How to build confidence in Youth Soccer Players?

How many miles do youth soccer players run in a game?

Building confidence at a young age is important for a better future for kids. Especially when they participate in sports like soccer, it becomes even more important.

So, whether you are a parent or a coach, you must teach kids to gain confidence in soccer. Below are a few things that can help kids gain confidence in soccer.

How to build confidence in youth soccer players?

How do soccer players become more confident? Below are a few important things that can help youth players gain confidence in soccer.

1. Constructive criticism is very effective for building confidence

When a kid is doing something wrong, you must tell them, but there must be a positive way of doing this. Instead of teaching them harshly, you need to teach kids in a supportive way. Going harsh on kids may make them lose confidence.

So, when you provide constructive criticism, they will act on your advice in a better way. There will be higher chances of improvement, and the kid will also develop better self-confidence because of your support.

2. Kids having room to make mistakes develop better confidence.

One of the biggest mistakes parents and coaches make is not allowing kids to make any mistakes. So, as a parent or as a coach, it is important to know that mistakes help kids learn in the best way.

Making mistakes is a huge part of growing up and learning. So, if you want them to gain confidence, you must encourage them to try and make mistakes.

However, at the same time, you must encourage the kids to learn from their mistakes, which will be very effective in both confidence-boosting and soccer training.

3. Youth soccer players must never be compared.

Making a kid feel insecure about anything is one of the most common ways to lose confidence. When you compare two kids, there are chances that the inferior one will feel insecure. Thus, it will lead the kid towards a lack of confidence.

As a parent or a coach, you can compare them but never tell a kid how they lack a skill that others from the same group have. Instead, encourage them to become better than themselves. Doing so will be extremely helpful.

4. Positive reinforcement is as necessary as constructive criticism

Understand that there is a difference between support/positive reinforcement and constructive criticism. While that criticism is purely about the sport and a kid’s performance in the sport, positive reinforcement can bring all sorts of benefits for kids of younger ages.

Appreciate whenever they are performing well and celebrate their accomplishments. The improvement may be slow, but there will surely be an improvement in the confidence level of the kid.

5. Never emphasize winning too much.

Coaches and enthusiastic parents often tell their kids to win and the importance of winning a soccer game. No doubt it is a delightful feeling to win a soccer game, but it must not be the primary goal of the kid. It is because when a kid loses a game while expecting to win the game, it shatters their confidence.

So, if you want the kid to know, “how do you get rid of your fear of soccer?” teach them to do not to be afraid of losing a soccer game.

6. Make kids focus on the process with a growth mindset

Many parents and their kids start youth soccer training because of their enthusiasm for the sport. Most of them are looking for instant results from soccer training.

When a kid fails to provide the best results every time, they can lose their confidence. To make the kids build confidence, you must teach them the importance of the process.

Teach them to take their time with gradual accomplishments. Also, develop a growth mindset as that will be extremely beneficial for the kid’s better performance and confidence buildup.

7. Teach to control things that they can control

When you are playing with a team, there are specific things that you can control. Similarly, there are some things that you cannot control.

Stressing over things you cannot control can create a lack of confidence. How do you get rid of your fear of soccer? Well, knowing the things that you cannot control can help you get rid of all fears and stresses.

Some examples of those things are:

  • Audience pressure
  • Team members’ movement and passes
  • Opponent players’ moves

While you teach the kid not to stress over such things, you need to tell them to improve their control over the things they can control. Those things include:

  • Ball control
  • Making passes
  • Shooting
  • Defending

Practice can lead to improvement in a player’s game. Thus it will restore confidence.

8. Teach them gratitude

Negativity, anxiety, and stress are the things that can result in depressive situations. Usually, youth soccer player faces these when they are unable to perform on the field. So, whether the kid performs well on the field, you must encourage them to practice gratitude.

In this way, they will develop positivity about their performance regardless of how it has been. Having a broader look at their performance’s positive aspects will also increase kids’ confidence.

9. Help them set goals and objectives with fewer expectations

The last thing that can help the kid build confidence is setting goals. However, whenever you help the kid set some goals for themselves, set easy goals.

Additionally, tell the kid that it is okay to miss their goal a few times because they will ultimately achieve it. Some things that the kid can set goals for are:

  • Better communication
  • Better performance in the game
  • Practice and training goals
  • Drills and objectives

Achieving each one of the goals will help the kid to build more confidence.

Conclusion

Are you looking to teach youth soccer players how do soccer players become more confident? It will not be that difficult, but the outcome will be better than you expect. So, it is necessary to follow all the techniques to help youth soccer players gain confidence in soccer. Better confidence will help kids achieve more on the field and off the field as well.

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