Coaching Soccer For Dummies

by Greg Bach

  Hands on: During any stretching exercises, make sure you have 1-on-1 contact with all the kids. This contact is particularly important for youngsters who are new to soccer or new to the whole concept of stretching before participating in an activity. For example, when a child is stretching out his hamstrings, place his hand on the back of his leg so that he can feel the exact area of his body that’s being stretched and prepared for competition. This technique also helps ensure that the kids are following proper form.

  Stretching out

  Maintaining and improving a child’s flexibility is essential for not only preventing injuries, but also for giving him the solid foundation of strength, balance, and coordination needed to reach his full potential. Incorporating a variety of stretches and strength-building exercises is a key component for preparing youngsters for the rigorous demands of soccer. Take a look at several different stretches that can be utilized during your warm-ups to help prepare a youngster’s legs for practices and games:

  Standing squats: The child holds the soccer ball in the center of her chest with her elbows flexed. Her feet should be about shoulder width apart. In a slow and controlled manner, the child squats into a deep bend at the knees, with her body weight centered over the heels. After a one-second pause, she lifts up, keeping the upper body steady.

  Backward lunges: The child begins by holding the ball in front of his chest with flexed elbows. Next, he steps backward, landing on the ball of his foot, while his stationary knee is in line with his ankle. He lowers his body by bending his knees. Using the rear leg, he lifts the stationary leg back so his feet are together. Then he repeats, using the opposite leg.

  Alternating leg raise: The child lays face down and places her elbows under her shoulders with her forearms on the ground. She places her legs hip-distance apart and curls her toes under while lifting her body onto her elbows and toes. Keeping her back straight, she alternates leg raises from the hip with a straight knee.

  Calf stretch: The child stands in a lunge position with his front knee bent, though that front knee shouldn’t extend past the ankle. The child places his hands on the front of his thigh and presses forward, keeping his back leg straight while pressing his rear heel down.

  Knee bends: While the child is seated on the ground, she bends her left knee and places her left foot flat on the floor. She follows by placing her right foot and ankle on her left thigh just above her knee. She places her hands on the floor behind her hips and presses her chest toward her knee and foot. Her upper torso, neck, and shoulders should remain open and straight; don’t let her round her upper back.

  Hip-flexor stretch: The child stands with his feet in a lunge position and his front knee slightly bent. He briefly pushes up onto the toes of his back foot. He also presses his hips forward while tightening his buttocks and then slowly lowers his body until he feels a stretch in the front of his hip. While he performs this stretch, his upper body remains upright and centered directly over his hips.

  Hamstring stretch: While sitting, the child assumes the hurdle position by extending her right leg fully and bending her left leg, placing the inside of her foot along her right calf. While keeping her back straight, she slowly leans forward, bringing her chest toward her knee and reaching with both hands toward her toes. Depending on how much flexibility the child has, she either places her hands on the floor alongside her legs or holds her toes. Have her hold the stretch for a few counts and then release. Make sure she isn’t lunging for her toes. She also shouldn’t feel any pain — just a slight stretch in her muscles.

  Quadriceps stretch: In the same position used earlier for the hamstring stretch, have the child lean slightly back to stretch the quadriceps on the leg that’s bent.

  Groin stretch: The child sits on the ground and places the soles of his feet together with his knees off to the sides. Leaning forward, the child slowly presses forward until he feels a mild tension in the groin.

  Waist/lower-back stretch: The player stands with her feet beyond shoulder width apart, arcs her right arm over her head, and points to the left while her left arm rests against her left knee. Have the team perform a few repetitions in each direction.

  Neck stretch: The child stands and slowly turns her head all the way to the left and then all the way to the right. Then have her tuck her chin to her chest to help stretch out the back of her neck.

  Upper back: The player stands and stretches both arms behind his back while puffing his chest out. Have him hold for a few seconds and then release.

  Your kids have vastly different characteristics and levels of ability, which includes their levels of flexibility. Some kids are extremely flexible; others don’t even come close to being able to touch their toes. Make sure the team knows that when the warm-up period is complete, anyone can spend a few extra moments doing some additional stretching if they don’t feel sufficiently loosened up until they’re comfortable and ready to proceed with the game.

  Here are a few other warm-up tips to keep in mind:

  Don’t allow any horseplay during these exercises. Keep the kids’ attention focused on the specific stretch they’re performing.

  Emphasize slow movements. Younger children can complete just a couple of repetitions of each stretch. This repetition also helps ingrain in them at an early age the importance of always stretching before performing an activity.

  Join in. As the coach, you’re running around teaching and instructing during the course of the practice, so joining the kids for the stretches is a good idea for you and your assistants. This participation further instills the importance of warming up to the youngsters and helps you avoid being sidelined with a strained or pulled muscle. As we cover in Chapter 6, if you’re conducting a scrimmage or any exercises that also involve the parents, get them out on the field to warm up with their child, too.

  Be consistent. Always start practice with a warm-up. Repetition is important, and if youngsters know that at every practice they stretch, they’ll understand that stretching is an important part of the game.

  Breaking a sweat

  Because soccer obviously requires large amounts of running with players moving almost continuously throughout the game, you don’t want to send your players out on the field without first getting their bodies warmed up and their hearts pumping for this type of strenuous activity. During your warm-up period, you want the kids to get loosened up with some jumping jacks or some light jogging while dribbling a soccer ball or performing other soccer-related movements that they use in the game.

  For example, you can have the kids dribble a soccer ball down the field to help get their hearts beating a little harder and get them ready for running at full speed during the game. Or, you can have the players jog down the field in pairs, dribbling the ball and passing it back and forth. Incorporating skills that the kids use in the game into the warm-up is doubly effective. You want to avoid doing a lot of 1-on-1 exercises that put kids in a competitive situation where they tend to exert more energy than you want them to. You want them working at about 50 percent of their normal speed during this phase so that they have a full tank of energy to call on throughout the game. Here are a few other tips to keep in mind:

  Keep moving: When the players are warmed up, make sure that their bodies don’t have a chance to cool down before they step on the field. Sometimes the game preceding yours runs long, and your warm-up loses a lot of its effectiveness if kids wind up just standing on the sidelines for several minutes, waiting to take the field. The same goes for those youngsters who aren’t starting the game. You don’t want them planting themselves on the bench when the game begins. Encourage players to keep moving around, lightly jogging in place, and doing light stretches to keep their legs loose and their bodies warm.

  Pay attention to conditions: If the weather is extremely hot, you may want to shorten the warm-up. And if your team is involved in a tournament and may be playing several games that day or over the course of a weekend, you should reduce the amount of time the pl
ayers spend warming up because they’re going to expend more energy than they’re accustomed to.

  Proper cool-down for practice and games

  Although the warm-up usually gets all the attention because the focus is on preparing kids for games, post-practice and post-game cool-downs are equally important for the long-term health of your team. Doing some light stretches that you used for the pre-game warm-up helps prevent the tightening of muscles that accompanies vigorous exercise. The cool-down helps reduce muscle soreness, aids circulation, and helps clear waste products from the muscles.

  Youngsters should get in the habit of going through the cool-down process every time they participate in a practice or game. The cool-down doesn’t have to be quite as focused as the warm-up session, because the purpose is to wind down from the activity rather than build up to one.

  Following a game, you can make the cool-down period fun for the kids by talking to them about the game while they go through the exercises. Joke with them about anything unusual or funny that may have happened in the game. Point out how well they executed a 3-on-2 or how well they defended an attack. Ask them what they enjoyed most about playing.

  Injury Recognition

  Eliminating the threat of injury during practices and games is impossible, but how you handle injuries when they do pop up has a significant impact on how the children view their future soccer participation. First things first: Be sure you have a well-stocked first-aid kit, as we describe in Chapter 6.

  Preparing yourself for an emergency or first-aid situation

  If a serious injury occurs, are you prepared to handle it? Much like you spend time practicing corner kicks, practicing how you respond in an emergency situation is important. How you respond — and how quickly — can make the difference in saving a youngster’s life. The following are some steps to keep in mind:

  Know where you’re playing: Be aware of the name of the facility where you’re playing, as well as the address. In the event that you have to call 911, being able to provide as much accurate information as possible in a quick manner helps ensure that emergency medical personnel arrive as quickly as possible at the proper location.

  Have each child’s emergency information on hand: Those important forms we discuss in Chapter 4 are crucial in the event that medical personnel need to know whether the child is allergic to any type of medication, for example. Always carry those forms in your first-aid kit and have them easily accessible in the event of an emergency.

  Provide first aid: While awaiting the arrival of medical personnel, provide only the first-aid care that you’re trained to perform.

  Comfort the ailing child: If the child is conscious, comfort him by talking in a calm and relaxed voice. Let him know that he’s going to be okay and that medical help is on the way.

  Make sure phone calls are made: If the child’s parents aren’t in attendance, one of your assistant coaches should have the responsibility to call them to let them know what’s going on. Your foremost responsibility at a time like this is to the child, so if you’ve already designated someone else to make that initial call to the parents, you don’t have to waste unnecessary time when all your attention needs to be focused on the youngster.

  Keeping good records

  Any time a child suffers an injury that you provide any type of treatment for, be sure to write down exactly what you do, and regardless of how minor the injury is, always be sure to inform the child’s parents. In your practice planner or in a separate logbook, write down the nature of the injury, how it happened, and what treatment you provided. Do so the same day, while the event is still fresh in your mind. Unfortunately, we live in a litigious society, so having an accurate account of everything that transpired that day — in case you need to recount what happened — helps protect you in a court of law. Don’t discard these records after the season is over. Keep these accounts, along with your dated practice plans and notes, for several years.

  Having detailed notes of everything that happens is critical to protect yourself from unwarranted accusations. In addition, detailed practice plans, with dates, are evidence that you safely and properly taught your players specific skills, and they protect you against ridiculous and totally unfounded lawsuits.

  You always want to proceed cautiously when dealing with any type of injury, and that’s particularly true any time you’re dealing with an injury that involves the head, neck, or spine. Never attempt to move a player who’s lying on the ground with such an injury, because doing so is likely to cause further damage. Medical assistance should always be called immediately whenever you deal with a serious injury.

  Being able to assess sports injuries is an integral part of coaching youth soccer. You must be prepared for any type of injury, including when a child goes down and may have lost consciousness. The acronym COACH is a handy reminder of how to respond:

  C: Determining whether the child is conscious is always the first step.

  O: Is the child breathing and getting oxygen? (If the answer is yes to these first two questions, move on.)

  A: Ask the youngster where he or she is hurt.

  C: Control the area that’s painful.

  H: What type of help is required? Decide whether you need to call for immediate medical assistance and have the child taken to the hospital.

  When you’re approaching an injured child, be sure to keep this sequence in mind. Look at her lip color, feel her chest, or put your cheek next to her nose to see whether she’s breathing. If she isn’t breathing, and you don’t see a palpable pulse in her neck or wrist, you must immediately initiate CPR and have someone call for immediate medical assistance. If a child sustains an injury to the head or neck, calm her down and restrain her in the position you found her in while emergency medical assistance is responding.

  We strongly recommended that anyone working with children in sports be certified in CPR. All youth soccer coaches should receive CPR and first-aid training from the American Red Cross or other nationally recognized organization. (You can find the Red Cross in your neighborhood by going to www.redcross.org.) At every practice and game, you’re responsible for the safety and well being of every single player. Do your team and yourself a huge favor — take the time to go through the class. You’ll be glad you did.

  Treatment for common injuries

  The overwhelming majority of injuries you’re likely to encounter during your soccer coaching career involve “minor” bumps, bruises, cuts, and twisted ankles. But although they may seem minor to you, these injuries may seem pretty major to a child who suddenly sees blood on his leg or feels unfamiliar ankle pain when he tries to walk. By acting quickly and administering the proper treatment for a routine injury — while comforting the youngster — you help the child bounce back and return to action fairly quickly.

  Cuts and scrapes

  Cuts and scrapes can produce major tears with young players but, luckily, are minor injuries that you can treat quickly and effectively with the materials in your first-aid kit. Keep the following pointers in mind:

  Wear latex gloves: Any time one of your players suffers a cut or has an open wound, the first thing you should do is grab a pair of latex gloves or use some other type of blood barrier to limit your contact with the blood.

  Apply direct pressure: You can stop the bleeding by applying direct pressure to the wound with a clean dressing. If you have trouble stopping the bleeding, elevate the child’s injured area above her heart while maintaining the pressure.

  Clean it: After you stop the bleeding, clean the wound. Premoistened towelettes can be used for cleaning minor cuts and scrapes, or you can use over-the-counter alcohol swabs or antibiotic creams.

  Cover it: Use a bandage or piece of sterile gauze to cover the cut, and be sure to secure it tightly in place, particularly if the child is interested in continuing playing.

  Discard trash: Place your gloves and any other materials that may have blood on them in a sealed bag, and place the bag in the trash so that no o
ne else is at risk of coming into contact with the materials.

  Although being fearful of HIV/AIDS is certainly understandable, it should never be a factor in providing help to an injured player on your team. You’re at risk only if you allow the blood of an HIV-positive person to come into contact with an open wound that you have. If one of your players has AIDS or is HIV positive, his parents certainly should make you aware of this fact during the preseason parents meeting that we discuss in Chapter 4. Whether you’re aware of the player’s HIV status or not, however, the latex gloves provide the protection you need in order to treat the injured child.

  Twists, sprains, and strains

  Soccer is a physically demanding sport that requires players to run, make sudden stops and starts, and execute sharp turns while often coming into contact with other players in the process. These movements — and some of the collisions that accompany them — can result in muscle strains and sprains. Because much of soccer is played below the waist, the majority of these types of injuries involve the ankle and knee.

  When a player strains a muscle or twists an ankle, keep in mind the RICE method for treatment:

  Rest: Immediately get the child to the sideline so that he can rest the injury. If the child has twisted his ankle, for example, have an assistant coach or a parent from the stands help you carry the child off the field so that he doesn’t put any additional pressure on the injured area.

  Ice: Apply ice to the injured area. The ice helps reduce the swelling and pain. Don’t apply the ice directly to the skin. Wrap the bag in a towel and then place it on the injured area.