The majority of kids grow up wanting to be professional footballers – most lads want to be the next David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard, the list could go on – and even the girls are taking more of an interest in the sport as women’s football continues to develop.
In playgrounds around the UK and almost every park on a Saturday or Sunday morning, you see kids kicking a ball around working on their tricks and feeling the joy of slotting the ball beyond the goalkeeper into the back of the net. While working on the tricks is great for the confidence, it’s vital that we don’t forget the need to have the basics in place to help us develop, and this can be done either at the training ground or in the back garden with equipment bought from sites such as the Soccer Store So as a parent or relatively new football coach, where do you start with the kids? You don’t want to make the training routine too strict, otherwise they’ll lose the enjoyment they’re supposed to get from playing the game as a child. It’s all about running around, having some fun and learning to love the game, learning from your mistakes.
The best place to start is with simple passing drills. If the child is on their own, get them to pass the ball against a wall, getting the feeling of playing short, quick passes and controlling the ball as it comes back. As they get better you can make the passes from longer distances and encourage them to play with fewer touches of the ball. (more...)