subject: Coerver Drills to Improve Your Soccer Team [print this page] Coerver Drills to Improve Your Soccer Team
Every year there are several new soccer coaches, eager to help their team improve, who ask me whether Coerver drills are effective. If you are not familiar with Coerver drills, they are a systematic program of drills by Coerver Coaching (recognized throughout the world as the best at teaching soccer skills and techniques to young players) developed over the last 25 years to improve soccer players quickly. Even more impressive is the list of former and current legendary players and coaches who swear by Coerver drills. Still, I know that you are asking, will Coerver drills work for me and my team? In my experience, I have not found anything to be as effective or as easy to implement as Coerver drills, not matter what age or level you coach.
The first reason that I recommend Coerver drills for all new soccer coaches is because of the simplicity. Ball control & skill development, or Ball Mastery, is introduced beginning basically, progressing to meet any team's skill level. Having this base & seeing the more complex moves broken down in to their simpler parts is helpful for the beginning coaches that I have mentored.
Another reason that Coerver drills are great for a new coach, is that it provides drills to take these new skills from no pressure all the way through game-like situations. Plenty of new coaches are frustrated that their team looks great in practice, but cannot reproduce their skill when it counts. The progression that these drills provide permit coaches to teach players not only how to do a move, but when and where to make use of it.
One final reason that Coerver drills will dramatically help a new coach is that it will help you to teach skills correctly. Most new coaches that I talk to have not played much soccer. This makes it difficult for them to teach and demonstrate skills correctly. Seeing the skills taught basically through video makes it much simpler for a new soccer coach to teach their players correctly.
As the new soccer season approaches, I applaud all of the volunteer coaches that make soccer fun for such a great number of kids. And the fact that you are looking for ways to improve as a coach says a lot about your desire to help your players improve, and I salute you for that. Thank you for growing a love for the beautiful game within a new generation.
