Tag Archives for " Youth Soccer "

0 Adding Creativity to Diamond Drills

As I've written in previous posts, I enjoy incorporating diamond drills into my sessions because they provide all of the principles of attacking in a dynamic format that keeps the players moving and engaged. In one post on 'Diamond Passing' I shared some progressions on the diamond passing drills that I've used in the past. Over the last two months I've introduce these to my players during a number of practices. They've done a great job with them and I can change the pattern on the fly just by saying, "Layoff-and-Go", "Overlap" or "Play the Forward". I've also seen the movements from these exercises occur in scrimmages and games so the players have made the transition between practice and practical application.

During the winter my club participates in Futsal since the Midwest winter makes it tough to stay outdoor year-round. For those not familiar with

1 Beating the Offside Trap

I've never been a fan of teaching youth teams to operate an offside trap. My feeling is that the time spent teaching this tactic is far better spent training players to better understand defending. You're also leaving the success or failure of your defense in the hands of the referees. Even with very good referees, your only one missed call away from a breakaway and likely goal.

I do believe that it's a good idea to spend some time teaching your players how to beat the offside trap. This knowledge is not only useful against trapping teams but also against teams that play a regular pressure-cover-balance defense. A book I've taken some ideas from is, 'Offside! - How to Coach It, How to Use It, How to Counter It.' This book does a great job of explaining how teach the tactic as well as how to beat it.

There are a number of different ways that you can combat the trap. I focus on four

0 4 v 4 Game Environments

During the winter season my older teams continue to practice outdoor one day per week. As I've mentioned before, we're fortunate to have one of the best turf field complexes in the nation with 12 lighted fields. So with the only weather that will stop us from practicing is ice or snow.

Since many of our training sessions will be in pretty cold conditions, I tend to play a lot more small sided game tournaments during the winter. The players enjoy this practice format and it keeps them moving so the cold is less of an issue.

We have three different books that I look to for new ideas when it comes to small-sided games. One of them is 'Coaching Soccer Champions'. The author, Terry Michler, is the winningest high school coach in the country. He's been the Head Coach

7 Possession Games

With only two practices per week with my teams I've found that it works best to focus on a technical topic (Running with the Ball, Dribbling, Control, Shooting) during our first practice of the week and then Passing and Possession progressing to a small-sided game during the second session. We also do one shooting exercise toward the end of practice just to keep a focus on that before the weekend.

I'm always looking for variations on possessions games to focus on different aspects of possession and to keep the practice fresh. I was reminded of one recently when I was looking through one of our best selling books, 'Players' Roles and Responsibilities in Systems of Play'. By creating target areas in each corner

4 Keeping Technical Passing Exercises Fresh

Teaching players the technical skills of the game is the most important job of a coach who is working with young players. Finding new and creative ways to help the players groove passing technique is one of the more challenging things to do. The players need hundreds of repetitions of the correct technique before their muscles can repeat the motion accurately. There's only so long that two players can stand across from each other and pass the ball back and forth before they'll grow bored and loose focus. But if you move too quickly into competitive passing and possession games, which are fun and engaging, then the players won't use the correct technique and they'll end up repeating poor passes. Remember, practice doesn't make perfect; practice makes permanent.

So new ways to present the same technical challenge becomes the objective. One of the variations I've used is from a session that I found in our, 'Training Sessions of Europe's Top Teams'. It's a session that Jan Prujin of Ajax F.C.

2 Diamond Drills

One of the perks of my job is that I get to see the sessions of some of the top coaches from around the world and then I can do that session with my youth teams. Sometimes I adjust the size of the areas or add neutral players to make the session work for my players but they are able to benefit from the basic ideas and the kids enjoy hearing that they're doing the same practice as professional or youth players from prominent clubs around the world.

I was looking through, 'Training Sessions of English Professional League Team', and came across a session from Sheffield United's U15 team. I've done a number of different diamond drills with my team and the variations in this

2 Adult Rules for Youth Soccer

I attended a tournament a few weeks ago with a set of rules that I haven't seen used for young teams in any other event. A player was not allowed to re-enter the game once they were substituted in each half. So a player could start the game, play for 20 minutes before being subbed but could not re-enter the game until the second half. The age groups involved were U11 to U14 girls.

The reasons for limiting substitutions in the game when it's played at the highest level make sense and contribute to an attractive and skillful game. If professional teams were allowed to 'roll' players in and out, the game would be more focused on speed and athleticism and much less on the skill of the players. There would also be substantially more physical play because if one of your defenders

1 Creating Movement and Combination Play

My U13 team that is playing in the 4-3-3 formation played it's first tournament this weekend. I think it's very beneficial to have an early season tournament so that the team plays three or four games over the course of a weekend. Generally I'm not a fan of the current tournament system and feel that they put too much emphasis on who has the fittest team rather than who has the best team. But the advantage is that you can spot areas that need to be worked on in one game and then come back and focus on those in the next game.

After an early season tournament I usually have two or three weeks of sessions in mind based things that we need to improve on from those games. This weekend we were clearly the strongest team but we ran into a team that knew our players and system of play. They sat in and played a 4-5-1 (which looked more like a 4-6-0 at times) and just looked to catch us on the counter attack. They were successful in keeping us out because we

5 Getting Our Players to Watch the Game

Last spring we were having practice and there was tie during a 1v1 competition we were having. Whenever this happens I ask the players a trivia question to break the tie. This time I asked, "Name a Women's National Team player other than Abby Wambach." One of the girls blurted out, "Mia Hamm!" The other had a blank expression on her face. These were 12 year old girls. I think I would have had much the same response had I asked a similar question of a group of 12 year old boys about the Men's National Team.

With the Women's World Cup happening this summer I organized a team get together for the final. It worked out perfectly when the U.S. made the final. In the weeks leading up to the final we talked about the way the games were going and who was playing well. I asked if the girls could name one of the U.S. defenders

14 Transitioning to a 4-3-3

This summer I spent a good bit of time reading through the U.S. Soccer Federations latest recommendations and coaching curriculum. There really isn't anything new or ground breaking presented but the one thing that caught my attention was the recommendation that teams playing 11 v 11 should consider playing in a 4-3-3 formation.

I've never put too much emphasis on the formation my teams played. I focused on how the team played within the formation which was usually a 4-4-2 or occasionally a 3-4-3. Looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the 4-3-3 I realized how much the players could learn from the fluid nature of the system. There are so many decisions for the players to

11 Our Game - Immersion v Submersion

Today’s post is by our Conditioning Experts at SoccerFIT and their partner Tristan Tillette. Tillette serves as Director of Performance at Elite Sports in Birmingham, AL and On-Line Training Director of AthleteFIT.com

This is the second post of the OUR GAME series – discussing the physical, technical, and psychological development of our youth as it pertains to the rest of the world.

The date is May 30th, 2011 and Barcelona is king of the futbol world.  They “el rondo”ed Man U and Sir Alex on their home turf.  The Catalans have become rock stars on the world's stage of the world’s game . Soccer Ga Ga’s if you will . Their style, flair, and creativity gives every second on the pitch a “what will they do next” type of feel. While their talent and skill is to die for, their passion joy is to LIVE for!  What makes Barca BARCA isn’t their skill and flash but their love for the game and a deep commitment to the club and each other. Every player – from “the Flea” to the U9 keeper – is submerged in the culture of FC Barcelona .

That brings me to this point – What will it take for this unconditional love for the game,  for the club, and for each other to swim it’s way across the Atlantic and infiltrate our soccer landscape?

0 Shooting - Small-Sided Games

Actual game situations provide the best training for shooting and finishing once a technical foundation has been established. I highlighted by favorite shooting game, Halfline, in a previous post. Here's a link to that post.

There are many ways to organize small-sided games so that the emphasis is on shooting. Here are a few from our book, 'Coaching Soccer Through Small-Sided Games.'

This game was from a session observed during pre-season training in Ft. Lauderdale, February 2000.

1 Shooting - Three and Four Line Exercises

One of my favorite books is, 'Training Creative Goalscorers'. The book is by Chelsea FC Academy Coach, Michael Beale. The focus of this book is on training shooting and finishing in functional situations that also involve an activity after shooting like defending the next player or playing a give-and-go with another player. These are the

0 Shooting - Two Lines on the Posts

This is the second in the July series of posts on shooting progressions. The exercises I'll discuss are normally part of a complete session but are shown here on their own to focus on them. The exercises shown in the first post of of this series where mostly static so that the players would really

0 Shooting Exercises - Wall Ball

During the month of June I highlighted my four favorite 1 v 1 training methods. In July I'll thought I'd go through the progression I use for shooting. The exercises are normally part of a complete session but are shown here on their own to focus on them. The first time I work on shooting

1 1 v 1 - Round Robin Evaluation

During the month of June I have been highlighting my four favorite 1 v 1 training methods. This final week focuses on 1 v 1 Round Robin Evaluation. The ultimate test of a player's 1 v 1 ability is to play a competitive game against a motivated defender. A number of coaches I know use

0 1 v 1 - Team Competition

During the month of June I am highlighting my four favorite 1 v 1 training methods. This week's 1 v 1 drill is 'Team 1 v 1'. This builds on the 'Two Line 1 v 1' exercises from last week. The two lines are now placed on opposite posts of two goals as shown in

2 1 v 1 - Two Lines

In the month of June I'm going to focus on my four favorite ways to train 1 v 1 attacking. These same exercises can also be used to train the defender but I only coach one side of the ball in each drill, exercises or small-sided game. I'll begin with the simplest progression and move

1 Parent 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

3 Ways that Sports Nutrition Should be Different for Youth Athletes

In addition to being a youth soccer coach I'm also an avid runner. I listen to a lot podcasts and review blogs from a number of sources in a search for the latest training information. A recent post by Ben Greenfield of BenGreenfieldFitness.com focuseds on the different nutritional needs of young athletes as opposed to

0 Technical Passing and Dribbling Session

The Technical Director for the club I coach with, Blue Valley Soccer Club, is Peter Vermes, who is also the Coach and Technical Director for Sporting Kansas City. Peter and the other directors of the club run sessions for the coaches two or three times a year. The sessions cover a variety of topics and

2 Moves and Fakes

We had a discussion in the office the other day about the difference between fakes and moves. The discussion revolved around how you can use a move that doesn't fake the defender and whether we should be teaching young players moves or how to fake. This is an interesting subject because there's no shortage of

2 Should Young Goalies Punt?

There was a recent discussion on our local soccer forum that talked a teams that were playing 'Kickball'. One poster suggested that goalkeepers should be encouraged to roll the ball out or drop it to their feet and pass their way out of the back rather than punting it up the field. I've never coached

1 Shooting Under Pressure

I'm always looking for ways to transfer shooting technique into goal scoring in games. I've used multiple games and competitive situations. Some have been more effective than others. I saw a new one last week while doing a combined training session with another coach. Many of you may be familiar with it but I had