Foreword

Coaching soccer begins with teaching individual players the basic techniques, or skills, they will need to deal with the ball under all of the various conditions that occur in a game.

As we master our techniques through drills during our training sessions, we then move on to teaching our players tactics.

We do this by starting with the smallest unit possible—1 player versus 1 player (1 vs. 1)—and gradually working up to the entire team situation—11 players versus 11 players (11 vs. 11).

In 101 Great Youth Soccer Drills, it is the players for game situations that the author has focused upon, and that is what makes it such a special coaching manual.

There is a need for this type of literature in coaching soccer at the youth level.

Players have to become technically sound in soccer at a young age; once a player learns a technique, it takes countless hours of practice through training drills for this technique to become skill, which is the ability to use the technique to advantage during conditions and restrictions of a game.

As the U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team head coach, I use training drills every day to improve players’ technical ability and their tactical awareness.

Players such as Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Bobby Convey, and Freddy Adu have spent many hours on the soccer fields in Bradenton, Florida, mastering technique and becoming better tactically in order to become successful international soccer stars.

As a coach I am a big believer in practicing the same drill over and over again until that technique becomes skill and tactical awareness becomes instinct.

To me, teaching the game is the heart and soul of our sport.

In all my years involved in coaching this sport, which has included high school, college, youth teams, amateur teams, and professional and national teams, I look back on my teaching time as the most rewarding.

In the coaching profession it has always been the desire to create a resource to help the youth soccer coach in developing our young players technically and tactically by following a simple and organized plan.

Robert Koger’s drills will bring out the best in our youth players. They are challenging, competitive, and entertaining.

The author delivers organized training drills that cover all the essential elements important to improving development in youth soccer players.

While the game itself offers many opportunities for a young player to improve, it is still important for the coach to have a book that contains game-related drills, smallsided games, and basic coaching drills.

As a coach you have to plan that next training session. Whether it is preseason or postmatch, you must give some thought to utilizing the right drills that are appropriate to reach the desired result.

101 Great Youth Soccer Drills is an excellent resource for helping the youth coaches find solutions to any problems they may encounter in the game.

Bottom line is always the players and how the coach can make them better technically and tactically.

Each drill has been diagrammed, showing the correct organization and identifying the objective and proper sequence.

All of us involved in this wonderful sport of soccer can enjoy watching a game at the highest level and having an appreciation for how the ball is played, the connection of a team through intricate passing, and the pure passion when a goal is scored, but there is always a beginning to this final product, and that is the countless hours spent on a field practicing as a young player with a coach running organized training drills with the objective of getting to the next level of play.