IQ Football takes the sport to another level at Craighall Sports Club
CRAIGHALL – Youngsters practice advanced drills at Craighall Park's IQ Football.
Young soccer players are learning all sorts of clever plays and how to think for themselves, currently at IQ Football.
The Craighall Park soccer academy sees small groups of youngsters take to the greens at Craighall Sports Club for sessions of fun, week in and week out.
Lately, the academy, which prides itself on producing smart soccer players, has even been doing drills without soccer balls with the youngest groups.
“This is brain-centred training, encouraging intelligent plays and helping youngsters think for themselves and adapt to different situations,” coach Sean Szabo explained.
In a particular drill, the youngsters stand in four queues opposite each other with a cone in the middle. Two children, who are facing opposite each other, run to the cone and then each turn to their left (later right) and join the next queue.
Then players from the other two queues do the same thing. Eventually, the children complete the drill while dribbling soccer balls.
While this sounds easy, for young children turning to your left and right, while a person opposite you is turning in the mirror direction, it requires concentration.
Another mini-game the children have been playing involves one-on-one matches on very small pitches.
The catch is that to score a goal you do not kick the ball through into a goal but rather stop the ball exactly on the line of your opponent’s side. “This gets them thinking about creating gaps and controlling the ball better. The small fields mean quicker reaction times, less time to think.”
The soccer academy will host a holiday clinic on 28 February and 2 March and Szabo encouraged anyone interested in joining to contact the club.
Details: IQ Football 079 607 6101.
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