Offside?

Every season U11 coaches ask me the how they should teach the offside rule to their players.  My typical answer was to gradually explain the rule during practices and games after an offside offense occurs.  I certainly would never suggest that coaches carve out any significant time in practice to go over all the details of the rule.  U11 and U12's usually don't possess the attention span or desire for a lecture of this nature.  Offside offenses rarely have any significant impact in 8v8 games so it always seemed appropriate to let the players absorb the details of the rule gradually as they mature through the U11 and U12 age groups.

At this year's coaching meeting, Coach Roxanne Martinez told me how she used online videos to teach her players the offside rule.  I thought that this approach was perfect.  Coaches pass the video links on to the parents who then sit and watch the short video with their son or daughter.  This way everyone learns the correct interpretation of the 11th Law in FIFA's Official Rules of Soccer.

Here is the best Youtube Video that I found on the Offside Rule.  The only part of the rule that it fails to explain is that you can not be offside on a throw-in.