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Coaches Corner
Basic Soccer Strategies
August 1, 2003
Most coaches devote significant practice time to developing basic
skills or running drills. Unfortunately they devote very little time
to teaching soccer strategy. Follow these basic strategies and your
team will win more games and play better.
1. Conserve energy. Your players will wear themselves out
running up and down the field unless you teach them to save their
energy. Let them know that they don't have to be involved in every
single play of the game. If the ball is far away and two of your
players are already there, teach the others to stay in position and
wait for the ball to come to them.
2. Go to the open spot. Kids want to run to where the ball is
right now. The problem is that by the time they get there, the ball
is gone. Teach them to run to where the ball "is going to be", not
where it is right now.
This is directly related to the next tip, which is:
3. Run away from the ball. Younger players all want to run to
the ball. That's great when they're playing defense or when the ball
is rolling along by itself, but it's terrible the rest of the time.
When one of your players has the ball, teach the rest of your
players to run away from that person or run WITH the person at a
minimum distance.
4. Practice the goalie position. Goalie is by far the most
important position in youth soccer and yet very few coaches have
their players practice that position. Most goals scored in youth
soccer are not the result of great shots. Instead, they happen
because the goalie doesn't know what to do or is out of position.
5. Reward assists as much as goals. When someone passes the
ball to another player who then scores, that pass is called an
assist. Very few goals would be scored without assists. When you
praise your players after your team scores, praise the player who
got the assist even louder than the one who scored the goal.
Caution: Many parents will reward their children for scoring a
goal. As you can imagine, this pretty much discourages those kids
from passing the ball. At your very first practice tell your parents
that if they want to reward their children, it will help you greatly
if they offer the same reward for both a goal and an assist.
6. Reward your defenders and goalies. Goals and assists are
great, but you'll never win if you don't stop the other team. Make
sure you (and the parents) praise and/or reward the players who stop
the other team from scoring.
7. Practice throw-in strategy. Most coaches teach their
players the proper rules regarding throw-ins. However, very few
coaches teach throw-in strategy. The thrower should never stand with
his or her feet on the sideline. Instead, they should face towards
the other team's goal and throw the ball down the sideline towards
that goal (even if no one from their team is there to receive it).
After they throw, they should immediately jump onto the field and
get into the play. Young players should never throw the ball towards
their own goal or towards the middle of the field because that just
creates momentum in the wrong direction for the other team.
It's equally important to teach your players how to defend
against throw-ins. Most young players want to guard the other team
"man-to-man" on throw-ins. They run around trying to follow another
player and get in front of him or her. This is exactly wrong! You
need to teach your players to guard the field by staying "goal side"
during throws. They should always guard the area between the thrower
and your goalie, regardless of where the other team's players are
standing. Your players should stand far enough away so that the
thrower can never throw over their head.
8. Take corner kicks, indirect kicks and throw-ins as fast as
possible. Most kids stand around waiting for the referee to tell
them it's OK to start. They don't need this permission. Teach them
to kick or throw the ball as fast as they can so the other team
doesn't have time to get ready. This is legal and it's exactly how
the winning teams play.
Don't ask whose ball it is, just take it. Sometimes it's not
clear to the referee who hit the ball out of bounds. If your kids
see the play and they know it's their ball, teach them to take that
throw or kick as fast as possible (you don't want the other team to
have time to set up a defense). Oftentimes the referee will
appreciate the help.
9. Kick and chase. Young players don't kick the ball very
far. They have a tendency to kick it three or four feet and then
stand there watching it. Teach them that they have to kick it and
chase it and kick it again. Don't let them quit until it's in the
goal, it's taken over by one of their teammates, or it's safely out
of your defensive territory.
10. Follow your shots. Youth goalies aren't that good. They
don't always catch the ball when someone shoots it at them. Teach
your players to run after their shots even when it looks like the
goalie will stop the ball. If the goalie misses, your player will be
there ready for another shot. .
11. Never turn your back and run away from the other team's
goalie after that goalie picks up the ball. Instead, run
backwards and watch the goalie until he/she gets rid of the ball.
Again, youth goalies aren't that good because no one has taught them
how to play goal. Many times they'll stop a shot and then throw the
ball ten feet in front of their net.
12. Stand right on the line when the other team has a goal kick.
Many teams have their goalies take goal kicks. This means your
offensive players will have a free shot on the goal if they
intercept the goal kick. Have them stand right where they think the
ball is going to go (but remember, it must pass the line before they
touch it).
Conversely, when your team is taking a goal kick you should have
an extra defensive player stand in the box or in the goal during the
kick. That player can't be the first to touch the ball but they can
defend in case it's a bad kick and the offense gets the ball. Note:
Most players (and many youth coaches) don't realize they can stand
in their own box when their team is taking a goal kick.
13. Practice corner kick strategy. The strategy will vary
based on the age of your players. If they can't kick the ball all
the way to the middle of the net, have them practice kicking to
someone standing closer to them. If your kicker can get the ball all
the way in front of the net, have one or two players stand in the
middle of the net and one or two players stand on the side of the
net away from the kicker. This gives you the best chance to score.
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