Depending on the purpose of your team, choose players to take part in the tryouts soccer. If you are a player builder working with kids, keep the kid and work on the competitiveness part. Help the players to shine in the game if you notice athleticism and love for the game in them.
But you may have the right player who’s new to the team but has an innate ability to learn fast. If that’s the case, take time to prepare the player for the tryouts.
Following are some of the points that may help coaches to prepare players for the upcoming tryouts and soccer tournament.
Prior to Tryouts: You should make the players run 3 days a week to bring them to be in shape. This builds the stamina of the player. Ability to run 2-3 miles by the end will definitely make players to be in good shape.
The other two important things are agility and steadiness. In addition, good running, stopping, and changing the direction are important too. Have the players practice these by doing short sprints. 40 and 100 yards marked on a flat surface should be good for short sprints. Let the players run between it few times.
To practice shooting, make a round target on the wall with chalk. The target should be drawn two feet from the ground and a foot diagonally. The players should be informed that the target should be hit from a distance of 10 feet.
When the players are able to do that, increase the distance and ask them to try.
Get to the place with your players early to get plenty of time for warm-ups.
Suppose the kids are not required to wear specific clothing, let them wear something which is distinctive. You know it is easier to point to someone wearing blue socks and give an opinion than pointing to a group of girls wearing red T-shirts and white shorts.
Tryouts soccer, many of them, starts with small games like 2v4 or 4v4 to goals, and work up to 8v8 to goals with goalkeepers.
Most decisions are made in the small-sided phase. Often, players are rated as a) definitely, b) maybe, and c) certainly not. Often in the 8v8 stage, only the “may be” players get the most playing time because a decision has to be made. So it is good to encourage kids to play with energy and take control of the game.
Communicate in the Games: Good communication makes your players stand out in a positive way to observing coaches. Leaders are the players who give instructions and help other players with vocal and visual signals. Players who are silent somehow appear to be out of the game mentally.
On all possible occasions, players should greet their coach. Soccer association is very strict about the etiquette of the players.
Some food for thought; players who keep asking questions know better what’s going to happen at the tryouts soccer and during any follow-up tryouts. That’s not all. You are welcome to join our youth soccer coaching community that has got newsletters, articles, and videos to increase your knowledge and help you become a star coach.
Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching and has already helped thousands of youth coaches to dramatically improve their coaching skills. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make training fun by downloading your free ebook at: Soccer Training Drills.