5 Ways Young Players Can Find Success In Football

Success in football can mean a lot of different things depending on perspective, whether you are a player, coach or parent. This article looks at how young players can find success in their football in order to stay engaged and still enjoy the sport.

1. Setting physical targets

Players can set themselves specific targets or be set targets by their coaches at the start of the season. For example, defenders could target a certain number of clean sheets and then midfielders/attackers could eye a certain amount of goals and assists.

These targets can help players to focus throughout the season and by hitting them it will help their team to win games. Depending on the ability of their team, coaches may also want to set group targets such as a higher league position from last year or winning the league or a cup. Again this can help to positively focus the players and gives them a real sense of success when the targets are achieved.

However, it’s important to encourage players if some targets aren’t met. Coaches and parents can point out that the players have made progress throughout the season by even getting close to said targets, so they don’t feel disappointed.

2. Making new friends

Playing football and joining a new team is a great way for young players to make new friends. Creating new bonds with people in sport can be seen as a form of success as it benefits the players away from the football pitch. 

Players go through shared experiences when training and playing matches so over time this builds trust and loyalty between them. Traits which are important to carry into life generally, for instance in a working environment people need to be able to trust their co-workers to a certain extent so they can succeed in their work together.

3. Learning new life skills

Similar to the previous point playing football in a team can teach players valuable lessons about themselves. For instance, it is the perfect place to see what role players take up within a team - is it more of a leadership role? Do they work well in a team?

As players figure this out it can be beneficial as they move through life and begin doing things away from football such as getting a job. It can also teach players how to be accountable for things because as we all know individual mistakes will always happen in football and players should learn how to take responsibility and more importantly bounce back from these mistakes.

4. Have fun

It may sound cliche but having fun is one of the main reasons players play football especially at youth and grassroots level. So if this can be achieved by coaches in their sessions and on match days then not only is it a form of success for the coaches and players but also for the parents as they will be happy to see their children enjoying the sport.

In addition to this if there is an air of positivity around the team this can feed into performances on the pitch and yield more success on the pitch in the long run.

5. Developing a new skill

Focusing on developing certain skills in training and then seeing the correct application of these skills in a game situation is a massive part of being successful in football for a player and also as a coach as they can physically see development in their team.

Younger players can focus on the more basic skills such as ball control, dribbling, passing and shooting. As players get older and they have found success with the basic techniques they can begin to refine and perfect the certain skills they will use frequently in their position. 

For instance, a winger could be focusing on crossing the ball from different areas on the pitch with variations on the type of ball e.g front post ball, low driven cross or hanging it up to the back post - check out this handy video on what type of cross to choose depending on your position on the pitch.

TopTekkers is the perfect app to develop these basic techniques so players can reach their full potential on the pitch and find success in the sport. The app is designed by Premier League academy coaches and specially aimed towards keeping children active and giving them the tools to improve their game.

BONUS POINT. Climb Leaderboards and Win Trophies

On the TopTekkers app players can achieve more success as they win trophies for each challenge they complete - Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. Players can revisit certain challenges in order to achieve a better trophy and by doing this they are improving that particular skill.

It also provides the opportunity for players to climb the leaderboards as they take part in more challenges. They can compete against players from all around the world or just against their friends or teammates.

Download it here and get started today!