Each of my teams only had one game last weekend. They all played really well despite only one of them winning their game. One of the hardest things for me to get some parents to understand is that we can play really well and still lose the game. We had worked hard on playing our way out of pressure in tight spaces during the week and did this very well in the games. That was the objective for the week and we accomplished it regardless of the score of the … [Read more...]
#187 The Benefits of Building Out of the Back
With just one team in a tournament last weekend I was able to put all of my focus on them and not have a crazy schedule that had me going from one game to the next. Our first game was on Friday night. This team practices on Thursdays so we had a great preparation and came out flying. The team played great and won comfortably. We played two games on Saturday. The first one didn't start well but improved as the game went along. In the second game we played … [Read more...]
#186 How to Avoid Becoming a Frustrated Coach
It was a pretty easy weekend for me. Each of my teams only had one game so I had a lot of time to get some spring cleaning and yard work done. I would have rather been coaching :-) Coming back to league games after a mostly successful tournament weekend can be unpredictable. Sometimes a team can just pick up where they left off in the tournament. Other times there is a bit of a let down. My three teams had three different reactions. The youngest team … [Read more...]
#185 Preparing for PK’s
I had three teams that played in the SPORTING Next Gen Invitational last weekend. The event was organized by SPORTING KC for it's affiliate clubs. The 12 SKC Affiliate Clubs sent teams in the U8 through U12 age groups on both the boys and girls side. The divisions were rounded out by other good local teams Unfortunately, the weather was an issue again. It snowed on Saturday morning with the wind chill factor in the upper 20's. It doesn't bother me because I … [Read more...]
#184 Three Ways to Structure Your Training Session
I finally had a normal week of training and games! A few more like this we'll be able get into the flow of the season. Two of my three teams are playing up an age group this season. The speed and physicality of the opponents is something that is going to take time to get used to. My goal is for us to be able to play our game against the increased pressure which should help us take a big step forward in our development this spring. There were two games for … [Read more...]
#183 The Role of the Age Group Director
Last week was Spring Break in our area. I'm usually a fan of breaks in the schedule but that's only when they're preceded by a long period of sustained effort. Unfortunately, the period between Christmas and now has been disjointed and inconsistent. This week we start our Technical Training Curriculum. I've talked about this in previous episodes so you can look back if you'd like to hear more about it. Hopefully we'll be able to have a regular schedule of … [Read more...]
#182 Teaching the Five Core Soccer Skills
We were finally able to play some early season games last weekend. With the stops and starts we've had to our training during the late winter and early spring seasons it was hard to know what to expect. Add to that the fact that we were missing a number of players from each of my teams because they got a head start on their Spring Break trips. That gave us the opportunity to bring in some guest players from the teams below ours. The players we brought up did … [Read more...]
#181 US Youth Soccer Rule Changes – Three Years Later
The high school girls that I coached during the fall and winter had their school tryouts last week. A couple of my best players weren't picked for any teams at their school. These are Juniors in high school that could have played "C" Team, JV or Varsity. There are players that were selected for these teams that are not as good as the players that were left out. I don't understand the motivations of many high school coaches. They'll select Seniors just … [Read more...]
#180 What to Work on With U12’s
I took last week off from the podcast to prepare for our 3rd Grade and older coaches meeting for the spring season. So I spent a lot of time getting the rosters and cards ready for our older recreational teams that play through our local league. That means that I didn't get to share my thoughts on the US Youth Futsal Youth National Finals that I had two teams in. You can listen to the episode to hear what I had to say about that. The weather continues to … [Read more...]
#179 What to Work on With U10’s
Last weekend we had our last Futsal games of the league season. The second half of the season was very choppy because of the crazy weather we've had in the midwest but it's been great to watch the progress of the players. They've developed a very solid understanding of how we want to play the game as well as improved their foot skills throughout the winter. Two of my teams will play in the US Youth Futsal Nationals this weekend. There's more winter weather … [Read more...]
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