Beginner soccer drills are the first thing that you will be acquainted with as a beginner in soccer. They are the bread and butter of all training sessions for people just getting into soccer.
It is very important then that your beginner soccer drills are done right, just because the first few steps towards something are always the most important.
Your progression is also going to be tightly connected with beginner soccer drills. Doing the perfect beginner soccer drills will create the opportunity for you to progress much further and quicker.
On top of it all, soccer drills and training in general can be harmful to you and to your career if you don’t do them right.
When it comes to beginner soccer drills, the idea is to go broad in what you train and to use drills that give you a huge amount of things to train.
This may sound like not so ideal, because with training too many things, it can sort of mean that you won’t be training any one of them to perfection.
That is true, but that is something that you will have to worry about once you pass the beginner and even intermediate stage. Hopefully, you can begin to see the importance of beginner soccer drills.
Since we totally get it and this is something that we take very seriously, we have sought the help of Kayla Monick!
Kayla is one of our trainers here at Dribbler. She is that type of coach that will help you become a better soccer player regardless of which stage of development you are in!
That is something that cannot be said for most trainers, and we couldn’t be any prouder to have her part of our team and family!
In discussing the idea behind this blog with her, we agreed that as a beginner you will need to focus on 3 main drills that will help improve the most important aspects of soccer.
The three things we will focus on being: Fitness, Ball Control and Technique. We will also cover basic drills that you can use to improve as a beginner in these three areas.
Fitness Beginner Soccer Drills
General fitness is very important for all sports, and that is obviously the case with soccer too. However, as Kayla explained to us:
“When it comes to soccer, the type of fitness you will need isn’t necessarily one that can carry you on a marathon.”
This is a common misconception that people have about soccer. Where the idea that long distance running can help your fitness for soccer too. Which isn’t the case!
Essentially, soccer has a combination of all the main things that you make up for great fitness levels. As a soccer player you will have to walk, jog and burst out sprinting throughout the 90 minutes.
As Kayla explained, the best of all beginner soccer drills to start with is one that will help you build the bases of your fitness.
She advised going for a simple drill that goes something like this. Place 3 cones one after the other, with about 10-15 feet distance between each.
You will have to walk to the first, jog to the second and then sprint your way to the third. Start with a lower number of sets and work your way up, as your fitness and ‘gas tank’ improve.
As we said, the idea is to work on all fitness fronts that you would need to utilize during a soccer match.
This drill is perfect for beginners, but it is also one that can be used by pretty much everyone. It is also, as we will see below, a great drill that can be modified to fit other purposes too.
Another all time great of beginner soccer drills is also the simplest one. All you will need is a soccer field and the desire to get better.
Start a few feet away to the left or right of one of the goals, Lap around the field at jogging pace, and everytime you complete a lap, sprint to the center then walk back to the starting place.
Again, the number of laps or the number of times you complete these beginner soccer drills is up to you and your needs.
Ball Control Beginner Soccer Drills
Ball control is arguably the most important of all things in soccer. As a beginner, you will need to familiarize yourself with this aspect of soccer as soon as you possibly can.
Kayla gave us the genius idea of simply modifying the earlier mentioned drill. Simply add a soccer ball while you go for the drill with the cones mentioned above.
Many times, you will have a soccer ball in your feet when you will be sprinting or jogging or even walking during a game.
The idea here is to get used to the feel of walking, jogging and sprinting with the soccer ball. The fact that this drill helps immensely with fitness is an added bonus.
Ball control is one of the hardest things to grasp for most beginners. The reason for this is mostly due to soccer being unique as opposed to other sports.
Most team sports, that include a ball, usually require that you use your hands and arms to control the ball. Think: basketball, volleyball, tennis, even handball players use their hands.
In soccer, using your hands is against the rules, and if you touch the ball with your hands you will give the opposition a free kick. It then becomes clear why a lot of people who first start soccer, have a hard time getting on with this concept.
Do not let this scare you though. It’s all about practice and about the amount of time that you will be spending playing soccer.
Beginner soccer drills, like the one mentioned above will help a lot with your ball control abilities, however this aspect is better trained during matches.
The absolute best combination is to build on top of these beginner soccer drills with real match experience; at the very least with ball control.
Technique Beginner Soccer Drills
Technique is one of those things that you will train beyond the point in which you need beginner soccer drills.
But you still need to start somewhere, and the very best place to start is with beginner soccer drills.
As a heads up, we will keep things very light and simple here. What we mean with technique beginner soccer drills, is the most basic technique of soccer.
You will need to train your passing, crossing, and shooting! The best way to do that, is to use drills that include aiming at certain things and trying to kick the soccer ball there.
For example, if you want to train your passing, put a target relatively close by and try to hit it multiple times in a row with a ball.
Meanwhile, if you want to train shooting, get within the penalty area and aim to kick the ball at one specific corner. You can get further away as you progress.
Another thing that is complicated about technique is that what techniques you need to learn is very much dependent on what position you want to play.
Things like dribbling and precise shooting are very important for a forward, but not vital for a defender or goalkeeper.
However, we would recommend training and practicing all things in soccer as a beginner. This will help you a lot fit better in the position that you choose to play.
Advice Beyond Beginner Soccer Drills
We have already established the importance and significance of beginner soccer drills but if you are a beginner there is some more advice that we would like to throw your way.
Going back to the amazing Kayla, who was kind enough to cooperate with us for this blog post, we would like to share some more of her advice.
She explained that she took a degree in teaching and coaching, because of her passion for soccer and all things soccer related.
One of the most profound things that Kayla said is that soccer helped her with her confidence and self belief.
That really hit home for us, as it is one thing that a lot of people, on and off the field, suffer with and have hard time nailing down.
“Seeing how I have progressed in soccer gives me confidence, and seeing my students go through the same journey gives me joy.” Kayla said.
“I try to encourage all my students to believe in their own capabilities, and to improve said capabilities as much as possible during training.” she explained.
This is the main thing that a beginner in soccer needs to hear and understand. This is advice that goes beyond beginner soccer drills, this is top notch life advice.
It’s simple, and often gets overlooked, but it is these small steps, these small details of our lives that truly make it possible for us to catapult ourselves into greatness.
Can you see now why we feel so happy and proud to have someone like Kayla on our team? As she specializes in youth training, this is good news for you too!
If you book private soccer lessons today, and you are in the right area of California,you have the great opportunity of getting training for your children directly from Kayla.
However, if you are anywhere else in the US, we got you covered too, as we serve throughout the states, and all of our trainers are top notch! The absolute perfect thing for your needs.
