Kids Soccer Drills: 5 Big reasons To Warm Up
It’s amazing to see that the value of warming up in kids soccer drills is underestimated. It is obligatory for me as a coach to highlight the fact that warm up sessions before practice is compulsory and helps players begin their day at a brilliant note. In youth soccer drills, this point is easily skipped by many coaches. The consequences are then faced by the players when they suffer injuries in training.
This article will provide you an insight into warming up techniques for the team. Teach the kids to include all the body movements that allow all muscles in the body to get worked up. This is the most effective way to liven up all muscles in the body. Doing things fast can lead to cramps or stiffness in the muscles.
Tip 1: First and foremost the players should jog for 5-7 minutes. It is highly recommended to start with a light jog and then eventually sprint. In this, the pulse rate should reach 120 beats per minute. However, slow progress is the key. Next, make the players sway their legs, front and back, which should take roughly 10 minutes each. Players should then finish by energetically stretching their body greater than 20 yards.
Tip 2: When we talk about this active stretching over 20 yards, a few warm up exercises of its own must go along with it. Like the players can bounce backward and forward. Also teach your players to do cross stepping. High-knee carioca can also be taught to players. You can have these performed similar to 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 direct your players to play with circles and hoops. These give an extra dimension to the skipping exercises. Also have your players do the cross-over hopping. Quick Hip Swings is somewhat difficult to practice but it highly useful and a tried and tested technique to warm up the body.
Next, make the players do long shuffles with turns in the middle. Tell the players to practice backward and forward leg swings. This is a highly effective and useful body toning activity. In the same way, high leg forwards and backwards is also very effective.
Tip 4: Stretching should be adequate and correctly executed. What works best for the legs is stretch hinging. Make sure all players have worked out their quadriceps, calves, hamstring, and groin without fail. Stretching has the benefit of preventing injury along with increasing the muscle range.
It is also essential to note that in soccer drills for youth, kids abstain from overdoing anything. They tend to get carried over by enthusiasm and injure themselves unnecessarily.
Now that you are armed with this information about kids soccer drills, ensure that kids do warm ups before performing the drills. You’ll find lots and lots of articles and news like this on our youth soccer coaching community. Join today and enjoy the advantages from them.
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 practice sessions fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: Youth Soccer Drills.