Preparing Your Team For Kick-Off
By Adrian Parrish
One of the most essential elements to a successful showing in a soccer match is a team's pre-game preparation. Yet I find that often coaches fail to prepare their team, both mentally and physically, at this critical time. Before too many games, coaches line their teams up in front of the goal, with each player waiting his or her turn to take a shot against a goal-keeper.
Ask yourself these questions:
- How many times do players stand in a line during a game?
- How many times will every single team player have an opportunity to shot on goal?
Given that the answer to each of these two questions is zero, I highly recommend that you eliminate standing in lines in preparing for games.
Ask yourself these questions:
- How many times do players stand in a line during a game?
- How many times will every single team player have an opportunity to shot on goal?
Given that the answer to each of these two questions is zero, I highly recommend that you eliminate standing in lines in preparing for games.
In fact, preparation for games is so vital to a team's success that as a coach you should include aspects of the game in your warmup. Although it was once said by a famous Scottish National Team Coach "There is no prescription to football", I can guarantee that the procedure in the following article will benefit your team more than having them stand in lines, waiting to shoot against their goal-keeper.