The boys divisions of the final tournament of the fall were held last weekend so I didn't have any games on my calendar. For me the weekend was packed with home projects that have been neglected during the busy fall season. The one soccer activity I did have was the process of putting together my teams for the futsal season. Each of my four teams has entered two teams into the Futsal league. The rosters of each team range from 11 to 17. For each game I plan … [Read more...]
#256 Analyze your Opponent
Well, We had a tough three games in State Cup last weekend. The level of competition and athleticism was just two much for us. We didn't help ourselves with some unforced errors that cost us goals at key points in the game. We also didn't create as many chances as we needed to in order to give us a chance to stay in the games. It was a four team group and two of the team were clearly better than the others. We were very competitive with the third team in the … [Read more...]
#255 How to Prepare Meaningful Player Evaluations
My schedule has really slowed down in the last couple of weeks. The end of the fall always brings with it a much more relaxed pace. I'm grateful that we were able to complete our season. That was definitely not guaranteed when we started back in August. This weekend is State Cup for my 2005's. This is the one tournament all year that I focus on winning. If we're successful we have the opportunity to go to regionals and that will put the team in front of … [Read more...]
#254 Do You Need a Coaching License?
Last weekend should have been State Cup for my 2005 but it was moved to the November because the facility that was supposed to host it was closed to all non-professional sports. I had blocked out the whole weekend for my other teams so they didn't have any games scheduled. We ended up moving a reschedule game for my 2005's into the empty weekend. That gave me just one game last weekend and that one wasn't until Sunday afternoon. It gave me lots of extra time to … [Read more...]
#253 Encourage Creativity and Confidence in Your Players
One of the benefits of coaching as many teams as I do is that I see just about every situation you can imagine. Last weekend I had eight games from Friday through Sunday. Two games Friday, two Saturday and 4 on Sunday. Today I thought I'd pull out one takeaway that I had from each day. On Friday one of my teams had an opponent that relied almost exclusively on aggression and physicality to play the game. Their goal was to simply to force us into mistakes … [Read more...]
#252 Training the #6
Two weeks ago three of my teams participated in a tournament. That meant that I had 10 games from Friday to Sunday. It's not a huge physical challenge to coach 10 games in a weekend. But it is a mental challenge because you're focused and intense for each of those games. It can be an emotional challenge to if you get too carried away. Last weekend one of my teams traveled to Omaha for NPL (National Premier League) games. They only play one game a day so I … [Read more...]
#251 Soccer’s Biggest Problem
I had a pretty easy schedule last weekend. With just four games over three days. One game on Friday and Saturday as well as two more on Sunday. That's almost a weekend off by my usual standards. One of the games was on a grass field. It's the first game I've had on grass in years. Fortunately, the fields were great because they haven't been used. We had to play on grass because of the limited space on the turf fields. One whole complex we usual use was … [Read more...]
#250 Training Players to Recognize and Create 2 v 1 Situations
What is it about round numbers that make them more meaningful to us? Getting to 200 episodes was huge and now 250 seems like another milestone. I suppose it is but I'm looking at it as being halfway to 500. That's my goal at the moment. I had two teams in a tournament over the weekend. Both teams are playing 11 v 11 so I didn't have any small-sided games over the weekend. My 2005 group when 4-0 winning their games 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 and 1-0. They scored late … [Read more...]
#249 Training Team Concepts with Young Players
My teams were back to a full schedule of games last weekend. On Friday evening my U12 goalkeeper broke her hip taking a goal kick. It was the strangest injury I've ever seen. I watched the replay on the Veo recording and it look like it happened when she landed on her right foot after striking the ball. She can be seen collapsing after landing. She's going to be out six to eight weeks which pretty much ends the outdoor season for her. I go through a … [Read more...]
#248 Playing with a Triangle in Midfield
The season started quickly and we've packed a lot into the first six weeks. When I was planning the season I decided that Labor Day weekend would be a good one to take off for all of my teams. The break would be just as important for me as it for the players. Getting the teams up and running at the same time as working on the recreational league took a lot of time and energy so a chance to recharge my batteries over the long weekend seemed like a good … [Read more...]
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