Are you experiencing your first year at [tag-tec]coaching youth soccer[/tag-tec]?  Maybe things are not going so well and results have not been as you had hoped.  Maybe there are a few kids in the team that don’t seem to get on and they are causing you some grief and disrupting the rest of the team.  What do you do?  Well, I have the answer….

Ensure you concentrate on developing effective [tag-tec]soccer team building[/tag-tec] through a number of activities.  Soccer training can be a chore if things are not working out on the field and of course, when things are not going well, you get plenty of advice from the sidelines.  All the coaching experts are telling you how to coach and that you should be playing little Johnny here or putting my darling Lisa in this position because she is better than…– and so it goes on…unfortunately, all this goes with the job when [tag-tec]coaching youth soccer[/tag-tec].

As a coach it is important that you get to know your players.  A good [tag-tec]soccer coach[/tag-tec] takes the time to talk to each player individually and develops a rapport with them. Knowing your players will create a great [tag-tec]soccer team building[/tag-tec] environment. It’s not enough just to know their physical strengths and weaknesses you need to become more aware of those players that are mentally more durable than others.

There are a number of ways you can develop this relationship with your players.  One way is through team meetings.  Before [tag-tec]soccer training[/tag-tec] starts, get the team together and discuss the last match and encourage comments both positive and negative.  Get the kids to speak up and try to ensure they all contribute and let them feel like they have contributed to a solution. 

An important aspect of coaching youth soccer is setting team goals at the start of the year and making those goals realistic and achievable.  There is no use setting a goal at the start of the year of winning the premiership if you have a team of players that have never played before and will take time to learn the game and get to know each other.  Set a smaller goal and then re-evaluate throughout the year at your team discussions.  Having goals does not add pressure, it adds motivation, and makes the players work harder. Giving your team goals will give them something to look forward to. Players will realize that it’s fun to succeed, so they will want to work harder. Setting goals also puts the game in perspective, and the coach won’t have to remind their players of what it takes to win. If the coach and the parents keep reminding players that the game is about fun, than they wont’ feel pressured to obtain goals.

Reward the team for achieving their goal no matter how small it may be.  Rewarding players will make them more motivated, and they will play better. Giving rewards to players shows them that you appreciate what they’re doing for the team and that they’re needed.  The type of rewards that you can offer is only limited by your imagination and the age group that you are coaching.  These rewards may include something that takes them away from their natural routine and away from the training paddock or it may be as simple as a variation to their soccer training routine to add some fun.

A soccer team building activity that I have organized for my team over the last three years has been an end of season trip.  Coaching youth soccer can be difficult at times but I always look forward to our trip at the end of the year. This takes a bit of work to organize and is difficult to do yourself, however there are generally at least a couple of parents that are willing to help out.  Another factor that needs to be considered is the age of the children and whether this activity is appropriate or not.  It is important to keep in mind that the children will still need to be supervised when away so there has to be sufficient parents available.

Our trips have been for about 4 days away camping and the team has loved it.  No matter how they went throughout the year, everything is forgotten when they get away together and they have a great time.  The parents have a great time as well! We generally organize some activities to keep them busy for example, go carting, surfing and bowling and maybe even a [tag-tec]soccer[/tag-tec] game against one of the local clubs.  I can really recommend this as a great soccer team building activity and is a great way to finish of the year.

The importance of[tag-tec] soccer team building[/tag-tec] cannot be underestimated when [tag-tec]coaching youth soccer[/tag-tec] and it can be a great motivator. A soccer team building activity may just turnaround a team that is struggling to get a win and provide them with their first goal or even their first victory!