How to Do Youth Soccer Stretches

Series Summary

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. Known as football in most countries of the world, soccer is a team sport consisting of two teams of eleven players each, one of which must be the goalie. The game has been played for centuries and can be dated back as far as 2nd and 3rd century B.C. China. In typical game play, players attempt to create goalscoring opportunities through individual control of the ball, such as by dribbling, passing the ball to a team-mate, and by taking shots at the goal, which is guarded by the opposing goalkeeper. In this free video series on soccer, let a youth soccer coach explain how to play the most popular sport in the world. First, he discusses how to stretch and warm up before a soccer game, play the game, kick, dribble, chip and head a soccer ball. Next, he talks about the differences between trapping the ball and receiving the ball with the chest and feet. Finally, learn how to set up a corner kick and choosing the right soccer ball to buy.

Video Transcript

"Hi. My name is Guillermo Gomez. I coach soccer and today I'll be talking to you about how to do proper stretching. So first we want to emphasize how important it is to the players stretching because in the game of soccer there is a lot of turning and movement. And so to avoid any injury you want to make sure that the players are loose and ready to play the game. First we start in a circle. That creates good team spirit and so I will form the circle just the way we are right now. So boys lets open up our legs okay? Get a little loose. Open up a little bit more. Then they're going to bend forward slowly as their hands touch the grass. So bend forward down boys with your hands. Yeah. And then they will start counting as a group to 15 or 20. Okay. Boys stand up straight slowly. Okay. So that stretches the hamstring which is really important to stretch. Then I will have the boys do their quads. Again slowly boys we pick up one leg. Okay. And hold it up for 20 seconds. If we cannot keep the balance on this kind of stretching, so what I emphasize the player just stare at one item, one thing so that they will keep their balance. And if I tell the players look at me when you do the stretching they should be able to hold it for a little longer. Okay. Natiel can you do your other leg as well? Yeah. And look at me as you do it. Nico? Okay. So we bend our knees normally. We put one foot forward and hold the stretch on the back. That will stretch the calf for them. Okay. Again count to 20 or 25, 15. Then we will switch legs and do the other leg. Okay. So this is very important. Some coaches don't stress stretching for this age but however it develops a good habit as the players get older to constantly stretch all the parts of the body. So after we have worked on all the lower areas of our body we work on our upper body which can include the neck and shoulders. And then you can do those stretches that is static which is with no movement, standing in one place. Or dynamically which is actually moving slowly to get everything through the groins a good warm up. And that's how you do properly do soccer stretching."