Teaching Youth Soccer - Fouls And Penalties

When it comes to teaching youth soccer, it is very important for the coach to teach the players about various fouls and the consequent penalties so that they could avoid the same and save their team from getting into problems.

Yellow Card And Red Card

Younger players can easily avoid most of the penalties if they keep their hands away from ball. In soccer, it is not the hand, but the feet that the players have to use. However, you must teach the young players that it is not just touching the ball from hand that can result in penalty, but pushing, tripping or holding the other players will certainly bring penalties.

There are some malicious players in almost every soccer team and when it is about young players, it is very difficult to have a malicious free team. Such players intentionally foul on their opponent players, but the coach must teach them that if they do so, they will get a warning in the form of a ?yellow card?.

If the player repeats the same behavior again, he is ?rewarded? with a red card and is taken out from the field and from the game. A player with red card is not replaced, but the soccer game continues.

Handball

Handball is the term that is used when a player tries to touch the ball with hands in order to get better control of the ball. It does not really matter whether the players do this intentionally or unintentionally ? handball will certainly result in penalty.

The Offside Player

When a player dribble the ball, and dribbling he gets nearer to the goal line of the opponent team than one defensive player and the goalkeeper, the player is offside. The coach must train the players of their team regarding all these little things that may result in penalties.

However, the offside rule is not applicable when it comes to goal kicks, throw-in's or corner kicks. The main objective of the offside rule is just to stop an offensive player from ?camping-out? at the goal awaiting passes.

Other Fouls

There can be various other fouls as well, such as pushing, kicking, striking, holding and charging into an opponent. However, these things may turn into penalties only if the players do the same intentionally. If it was not intentionally, there will be no penalties.

Teaching youth soccer is a challenging job, and the coach needs to train his players from all aspects. Andre Botelho is a recognized authority on the subject of teaching youth soccer. His web site, Youth Soccer Drills, provides a wealth of informative soccer articles, resources and tips for soccer coaches, parents and players.

Psychology and Soccer

It has long been recognized that physical components are not enough to make athletes excel in their fields. One of the latest concepts being applied to enhance the performances in sports is called cognitive psychology ? the study of brain mechanisms or human mental processes in relation to the way we perceive things, feel about things, solve problems, and the probable root cause of our behavior.

This paper will contain a detailed ten hour soccer team training plan and discuss the relationship of cognitive psychology to athletes? over-all performance focusing mainly on the information processing model of Whiting, Welford, and Schmidt. The contribution of cognitive psychology to enhancing the players? understanding and performance levels, the application of different theoretical approaches to a variety of sporting situations and the use of theory to enhance individual and team performance, specifically in soccer, will be explored.

There exists an array of sub-concepts under cognitive psychology which includes information processing. This elucidates the process in which our brain takes in information from the outside world through our senses, select and utilize the information which results to a decision, bringing about an output exhibited through behavior or actions, which is subjected to feedback from the environment.

The decision to pass the ball or to run for the goal is determined by the availability of a player in a more advantageous spot and the number of players guarding him (input). The success or failure of his moves (output) based on his decision is affirmed with a touchdown or a pass respectively (feedback). Now, the decision-making process involved during this split-second scenario is a product of simulated plays in which the player was trained and not born with. Through constant exposure to similar situation in the course of training, the learned skill has become intrinsic to a player?s mind which he was able to apply naturally in the actual game despite the pressured atmosphere...

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Junior Soccer Defending - Directing the Play

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Do your players know whether to show an opponent inside or outside when they are defending?

You may want to consider this tactic when coaching your players. There are two schools of thought on this; One says that your defenders should show the opponents outside towards the touchline.

The reason for this is that if your player does get beat then the opponent will still have to get a cross in. Also, they should be at a more acute angle to get a shot on target if they have been successfully pushed outside.

The alternative to this is showing the opponents inside, towards goal. If this is to be your style of play then the players need to be organised so that there is strength inside. This can be a risky tactic if players are not switched on or don't know where to best position themselves.

Showing them inside would be a good tactic if you where playing with five in defence with a good sweeper.

If your team lacks some direction on this tactic, then it will be very difficult for them to get an organised shape and take a position which is best suited to holding up or breaking down an attack.

Both young and older players can be coached on this.

As players get older, and become more tactically aware & proficient in defending techniques, they will be able to influence the build up play and therefore your defensive line can react, and adjust, by taking the lead off the first defender.

Build this simple tactic into some small sided games in training and watch the beneficial results on match day! For more Junior Soccer help, drills, exercises and coach development visit http://www.juniorsoccercoach.com and join the free junior soccer tip of the week. Or send a blank email to: mailto:tips@juniorsoccercoach.com