Mike Saif, Author at WORLD CLASS COACHING Training Center

3 Overtraining or Undertraining?

There have been many articles written over the past few years about youth overtraining. We have all read about too many games in the high school season, too many games in a weekend during the club season, too much speed and agility training during the season and too much participation in multiple sports during in the same season. This, we commonly refer to as, Overtraining. But as the fall season wages on, I am noticing a whole new problem that is beginning to emerge...Undertraining.

0 Improving Strength During the Season

There seems to be somewhat of a controversy on whether or not a coach should try and improve the strength of his or her athletes during the season. In this quick article we will mention some of the strategies that teams are implementing and the factors that will determine the success of each of those strategies.

0 Building a Better Athlete

When you start to seriously look at becoming a better athlete you must do things in the right order. This systematic progression may seem to progress at a slower pace than what you had in mind, but you will notice positive changes in your speed, strength, power, and confidence every step of the way.

1 The Importance of Leadership

Leadership So many teams, coaches, organizations etc are looking for leaders. It seems to be one of the biggest weaknesses in society (much more than just a soccer team problem) yet we, as coaches, frequently get rid of some of our leaders. Too often, we think of leaders as being the positive role models (some

1 Different Ways To Train Possession

Possession and combination play is such an important part of soccer that it’s important to find different ways to work on this. There are many variations to a game such as this. You can see some of them in the DVD Small-Sided Games to Improve Possession. One way to work on this is below. Start

1 Parent Your Best..

My post this week comes from our Soccer Conditioning Expert Scott Moody at SoccerFIT Academy. I thought you would find it interesting because it includes a survey that could gather some very useful information for coaches and parents alike. I will share the results in a future blog post. We are always looking for ways

4 Should we judge players based on their size or Speed

Should we judge players based on their size? How about their speed? What about their juggling ability. One effective way to judge players is based on their TIC Technique Insight Communication A player can be in the right spot at the right time and know what to do but without the technical ability to execute,

1 Small-Sided Game For Wing Play

Here is a great small sided game to work on using width while still looking to get to goal. There are many small sided games that can be played such as this one. To see others check out the DVD Small Sided Games of the World’s Top Teams. In this game, it’s a 40 x

3 Ways that Sports Nutrition Should be Different for Youth Athletes

In addition to being a youth soccer coach I'm also an avid runner. I listen to a lot podcasts and review blogs from a number of sources in a search for the latest training information. A recent post by Ben Greenfield of BenGreenfieldFitness.com focuseds on the different nutritional needs of young athletes as opposed to

1 What Is Mental Toughness?

It’s invaluable for a player to have mental toughness but the question one must ask yourself is “what is mental toughness?” There are three types of mental toughness Endurance Pressure Concentration While endurance is frequently thought of as a physical thing it’s also a mental thing. Regardless of how fit a person might be there

1 Recovery Runs For Defensive Support

When teaching the recovery run to provide support defensively it’s important to teach the players to: Assess Cover Communicate This can be worked on using the following activity. Start with an attacking player 15 yards from the defending player. There is a second defender beside the attacker. The ball starts with a server on the

0 Technical Passing and Dribbling Session

The Technical Director for the club I coach with, Blue Valley Soccer Club, is Peter Vermes, who is also the Coach and Technical Director for Sporting Kansas City. Peter and the other directors of the club run sessions for the coaches two or three times a year. The sessions cover a variety of topics and

2 Player Evaluations

I thought I would share an evaluation I have used for many years with teams. It’s one of the most effective tools I have used to get a better understanding of each player, the team and my relationship with the team. It’s also a great way to encourage thought and communication. I typically use it

0 A Shooter or a Scorer?

In basketball, some players are referred to as shooters while others are referred to as scorers. A shooter is someone who is fundamentally very sound. If you give a shooter an open shot, they will typically score however, they usually struggle creating their own shots or scoring while under pressure. Scorers, on the other hand,

2 Moves and Fakes

We had a discussion in the office the other day about the difference between fakes and moves. The discussion revolved around how you can use a move that doesn't fake the defender and whether we should be teaching young players moves or how to fake. This is an interesting subject because there's no shortage of

0 Why Do Coaches Give Players the Answers?

The best players are the best problem solvers. This is a statement many coaches say (or they say something similar) and is so true but the question is, if we as coaches think the best players are the best problem solvers, why do we keep trying to give the players the answers? Coaches tell their

0 Taking and Receiving Throw-Ins

One of the areas of the game of soccer frequently neglected by coaches in training are throw ins and receiving throw ins. Watching youth games it’s discouraging to see the number of thrown ins that result in loss of possession. With many youth teams they would be better off letting the other team have the

2 Should Young Goalies Punt?

There was a recent discussion on our local soccer forum that talked a teams that were playing 'Kickball'. One poster suggested that goalkeepers should be encouraged to roll the ball out or drop it to their feet and pass their way out of the back rather than punting it up the field. I've never coached

0 Communicating With Your Players

Fabio Capello recently was quoted recently as saying “ when you speak about tactics, you don't use a lot of words. I don't have to speak about a lot of different things. Maximum 100 words’. This was said while discussing his limited vocabulary in English while coaching Englands national team. I realize coaching a national

0 Teaching Zonal Defending

Here is a great activity that works on zonal defending and penetrating passes when attacking. This activity is just one of many in the progression on zonal defending as demonstrated in the DVD Teaching Zonal Defending. Start with a 40 x 30 field with a goal on each end line that is 4 yards wide

1 Shooting Under Pressure

I'm always looking for ways to transfer shooting technique into goal scoring in games. I've used multiple games and competitive situations. Some have been more effective than others. I saw a new one last week while doing a combined training session with another coach. Many of you may be familiar with it but I had

2 Force Them Wide! Force Them Wide! Maybe Not!

Force them wide! Force them Wide! Maybe not! From early on, we teach players defensively to force players wide. We tell them to show the sideline, use the sideline as an extra defender, force them away from the center of the field. However, in the opponents back third of the field we frequently want to

0 Dribbling - Running With the Ball or After the Ball?

When discussing dribbling there are two terms to consider using. Running with the ball Running after the ball Running with the ball would be when you are dribbling in tight spaces. You might be dribbling at a defender, or trying to split two defender. Running after the ball is when you have a lot of

0 Setting the Charge, Ignition and the Launch of Skill Development…

I think most of us who coach are fascinated by what motivates players and how we can use this to draw the very best out of them. Today's post if from our Soccer Conditioning Experts at Soccer F.I.T Academy and looks at this topic in a way that I thought you'd find interesting. What motivated

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