I just completed some fun training activities with a bunch of 10-13 year old soccer athletes this morning. Very few of the activities I focused on teaching the kids required a ball, in fact, we only included a ball during certain movement drills for the dynamic warm-up, just to encourage and develop some touches on the ball before we really got into the athletic development skills. The skills we worked on will definitely help improve their soccer game. But, why would I spend 15-20 minutes, out of a 30 minute controlled session, focusing on non soccer specific exercises? By non-soccer specific, I mean not directly involving a ball to complete the exercises.

Now, I coach a lot of different athletes. Athlete’s of 1 sport only, and athletes that play multiple sports. No matter what the sport it, this is always my same approach, especially at this young developmental age.

The reason I focus on helping the kids develop skills pertaining to athleticism is because they already are getting enough touches on the soccer ball. If you aren’t familiar with playing soccer, one of the heavily coached demands is developing the 1st touch. Which is focused on at all levels of the game.

To better develop athletic skills, I remove the the ball and the skills necessary with the ball, and focus on movement, jumping, landing, applying forces, ground contact time and body awareness–much of which we just couldn’t focus on all at the same time with the ball, in order to get the most out of the exercises. Accompanying each activity I take the time educate the young players why we are doing what we’re doing, and how to try to do it appropriately.  We also have to recognize that it’s OK if they don’t perform the movement exactly how you want it done. What is important is their effort to understand what is being coached, and then trying to apply it to the best of their ability. We want to guide them to discover how to do the movement correctly.

So, next time you set out to teach kids “sport specific” training, take a step back and make your mission to help the young athlete develop “athletic skills” first, then move into more specific activities pertaining to the sport you’re coaching. You will set up a stronger foundation for the young athlete to grow and build on skills, which will easily transfer to sport.

Be kind, leave a comment on your position on this topic. Thanks.

-Hollister

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 11:07 AM and is filed under Athletic Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.