What are some simple soccer moves you can teach young beginner soccer players? Whether you're just playing with your 2 year old in the back yard, or you want your 3 year old's team to learn a few useful foot skills, it's useful to know a few beginning soccer players moves that are easy to teach and easy to learn.
If you don't know what soccer moves you should teach first, you'll love these 5 simple soccer moves for kids. Here's the list of soccer moves that are super simple to teach to 2, 3, and 4 year old children.
Now let's dive a little deeper into these moves and learn what's good for young players and also take a look at how to teach them.
What is the control move? It's simply gently placing the bottom of the foot onto the top of the ball.
The control move will become a starting position for other soccer moves in the future, so it's a great skill to start with.
The control move is a great first move for soccer players in the U5, U4, and U3 age groups. Children this age are just beginning to learn balance and the control move helps the kids develops those core muscles and improve their balance.
Watch this video below of a 2 year old doing the control move followed buy a kick. As you'll hear you don't have to call it the "control" move or "control" position when you're describing it to such a young child. In this case this young soccer player was told to "squash the bug."
SOCCER CONTROL MOVE TIPS.
Soccer balls that are rolling toward the player can be "trapped" underneath the foot into the control position. Some coaches don't think the control position is an actual move, but I've found naming it as a move benefits the young kids by giving them confidence in progressing with other soccer moves.
Along with dribbling, shooting, and passing, the trapping of the soccer ball is one of the fundamental skills in soccer that lead to successful development.
The step over move is a basic building block that will lead to more advanced moves as your young soccer player develops. This kids soccer move is easily mastered by 2 year old and 3 year old soccer players.
STEP OVER MOVE TIPS:
The step over move is a great way to keep the ball away from an opponent and a great way to change the direction of the ball. It become even more powerful when you learn how to step over the ball sideways in addition to stepping over it in a forward direction.
Here is a super short video showing you how to do the step over move. Like other moves and skills of soccer, the best way to teach it to a young player is to tell them. then show them. Then tell them and show them. See the video below.
The pull-back move is the next soccer move to teach your beginning player for several good reason. Initially, it's the first move for kids as young as two or three years old can do using the bottom of their foot. It's a natural progression from the first move we talked about, the control move.
Secondly, it's very beneficial for a young soccer player to have early success using a move which builds confidence in beginner players' minds to try their soccer moves during an actual soccer match.
Thirdly, the pull-back move can be used as a base for more intricate moves when newbie soccer players develop more foot skills down the road.
The pull back move starts just like the control move, with the bottom of the foot gently resting on top of the ball. This move is great for changing direction and keeping the soccer ball away from an opponent.
As the kids advance in ability they'll be able to turn at the same time that they pull the ball backwards.
The chop move is the third easiest soccer move for kids to learn. It can be used when the ball is at rest or can be used during dribbling.
The chop move is likely the most valuable move in youth soccer matches. It's also frequently used in soccer games for older kids and with more advanced levels as well.
It's a great move to keep the ball away from the defender and move it to areas of open space on the soccer field.
The youngest soccer players, ages 2, 3 and 4 year old kids will first try the chop move while standing still.
As with other soccer moves and players of all age, it's a good idea to practice this with the naturally stronger leg as well as with the weaker leg. This is important when situations in the match present themselves where chopping should be done in a specific direction.
The third move is a variation of the second, but is just as simple to teach to beginning soccer players that are learning basic soccer moves. This is a move that does NOT come as naturally as the inside chop move. It's best to wait until the "inside" chop move has been successfully learned before teaching the outside chop move.
The video below shows you how the chop move evolves as kids get older and perform the chop move at a higher speed.
These 5 basic soccer moves can easily be taught to toddlers and 2 or 3 years old children. These moves form a foundation that will serve as a building blocks for more advance levels of soccer as kids grow and develop. Here's a post on an additional soccer move that can be embarrassing if you are the defender and it's called the nutmeg.
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Coach Bruce Lovelace started playing soccer in 1974 when, as a young boy, he constructed his own makeshift soccer goal. He played in high school, then intramurally in college and beyond. He started to coach his own children in the 1990s and then ran a Soccer Shots franchise for 12 years. Now, Coach Bruce publishes the soccer-for-kids.com website. You can also get lots of great ideas on Soccer-For-Kids Pinterest. Find out about what Inspired this website.
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