How to Know What Skills Are Important for a Beginner Soccer Player

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Guillermo Gomez I coach soccer, and I'd like to talk to you a little bit about what are the important skills in a beginning soccer player. You know as a coach my first job is to make sure that the players are having fun. And then I can move on and understand each players interest and ability, when they are playing the game of soccer. I like to start with silly fun games such as a tag game so i can see how they run how they turn, their balance their agility. Then I can incorporate a soccer ball to also see how they move while they have a ball. It is important that the player knows first of all, how to receive a ball how to shield that ball. You know if a player can hold the ball well then he's going to have time to make decisions on the field so that he can connect a good pass. Then i also pay attention to the stealing skills the defensive skills, you know I like to see if the player over commits when he tries to take a ball, and if he does or if he doesn't then I make the key coaching points so that I can help him be successful at that. So that's the next stage of coaching that I'm concentrate on and then i move into the attacking roles, which is how to dribble and how to go past a defender. You know if a player can perform these things, you know, with no pressure then the player builds confidence and gets comfortable and it will improve over time then we can little by little start adding pressure perhaps not by adding a defender but maybe maybe have the player try to do the skills at a fast paced, and that in itself adds pressure to a player. You know all in all it's important to remember again to make it fun for them, always begin with those three principles which is, start with position of the ball, and receiving a ball, then I move into defensive which is stealing skills and then how to dribble so you can be the defender. So I hope this helps identify the important roles or skills that a new player needs to have while learning the game of soccer."