Youth Soccer Equipment

Soccer Training

The first step in setting up your youth soccer training, whether you are a coach, player, parent, or hired trainer is to determine what equipment you need to properly train the essential skills of soccer. It can be as simple as getting the right pair of soccer cleats and shin guards to protect the player. Or you can be deciding on the types of training equipment you need for your purposes.

There are many useful items you can choose from for your youth soccer equipment depending on the age and skill of your players. Basics include cones for laying out drills on the practice field, a good set of soccer balls for proper training, a coaches board for demonstrating formations and drills to players, practice pullovers for drills and play, and then there is the more specific equipment aimed at helping players develop first touch skills on the ball.

In soccer the first touch is the most import skill a player can have in their arsenal. You can’t do anything else with success in this game unless you are able to control the ball on the first touch. Receiving the ball on all surfaces of the body whether is be the foot (top, inside, outside), the thigh, chest or head with control is crucial to be able to do any other skill in soccer. When you watch the pros play and they have such impeccable control of the ball and then you go and watch the bounce ball of rec youth soccer you will understand the difference this makes.

In order to teach and train first touch control of the soccer ball you must have tons of repetitions on the ball. It is like any other sport. You have to do it over and over again to build the key muscle memory that allow you to perform the skill under pressure in game situations.

The Pro Trainer soccer ball machine we offer is just such a tool for getting thousands of effective repetitions on the ball that builds that muscle memory. Oh and by the way players have fun doing it too! Imagine that. No more boring drills but rather you set players up taking serves from the Pro Trainer and watch them have fun and work hard to get better.

But once you have your players comfortable on the ball you need to advance the training and get them working on first touch skills such as receiving a rolling ball with the inside, outside, and top of foot, trapping an air ball with the laces, thigh, chest and heading the ball. This is where the Pro Trainer soccer ball machine can be such an effective piece of soccer training equipment. You see players at any age and skill level need to have top first touch skills in order to build game confidence. You see that confidence when you watch the top pro leagues play. Players do not worry about trapping a ball as it is almost second nature to them.

But youth soccer players who know how to run and dribble may not be able to receive a ball and control it close to them all the time. This means their head is down and they do not know where they are going next with the ball. Whether that is a pass or a a dribble into space.

By giving players thousands of effective touches on the ball they get the chance to develop real muscle memory that can allow them to control the ball in the midst of a game, get their head up so they can see the field and know where their options are for teammates, and as such they will make fewer mistakes.

We recommend using the Pro Trainer, a dedicated set of soccer balls and a space of 15 yards by 25 yards to train in for your group. You can set up a group of four all the way up to full team training using the ProTrainer.