Soccer is not kicking?

If I hear this one more time, I think I will get sick.

If you ever hear someone say this, run away from them as fast as possible. I don't get mad often and my tolerance has become wonderful when dealing with my own children and through coaching others. However, a short while back my daughter told me, "Dad kicking has nothing to do with soccer." I looked at her with one of those "Dad looks".

I wasn't mad at her, but I felt my blood boiling because I wanted to know who put that lame thought in her head. 
I sat her down in front of the TV and we watched 10 minutes of a soccer match. I told her to tell me every time the ball moved without being kicked.

Of course on the first pass she said NOW, I replied, side of the foot kick. The next pass, she said NOW, I replied angle kick with the sweet spot. Then a player started to dribble the ball hard down field. She said NOW, I replied, lace, inside, lace, outside, lace, etc.

There are only 4 contacts that are NOT kicking. Headers, chest, throw-in, and traps such as thigh. Everything else is kicking.

A VERY SAD statement about our youth players.

The other day I dropped by a local middle school practice. There were both boys and girls soccer teams practicing. I watched for a while and could feel my stomach start to turn as I these players took shots on goal.
Just prior to this "shooting exercise" they were all juggling.

While I watched them juggle I was truly amazed to see what great "jugglers" they were. However I then sat and watched these "advancing" soccer players taking shots and more than half of them were kicking with their toe.

I thought to myself, "what a shame and poor reflection on US as youth trainers". Many of these players had been playing soccer for more than 6 years. Many had played 2 seasons a year. Yet they never had even learned the right way to simply kick a soccer ball. 

This poor kicking display not only showed itself in the "shooting exercise" but it carried down to every element of their game. Passing, receiving, weight of balls and more.

Remember these simple points...
Individual Technical Training is the most important aspect of developing a youth soccer player. If a child doesn't learn proper TECHNICAL skills by the age of 14, it is hard to change their habits.

Often players are deprived of proper technical training because we as adults want to win. Focusing on TACTICAL training is the wrong thing to do in young players.

 

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