All Posts by Tom Mura

Planning for the Start of the Season

With only a couple of weeks until training for the fall season begins it's time plan what I will focus on. I don't try to layout the whole season because I want to be flexible enough to adapt the sessions to what the team needs.

Like the first few series of the football game, I like to plan out my first few weeks of training way ahead of time. I know I want to cover a number of topics including some technique to knock the rust off. I also want to start talking about how were going to

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Fitness and Skills Testing

In next week's podcast on CoachingSoccerWeekly.com I discuss the preseason training routine that I perscribe for my players. One way to ensure that they actually DO the preparation is to test them at the start of the season. I also test them at the end of the season.

I use the testing put together by AthleteFIT.com. There are six tests; one fitness test, three skills tests and two speed tests.

I've found these to be a great indicator of how ready my players are to train. The test we do at the end of the season also tell me if what we have done has improved the players technically and physically. There is only so much we can do to improve speed, you either have it or you don't but one of the

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3 v 2 Defending

This week's post is from Don Herlan, author of Smedley's Drills Volumes 1-4 and Smedley's Defending 20.

This is a drill that I stole from the men’s basketball coach at St. Francis University back when I coached there. He was working with his players on defending the fast break, and I thought that I could use this same drill to work on tandem defense. And it worked great. To me, this is a classic example of what makes for a good drill—there is enthusiasm, there is learning, and there is a total involvement on the part of the players. And like all effective drills, the longer it runs, the better it gets.

‘Numbers down’ drills like this one will get the defenders a ton of repetitions with 3 v 2, 2 v 1, and 1 v 1 situations. And it is essential that they learn how to deal with the dilemma of being a man down until help arrives. Also, they will get to see all kinds of looks and combinations from the attackers—overlaps, takeovers, switches, thru runs—while having to go 1 v 1 with the dribbler at the same time. When this drill is run at top speed, it becomes incredibly game-like and valuable for the defenders.

*Note for the coaches: It takes a little while to get this drill set up and organized, and a few of the players may be a little confused at first about switching in and out of the

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Different Diamond Passing Drill

Teaching players the technical skills of the game is the most important job of a coach who is working with young players. Finding new and creative ways to help the players groove passing technique is one of the more challenging things to do. The players need hundreds of repetitions of the correct technique before their muscles can repeat the motion accurately. There's only so long that two players can stand across from each other and pass the ball back and forth before they'll grow bored and loose focus. But if you move too quickly into competitive passing and possession games, which are fun and engaging, then the players won't use the correct technique and they'll end up repeating poor passes. Remember, practice doesn't make perfect; practice makes permanent.

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So new ways to present the same technical challenge becomes the objective. One of the variations I've used is from a session that I found in our, 'Training Sessions of Europe's Top Teams'. It's a session that Jan Prujin of Ajax F.C.

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Recovering After a Tournament Weekend

The end of the year includes the most important tournaments of the year. We played one over Memorial Day weekend and our State Cup competition begins on the following Friday. I usually plan to train for an hour one each of the days in between the tournament and State Cup.

The first session is purely for recovery. I want the players to get together get warmed up and go through a couple of easy, non contact exercises and fun games to get players loose and rejuvenated after having played four games over the long weekend. The tournament was an

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Possession with a Purpose: Directional Possession for All Ages

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Coach Georgia Gwinnett College Women's Soccer Activity 1 Two Grids running at the same time with each grid containing five (5) Possession Players and two (2) Defending Players. Activity time can range from 30

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Gaining Possession

This is a training session that I've often used to work receiving. I'll return to it once a month or so. Sometimes I'll repeat the session once a week (with variations) for three weeks to focus the players on these skills.

Juggling
I begin with a juggling warm-up. It begins with free juggling and progresses to include some form of limitation depending on the level of the players.

Progressions

  • One juggle and catch - for players having trouble with the technique of juggling
  • Progressive Juggling - One and catch, two and catch, three and catch, etc.
  • Right Foot, Left Foot continuous pattern

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Throw, Receive and Dribble Away
The players each have a ball in their hands. They jog around the area, throw the ball slightly

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Changing Your 4v4 Games

Small-sided games are an excellent way to give your players a lot of touches while retaining the core elements of the game. In my opinion the 4 v 4 format is the best of all. It has everything the full sided game has but it allows for a lot more touches and opportunities for each player to contribute to the game. There's no where to hide in a 4 v 4 game.

Obviously, different methods of scoring drastically change way your players approach game. I like to challenge the players with different environments that challenge them to come up with solutions to the problems the game presents

CoachingSoccerChampions

We have three different books that I look to for new ideas when it comes to small-sided games. One of them is 'Coaching Soccer Champions'. The author, Terry Michler, is the winningest high school coach in the country. He's been the Head Coach

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Possession in a 4-2-3-1 Midfield

By Sean Pearson Area:40x30 Yards Players: 12 Teams: 2 + Neutrals Length: 20 mins This exercise focuses on the movement of your central midfield 3 and realizing when to go through the middle or when to use the wide midfielders to move the ball forward. Objectives To play through the midfield To realize the best

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Small Space Tactics

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Coach Capital University Women’s Soccer (OH) These activities will put players into situations where their space is limited forcing them to recognize tactical options more quickly and develop better problem solving. Activity 1

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