So you want your girls soccer team to play like the boys?

Before I illustrate how this can be done we first have to understand the differences between the two,If you buy any of the hot new training videos like Epic or Coerver you will notice that the training is done by both girls and boys,what you won't see is the on field use of this training.

So basically you have the adventurous nature of boys and the inherent cautiousness of the average girls soccer player,girls learn soccer in an exact way while boys in a more general one. Most boys want to learn every move possible then they want to use them on the field to embarrass their friends or opponents,while the girls will only want to learn a couple moves, then they will take a season or so to feel comfortable with them and slowly maybe a couple times a game they will start to use them because a girls soccer player doesn't want to be embarrassed.

For boys the training never ends they are playing,practicing,watching or talking about soccer all the time.The average girls soccer player comes to practice and if they don't have a sibling who plays they may not think about or play soccer until the next practice.

As a Coach,Player or Parent you are going to want to speed up this mechanism,the only way that the girls are going to ever be able to play like the boys is if we take the path of Hillary Clinton from the 90's.

When it comes to girls soccer "It takes a village"

What does that mean? Well for coaches that means handing out home work that includes both physical and mental work,for players it means working at the game like it is a game, try to have fun with the game and the game will become fun.For parents that means be involved with the improvement of your girls soccer game the reality is that your influence is the most important.

Some things the boys do like tracking balls or playing balls out of the air are just more natural for them,so spending important effort or time on trying to get your girls soccer team or individual player to excel at those abilities is probably not the best way to spend your time or resources.you can make them better in those areas,but if you focus on getting them more explosive and creative you will achieve better results.

Complete girls soccer training

Physical: You will want to use training that incorporates high levels of technical training as well as including conditioning,agility and strength training. Away from training have your players touching the ball on a daily basis and include conditioning,agility and strength training as homework.

Mental:You will want to use training that uses creative problem solving(like 1 attacker vs. 2 defenders) also praise players for creative thinking during practice or game play.Away from training give them homework that includes watching soccer games live or on TV with the idea of having them try to see alternate solutions to what the players on the field used.

So while the rules of soccer and the basics of the game are the same for both boys and girls soccer players it is important for coaches,parents and players to know how to maximize their time and training to reach your desired results.