How to Coach Offsides Soccer
- 1). Explain the basic premise of the rule: you cannot be closer to the goal than the other team's second-to-last defender. The purpose of the rule is to prevent a team from having a player sit by the other team's goal and wait for the ball to come to him.
- 2). Explain the application of the rule: there is a difference between being in an offside position and being called for offside. If you are not involved in the play, you are not committing an infraction.
- 3). Explain the exceptions to the rule: you cannot be called for being offside if you receive the ball directly from a throw in, corner kick or goal kick. You are also not offside if you are in the your defensive half of the field, are behind the ball when it is played to you or the ball is played to you by the other team, regardless of where you are on the field.
- 4). Explain the penalty for being offside: the other team is awarded an indirect free kick from the spot where the person was when he became involved in the play. For example, if a player was 30 yards away from the goal when the ball was passed to him but he received it when he was 20 yards from the goal, the free kick would be awarded at the spot 30 yards from goal because that is where the player was when he became involved in the play.
- 5). Demonstrate the offside rule. Show how a player who is in an offside position becomes involved when the ball is kicked to her. Then demonstrate how if she is in an onside position when the ball is kicked to her but she receives the ball in an offside position, she is not offside.
