How to Practise with your Child

HOW TO

PRACTISE WITH YOUR CHILD Parents spend most time with their children. How can you help them develop their game?

CONTENTS Page 3 - Welcome Page 4 - Subscribe to YouTube Page 5 - How to Practise with your Child Page 8 - Coaching your Player or Child Video Page 11 - 30 Ball Mastery Skills Page 13 - 7 Wall Ball Exercises Page 16 - Follow us On Page 17 - Individual Practices Page 18 - Subscribe Here

WELCOME Welcome back to the Player Development magazine. We're delighted you're here with us and hope that you find our player development content useful whether you're a coach, parent, or player.

Coaches typically, at the grassroots level, will only get to see the player two to three times a week, at most, adding up to potentially three to four hours of training and match play.

Where can players get extra coaching, or help to develop their game? The answer is with whom they spend most time, invariably their parents or guardians.

In this month's edition we look at how parents and guardians can help their children develop their game, giving them ideas on their training and practices that can be used at home.

We hope you enjoy and find the magazine useful.

Elliott Everson Owner of OpportunityElite

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HOW TO PRACTISE WITH YOUR CHILD IF YOUR CHILD IS LOOKING TO IMPROVE, HOW CAN YOU AS PARENTS, OR GUARDIANS, HELP THEM IN REACHING THEIR GOALS?

What must be remembered is that you should only help your child develop as a player if they want to. It's very important to realise this, making sure that the youngster doesn't feel that they are pressured or forced into working on their game. This, in the long run, may have a counter-productive outcome, forcing them to move away from playing the game.

But, if they are passionate footballers who love the game and are enthusiastic about improving, then we should think about doing all we can to help them achieve their goals.

Young players at the grassroots level will have at most two training sessions a week, plus a game. In these hours, the coaches are working on certain sessions to help improve the team and develop the players' understanding of the game. But it is incredibly difficult to spend large amounts of time with an individual, honing their technique and skills.

Therefore, to make the most as they can out of their potential, they will need to practise in their own time.

But how, as parents or guardians, can you help?

Children will spend most time with their parents or guardians, but how can you help them?

Building more of an understanding of how to develop the individual player will help hugely when you both go down to the local park or playing fields, giving you some knowledge and insight in to how you can help your young player improve their game and reach their potential.

The most important aspect should be the technical, helping the player get more touches on the ball while giving them sound technical advice.

Take a look at the following pages to see how you can help practise with your child.

FIRST TECHNICAL AREA

CLOSE CONTROL: KEEPING THE BALL AT YOUR FEET When helping a youngster improve we must make sure to help them take as many touches on the ball as they can.

The more touches they take, the better technical ability that they will develop.

Close control drills, such as dribbling practices, turning skills and the use of both feet, will help players get many touches on the ball.

Technically, the aim should be to have players well balanced and comfortable on the ball.

Can the player turn with both feet, roll and stop the ball, change speed when dribbling and keep the ball close to their feet when dribbling through the cones?

If we can practise these areas we will see much more confidence on the ball during matches.

Helping the player use different parts of their feet, gaining control of the ball, is a must at this stage. Can they turn with the inside and outside of their feet, roll the ball with the studs, perform drag backs and quick turns while maintaining balance and control on the ball?

Practising this as much as possible will help players become more confident and controlled on the ball, helping them keep possession from their opponents.

DRILLS AND TECHNIQUES TO ASSIST THE PLAYER IN THEIR DEVELOPMENT. VIEWÂ OUR CLOSE CONTROL FOOTAGE ON THE NEXT PAGE...

SECOND TECHNICAL AREA: BALL MASTERY Getting players on the ball is key to development. The more touches they take, the better they will become. One of the best ways to get the player, or your child, more touches on the ball is through ball mastery.

THE BENEFITS OF BALL MASTERY

Improved Control of the Ball Practise using Both Feet Improved Technical Skills Developing Co-ordination Improving Balance Practise using all Parts of the Foot Improves Turning, Skills, and Changes of Direction Increases Chances of Keeping the Ball from Opponents One v One Skills New Techniques Improves Muscle Memory Develops Confidence Challenges Players Allows Players to Express Themselves Easy to Practise Perfect for Training in the Back Garden

The benefits of Ball Mastery are huge, developing players' confidence on the ball while challenging their abilities, giving them exercises and practices that will help progress their game.

Ball Mastery provides certain routines on the ball that the player can practise; moving the ball with different parts of their feet, progressing the speed as they improve.

These exercises and routines give players more touches on the ball and help them increase their reactions on the ball, while performing skilful exercises.

Practising this will improve players on both feet especially, allowing them to keep the ball under control while being under pressure from an opponent.

When helping your youngster practise their ball mastery we must make sure that they don't go too quickly at the start. Show them the techniques (our Ball Mastery skills on the next page) and emphasise that they get the technique correct first and foremost. As the player gets comfortable with the technique, then we should increase the speed.

Some of the key coaching points to remember are to keep your balance. Have the player's body weight central, ensuring that they aren't losing their balance and leaning too much to one side or the other.

The chest should be slightly forward and knees bent, allowing the player to keep their balance while moving the ball quickly.

Keep the touches close to the body and encourage mistakes. Each mistake is one step closer to mastering the skill!

THIRD TECHNICAL AREA:

FIRST TOUCH AND PASSING

Taking more touches on the ball is crucial when developing a player but we also need to learn how to receive the ball and also be successful with moving it on to our teammates. Therefore the next technical area is looking at the player's first touch and passing.

You can work with your young player over varying distances for passing, starting initially with smaller five to ten yard passes that will improve accuracy on the inside of the foot, then progressing to longer passes using the laces to strike the ball over distance.

When helping your youngster develop in their first touch and passing we don't actually need too many elaborate drills or practices. Using a wall and a ball can work absolutely perfectly, giving the player the chance to judge the weight of their pass, where to position the ball with their first touch, all while using both feet.

The key areas to help the player with are making sure that they move their feet to try and get behind the ball as much as possible when receiving it. Make sure the player is light on their feet, ready to move to the ball if it takes an unexpected bounce or bobble.

To control the ball, we must learn to keep in control of our

body. If you are off balance the chances of losing control of

the ball are much higher.

Make sure that the player cushions the ball when controlling it, through bending their knees, increasing the speed of their first touch and pass as they progress. To be able to control the ball we have to make sure that the player isn't off balance. There will be times they will be but aim to remind the player that they should control their body movements to have a successful first touch and pass.

A wall and a ball can help with this greatly. Try out the practices using a wall and a ball on the next page.

FOURTH TECHNICAL AREA:

END PRODUCT

One of the key areas is to practise the end product. By end product we mean the larger type skills, shooting, crossing, passing, etc. We've learned to keep the ball, dribble with it and use both feet when controlling and passing, but we also need to emphasise how to score, assist and create chances.

Heading down the local park will provide players with the opportunity to shoot on goal and practise their passing over distance. This is where we can start to look at doing some more position specific training. For instance, a winger may be looking at dribbling and then crossing the ball into a target, or yourself, in the box. Our central midfielders can be working on shooting from the edge of the area and their range of passing.

Forwards can practise their finishing, on both feet!

We must make sure that players practise the end product, as this will define their game and help them reach their potential. Working on the closer skills initially will help provide the foundations of the player's game, allowing them to have a much higher chance of being successful, creating chances and opportunities, scoring more goals.

When helping the youngster develop we must make sure to remember that we don't push them beyond their level of interest. Each player will have different motivations and levels of enthusiasm for the game. This will then determine how much they are willing to practise.

It is important not to overdo the training so, if we see that a player is losing interest, then give them a break, and maybe create some fun challenges to help them get back into it again over the coming days, or period of time you feel suits best.

EACH MISTAKE IS

ONE STEP CLOSER

TO MASTERING THE

SKILL

What we can remember is that mistakes aren't a bad thing, especially in practice. If players are working hard and pushing themselves then mistakes show that they are challenging themselves. Each child will make many, many, mistakes. Let's remind them that each mistake, if you are challenging yourself, is one step closer to mastering the skill.

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