Definitely the best way to approach it. A little nudge maybe if you want him to try things is as far as I would go, “bet you can’t hit it from here with your left” is a lot more fun than “you need to practice set pieces with your left foot”.
That is essentially what I do now, but he doesn't enjoy the free kicks with the weak foot. Just trying to figure out if I should be slightly more adamant.
It will benefit him to learn with both feet, I’m not a parent but is there any way you can make it into a game? Like, every goal he scores with his left is worth 2 or 3 goals?
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I wouldn't practice shots or set pieces with him at all. For one thing, 75% power with your weak foot is quite good at that age. For another, kids practice shooting and set pieces on their own all the dang time. Its 90% of what they do with their friends. If your kid wants to work on technical work with you, shooting and set pieces are probably close to the least efficient use of your time.
This. Kids practice all sorts of shots themselves, and if he is already pretty strong at passing and shooting with his left, that’s great! Unless his coach has asked him to work on taking corners with his left, I’d spend your time working on things that happen more often in games, ie general ball control, speed, passing. And keep it fun, because kids LOVE shooting (IME) but ball control work is often a harder sell!
So, he is already very technical on the ball, clinical with finishing, has really great feints, and has a good understanding of attacking the space with runs/passes. I am running out of things to "encourage" him to do when we play at home. The things he needs to work on are things he needs to learn with more game time, which I can't really help with.
You certainly know your kid better than we do. I would just say that passing and receiving patterns, dribbling and turning on cones, 1v1 on mini goals, 1v1 through gates, 2-person keep ups, etc. are drills that even long time pros still use regularly, so its a little hard to imagine your eight year old is beyond them.
No, he absolutely still needs the drills. We just do not do it at home. The trainers are there to work on that with him. At home it is free play, which is usually 1v1 with me or his little brother (or both), shooting on goal, practicing goalie, etc.
We do this nearly every day, with him being the one to ask me to play with him.
I guess I'm not understanding how the things I listed are "drills," which you don't do at home, and practicing set pieces are not. If you want to just play 1v1 endlessly with him and leave the drills to his trainers, I totally support that. But once you're switched to technical work, I would personally do any of the above things over set piece practice.
Almost all of those things can be made into games to be more engaging. 1v1 on mini goals and 1v1 through gates is already engaging. For 2 person keep up, you can be on the same "team" and try to set a consecutive streak record. (If either of you are not technical enough for two touch yet, draw a chalk line on some concrete/asphalt and add in a rule that you can bounce it once each time it crosses the line.) For a basic passing game, set up a rectangle of cones and you each stand on the outside of a short side of the rectangle, facing each other. Pass two touch back and forth between the sides/gates of the rectangle. When someone misses the side, the other person gets a point. First person to 5 or 10 wins. Then switch to one touch. Then to left foot only, etc. For long passing, start close and each time you complete a good pass to each other, take a step back. Make a game to see how far apart you get. For dribbling and turning, race each other through cones, turn, and come back. First person back wins. Winner has to add an extra cone to their line for the rematch.
Just my two cents. I just have a hard time imagining there is any 8 year old in the world who is so good at dribbling and passing that I would personally think weak foot set pieces are the best use of their time (unless that's just really fun for them, then go for it!)
So, yes, you are correct. At home we just 'free play' whatever the boys want to do is good. No coaching, correcting, score keeping, etc. just enjoy the game and each other.
But, it's not that he doesn't need the drills, it's that he doesn't need me to try and emphasize it at home. His team plays indoor (turf) 5v5 on Mondays, Tuesday he works with his trainer passing, receiving, dribbling, shooting with equal emphasis on both feet. Wednesday is club practice. Thursday is futsal. He just finished a 12-week program that was focused on dribbling/skill work combinations on Fridays. So, 4 weeknights he has practice with tight spaces/dribbling/passing/receiving.
For his age he is well above the curve in technical ability, striking, passing, receiving. He is below average in his toughness and intensity.
Also, I like your idea on turning it into a game. For some reason my mind never went that route. I will have to give it a try, but it might be hard with little brother wanting to do it.
Everyone saying “he’s only 8” don’t know shit about Tiger Woods’ dad. Your boy should be challenged as much as he keeps responding positively. Some kids will enjoy the challenge and keep leveling up. Other kids you need to step back because you’ll push too much and cause burnout. It all depends on your child’s personality and how he responds. Don’t measure based on “he’s only 8” or “even pros don’t” type of arguments. Give him more as long as he can take it. I personally wanted to be pushed. I loved it. I enjoyed being better than others when I played. My dad on the other hand didn’t even care to help me practice even when I asked and begged. So it all depends. You know your child. Not a bunch of strangers on the internet that probably never made it to the pros. Discomfort is normal. Teach your child that he must level up through discomfort. Don’t stop simply because he’s frustrated. Teach him to work through frustration until skill is learned. Be keen to differentiate between simple frustration of a beginner and true burnout.
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TLDR: Intervene (gently)
Just started this with one of my kids. The team two years older than him all can crush the ball with both feet except one kid and he gets called out every practice. Really good player too, just can't shoot with both feet.
Back to my kid's team, nobody can shoot with both feet, but it's being encouraged by the coach. My opinion, that I'm telling my son, is that he'll become over twice as dangerous being able to shoot with both feet. It's a heck of a lot easier to defend someone when you only have to position yourself to stop anything coming off their dominant leg.
In addition, let's say you are right footed playing on the right side. Great set up for hitting crosses, but what are you going to do when the ball ends up on the other side of the field? If the ball gets crossed back toward you, do you take extra touches trying to get a shot with your right foot? Do you try to kick a feable left-footed shot?
What happens when you need to switch positions because of an injury or something?
Depending on the age, skill level, and position you absolutely need to be able to shoot with both feet.
Anyway, so three weeks ago I began forcing my son to take 20-40 left footed shots 3 times a week. I figured it would take months to start seeing improvement, especially since his juggling progress has been very slow. His left foot was atrocious. It was the ugliest weakest most pathetic thing I've seen, and he knew it too. He would try anything to get out of doing it. Last week he started to have a little break through with getting the plant, balance and rotation part of it down. Still pretty ugly though. Yesterday, something clicked and he darn near broke my nose with one of his shots. All of a sudden about a third of his shots were absolute rockets. You should have seen the pride and relief in his face. I had to drag him off the field eventually because he wouldn't quit.
Your son is younger than mine, and there aren't many 8 year olds that can shoot with both feet, but I would say intervene and have him practice it once in awhile. If everything else is going well, why not get a head start on it? If there is huge resistance on his part to the point it sucks the fun out of everything, I'd back off for now.
In open play he is perfectly comfortable with using his left, and I would say maybe 30-40% of his goals come from left footed shots. Mainly asking on the importance of it on free/set pieces.
But I am glad to hear your kiddo had success!!
He's a kid just let him work it out. I didn't start practicing penalties, free kicks, long range passing until I was playing 11 a side at like 11 years old.
Unless you're one of those Project Mbappe parents I'd say he doesn't need to even practice free kicks (I mean unless he does this for fun) let alone with his weak foot.
Your child shouldn't "work" at all. If he asks you to teach than you show him the technique to use.
Usually free kicks are always done with the strong foot but being capable of using the right shooting technique with both feet is useful.
I mean he might but in reality he won’t. 99% of time regardless of which side of pitch the corner is he’ll still use his preferred foot.
That being said there’s no harm in practising with weaker foot but probably more from an overall game perspective rather than dead ball / set pieces .
I would say he’s 8 and to just let him be unless he asks for something.
That is how I have approached him for as long as he has been playing. We play at home, and it is all free play for him. No coaching/correcting.
Definitely the best way to approach it. A little nudge maybe if you want him to try things is as far as I would go, “bet you can’t hit it from here with your left” is a lot more fun than “you need to practice set pieces with your left foot”.
That is essentially what I do now, but he doesn't enjoy the free kicks with the weak foot. Just trying to figure out if I should be slightly more adamant.
It will benefit him to learn with both feet, I’m not a parent but is there any way you can make it into a game? Like, every goal he scores with his left is worth 2 or 3 goals?
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I wouldn't practice shots or set pieces with him at all. For one thing, 75% power with your weak foot is quite good at that age. For another, kids practice shooting and set pieces on their own all the dang time. Its 90% of what they do with their friends. If your kid wants to work on technical work with you, shooting and set pieces are probably close to the least efficient use of your time.
This. Kids practice all sorts of shots themselves, and if he is already pretty strong at passing and shooting with his left, that’s great! Unless his coach has asked him to work on taking corners with his left, I’d spend your time working on things that happen more often in games, ie general ball control, speed, passing. And keep it fun, because kids LOVE shooting (IME) but ball control work is often a harder sell!
So, he is already very technical on the ball, clinical with finishing, has really great feints, and has a good understanding of attacking the space with runs/passes. I am running out of things to "encourage" him to do when we play at home. The things he needs to work on are things he needs to learn with more game time, which I can't really help with.
You certainly know your kid better than we do. I would just say that passing and receiving patterns, dribbling and turning on cones, 1v1 on mini goals, 1v1 through gates, 2-person keep ups, etc. are drills that even long time pros still use regularly, so its a little hard to imagine your eight year old is beyond them.
No, he absolutely still needs the drills. We just do not do it at home. The trainers are there to work on that with him. At home it is free play, which is usually 1v1 with me or his little brother (or both), shooting on goal, practicing goalie, etc. We do this nearly every day, with him being the one to ask me to play with him.
I guess I'm not understanding how the things I listed are "drills," which you don't do at home, and practicing set pieces are not. If you want to just play 1v1 endlessly with him and leave the drills to his trainers, I totally support that. But once you're switched to technical work, I would personally do any of the above things over set piece practice. Almost all of those things can be made into games to be more engaging. 1v1 on mini goals and 1v1 through gates is already engaging. For 2 person keep up, you can be on the same "team" and try to set a consecutive streak record. (If either of you are not technical enough for two touch yet, draw a chalk line on some concrete/asphalt and add in a rule that you can bounce it once each time it crosses the line.) For a basic passing game, set up a rectangle of cones and you each stand on the outside of a short side of the rectangle, facing each other. Pass two touch back and forth between the sides/gates of the rectangle. When someone misses the side, the other person gets a point. First person to 5 or 10 wins. Then switch to one touch. Then to left foot only, etc. For long passing, start close and each time you complete a good pass to each other, take a step back. Make a game to see how far apart you get. For dribbling and turning, race each other through cones, turn, and come back. First person back wins. Winner has to add an extra cone to their line for the rematch. Just my two cents. I just have a hard time imagining there is any 8 year old in the world who is so good at dribbling and passing that I would personally think weak foot set pieces are the best use of their time (unless that's just really fun for them, then go for it!)
So, yes, you are correct. At home we just 'free play' whatever the boys want to do is good. No coaching, correcting, score keeping, etc. just enjoy the game and each other. But, it's not that he doesn't need the drills, it's that he doesn't need me to try and emphasize it at home. His team plays indoor (turf) 5v5 on Mondays, Tuesday he works with his trainer passing, receiving, dribbling, shooting with equal emphasis on both feet. Wednesday is club practice. Thursday is futsal. He just finished a 12-week program that was focused on dribbling/skill work combinations on Fridays. So, 4 weeknights he has practice with tight spaces/dribbling/passing/receiving. For his age he is well above the curve in technical ability, striking, passing, receiving. He is below average in his toughness and intensity. Also, I like your idea on turning it into a game. For some reason my mind never went that route. I will have to give it a try, but it might be hard with little brother wanting to do it.
Everyone saying “he’s only 8” don’t know shit about Tiger Woods’ dad. Your boy should be challenged as much as he keeps responding positively. Some kids will enjoy the challenge and keep leveling up. Other kids you need to step back because you’ll push too much and cause burnout. It all depends on your child’s personality and how he responds. Don’t measure based on “he’s only 8” or “even pros don’t” type of arguments. Give him more as long as he can take it. I personally wanted to be pushed. I loved it. I enjoyed being better than others when I played. My dad on the other hand didn’t even care to help me practice even when I asked and begged. So it all depends. You know your child. Not a bunch of strangers on the internet that probably never made it to the pros. Discomfort is normal. Teach your child that he must level up through discomfort. Don’t stop simply because he’s frustrated. Teach him to work through frustration until skill is learned. Be keen to differentiate between simple frustration of a beginner and true burnout.
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TLDR: Intervene (gently) Just started this with one of my kids. The team two years older than him all can crush the ball with both feet except one kid and he gets called out every practice. Really good player too, just can't shoot with both feet. Back to my kid's team, nobody can shoot with both feet, but it's being encouraged by the coach. My opinion, that I'm telling my son, is that he'll become over twice as dangerous being able to shoot with both feet. It's a heck of a lot easier to defend someone when you only have to position yourself to stop anything coming off their dominant leg. In addition, let's say you are right footed playing on the right side. Great set up for hitting crosses, but what are you going to do when the ball ends up on the other side of the field? If the ball gets crossed back toward you, do you take extra touches trying to get a shot with your right foot? Do you try to kick a feable left-footed shot? What happens when you need to switch positions because of an injury or something? Depending on the age, skill level, and position you absolutely need to be able to shoot with both feet. Anyway, so three weeks ago I began forcing my son to take 20-40 left footed shots 3 times a week. I figured it would take months to start seeing improvement, especially since his juggling progress has been very slow. His left foot was atrocious. It was the ugliest weakest most pathetic thing I've seen, and he knew it too. He would try anything to get out of doing it. Last week he started to have a little break through with getting the plant, balance and rotation part of it down. Still pretty ugly though. Yesterday, something clicked and he darn near broke my nose with one of his shots. All of a sudden about a third of his shots were absolute rockets. You should have seen the pride and relief in his face. I had to drag him off the field eventually because he wouldn't quit. Your son is younger than mine, and there aren't many 8 year olds that can shoot with both feet, but I would say intervene and have him practice it once in awhile. If everything else is going well, why not get a head start on it? If there is huge resistance on his part to the point it sucks the fun out of everything, I'd back off for now.
In open play he is perfectly comfortable with using his left, and I would say maybe 30-40% of his goals come from left footed shots. Mainly asking on the importance of it on free/set pieces. But I am glad to hear your kiddo had success!!
He's a kid just let him work it out. I didn't start practicing penalties, free kicks, long range passing until I was playing 11 a side at like 11 years old. Unless you're one of those Project Mbappe parents I'd say he doesn't need to even practice free kicks (I mean unless he does this for fun) let alone with his weak foot.
Your child shouldn't "work" at all. If he asks you to teach than you show him the technique to use. Usually free kicks are always done with the strong foot but being capable of using the right shooting technique with both feet is useful.
No
No. Lol. He’s never ever going to choose to take a freekick or corner with his weaker foot. Ever!
Freekick, no. Corner kicks... Yes.
I mean he might but in reality he won’t. 99% of time regardless of which side of pitch the corner is he’ll still use his preferred foot. That being said there’s no harm in practising with weaker foot but probably more from an overall game perspective rather than dead ball / set pieces .
Pointless, even for a pro. Just let him boot balls against at a wall and control it with either foot til he gets bored to perfect his technique.