Tag Archives for " creativity "

0 Attack vs Defense with Transition

This week's Animated Drill Video is one of my team's favorite 1 v 1 and 2 v 2 games to work on attacking and defensive skills. The quick changes from attack to defense also makes this an excellent environment to train transition. The diagram is being created with the session planner on Planet Training that is available through

0 Playing Beyond the Obvious

By Alex Trukan Playing football is based on constant decision making. Players on the ball and off the ball have to decide which option to choose from a number of those available. This is based on cues and triggers – a player sees a certain picture and reacts to it in a certain, trained way.

0 Competitive Shooting Pattern

This week's Animated Drill Video shows a fast paced and functional shooting competition that puts your players in situations that they will face in the game. The competitive aspect puts pressure on the players to perform. [wpsharely id="6889"][wpsharely][/wpsharely] The diagram is being created with the session planner on Planet Training that is available through the Member Drills Database.

0 Training Creative Goalscorers

This week's Animated Drill Video looks at a great environment for training goalscoring because there are so many different variations and progressions you can use. [wpsharely id="6889"][wpsharely][/wpsharely] The diagram is being created with the session planner on Planet Training that is available through the Member Drills Database. Please share your ideas for variations of this exercise in the comments

0 Training Movement in Futsal

In any sport, movement is the key to creating options. When players don't move or move in easily predictable ways they become easy to defend. The fewer players that are involved in the game, the more important movement becomes. With only four field players, Futsal places a high demand on player movement to pull the defense out of position and create openings to attack.

I attending the recent US Youth Futsal National Level 3 course in Gardner, KS. It was conducted by US Youth Futsal Technical Director Keith Tozer. The 20-hour course covered the basic techniques and

0 Creativity to Create Goalscoring Chance

By Stevie Grieve

One element in tactical development is the ability of players to do the unexpected to open up scoring chances. Tactics allow for the team to have a structured playing style which leads into a game process to find a way to win a game, but often a game is won by players in attacking areas making a chance to score from a piece of inspired play, often in tight situations.

Origi creates a chance for Chadli

De Bruyne dribbles inside to look for a diagonal pass into the feet of a player between the lines or into the

0 Creativity in the Final Third By Real Madrid

By Stevie Grieve

Real Madrid went into the European Super Cup match against Sevilla on the back of a summer of spending on big names Toni Kroos, and James Rodriguez. It will be hard for Carlo Ancelotti to balance his squad trying to accommodate Sami Khedira, Xabi Alonso and Angel Di Maria within the starting 11, but this is a task the biggest manager must face if they are to be successful. Angel Di Maria brought balance and stability to the team, and a high assist ratio, something which Mesut Ozil brought to Cristiano Ronaldo (it seems as though assists aren’t enough to stay at Real Madrid).

With the players they have, creativity and quality in the final 3rd is not in short supply.

Ronaldo goal from Bale early cross – eliminated the possibility of the full back recovery

As Ronaldo switches play to James, Bale is wide to offer an outball should James be pressed. The main aspect of this scenario is that the

1 Being Creative with Free Kicks

When you see a free kick with in shooting range in a game today you just see a shooter, a wall and a goalkeeper. These are great examples of an ability to strike a ball but how many times do they end up like this? Ok, maybe not as bad as some of those but

1 Balancing Creativity and Decision Making

This is an area that I'm constantly thinking about. Especially with players that are moving from one developmental stage to the next. My focus currently is on my U10 that plays in a U11 division. We have focused on individual technique to the point where they are very confident with the ball. But at times

0 Creativity Through Small-Sided Games

For over 20 years I have coached teams of all ages and abilities from U6's to U18's and from recreational teams to national champions.  And over the years, my coaching philosophy has steadily changed to using more small-sided games in my training sessions...and for the better.

I find that not only do players prefer to play small-sided games, they are a better way of teaching skills, technique and tactics than typical soccer drills and exercises.

Small-sided games also allow players to express their creative side much more than when standing in a line waiting for their turn to make a pass or take a shot for example.

So I am really excited about our new book, Developing Creativity Through Small-Sided Games.  And you can get it either in print OR as an immediate download eBook.

Try more small-sided games in your training sessions and you

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.