All levels of organized soccer use the same types of markings, on field sizes of varying sizes. Markings on the field tell the players and referees when the ball is in bounds or out, and where the goalie can use her hands.

Soccer drills for 6- and 7-year-olds help to improve their dribbling, scoring and passing skills. Drills also help develop teamwork and communication skills for each of your young players, which can improve team chemistry and their ability to win games.

Soccer players who compete one day a week in a game need to devote five other days a week to their workout routines, notes Greg Gatz, conditioning coach for the University of North Carolina’s soccer teams. This allows one rest day.

Playing soccer can give your body an intense workout, especially your legs. Soccer involves a lot of running -- much of it sprinting. This, combined with the repetitive kicking of the ball, can put your leg muscles -- particularly the quadriceps and hamstrings -- through a rigorous endurance and strength-training test.

Your goalkeeper needs a substantially different approach to training than your field players. The fitness demands of a goalkeeper compared to those of a field player are like “comparing a sprinter to a distance runner in track and field,” writes coach Debra LaPrath in “Coaching Girls Soccer Successfully.

Getting in shape for college soccer is a year-round process and a daily commitment. After your high school or U-18 club team finishes its season, and following one to two weeks of rest, you’ll want to begin preparations.

Most young soccer players 8 years old and under are still learning how their bodies move and are still developing their motor skills. Learning how to dribble, pass and shoot the ball can be challenging and frustrating to some players.

With no opportunity to use your hands as a field player in soccer, kicking provides your means of advancing the ball for a dribble, pass or shot. The more types of kicks you master, the more weapons you have during a game.

Soccer players may run between 5 and 7 miles during a typical 90-minute match. So their footwear must be comfortable and efficient. Soccer players must identify the playing surface to select the proper cleat lest they become stuck in mud or have their long studs slide across the too-firm ground.

Soccer allows a fair amount of legal contact, although it still falls short of being a collision sport like hockey and American football -- where frequent, deliberate and permissible violent contact is part of the game.

It's a dramatic moment in a soccer match when the referee calls for a penalty kick. When a defender commits a foul in the penalty box, play is stopped and an offensive player is given a shot on goal with only the goalkeeper playing defense.

The game of soccer -- more commonly referred to outside the United States as football -- has long been one of the most popular sports in the world. With origins that date back many centuries, soccer is played by young children, college students and professionals.