We received an excellent DVD recently and I’ve found the information very useful with my team so I thought others might as well. In my opinion, one of the most under-coached aspects of youth soccer is awareness. We do a good job teaching the techniques of the game as well as the basic tactics of
Continue readingDo you continue to rotate player through the different positions as they get older? What is 'older'? I have always made sure to give my players experiences in a number of different positions during the season. Sometimes in positions that they weren't well suited to but I wanted them to have a chance to play
Continue readingOver the first few weeks of the season my team has played in two events. The first was a tournament put on by our club and the second was billed as a ‘Friendlies’. In both cases we played two games a day on Saturday and Sunday. I could, and probably will, do a post that
Continue readingThis is a post by Scott Moody of Soccer F.I.T Academy. It is re-posted here with his permission because I thought he made some excellent points that you might enjoy reading and discussing. I commented on a post in a soccer forum last night and I thought I would also share the post here. The
Continue readingWith the Fourth of July weekend coming up most teams in the U.S. are on their summer break, except for those elite teams that are still participating in US Youth Soccer Regionals or have advanced to the Nationals. This month long break gives the players (and coaches!) a much needed break from the regular practice,
Continue readingOkay, it's only another Champions League title (can it be described that way?), but my opinion of Jose Mourinho have sky rocketed after Inter won the Champions League this weekend. The "Special One" can certainly be described that way now. Let's look at some reasons why. He has generated success with three different clubs, winning
Continue readingEveryone benefits (if that is the right word) from the advances in technology. I am without a computer this morning due to a video card failure and have borrowed a laptop to write this post. I don't know what I will do the rest of the day but I am scratching my head to figure
Continue readingI feel that one of the most important responsibilities of a coach is to constantly evaluate WHAT they choose to teach their players, HOW they go about teaching it and most importantly, WHY they are choosing to focus on those topics. Without this kind of evaluation there is a real danger that we can fall
Continue readingWhen I work on shooting with my teams I like to create realistic situations that transfer easily into the real game. My favorite resource for these kind of exercises is a book by Chelsea Academy Coach, Michael Beale, called Training Creative Goalscorers. This is the best book or dvd I've seen for exercises that engage
Continue readingWe are starting a special promotion with the WCC Blog. Every month (or more often if I feel like it), someone who has posted a comment on the WCC Blog will win a $100 certificate to be used for books and DVDs from our web site. How do we decide the winner? - It could
Continue readingI always have a 'Fun Practice' with my teams after a tournament weekend. This break from the normal routine gives the players a chance to play some fun games and just enjoy being with their teammates. 'Fun' is defined differently depending on the age and competitive level of the team. My younger teams (U9 &
Continue readingComing out of a long winter of indoor practices and Futsal games, I'm always anxious to play our first outdoor league game of the spring. I was looking forward to it even more than usual this year because it had been more than a month since my U12 girls team had played their last Futsal
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