Tag Archives for " Soccer "

0 The North Carolina Way

I have always admired the University of North Carolina Women's Head Coach, Anson Dorrance. He has been the Head Coach at UNC since 1979 and has won a record 22 National Championships. More than 50 of his former players have represented their country on the National Team. He is also well known for promoting and developing creative dribblers and finishers.

I've read all of his books and watched any videos I could find. So I was very excited when Dorrance agreed to headline our 2008 WORLD CLASS COACHING International Seminar. More than six hundred

1 Brain Based Learning and Differentiated Teaching

This is an excerpt of the second article in a three part series that has been contributed by John Pascarella, Sporting Kansas City Assistant Coach. The first part was published in our Coaching Advanced Players blog.

In the first of this three part series I began with a saying from Coach John Wooden:  “You haven’t taught until they’ve learned” and how this caused me to think of my own coaching style and how I sometimes find it difficult to get my points across to players in different ways when they don’t understand the initial way I’ve tried to explain it.  In that article I compared US Soccer’s Simple to Complex teaching methodology to the French Federations Whole-Part-Whole method emphasizing that I didn’t feel one was better than the other but stressed that coaches need more than one way to teach progressions so they can teach players with different types of learning styles.

In this article I wanted to expand on that idea by

2 The Most Important Age Group

When I visited the Ajax Academy they were in the final phase of selection their U8 Academy team. The process began with more than a hundred players and they had narrowed this down to the final 30. When we spoke to the coaches they emphasized that this was their most important age group. They said that this was the future of Ajax and they took great care to make sure that they selected players carefully and then assigned excellent coaches to look after their development.

The U8 teams are the foundation of any club. Without a strong development plan and coaching structure the future of the club is in jeopardy. I think that most people would agree with this. Why then

0 US Youth Soccer Nationals Come to Kansas

Each year there are 55 state championships (Ohio, Pennsylvanian and Texas are divided into two states for soccer) are held that lead to four Regional Championships. The winners of the U13 through U19 age groups for boys and girls advance to the USYS National Finals along with the winners and runners-up of their Nationals League division. This brings a total 0f

0 Club Technical Training

One of the benefits of coaching within a large club is the opportunity for continued coaching education from the Technical Director. The club I coach with is Sporting Blue Valley, an affiliate club of Sporting Kansas City of the MLS. Peter Vermes is the Technical Director and Head Coach for Sporting Kansas City but also

1 The Three Phases of Learning

When I'm adding a new drill, exercise or small-sided game to a training session I know that the players will go through three separate phases of learning; first, they need to focus on the framework and rules of the activity, then they can pay attention to the technique that the activity requires. Only then can they play with the necessary speed and intensity that will replicate a game situation.

One of the biggest mistakes I see from coaches is a lack of attention and patience to the first two phases so that they can get to the final phase. They push players to play quickly and game like before they

0 ACL Injury Overview (Research Review)

Today's post if from our Conditioning Expert, Scott Moody with Soccer FIT Academy. This post was interesting to me as a coach but also as a father of a high school aged soccer player. I'm all for anything that can help reduce the risk of injury while also improving performance.

In the past, we have put up several posts on ACL injury, rehab and risk reduction exercises, but I ran across a summary of research articles (Serpell, Scarvell, et al 3160-3176) compiled in the NSCA’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research that I wanted to break down for you. The following is a brief breakdown

0 Warm-Up for Shooting

One of the perks of being apart of WORLD CLASS COACHING is that I have access to a large library of training sessions from some of the top professional, collegiate, and youth coaches. We have published books and DVDs on every aspect and topic of coaching. I often refer to our DVD especially for new

0 Sole of the Foot Control

With the outdoor season coming to an end in the Midwest of the United States, I’m turning my attention Futsal training. For anyone not familiar with Futsal, it’s played with a ball that is one size smaller than the ball the players use outdoor (U9-U12 play with a size three ball while U13 and above

1 Maintaining Soccer Fitness Indoor

The indoor season provides a change of pace and focus that I think is good for player development but you don’t want to completely lose the base of fitness that was built during the outdoor season. The challenge is that you have a limited amount of space to work with when you’re training indoor. We

0 Unique Small-Sided Games

I continue to run one practice per week outdoor with my older teams during the winter months when weather permits. This means that we are often training when the it’s pretty cold. On very cold days I organize small-sided games to keep the players moving and loose. They get a lot more out of playing

0 Training a Team with Two Goalkeepers

This is the first time I’ve coached a team with two players that think of themselves as full-time goalkeepers. We came to an understanding before the season began as to how playing time would be divided. We also decided which events they would have a chance to play on the field when they were not

0 Training a Team with Two Goalkeepers

This is the first time I've coached a team with two players that think of themselves as full-time goalkeepers. We came to an understanding before the season began as to how playing time would be divided. We also decided which events they would have a chance to play on the field when they were not in goal. In other events they would play one half in goal and not play in the other half.

This has worked well in large part because everyone has known what to expect and there have been no surprises. I also think it has been very good for both goalkeepers because there is an element of competition that

0 Unique Small-Sided Games

I continue to run one practice per week outdoor with my older teams during the winter months when weather permits. This means that we are often training when the it's pretty cold. On very cold days I organize small-sided games to keep the players moving and loose. They get a lot more out of playing games than they would if I tried to coach specific concepts.

Playing small-sided game should not be a matter of dividing up into two teams and throwing the ball out. My favorite small-sided games are those that

0 Maintaining Soccer Fitness Indoor

The indoor season provides a change of pace and focus that I think is good for player development but you don't want to completely lose the base of fitness that was built during the outdoor season. The challenge is that you have a limited amount of space to work with when you're training indoor. We use a school gym, and a small one at that. I look for exercises that mimic the movement patterns of the game while using space as economically as possible.

The warm-up below is from Dave Tenney

0 Sole of the Foot Control

With the outdoor season coming to an end in the Midwest of the United States, I'm turning my attention Futsal training. For anyone not familiar with Futsal, it's played with a ball that is one size smaller than the ball the players use outdoor (U9-U12 play with a size three ball while U13 and above play with a size four). The ball is also constructed to have a low bounce to help keep it on the floor. The game is played on the same surface as a basketball court so the ball moves very quickly. These characteristics mean that it is sometimes easier to control with the sole of the foot rather than the inside of the foot.

During the outdoor season I discourage

0 Warm-Up for Shooting

One of the perks of being apart of WORLD CLASS COACHING is that I have access to a large library of training sessions from some of the top professional, collegiate, and youth coaches. We have published books and DVDs on every aspect and topic of coaching.

I often refer to our DVD especially for new ways to approach topics to keep my coaching fresh and interesting to the players I work with. I think we're all probably guilty of using the same few drills or exercises for a specific technique over and over. This can be a good thing because it allows us to focus on teaching the game rather than having to spend a lot of time teaching the drill. But changing things up on occasion can breath new life into a stale session and motivate players to perform at a higher level with the addition of new challenges.

In the past if I was looking for a new warm-up for a shooting practice I would have to scan through three or four DVDs to find what I'm looking for. This changed

1 Should Speed and Agility Training Change with Age?

This article comes from our conditioning experts at Soccer FIT Academy. Our club is fortunate to work with Scott Moody and his trainers at Soccer FIT. This post caught my eye because we are currently working with Scott to set up Speed and Agility goals for the wide range in age groups that we deal with. We have more than 6,000 players in the club and the level goes from elite National League teams down to recreational.

Many aspects of sport are progressed as players develop, but speed and agility training is often not one of these things. In basketball and soccer we start off playing small sided games at 6- or 7- years old (3v3) and then progress to

0 November Magazine Preview

Each month we add a new magazine update to the Member Drills Database. The magazine contains training sessions, videos and articles presented by top teams and coaches from around the world.

Here's part of a training session presented by Chelsea FC Academy coach Chris Woodword. The session focuses on 1 v 1, 2 v 1 and 2 v 2 situations that lead to a zonal game.

0 Increasing Confidence in Possession

Teaching players how to protect the ball until the option to shoot or pass is available is extremely important if you want your team to keep possession and learn to build an attack. There will be times when there isn't an open team mate and they need to buy some time and create some space before support arrives.

The first thing I do when working on this topic is to have the players focus on the quality of their first touch. A player's first touch can put them into a tackle

0 Is the 4-3-3 Making a Comeback?

This blog post from Vasco Mota Pereira of 'Combination Play' got my attention recently. It contends that the 4-3-3 formation may come back into vogue despite the popularity of the 4-2-3-1. It's an interested point of view that I thought you would enjoy. 

Football, like most (all?) things in life, has its trends. Not that many years ago, playing anything other than a plain 4-3-3 would be sacrilegious (let's leave England alone, for now). In fact, when 4x2x3x1 started rearing its head, with Quique Flores its main champion, it was a bit criticized (including here) for numerous reasons. On the other hand, just like the two-man midfield, a three-man defense looked all but dead, some reminiscence from the Beckenbauer times. As this text is getting to you, it seems impossible to get away from either 4-2-3-1 (or 4-4-1-1, which is basically the same thing) or some version of a three-man defense (especially in Italy), nowadays - and there is hardly any team playing a true version of a 4-3-3.

A typical 4-2-3-1 formation

It is often said (with good reason) that games are not won on paper, sincethere is no one given tactical system that is

1 Shooting at the End of Every Practice

Like many coaches I focus on one particular aspect of the game during each training session. Sure, I try to train the technical, tactical, physical and psychological components around the specific skill so that the practice is as economical as possible. But in the past if my focus was on passing and receiving I wouldn't have thought about ending the session with any type of shooting.

When WORLD CLASS COACHING conducted a tour of Dutch club a few years ago I was fortunate enough to attend. While visiting the Ajax Academy I watched a session presented by

0 Game Speed Test Developmental Report

Today's post is from our Soccer Conditioning Expert, Scott Moody at SoccerFIT Academy. I've posted some of their information on speed, fitness and agility testing in the past because I think Scott is on the leading edge of soccer conditioning in the U.S. and I work with him through our Sporting Affiliate Club in Overland Park, KS. Here is his latest update on the testing they have been doing with clubs and coaches around the world. I thought you'd find it interesting and helpful especially since there's no cost to test your players and see how they stack up. It's also a great evaluation tool that can be used to assess the progress of the players over the course of a season, year or career.

We now have over 700 coaches in 30 countries using the SoccerFIT Game Speed Test to evaluate their players and teams. Some of the college coaches have found the test a very useful preseason tool, as it shows strengths and weaknesses in SKILL, SPEED and FITNESS, and can quickly show where you are strong (and weak) as a team. We continue to support all programs using our test with eBooks and clinics that highlight our systematic approach of blending the physical aspects with the technical aspects to create a more applicable (and efficient) way to integrate speed, agility and fitness into normal practice sessions.

On the club level we have started testing all the teams and players in various clubs to create a clear picture of the developmental process within the club. Below is a graph of the girls side of one club we consult with (from U11 to U18). We ranked the teams

2 The Importance of Teaching Individual Defending

I think coaches spend a lot more time teaching offensive skills and techniques than they do teaching young players how do defend individually and in small groups. The attacking techniques of dribbling, passing and shooting are easy to create training sessions around and they are definitely the sexier skills of the game. But teaching a young player to defend a 1 v 1 effectively is vital to their development as a player.

This point was driven home to me last weekend as my teams played their first games of the new season. We had worked on all of the attacking skills but spent no time learning how to defend correctly. There are so many topics to cover that you just can't do it all in two weeks of training sessions before the first game. So this week