Blog

Youth soccer training tips, development insights, and updates from the FlickTec team.

An empty youth soccer sideline bench with a ball and a medical kit bag, representing the youth soccer concussion protocol and removal from play

Youth Soccer Concussion Protocol: Signs, Return to Play, and What Parents Should Expect

Your child takes a knock to the head at practice. Here is exactly what happens next: the signs to watch for, the six-step return-to-play progression, and the timeline parents should actually expect.

An empty youth soccer field at golden hour with autumn leaves along the sideline, at the end of the fall youth soccer season

How Long Is a Youth Soccer Season? Weeks, Games and Time Off by Level

Rec seasons run about ten weeks. Club soccer runs in blocks across nine months. Here is what each calendar actually looks like, how many games U.S. Soccer says is too many, and the one month nobody schedules off.

A youth soccer player sliding low across wet grass toward the ball, illustrating slide tackle rules in soccer

Slide Tackle Rules in Soccer: When It's Legal and When It's a Red Card

A slide tackle is not a foul. Nothing in the Laws of the Game bans it, from any direction, anywhere on the field. What decides it is how the challenge was made — and "I got the ball first" has never been the answer.

Close-up of the white penalty spot and the curved painted line of the penalty arc on green grass, illustrating soccer field lines and markings

Soccer Field Lines and Markings Explained: What Every Line Actually Does

The touchlines, the six-yard box, the mysterious "D" at the top of the penalty area, and the build-out line that only exists in youth soccer. Here's what every line on a soccer field actually enforces, straight from Law 1.

A tournament bracket board and printed match schedule on a sideline table next to a soccer ball, illustrating how youth soccer tournaments work

How Do Youth Soccer Tournaments Work? Formats, Points and Tiebreakers

Group stage, three points for a win, then a bracket — but the tiebreakers decide more weekends than the shootouts do. Here is how youth soccer tournaments are actually scored, from the rulebooks that govern them.

Close-up of a worn soccer ball on grass showing the valve and printed inflation pressure marking, illustrating how to read FIFA quality marks and specs on a soccer ball

FIFA Quality Marks Explained: How to Choose a Soccer Ball That Lasts

Three FIFA marks, seven lab tests, and one number that actually predicts whether a ball survives the season. Here are the real published thresholds — and why they stop meaning much the moment your child is on a size 4.

Goalkeeper gloves resting on a soccer ball inside the six-yard box, illustrating goalkeeper rules in soccer

Goalkeeper Rules in Soccer: Handling, the Back-Pass, and the New 8-Second Law

A keeper's hands are a privilege of location, not of position. What Law 12 actually says about the back-pass rule, throw-ins, punting at 7v7, and the eight-second count that now costs you a corner.

A soccer ball sitting on the penalty spot of a grass pitch with the goal blurred behind it, ready for a penalty kick

Penalty Kick Rules in Soccer: When It's a Penalty and What Happens Next

A penalty isn't "a foul near the goal" — it's a direct free kick offence inside the box, and nothing else. What Law 14 actually says about the keeper's feet, encroachment, rebounds and shootouts.

A soccer ball resting inside the painted corner arc of a grass pitch next to the corner flag, ready for a corner kick

Goal Kick and Corner Kick Rules in Soccer: A Youth Parent's Guide

Attacker touched it last? Goal kick. Defender? Corner. Everything else follows from that — including the 2019 rule change that means the ball no longer has to leave the penalty area.

Silhouette of a soccer referee on a youth pitch with one arm raised straight overhead, the standard soccer referee signal for an indirect free kick

Soccer Referee Signals Explained: Every Hand and Flag Signal

One arm up, both arms forward, a flag at 45 degrees — soccer referee signals carry more information than most parents realise. Here is every hand and flag signal, what it obliges players to do next, and why the referee often stays silent.