Soccer Terms

indoor Soccer Youth drills

Coaching Youth Softball: A Baffled Parent’s Guide $5.74 Coaching Youth Softball is written especially for the unprepared parent thrust into the role of coaching his or her 8- to 12-year-old child’s softball team. Upbeat and inspirational, it schools new coaches in the fundamentals of controlling, motivating, and encouraging a disparate group of kids in the art and science of softball. Parents learn the logistics of running a youth team and the specifi…

The Art of Coaching Youth Soccer: Match Related Drills and Exercises for Fun and Winning $0.25 Filled with valuable coaching tips and outstanding training exercises, this book lays the groundwork for successful team and player development. Topics include: Warm Up, Running Technique, Speed Training, Pre-Season Training, Shooting, Goalkeeping, The Thinking Player, Defending, Set Plays and Team Spirit. Also includes sample practice sessions….

MO LIGHTNING 2009-2010 U12 Winter Training

Let’s get mental

Let’s get mental

     A part of youth soccer training that often gets over looked is mental toughness.  Skills are practiced and practiced, games are won and lost and seasons come and go.  But have you ever wondered why some players go on to play at a higher level while others just maintain the status quo and play in their comfort zone.  Or why some teams always seem to be at the top of the league table. Superior skills, strength and speed are definitely huge factors that propel players and teams to higher levels and success, but are not usually enough.  I have known players with tremendous skills strength and speed that never really went anywhere.  And I have known players with good skills strength and speed that have played at top levels.  The difference – mental toughness, the desire to win and persevere through anything it takes to make it.

     Developing mental toughness in a player is not such an easy job.  The player has to have a love for the game and a desire to be the best.  Examples around him or her are also key. 

     There seem to be so many obsticles in a young player’s path these days that draw him or her away from developing their full soccer potential including mental toughness. 

       Although I love the computer and our high tech society I am very grateful I grew up without it. I grew up at a time where you had to pretty much make your own fun.  Riding a bicycle was the only way for a kid to get around.  Now they can go anywhere in the world on their computer or in their computer games from their desk, spending countless hours every year.  Soccer and mental toughness gets lost in their joy sticks.

     Don’t get me wrong, I believe kids today are so much better at multi tasking then I ever was, they are used to having so much on the table at once.  And usually they handle it pretty well. But you can’t expect them to be able to look at the big picture and know and do what is really in their own best interest at such a young age after all a big part of their job is to have fun.  You can however guide them and make it easier for them to stay on course with their soccer dreams and having fun in a sporting way, by taking an active interest in their soccer skill development including helping them develop mental toughness.  Discipline is definitely a part of it. If you can instill discipline in your kids it will help build mental toughness. Regular habits are also key.  Regular habits instill discipline and make it easier to accomplish their goals.  Encourage them to set aside maybe a half hour a day at a certain time to practice their soccer skills.  Encourage them with praise whenever you see improvement.  This will push them on to unbelievable heights that you notice and recognize their improvements.

     There are also excellent at home training products that you can make available to your young players that will make it much easier for them to develop their talent.  The Kick Coach at www.thekickcoach.com can to be used safely indoors and is excellent in helping develop skills.

     In the end parents and coaches have a tremendous influence in the direction kids go and the activities they engage in and the results that come with those choices.  If you take the effort now to guide them they will be the better for it having a more balanced, healthy and happy life with a healthy and strong mental outlook.

By Richard Moore – Inventor

The Kick Coach

www.thekickcoach.com

About the Author

I was born in Trenton, N.J. and grew up in a soccer hot bed. Have been playing soccer since I was seven years old and played on several top ranked U.S. soccer teams, an under 19 Junior team, New Jersey All Stars who traveled to Europe and Mercer County Junior College.
I studied business in college and always enjoyed creating new things.
The culmination of all my soccer experience and creative abilities have merged into an innovative soccer training aid that is second to none. It is my goal to enable as many young soccer players as possible to supplement their soccer training to enable them to get the most out of their soccer experience. t

Does it seem like soccer aficionados speak a language all their own? It sure seems like it to me, and I’ve been playing the game for over 20 years. I put an article on the front page of this blog to help explain the most common soccer terms in plain English. Hopefully this list will help soccer moms everywhere (and soccer dads too, for that matter)to better understand what their little athlete is talking about! Click Here For Access: Soccer Terms.