This is a passing practice session that I have run with various age groups. I like it because you can coach just the basic technique or you can go into great detail depending on the age and ability of the players in the group your working with. Each phase can also be made competitive which
Continue readingToday's post is from guest blogger, Lawrence Fine. Fine is the author of four of our weekly email newsletters and a number of top selling coaching books. I was a good patient and therefore I can be a doctor. I can drive a car and therefore I can manufacture an automobile. I like to eat
Continue readingI've always liked the way that Anson Dorrance attempts to quantify everything that his teams do in practice. Keeping score creates motivation and encourages a competitive attitude better than anything else. This also creates a benchmark that you can test against later in the season to gauge how effective your training sessions have been in
Continue readingAs August approaches many teams in the Midwest United States are starting their preseason program, including my U12 girls. At this age I think it’s important for the kids to have a break during the summer months and have time to just be a kid. This makes preseason even more important because I need to
Continue readingIn the last week of May many teams enter their final week of practice before the end of the league season and end of the year tournaments. At least this is the case for our teams in the Midwest. If a team is not participating in State Cup and are one week away from the
Continue readingIn the current issue of the NSCAA Soccer Journal, Editor, Dr. Jay Martin discusses what he sees as the difference between a "Coach" and a "Trainer". His thought is that a trainer can possibly set up a drill/exercise or even plan a training session, but can't really coach that session. Whereas the coach can set
Continue readingWhile I was planning my sessions for this week I thought about how lucky I am to have access to a wide variety of goals. My club trains at the Overland Park Soccer Complex which will host the 2010 US Youth Soccer National Championship. There are 12 lighted Tiger Turf fields that each have as
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 readingI couldn't help posting this. I've given it some thought and I can't come up with a missed goal chance worse than this that I can remember. Check it out at about 1 min 25 seconds. I know there must have been other incredible goal line misses that you have seen over the years either
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 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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