first and then develop the team system. It is virtually impossible to have a system and then try to force the players to understand their roles if they haven't grown up with the variety of systems.

If you have the pleasure of a large variety of players to choose from, only then can you consider the system first.

This is 15 players in total, and this should be the minimum. Try not to have more than 18 players unless your team and players have a history of seasonal illnesses, or are constantly going into tournaments. Warming the bench is not fun, and doesn't develop the playing skills and self worth for ALL the players.

With this compliment you can have as many systems as you like.
These are your immediate considerations:

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