All Posts by Mike Saif

14 Transitioning to a 4-3-3

This summer I spent a good bit of time reading through the U.S. Soccer Federations latest recommendations and coaching curriculum. There really isn't anything new or ground breaking presented but the one thing that caught my attention was the recommendation that teams playing 11 v 11 should consider playing in a 4-3-3 formation.

I've never put too much emphasis on the formation my teams played. I focused on how the team played within the formation which was usually a 4-4-2 or occasionally a 3-4-3. Looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the 4-3-3 I realized how much the players could learn from the fluid nature of the system. There are so many decisions for the players to

1 Attacking and Reading Defensive Situations

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on attacking and reading the defensive situation.

Start with an attacker with the ball around 30 yards from ball.  There are 5 defenders spread out and a keeper in goal.

The coach calls a number and as soon as the number is called the attacker tries to get to goal and that number defender sprints to defend.

1 Reactions and Covering Balls

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on reactions and covering balls.

Start with a 10 x 10 grid.  A keeper starts on one end line, in the ready position, and a server starts on the other end line with a ball in his hand

1 Integrating Quick Feet with Ball Skills

In our weekly summer camps at the SoccerFIT Academy we structure each day with a specific focus and then approach each day with an effort to:

1. Broaden the players understanding of the athletic aspects required to perform that specific skill
2. Integrate the ball into these foundational movements to bridge the gap between athletic movement and athletic skill
3. Apply these skills in small-sided games (SSG’s) and fitness activities that allow players to attempt these skills at speed in specific situations.
   Continue reading

5 Barcelona's Goal Scoring Secret

Barcelona are the team of the moment.  Everyone is talking about them, and for good reason.  They are hands down the best team in the world right now and many people are making the case that they are one of the best teams of all time.  All this is based on the skill level of their players, the incredible teamwork, quick one and two-touch passing and the way they out play their opponents and dominate the time of possession.  It's no wonder they win so many games and score so many goals.

But there is one part of their game that doesn't get much attention, and yet it is critical in my view, and is the difference between them being a good team and a great team.  It is the difference between them winning games against the likes of Real Madrid and Man U and dominating possession or finding themselves in close fought battles...not to say that those games are not close fought battles, but take the Champions League Final against Man U.  It was as one-sided a game in the final that I can remember.  Or Saturday's game v Man U...Barcelona had 69% v 31% of the possession.

So what is this part of the game that really makes Barcelona special? 

0 Adding Defensive Pressure to Shooting Activities

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s topic deals with adding defensive pressure to shooting activities to make it more realistic.  There are some excellent examples of this in the book Modern Attacking & Goalscoring by Liverpool Academy coach, Phil Roscoe and Mike Vincent.

This can best be demonstrated using an activity I wrote about a few years ago (and is a nice little passing/shooting activity). This is a simple three person combination using the D as the work area.  One player starts at each corner of the D and one player is at the top of the D.  There are other players behind the first player in one line and they all have balls.

3 Footwork, Recovery and Shot Blocking

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on footwork, recovery and shot blocking.

Start with 4 balls making a square 10 yards apart.  A keeper is in goal and a server is inside the D with some balls.

The server calls a number and the keeper has to sprint to that ball and make a breakaway save on the ball.

11 Our Game - Immersion v Submersion

Today’s post is by our Conditioning Experts at SoccerFIT and their partner Tristan Tillette. Tillette serves as Director of Performance at Elite Sports in Birmingham, AL and On-Line Training Director of AthleteFIT.com

This is the second post of the OUR GAME series – discussing the physical, technical, and psychological development of our youth as it pertains to the rest of the world.

The date is May 30th, 2011 and Barcelona is king of the futbol world.  They “el rondo”ed Man U and Sir Alex on their home turf.  The Catalans have become rock stars on the world's stage of the world’s game . Soccer Ga Ga’s if you will . Their style, flair, and creativity gives every second on the pitch a “what will they do next” type of feel. While their talent and skill is to die for, their passion joy is to LIVE for!  What makes Barca BARCA isn’t their skill and flash but their love for the game and a deep commitment to the club and each other. Every player – from “the Flea” to the U9 keeper – is submerged in the culture of FC Barcelona .

That brings me to this point – What will it take for this unconditional love for the game,  for the club, and for each other to swim it’s way across the Atlantic and infiltrate our soccer landscape?

4 Failure, Success and the Birth of Creativity

We develop through failure…it’s how we learn.

For players to truly develop their skills or talent to their fullest potential, we need to keep them engaged in the process. Adversity, challenges and failures can be tremendous learning opportunities that motivate and engage players that train in an environment designed to teach them to adapt and overcome. Or, if not utilized correctly, failures and challenges can be stumbling blocks of discouragement that hinder a player’s progression towards their goals. It’s all about the way we view failure, and the path we take to persevere through challenging times. This all comes to fruition in the teaching and learning strategies we as coaches implement with our players.

In our programs, we try and attack this within each repetition, each drill, in every session.

0 August Issue of WORLD CLASS COACHING Magazine Uploaded to Member Drills Database

Yes we have uploaded even more content to the Member Drills Database. The August issue of the WORLD CLASS COACHING Magazine has just been uploaded. Included are:

• A timely article by Kendall Reyes on how Barcelona have mastered the art of attacking
• Some Dutch defending drills from Jan Pruijn
  
• A lively six-goal small-sided game that your players will love from the Aspire Academy, Qatar
• A soccer conditioning article that looks at the importance of research
  
• Some fun games for young players from FineSoccer
  

NOW WORKS ON ANDROID - I'm excited to announce that this July issue and all future publications from this date forward will now work on Android devices as well as iPhones and iPads. All existing publications will be updated over the next few months.

Here is a testimonial from Craig Scriven of USSSA. We have recently completed an agreement for all 4,000+ USSSA coaches to have unlimited access to the Member Drills Database. Check out the other testimonials from the likes of Anson Dorrance and Randy Waldrum below.

"One of my main goals as USSSA National Director is to find ways in which our association can help all USSSA coaches and players. With the Member Drills Database, WORLD CLASS COACHING has provided this opportunity; we can now supply every single coach in our leagues with quality and specific training sessions. By doing so we create a learning environment for all players and coaches that will help develop the individuals in our programs. The Member Drills Database offered by WORLD CLASS COACHING has significantly added greater value to USSSA and is a massive benefit for our coaches and players." - Craig Scriven – USSSA National Director

And remember, we currently have a special offer when you subscribe to the Member Drills Database - WE GIVE YOU A $50 COUPON

Here is a short movie clip of a preview of the newly uploaded July issue. You can see more information on the Member Drills Database below.

Best Wishes,

Mike Saif

President

0 4v4 For Spacing and Support

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity is a 4 v 4 game working on support and spacing.

This game involves a 40 x 30 grid with two full sized goals.  There are 4 players on each team.  You can find many games similar to this in the book Coaching Soccer Through Small-Sided Games.

When the black team has the ball, two of their players stay back and two attack the goal.  The two who stay back are able to provide support.  So in attack, the team is playing a 2-2 formation.

2 Footwork, Anticipation and Breakaways

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on footwork, anticipation and breakaways.

Start with a keeper and a server.  There are 4 cones making up a 4 yard square and the server is just outside of one part of the square and the keeper is just outside the opposite side.  There is a ball 4 yards outside of each side of the square.

In this example the black player is the server and the yellow player is the keeper.

The server moves side to side within the boundaries of the sides of the square and the

0 Soccer Stability – Medicine Ball 1/4 Leg Squat (Juggle)

Coaches assume that a player has hip stability prior to running onto the field. However, you will regularly find your players are unstable. This is a more advanced stability drill, but it is a good one for you to try with your players to help with their stability and balance: MB – 1/4 Leg Squat (Juggle).

Purpose:
-    Establish stability in the ankle, knee and hip joint, by attempting to put the athlete off-balance with a moving object.
Coaching Cues:
-    Quarter squat position (Knee behind the toes of support leg).
-    Straighten the arm each time.
-    One foot only in contact with the ground.

0 Professional Youth Academy Training Sessions

We are excited to announce another one of our best-selling books in now available as a instant download as an eBook.  See below for a sample session from the book.

Professional Youth Academy Training Sessions, authored by Sam Saif (EUFA “A” License and F.A. Coach Educator/Tutor) who has coached in the Academies of English Premier League and First Division clubs for 20 years.  During that time he has had the chance to observe and learn from some of the most knowledgeable and creative soccer coaches in the game today.

0 Shooting - Small-Sided Games

Actual game situations provide the best training for shooting and finishing once a technical foundation has been established. I highlighted by favorite shooting game, Halfline, in a previous post. Here's a link to that post.

There are many ways to organize small-sided games so that the emphasis is on shooting. Here are a few from our book, 'Coaching Soccer Through Small-Sided Games.'

This game was from a session observed during pre-season training in Ft. Lauderdale, February 2000.

4 2v1 and 3v2 Attacking and Defending

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on 2 v 1 and 3 v 2 attacking and defending.  Attacking activities such as this one can be found in the book Training Creative Goalscorers. Start with a grid that is 50 x 40 with a midfield line.  There are full sized goals on

0 Play Fast But Don't Rush

Play fast but don’t rush. To some it might seem contradictory to say play fast but don’t rush but for me, this is one of the things that separates good players from great players. A good player plays full speed.  As soon as the ball comes to him he tries to get rid of it

2 A New Model for Game Speed in Soccer

In today’s club system it seems like every club has a different system or philosophical approach to player development.  Some focus on the technical development model in which they create aggressive, attacking players who have great “foot skills and confidence” taking players on 1v1. Other clubs focus on recruiting fast, powerful players that excel in their “kick and run” style. These players seem to take advantage of tactical mistakes, countering with long balls played over the top, in which their players simply out run the opposition for easy finishing opportunities. And some clubs stick to a style based on “possession and ball control”, spreading teams out with fluid, rhythmic movement looking to take advantages of mismatches and seems in the defense.

This post is not meant to question these styles, and at the SoccerFIT Academy we feel that each model has it’s advantages. But from a youth player development perspective, we feel it is important to provide each player with a very broad and stable foundation that can fill in any developmental gaps created by a clubs tactical philosophy.

To provide a clearer picture as to what this might look like, we use our pyramid of soccer mastery model and lump players into 3 general categories:

0 Preparing Player To Deal With Contact

Soccer is a contact sport.  Unfortunately we frequently forget about this in training so when the players do come up against contact in a game they aren’t prepared. Here is the beginning of a nice progression to prepare players to deal with contact, receive balls and react accordingly.  There is an excellent series on this