Teaching Children How to Kick a Soccer Ball Well

When a child is first learning how to kick a soccer ball, there are a few things that can be done to reinforce the fundamentals while still having fun.

The main goal for the person instructing the youth player should be to mask drills with what looks more like fun. That way the players stay engaged, and will more quickly learn and master the skills necessary.

Here are three simple, yet wildly popular drills to help teach a youth soccer player how to kick a soccer ball well in a flash.

Soccer Bowling

Played much like the regular sport of bowling. First start off with at least two separate groups of players with 2-3 players in each group. Next, set up six small orange cones in a triangle pattern about 5 to 10 feet away from where the player will be kicking. At the start, the first player from each group kicks the ball, trying to knock down as many cones as possible. Then, the player must run after and retrieve the ball with his or her feet, and dribble or pass it to the next player in line prepared to shoot.

This game is an excellent way of teaching how to kick a soccer ball, and kids love it. During the course of the drill, each player should be focusing on aiming the shot, and kicking the ball with the side of the foot and proper form.

Whats exceptional about this drill is that it not only teaches them to focus on accuracy, but it also teaches a lesson on ball control. The player who likes to blast the ball every time they kick will also face the misfortune of having to run further after the ball to retrieve it.

This quickly temper’s the power kickers tendency, and teaches them to kick just hard enough to knock the pins (or cones) down, but not so hard that the ball flies 20 feet past the cones.

The dribbling and/or passing off to the next player also reinforces urgency in maneuvering the ball while keeping control.

Red Light Green Light

A youth soccer team reincarnation of an old classic. Basically much like the original game, but with a little twist.

Players start off at the goal line at one end of the field, with the coach at the opposite end. The game starts when the coach faces his or her back towards the players and the whistle blows. The players are then to dribble the ball toward the coach as fast as possible while still maintaining control. Every few seconds the coach yells, “one, two, three…Red Light!”, and turns around to face the players. All players should have stopped the ball completely with their foot on top of the ball. If any players are in motion still or do not have their foot on top of the ball, the have to go back to the starting point.

Children love this game because its competitive and suspensful at the same time. Nobody knows for sure exactly when or how fast the coach is going to say, “one, two, three…Red Light!”.

Sharks and Minnows

Another exciting game for youth players is Sharks and Minnows. In this game the coach is the shark, the players the minnows, and the field is the shark tank or aquarium.

To start, all the players have their own soccer ball which they begin to dribble within the boundaries of the soccer field. While they are dribbling, if they accidentally go outside the boundaries of the field they are immediately “frozen”. The only way they can get unfrozen is for another player to dribble and pass their ball through the legs of the frozen player.

The excitement comes in when the coach randomly approaches players saying, “shark, shark, shark, SHARK!” while trying to kick the ball out of control of the player being approached.

The same excitement kids display when playing a good game of tag is what you can expect here. More importantly though it teaches the child to look up from the ball while dribbling. And the best part is that they don’t even know they are learning the technique…they just want to get away from the Shark!


If you want to learn more, go to this website here: How to Kick a Soccer Ball