Coach U12 and under soccer players to develop confidence through these drills

 

Hello!

My name is Goran Popovic, and I’m a football/soccer coach with UEFA A license. Today I’m going to show you some soccer drills for players under 12 years of age. These three soccer drills for kids are just like the ones I demonstrate on the components of football development when I train teens, high schoolers and college soccer players. Modern training tends to be done in a much shorter time and yet achieve maximum effect. Kids of this age are in the sensitive stages of development and you need to ease them in when it comes to training them for speed, coordination and agility. Teaching them technical skills is also a matter of moderation and not having them go through tough training immediately. Through these three soccer drills for kids will show you how I train my team of 12 year olds.
First  drill:

soccer a

Place 3-5 kids at each of the three stations

A station: First player will pass the ball to player in front of the ladder (i) and moves through the ladder to guide the way (two touches in the field, two touches in the field one side etc…) When a player goes through the ladder he receives the ball and carry the ball to the place where he got at the start of the game. The player who gave him the ball goes behind the ladder. At the same time train the players on coordination, agility, passing, first touch and ball control.24063345_l

B station: Player dribbles through the cones (one foot, with both feet, outside/inside foot or any combination…) When a player goes through the cones, he’ll pass the ball in front of him and quickly goes to his next assumed position. The player who receives the ball must carry the ball  and goes behind the cones once more in order to repeat the process. In this drill we work on ball control, dribbling, carrying the ball, receiving the ball, first touch and speed.

C station: The player must move through the cones in a zigzagging pattern at maximum speed and when another player goes through the zigzag cones; he must retrieve the ball from the previous player that went through the cones earlier. Pass the ball from the first touch. The player who was standing in front will then receive the ball and goes behind the zigzag cones. The player who will pass the ball from the first touch going fast in its place. In this routine we will be working on agility, speed and how to pass the ball from the first touch.

Second drill:

soccer b

Player from  A station must pass the ball to player B and moves through the ladder to lead the way; meanwhile player B receives the ball and dribbles it through the cones (one foot, with both feet, outside/inside foot or a combination of any of these steps…). When a player goes through the cones he will pass the ball to player A.  Player A will also pass the ball on player C. Player C then moves through the cones at maximum speed (in a zigzagging motion) and when player C goes through the zigzag cones; he gets the ball from player A. Player B approaches him and they hassle around using the double pass. Player C will then carry the ball and goes behind the ladder. Player B goes on to the C station and Player A goes to B station. As in the first drill, working on development of physical skills and at the same time we are working on perfecting their technical and tactical skills (long passing, ball receiving,ball control, dribbling, carry the ball, first touch, double pass etc.).

Third drill:

soccer c
16292982_lThe third drill differs than the first two by the fact that the finals are adding the shot on the goal and play 1 on 1  against the goalkeeper. Rotation of players is the same as in the second drill. Also like I said before, working on the development of the kids’ physical skills and at the same time perfecting their technical and tactical skills (long passing,ball receiving, ball control, dribbling, carry the ball, first touch, double pass etc.) takes a lot of work and precision.

In all drills I recommend that the drills you will do in terms of working on the left and right side of the player’s legs and their leg works; and to use the left and right footing contact with the ball. The number of players on station, the time duration of the drill and the number of repetitions influenced on the development of the different physical and functional abilities is also a very important factor in this case.

 

Goran Popovic