It’s sad to know that people fail to appreciate the importance of warming up in kids soccer drills. Being a coach, I’d let it be known that warming up is not only compulsory but is even critical to begin the day’s play at a brighter and healthier note. Coaches in youth soccer drills do not take this factor into consideration. This has an end result in terms of injuries to players when in the practice sessions.
This article gives you some nice tips on how to get the team warmed up. Train the team to use the body movements in a way that all the muscles get worked up. This is the right way to wake up the entire nervous system. Rigorous sessions can result in stiffness and cramping of the muscles.
Tip 1: First and foremost the players should jog for 5-7 minutes. It’s advisable to begin with a light jog and then move on to sprinting. The pulse rate must get to 120 beats per minute in this. But, slow improvement is better. 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: Having said that, do remember that even this active stretching over 20 yards comes with some warm up drills of its own. For example, make the players skip forward and backward. The players can also be taught cross stepping. Also teach them high-knee carioca. These can be implemented just like sprinting.
In soccer drills for kids, running towards the back is also a very useful warm up exercise. Still, in order to perform it, the proper way to do it is to jerk up the heels to the butt. It is a little hard to practice this but it is the only correct way of doing it.
Tip 3: There are other essential warm up exercises in kids soccer drills that build up the momentum to the actual session. Have your players bounce with rings and swings. These give an added element to the skipping exercises. Also have your players do the cross-over hopping. Although a little advanced, Quick Hip Swings is also a very effective and tested method that warms up the body a great deal.
Next, make the players do long shuffles with turns in the middle. Tell the players to practice backward and forward leg swings. This activity is considered as extremely useful in body toning. High leg forwards and backward is just as efficient in toning the body.
Tip 4: Stretching should be carried out properly and sufficiently. What works best for the legs is stretch hinging. It is for you to see that all kids work out their groin, hamstring, quadriceps, and calf muscles without fail. Stretching has the benefit of preventing injury along with increasing the muscle range.
In soccer drills for youth, it is also important to understand that kids should not overdo anything. The kids get carried over in excitement and end up injuring themselves for no reason due to this.
Because all the relevant information on kids soccer drills is shared with you, please see that training sessions are always followed by warm up sessions. 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.
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