Never Forget, Soccer Should Really Be Fun!

This past week, our littlest child put on his brand new soccer clothes for his very first ever soccer practice. It is a day he has been anticipating and talking about for several months now. He is pumped up about going to play soccer just as his elder siblings. Ask him the reason why he wants to play soccer, and he'll let you know "because it's fun!"

I do think often we fail to remember this. In the end soccer is really a kids sport that is played by adults. It is a straight forward game at the core. One ball, a couple of goals and some players. The greatest pick up-and-play sport. A couple of shoes for goals and something round for you to kick and it is game on.

Soccer becomes serious rather early on. 10 year old players take part in 3 day competitions already. Practice is usually intensive. Coaches tend to be instructing hard every day in order to get success.

This is the nature of the sport. And yes, much of it is necessary. It will require a great deal of determination for kids to develop in to excellent players. There is always much sacrifice to be made should people want to play at the collegiate or professional level.

Top level players put in 3-4 hours on a daily basis at the junior level to be able to achieve the pinnacle of their hobby. This might not become the plan of every footballer that you've got, nevertheless no matter what the level, they need to put in some time in order to improve. Growth doesn't appear over night, and it also will not come without having a great deal of work and also continuous effort.

Nonetheless, it's critical every now and then that you toss in a "fun" practice exercise to help the kids keep some harmony. Such kinds of practices can be MASSIVE morale boosters, and the players generally bring fresh focus and intensity to the sessions that follow on from one of these play days.

Where I live the schools are on Springtime Break this this week. We have cancelled formal training sessions for the week, but we're making available the option for players to merely show up and play. Many coaches were in attendance yesterday. Our job was to basically split the teams, hand out the pennies and then let the children go.

Certainly some of the play was sloppy, although we also witnessed some great creativeness. There was a mixture of 13-15 year old girls and boys, together with three instructors jumping into the game. We had enough for 3 groups each consisting of 10 players and we played first to two goals or 7 minutes. We moved the goals into the top of the 18s and then let it rip.

As coaches we majorly restricted our own input in the game from the coaching view. We basically played with the children. The players had a complete blast! I observed one girl whom ordinarily plays centerback shine as a wing midfielder-a place she had never performed before.

I observed my own 12 year old boy sprinting straight down the sideline with a big smile on his face as he tried to conquer one of the coaches 1v1. It was a wonderful pick up game, and a superb way for our players to fall in love with the game all over again.

Keep it fun Coach!!