It's great to get back outside for the start of the spring league season. My first game of the spring wasn't even with my own team. I covered for another coach who had a conflict. It's always difficult to step in as the coach of a team you haven't worked with before. They don't know me and I don't know them. But sometimes coaches with multiple teams have conflicts and we try to help each other out as best we can. The team didn't really play well during the … [Read more...]
#266 Coaching Conversation with Travis Yoakum
With no games last weekend I had time to complete the individual player and parent meetings for my high school girls team. They're all freshman and sophomores getting ready to start high school tryouts. We discussed their feelings about the year, expectations for high school, interest in college soccer and plans for next year. It's such a great group and I've really enjoyed working with them. Fortunately, I have two or three more years with them since we … [Read more...]
#265 What My Teams Learned from Futsal this Year
We finished up our Futsal season last weekend with the US Youth Futsal Regional Tournament. It was a patch-work event because teams dropped out last minute due to a winter storm coming through. Then some left early because they were afraid they wouldn't be able to get home on Sunday. We should have been playing Futsal Nationals but that was pushed back due to Covid. It was a bit of an anticlimax that's the kind of year it's been. All but one day of practices … [Read more...]
#264 Creating Game-Like Activities
I find myself apologizing for missing an episode again last week. My hectic schedule got away from me again last week and I just didn't have the time I needed to put the episode together. I had to use that time to review D License assignments and provide feedback. Our recreational league is also in the busy 'Organizational Phase'. That means I'm preparing rosters, chasing birth certificates and making sure that coaches have completed their background checks. … [Read more...]
#263 The Impact of Formations on Individual and Team Development
I'm sorry that I wasn't able to post an episode last week. It was a crazy week and with everything going on I just didn't have the time to finish the episode and get it posted. I lead two virtual meetings for the D License course that I'm an instructor for. The rec season organizational period is in full swing. I had futsal games and training sessions to run and last weekend I took my 2009's to Dallas. I'll try to get back on track and be sure to post an … [Read more...]
#262 Recognizing and Executing 2 v 1 Situations
It was an easy weekend of Futsal for me last week. I only had seven games (seems like more when I say it like that). Three on Saturday and four on Sunday. At this point in the season my players have hit their stride with Futsal; they all understand what we're trying to do and are working their hardest make it happen on the field. This is the time where I start changing things up a bit to challenge them in a different way. We change back and forth between a … [Read more...]
#261 The Role of the Assistant Coach
It was nice to have a break over the holidays. Although it was a strange time since we couldn't see our extended family in person. We kept it to just my wife and children. That's not the way we wanted it to be but it was the most responsible decision under the circumstances. It was a very "2020" holiday season; where Zoom meetings replaced family get-togethers. The extra time did give me a chance to catch up on administration of the recreational program. As … [Read more...]
#260 2020 Soccer Year Review
Last weekend I coached 18 Futsal games from Friday to Sunday. That made for a long weekend for me but it was great for the teams to get a chance to play four games each in one weekend. There is no better way to start the season than we a bunch of games one after the other so that the players can build from one game to the next. By the end of the weekend the kids were back in 'Futsal Mode' and really playing well. We had our first outdoor practices canceled … [Read more...]
#259 Technical Training in Game Like Environments
I had a fun weekend with my two older teams playing the last of their outdoor games for a while. The 2009's won one and lost two competitive games in another 2007 division. more important than the score, they played really well. They struggled a bit to score but that's to be expected against the bigger stronger players they faced. My 2005's had their first game since coming back from quarantine. They also played great but couldn't finish their chances. The … [Read more...]
#258 Effective Futsal Defending
After a very hectic fall season it was great to have break over the Thanksgiving week. As with everything in 2020, the holiday week was very different from the way it usually is. My extended family usually spends a lot of time together over this period but that wasn't possible this year so I had a lot of time to work on a number of projects. High on the list of 'Things to Do" was completing player evaluations for three of my teams. I do individual meetings … [Read more...]
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