Tag Archives for " Motivation "
- Home
- Motivation
Motivation to Score
I've always had a standing challenge to my teams (U13 and below), if they score a headed goal, I buy ice cream for the next practice. It's been a way to encourage the players to try and score with their head if they can. This has been most successful with the girls teams I have coached. The extra incentive has become something that the team rallies around.
After spending a few weeks working on our combination play to score we played very well in our next games. Two of our three goals came from combinations in the middle of the field.
Another area that I've wanted to address
Continue readingKeeping Sessions Fresh During the Winter
With our harsh Midwest winters we are forced to do most of our training indoor. This usually means training in school gymnasiums. They vary in size but most are much smaller than the spaces we use outdoor and severely limit what training topics can be covered.
We do a lot of technical dribbling and passing work during this time because the players get a lot of touches, the sessions are easily scaled to the number of players at training and small spaces actually help to increase the pressure on the players. It requires them to keep closer control and be more aware of open space.
While these sessions are great for technical development, they are
Continue readingFinding the Motivation to Try
This post is a follow up to a previous post called, "Developing Confidence in Young Players" from our Soccer Conditioning Experts at SoccerFITAcademy.com. This post advances on those ideas.
“Things are hard when you HAVE TO…but become easy if you WANT TO…”
- Alan Stein
What motivates younger players? Not surprisingly it is the same things that motivate all of us when we are placed in an unfamiliar position or situation. In the beginning, it all comes down to three simple things that have total control on our confidence to get involved…
Continue readingDeveloping Confidence in Young Players
This weeks post is inspired by a post from our Soccer Conditioning Expert, Scott Moody with Soccer FIT. He talks about the spiral that occurs as a result of a player either being confident or lacking confidence. Players that lack confidence will also lack motivation, be more reluctant to try and as a result have perform low level of skill. This will confirm the players lack of confidence and the spiral continues. But we, as coaches, can turn this spiral in the opposite direction by encouraging them to attempt a small part of the skill, praise them when they
Continue reading3 Simple Rules for Youth Coaches
As a coach I focus most of my session planning and design around the techniques and tactics that my players need to improve their performance and reach their goals. Reading this post from Scott Moody, our Conditioning Expert at the Soccer FIT Academy, I was reminded that it is not enough to coach the physical and mental part of the game. It's my responsibility to trigger the players imagination and passion for the game so that they will continue to enjoy the process of training and playing. Without this passion they are more likely to give up playing because
Continue readingWhat Can Soccer Learn from Basketball?
The post below from our Conditioning Expert Scott Moody with Soccer FIT got me thinking about how we inspire our young soccer players in the United States. As the quality and reputation of the MLS grows and more American players find success in the top leagues around the world, dreaming of a future in professional soccer is becoming an ever more realistic goal. Sure, reaching that level is a long shot as it always has been for kids playing basketball in school yards around the country but not so long ago it was almost impossible.
The dream of playing professionally will help young players develop to the very limit of their potential. They won't all make it to
Continue readingParent 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
Continue readingPlaying Under Pressure
This is a post from the Soccer Fit Academy. It is from Missy Geha, SoccerFIT Academy trainer. Her post reflects her thoughts on a recent article from goal.com. Most young soccer players react in the same way as the professionals do in tight games. One would think after playing for so many years that keeping
Continue readingLosing the WILL to WIN
This 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 reading