Customer Reviews

Coaching Kids to Play Soccer (Fireside Books (Fireside))

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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This book could be called Soccer 101... It's a great place to start if you have 4 to 6 year old children. It shows you how to teach the basics and how to keep them interested in the game..

Good for a first time coach, or those of us that have not coached the first time time soccer player.

This is a great book to read when you first start coaching a team of 5, 6 or 7 year olds. It has right level of drills and tactics for that age.

I've loaned it out several times to friends who are just getting started as coaches. It has the rules of soccer and guidelines for putting together a practice. It also has good, basic drills that are easy to set up and teach the fundamental tactics of soccer. I especially liked the way it shows how to teach heading and shooting.

I recommend it to a first time coach.

This is a very good, basic book, for the parent wishing to START coaching youth soccer, at the earliest level. The book assumes no prior knowledge of the sport. Any additional coaching skills will need to be acquired by experience, coaching with other individuals, watching the game, and by obtaining other, more advanced books, including more advanced drills and focusing on individual moves. This is a good book, for that parent going out to the field on that first saturday, as well, to try to understand and enjoy the GAME more fully!

I've coached my kids teams for 4 years now --- 8 seasons in U6 and U8 --- and this was great for a dad who was drafted into the coaching business. The drills are nice, as is the pre-work it recommends. If you've played as a kid and now are being 'tapped' to be a coach for your kid, this is the book you need.

If you want to develop a system for making 10 and 11 year old girls understand simple offensive and defensive concepts, this book is not for you. Dealing with low attention spans is frustrating, and kids this age know it all, are mouthy, but have difficulty learning a new concept. With a practice of an hour a day for two days a week, you can't show much, and you can't be complex. This book needed MUCH more defensive emphasis.