What if I told you that 50% of soccer coaching drills should focus on enhancing the trapping skills of your players? You will not be convinced with the statement. But interestingly, researchers say that trapping, besides dribbling and passing is mainly responsible for consistently winning matches.
When a player catches the ball and is able to maintain its possession with him, it’s trapping. In such soccer exercises, they can use their feet, chest, and thighs to do so.
Players must be familiar with the job of trapping the ball. If the players don’t know how to trap the ball, the primary skill, they would fail to have control over the game. Below mentioned methods can be used to teach trapping skills to the players.
Involve the Feet: Primarily, the coach must teach the players to use their feet in tackling the ball. Particularly in kids soccer drills, teach the kids to use inside of their foot. This is because the inside area of the foot id wide and very useful in engaging with the ball.
If the players are advanced and mature, teach them to use the instep or top of the foot as well as the whole foot in trapping the ball during the soccer coaching drills. In cases where the ball bounces a lot, it is best to make them use their shin or ankle to tackle the ball.
Thigh Movement: To control high-speed and bouncy ball, thigh can be used very efficiently. Guide the players to come in front of the ball, take one thigh up to capture the ball and other thigh to stay grounded. It is important to learn that as soon as the ball meets the thigh, the knee should be dropped so that the ball drops right there and does not move away from the player.
This exercise of dropping the knee needs to be done repetitively so that the players master the art of first stopping the ball using the knee and then drop it so that the ball trickles down the feet.
Use the Chest: Trapping a ball flying high in the air with the use of your chest is also equally useful, like the use of thighs. Teach your players to tackle the ball using their chest by getting in front of the ball and take their chest out. The ball will therefore loose its pace immediately and drop down right away to the feet.
But keep in mind that in soccer training drills, young players are given only a few modest lessons on this technique. While using their chest to tackle the ball, it is common for them to use their hands. This practice could lead to a problem by kids getting comfortable using their hands to deal with the ball.
It’s time now to execute these soccer coaching drills. Make the players practice these more and more. If you wish to learn a great deal of such tips and tricks, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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 training fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: http://www.soccerdrillstips.com – Youth Soccer Training Drills.
