Soccer beginners improve fast with these tips
Soccer is more than just a sport—it’s a lifelong series of lessons about how to work in a team, how to persevere when things get tough, how to improve yourself through hard work and dedication, and so much more. But if your child has never played soccer before, it can seem daunting—luckily, our mission at […]
The post Soccer beginners improve fast with these tips appeared first on Albuquerque United Football Club | Premier Youth Soccer Club.
Soccer is more than just a sport—it’s a lifelong series of lessons about how to work in a team, how to persevere when things get tough, how to improve yourself through hard work and dedication, and so much more. But if your child has never played soccer before, it can seem daunting—luckily, our mission at Albuquerque United Football Club (AUFC) is to enable the development of Albuquerque’s youth by fostering a fun and exciting soccer environment that focuses on building lifelong values in teamwork, competition, sportsmanship and community.
Here are some tips to help your child grow as a player, and want to keep working on their own talents.
1. Encourage your child
Perhaps the most important thing to do at home to help your child’s soccer abilities improve is to be openly encouraging and supportive. Children with parents who are enthusiastic about the game tend to grow into strong players. Remember that in order to foster discipline and a love of soccer, it’s also important to help your child understand and accept that mistakes do not equal failure, but are instead learning opportunities. At AUFC, these are values that our coaches try to instill in our players, but as parents, if you
2. Turn home practice into a family game
Soccer is as much about connection as it is about athletics. Foster the love of the game at home by playing practice games at home as a family. Or connect with other soccer families in your neighborhood and host friendlies once or twice a week. Encourage your child to learn more about the game and center soccer as a fun family activity.
3. Focus on the basics
One of the hardest things to learn in soccer is how the game itself is played. Soccer has a lot of rules, and kids often struggle with understanding concepts like “offsides” or what physical contact constitutes a foul. Though soccer seems like a simple game, there are a lot of intricate details that can be hard to learn from zero. The same holds true for some of soccer’s most basic skill sets: dribbling and passing seem like no-brainers to adults, but to kids who have never played soccer before, the physical skill of dribbling, for instance, can be hard to master. When you practice at home, make sure to incorporate these basics, from rules of the game to dribbling and more, and you’ll see your child’s soccer abilities grow quickly.
There are plenty of other ways to help your child improve their soccer skills at home, and our world-class Thorns and Timbers coaches will send them home with plenty of drills you can run together. With the right amount of support and practice, even the most novice beginners can improve their soccer skills quickly and effectively.
The post Soccer beginners improve fast with these tips appeared first on Albuquerque United Football Club | Premier Youth Soccer Club.