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

by Kurt Aschermann (Author) "A simple, important, sobering fact needs to be stated at the outset: as a youth soccer coach you have a huge responsibility to everyone on..." (more)
Key Phrases: penalty spot, penalty area, corner kick (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

If you're going to coach your first soccer team, you know you've got a lot to learn about teaching kids this unfamiliar sport. If you coach soccer now, you want to improve your team. If your son or daughter plays soccer, you want to know what good coaching is all about. This is the book for you!

Jim San Marco (head soccer coach at the highly successful Edgemont High School program in New York State) and Kurt Aschermann (coauthor with Gerard O'Shea of Coaching Kids to Play Baseball and Softball) have written this friendly, easy-to-use, fully illustrated guide that teaches you how to run a successful soccer team -- from setting up the first practice to choosing calisthenics to running individual and team skill drills to getting everyone a ride home at the end of the game.

Emphasizing that helping kids to have fun and learn about team spirit, competition, and themselves is far more important than winning games, the authors detail every step of building a soccer team that plays well and plays healthy. Instructions are fully illustrated with photos and diagrams:

* Teaching the rules
* Pre-practice preparation
* Choosing the right equipment
* Evaluating talent and assigning positions
* Drills and exercises to teach fundamentals
* Offensive and defensive tactics
* Game strategies

You may not have played much soccer or know much about it, but Coaching Kids to Play Soccer will teach you everything you need to know. Don't start your season without it!

About the Author
Jim San Marco is head soccer coach at Edgemont High in New York State. He lives in Briarcliff Manor, New York.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Fireside (August 15, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671639366
• ISBN-13: 978-0671639365
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #715,724 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for beginners... Not for kids older than 7, May 18, 2000

By	MDK67 (Kernersville, NC USA) - See all my reviews

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.

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a very good introduction coaching to kids soccer., December 19, 1998

By A Customer

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.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good, basic book, for the first time "parent-coach", September 17, 1999

By A Customer

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!