Soccer Drills for Kids - The First Touch

Hi, this is Gwen Alpert. I am with Arlington Travel Soccer Club. I have been coaching soccer for seven years and I have a U.S. Soccer Federation level B license and I am licensed by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America with the Advanced National License. Today, we are going to talk about different topics in soccer. We are going to start with our first touch soccer training and we are going to discuss today. Basically, for this you would need a soccer ball, you need some soccer shoes, you can use flats or cleats, some shorts, some comfortable training gear, maybe a watch, bring a bottle of water with you and you need a place to train. So, it helpful to maybe have some cones with you, but other than that we are good. Let's get started. Now, our first touch in the game has to be good because it's when you receive the soccer ball for the first time. There are two kinds of first touches, there's let me call a live touch and a dead touch. When I receive the ball, I pass the ball to Adam. If I receive the ball like this that's a dead touch. If I receive the ball and then I move with the ball that's called the live first touch. William just come over for a moment, stand there Adam. William come over here, be defender. If I have a poor first touch, William is probably going to get the ball, pass the ball to Adam. If I have a poor first touch, the defender will get the ball, give it back, but if I have a good first touch with one of my body serves it away from pressure it's going to allow me to keep the soccer ball and to continue dribbling. Ready Adam? Very good, so again, your first touch is important because it allows you to keep the ball and get away from pressure. Next, we are going to talk about body positioning and stance for playing soccer.