Improving Player’s Awareness

Having the ability to know where teammates are and what runs they are making is important to developing a successful team. Working well together and having the awareness to know where to pass the ball will create opportunities to score. If players are going to spread the play across the field and take advantage of the space available, they need to develop their own awareness and be able to sense what is going on around them while in control of the ball. Coaching youth soccer means you will have a lot of young players who are only troubled with what is going on in front of them when they are on the ball. Developing the awareness of young players can vary between each individual. Some may pick it up quickly and for others it may take much longer but they will improve their own awareness and be able to spread the ball around to teammates without having to look around them for a long time and risk losing the ball. There are a number of different soccer drills available to coaches designed to improve player’s awareness and keep them thinking of possibilities during games. One such drill requires players to be split into groups of three and have them pass the ball between the three of them. As with normal passing drills they need to practice passing it firmly and directly to each other and once the players have got a feel for the ball instruct one player to move away from the group and position themselves around twenty yards away. The two remaining in the group should continue to pass the ball to each other and the other player should now make a run and call for the ball from their teammates. Once they call for the ball, whichever of the two players has the ball should instantly pass the ball out directly to them. The runner should then return the ball and swap with another player and continue so each player gets plenty of practice. This drill is designed to develop the awareness of the two players passing the ball to each other as they must keep control of the ball while also being aware of the player making the run. They must know where the runner is so they can play the pass out to them as if to switch the avenue of attack quickly to catch the defense by surprise. In this drill of course they only have one player to be aware of and to look for whereas in games they will have a number of teammates and opponents to look for but this drill is a good starting point for developing young player’s awareness. A more advance drill you can use is to split your players into two teams and have them play against each other in a limited area. The aim of each team is to score but they can only score after completing four consecutive passes. This means they will have to constantly move and be aware of where their teammates are running so they can complete the number of passes before being able to score. If they can’t spread the ball between players quickly then they will not be able to score. After they start scoring goals in this drill after stringing a number of passes together they will see the huge benefit and enjoyment that can be found from teamwork and passing the ball crisply and effectively.