If you coach a young team, you will undoubtedly have come across a youngster who is a talented player and striker but doesn’t like to share the glory and pass to teammates.
These soccer coaching tips look at how to tackle this problem, without squashing your player’s enthusiasm for the game.
One simple solution, and an approach that works well with young players, is to reward the behaviour you want to see in your team. Where a player won’t pass the ball to his teammates, you could set up a situation where you can praise this player for assisting others to score.
In training, play a small-sided game (4v4) where players can only score with their first touch. This will force your talented striker to pass. When he makes an assist, make sure you stop the game and congratulate him in front of his team mates.
In matches, give a Player of the Match award to whoever assists his team mates to score.
If you consistently make it clear to all your players that you are as impressed by good teamwork as individual skills, the message that you don’t need to score to be a star will eventually get across.