If your 5-year-old kid just gained a passion for soccer or is starting as a hobby, you know it’s time to put on your supportive parent amour.
Providing essential sporting equipment is an excellent way to support your child’s interest in soccer. You can actively participate in their interest by teaching them the basic drills for soccer.
Fortunately, this article contains beginner soccer drills for 5-year-olds, what you need to train them, and some tips to help you be a better teacher.
Beginner Soccer Drills For 5-year-olds
Before entering the drills, your kid must learn interpersonal skills like teamwork and other basic social skills. After this, you can work on coordination, agility, passing, and dribbling. Below are some soccer drills for beginners.
Dribbling And Ball-handling Drills
The drills in this category improve a child’s ball handling and dribbling between obstacles.
Volcano
Equipment needed
- Soccer ball
- Cones
The cones are the volcanoes, and they should be arranged randomly or in a pattern in an ample space; your driveway should suffice.
Have your child dribble the ball between the cones, and if the ball touches a cone, ten jumping jacks should be done before returning to the drill. It should be practiced until there is an improvement from the initial performance.
Obstacle course
Equipment needed
- Soccer ball
- Cones
- Timer or stopwatch
- Tunnel
- Hula hoops
- Passing arcs
- Training ladder
Obstacle course gets children into an active mode because it involves more than one activity. After gathering the items listed above, use them to create a challenging course for your child to dribble through. If it appears straightforward at first, you can make a challenging pattern.
Tunnel
This simple drill improves a child’s ability to handle the ball and aim properly. You can make a tunnel by standing in a straddle position, then have your child kick the ball through the tunnel. For better sim, they should kick with the inside of their foot.
Freeze
Equipment needed
- Soccer ball
- An open space
Have your child freely dribble the ball in an open space; when you call out “freeze” or another code word, they should stop immediately and have their foot on the ball. It helps to improve their concentration and ability to trap a ball.
Inside and outside circles
Equipment needed
- Soccer ball
- Poly spots
The first time you pass a ball to a toddler, you notice that they kick the ball with their toes instead of using the inside or outside of their foot.
This drill helps them practice this skill and prevents their toes from being sore. Place the ball on the ground and instruct them to use the inside of their foot to kick it in circles around the poly spots.
After practicing this for some time, have them use the outside of their foot to repeat the drill. Afterward, they should switch between both sides for better ball control.
Side-to-side taps
Equipment needed
- Soccer ball
- Cones
Your child should kick the ball back and forth between the inside of their feet; this will help improve their skill in handling a ball. This training starts slowly but becomes faster as they progress and gets better at it.
Dribbling speedway
Equipment needed
- Soccer ball
- Cones
You can make a visual for your child by asking them to picture a NASCAR on the track and relate this drill with it. This drill is best done with other children.
Arrange the cones in a circular pattern with each child having their tracks and ball; on your signal, they should start dribbling their ball simultaneously and through equal distances.
It helps them know how well they can dribble a ball while keeping it in place; it also shows how well they use the inside and outside of their feet.
Red Light, green light
Equipment needed
- Soccer balls
If you are familiar with the popular Netflix franchise Squid Game, you know how this drill works. Adults stand at one end of the open space while the children stand at the other with their balls.
When the word “green light” is called, the children have to start dribbling their ball toward the adults, and when “red light” is called, the children are supposed to trap the ball beneath their feet.
Any child that continues to move even after the red light is called will start again. The goal is o determine which child makes it to an adult first. This drill improves speed while dribbling and the ability to handle a ball.
Passing and Tapping drills
The drills in this category teach children the importance of teamwork by passing and receiving the ball from another player.
Partner passing and trapping
Equipment needed
- soccer ball
- Partners
Your child should stand about 8 feet away from you, then you kick the ball toward them and see how they trap the ball. They should copy your action by kicking the ball back to you; this should continue for some time, and as they progress and improve on this skill, extend the space between you to make it a bit challenging. This drill can be done with other children as well.
Pressure passing
Equipment needed
- Soccer ball
- Cones
Use cones to make medium-sized circles; each child should stand before one cone that forms the circle. One of the players should stand in the center of the circle to trap the ball when kicked by someone from the cone.
The center player will now pass the ball onto someone else by the cone after trapping it. It is another drill that helps children accurately pass and trap a ball.
Looped passing drill
Equipment needed
- Soccer ball
- Cones
Two cones should be placed a few feet away, and a child at one side of the cone should pass the ball to the child on the other.
The child receiving the ball should trap and kick it with their right leg, and the other receiving player should receive and send the ball with their left foot. This clockwise pattern of passing and trapping should be used until it is switched to a counterclockwise pattern.
Attack
Equipment needed
- Soccer goal post
- Soccer ball
This drill will require a team of players, the offenders working against the defender. Have a child stand in front of the soccer goal (as the defender) and give instructions to the other children (offenders) to pass the ball to each other, and when you say “Attack,” the defender attempts to steal the ball from the offenders.
If the defender successfully steals the ball before you call out “Pass,” then whoever they stole it from becomes the defender, and the drill continues that way.
Defensive drills
The drills in this section teach children how to do their best to stop opposing teams or players from scoring goals.
Pirate and Sailors
Equipment needed
- Soccer ball
Try to have an equal number of pirates and sailors. This game aims for the pirate to attempt to steal the ball away from the sailors (who will have the ball). When pirates successfully steal the ball, they switch roles with the sailor.
King of the ring
Equipment needed
- Soccer balls
- Cones
Use cones to form a square in an open space and assign each player to a ball. This drill aims for the players to attempt to kick other players’ balls out of the ring while maintaining theirs. If a player’s ball leaves the ring, they are disqualified for that round.
Tips for coaching your 5-year-olds on soccer drills
If you need to learn the first thing about soccer, navigating how to start coaching kids may be difficult, but here are some helpful tips to help you get by.
- Keep the training simple and short at the start, ease them into each activity, and as they get better at it, you can make the drills more challenging
- Please encourage them to practice the fundamental soccer drills (passing, dribbling, and shooting) daily to learn other drills quickly.
- Give helpful feedback and stay positive when training them
- Ensure that each child involved in these drills should have their safety gear on, and rules against violence should be established.
- For effective practice, it is recommended that you have the required equipment at hand.
Conclusion
Children can be passionate about the things they love, and if it’s soccer, helping them by training them through drills will help to improve their skills.
Need help figuring out where to start? This guide provides some easy soccer drills suitable for 5-year-olds. These drills cover the basics of soccer and should give children a foundation for playing this sport.
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It is best to carry out these drills for soccer in an open space and ensure that each child engages in this activity wearing safety gear. The tips above should ease you into coaching kids on building their essential soccer skills.
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