Coaching Kids Soccer - How to Build a Winning Team

Coaching kids soccer is a different animal than coaching an adult soccer team. There are a variety of different concerns to look out for. With kids soccer, the intent isn't just to build a winning team, but to also build a great team spirit, make sure your players are having fun as well as bonding with other team members. Key skills of a good coach include team building skills, progressive training drills and positive reinforcement.

Help Kids Build Social Skills

Chelsea Football Club

Kids can be an unruly and uncoordinated when left alone. Your job as a coach is to build up the spirit of a team. That these kids really are in it together; and that they should look out for one another. Friendship and teamwork are a huge part of a successful team. Individual kids with soccer skills won't play nearly as well as a group of kids who are playing with their friends, all working towards a common goal.

Give the Kids a Sense of Accomplishment

One great way to teach kids soccer is to use progressive drills. Instead of choosing very difficult drills to start, you can start with easy drills to instill a sense of accomplishment and capability within your players.Once you start building their self-esteem and they start to believe they are capable soccer players, you can gradually amp up the heat on the soccer training drills. This allows you to start off by building a solid base of self-esteem and sense of value to the team. From there, you can add on harder drills and your players will be more inspired to try harder.

Make Sure Your Kids Know You Appreciate Them

It's very important that your players know that you value them. It's important that your players feel like they are a valuable addition to the team. Some coaching prefer a harsher, louder training style. Those training styles can work very well, provided that the kids know their coach is coming from a caring and loving place. For example, if a coach shouted at a player, saying "Cody! You're too slow, concentrate! You call that a run?!"

If the player knows he's a valued member, the coach's words will be taken as forceful encouragement to play harder. If the player doesn't feel valued, the coach's words will feel like an attack on his worth in the team.

How to Build a Winning Team

If you as a coach can master these three skills, you'll be far ahead of most other kids soccer coaches. Once you master the art of cultivating social skills, master progressive drills to instill a sense of value and accomplishment and finally learn to show appreciation for your kids, you'll find that your kids soccer team will quickly skyrocket in performance.

Coaching Kids Soccer - How to Build a Winning Team

France, Winning the 2010 World Cup?

June 11, 2010, will mark a very illustrious day in the history of soccer. 32 countries from all over the world will come together in South Africa for the 19th installment of the biggest stage in soccer, The FIFA World Cup. Similar to the Olympics, The World Cup is held every four years, making this event even more prominent. All 32 teams have traveled to "The Rainbow Nation" with hopes and dreams of victory but only one team will arise to grip "The Jules Rimet Trophy" and endure the glory of becoming the soccer champions of the world.

Of these 32 countries competing in South Africa, there are a few countries that have emerged as favorites to become eventual World Cup Champions. The number one favorite to take "The Cup" home are the notorious Brazil, who already have five World Cup titles under their belt and Spain, who had a tremendous showing in the Euro 2008. Other teams in the mix are Argentina, who has an outstanding offensive weapon in Lionel Messi and Italy, who were the champions of the 2006 World Cup.

Looking over The FIFA World Rankings, I was surprised by how low the finalists of the 06' World Cup were. France, led by Thierry Henry and Franck Ribery are the number 10 ranked team, according to FIFA. To me, Les Bleus shouldn't just have a higher ranking; they should also be seen as genuine title contenders. The Blues have a very strong squad going into this year's World Cup, despite suffering disheartening losses to Spain and China in their International Friendly Matches. With all that being said, it is still difficult to overlook this star studded French team. With emerging young talents like Gael Clichy and Mathieu Valbuena, along with a whole flock of experienced veterans like accomplished midfielder, Florent Malouda, rejuvenated striker, Nicolas Anelka, and the quick magician, Franck Ribery, France is a force to be reckoned with.

One thing The Blues can look forward to after their lackluster performance in their International Friendlies is a clean injury list. Many countries have suffered a devastating injury to at least one of their players. Some of the most heartbreaking injuries have come to Ivory Coast's striker Didier Drogba and Germany's Michael Ballack, both captains of their international squads. The injury to Drogba has probably been the most agonizing injury due to his significance to the Ivory Coast team. Drogba is considered one of the best strikers in the world, playing for the British club team, Chelsea, and scoring 29 goals to lead Chelsea to a Premier League title. No offense to the proficient Michael Ballack, but Drogba is much more critical to his team. It has been well-documented that the Germans have a much deeper roster than the Ivory Coast. Germany can still make a run at The World Cup with talented strikers like Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose, and can still control the middle of the pitch with Bastian Shweinsteiger but The Ivory Coast, without their best player, find themselves struggling to find a leader. The Ivory Coast losing Drogba would be like if the Indianapolis Colts American Football team lost their star and leader, Peyton Manning. When an impact player of that caliber suddenly gets injured at the blink of an eye, it could leave a team in shatters. Hopefully, the players can pick up the pieces and come together to play their hearts out, regardless of the massive hit they took.

With France having the luxury of an untarnished injury list, Coach Raymond Domenech and the players can focus on their first match against Uruguay with no distractions. France is in Group A with Mexico, Uruguay, and the host nation, South Africa. While on paper, it looks like France will move on through the group stage effortlessly, but let's not forget about France's early departure from the group stage in the 2002 World Cup. With a talented Uruguay team, motivated Mexican squad, and a galvanized South African team playing on home soil, France cannot play as mediocre as they did in their Friendly matches or else they can expect to be watching the knockout stages of the World Cup back at home.

With the motivation to prove critics wrong, France should move through the group stage suffering at most, one loss to either Uruguay or Mexico. With that being said, France's opening match is against Uruguay and that could set the stage for what will happen throughout Group A. Everyone has learned from the 2006 World Cup that once France gets on a roll, they are almost unbeatable but if France endures an early loss, it could mean disaster, as was seen in the 2002 World Cup when they lost their opening round match to Senegal and didn't even qualify for the knockout rounds.

The Blues are able to match up well with any team and while they faced much frustration in Euro 2008 and the Pre-Cup Friendlies, I believe that they have come to South Africa with something to prove. While France lacks big-name stars like Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi, France is successful because of their discipline and teamwork.

There is no doubt that France has the talent and soccer IQ to bring home their second World Cup, they just have to become more efficient because once the World Cup has started, everyone is striving for the same goal and the teams that get flustered is very unlikely to receive a second chance. Do not overlook The Blues, this is a very solid squad that is filled with vengeance. To come so close to a World Cup and lose to rival Italy in penalty kicks will leave an extremely sour taste in your mouth. France has been pondering their heartbreaking loss for four years and the moment they have been waiting for has finally arrived!

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