March 7th, 2010 1:19 am
It’s sad to know that people fail to appreciate the importance of warming up in Kids Soccer Drills. It is something that being a coach, I would want to stress that warming up is obligatory and an important practice to lead the team towards a better start of the day. In youth soccer drills, this point is easily skipped by many coaches. This has an end result in terms of injuries to players when in the practice sessions.
You will find some great tips on warming up your team before practice sessions. Teach the players to warm up by following those body movements that help all muscles to work up. This is the right way to wake up the entire nervous system. Warming up in haste could cause cramping or stiffness of the body muscles.
Tip 1: This requires the players to do an easy 5-7 minutes jog. A few minutes of jogging and then moving on to sprinting is the best proposition. In this, the pulse rate should reach 120 beats per minute. But, slow improvement is better. After this, the players should move their legs back and forth for around 10 minutes each. Players should then finish by energetically stretching their body greater than 20 yards.
Tip 2: Having said that, do remember that even this active stretching over 20 yards comes with some warm up drills of its own. For example, have your players skip back and forth. Also teach your players to do cross stepping. They must also be taught high-knee carioca. These must be executed as if sprinting.
Backward run is also a highly effective warm up drill in soccer drills for kids. Still, in order to perform it, the proper way to do it is to jerk up the heels to the butt. No doubt, it is a little difficult to practice it this way but there’s no other way of correctly doing it.
Tip 3: In kids soccer drills, there are many other warming up exercises that increase the stamina to perform in the practice sessions. You can make the players skip with loops or swings. These result in giving an extra edge to the skipping exercises. You can also make your players do the intersecting skipping. It is Quick Hip Swings which is e very efficient and proven method of warming up the body, although it’s a little superior.
Then you can tell your players to do long shuffles with rotations in the middle. Make them practice forward and backward leg swings. This is a highly effective and useful body toning activity. Equally effective are high leg forwards and backwards.
Tip 4: Stretching should be carried out properly and sufficiently. What works best for the legs is stretch hinging. Ensure that every kid works out hamstring, quadriceps, groin and calf without exceptions. Stretching not only prevents injury but also increases the range of the muscles.
In soccer drills for youth, another important thing to ensure is that kids don’t do too much of anything. The kids may get injured needlessly because of this, as they tend to do so only in over excitement.
In kids soccer drills, you have to guarantee that kids attend the warm up sessions before the drills as you are now equipped with all the necessary information. There is a wealth of news and articles of similar nature on our youth soccer coaching community. Join today and enjoy the advantages from them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Andre Botelho is known online as “The Expert Youth Soccer Coach” and his free ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players’ skills and make training fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: Kids Soccer Drills
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