Here’s a really simple way to remember some of the key soccer coaching factors that are required in determining your team philosophy and run with it. We can apply this philosophy to our youth team very easily as it is easier than we can imagine.

There are 6 factors; parents, coaches, excitement, selection, time and success windows which are required for an effective youth coaching philosophy.

Regular communication with Parents: When it comes to soccer training, parental influence is the key influence in the mental and physical well being of your players, especially on the day of the match. A brochure of the “parental responsibilities” at the beginning of the season is not enough. An effective strategy would be is to have regular meetings with them to remind them the essential points and share problems.

Developing soccer coaches: Training of soccer coaches should be an integral part of your philosophy instead of targeting the players. Assess and see if you can turn one of your kid’s parents into a soccer coach? They would be the best candidates, not required in the beginning, but might be an option for the future.

Soccer Coaching

Selection: Players with great soccer skills drop out mainly due to non-selection. Studies show that players would rather get selected for a bad team out of the fear of getting rejected for a good team. Thus a logical system which provides the players equal game time should be used.

Time: The session should be started on time and the parents should also be told to be on time. When you define the start times and finish times clearly, it helps you deliver the session effectively.

Excitement: Is it necessary that every soccer coaching session should be fun? Try to make every session an enjoyable one but also remember that you cannot do it all the time. So adopt “excitement” as a substitute for this.

At the time of training the kids, it is valid that coaches face problems with ideas on how to make training interesting. As such, the biggest hurdle that the coaches face is with regard to the creativity aspect of coming up with fun drills every now and then.

In soccer drills, it is a good idea to keep increasing the level of difficulty every time. A method of doing this is to start a game, introduce a problem, and then find a solution of it in a drill.

Success windows: Try and incorporate a “success window” for the season as a significant element in your training sessions. This means that you must determine a lower limit and an upper limit of time with a view to measure the level of success that needs to be achieved.

For instance, time frame of minimum four and maximum eight weeks. This can be done for both team as well as individual team members.

In your interest, embrace a soccer coaching philosophy like this become a part of the development phase of your kid’s training once the basics have been covered. In order to be more resourceful, full of knowledge, and gain tips and techniques, enroll for our youth soccer coaching community.

Andre Botelho is the author of “The Expert Youth Soccer Coaching Guide” and he’s a recognized expert in the subject of youth soccer coaching. Learn  how to explode your players’ skills and make coaching sessions fun in less than 29 days! Download your free pdf guide at: Soccer Coaching Drills.