I like to end every training session with a shooting exercise of some kind. Sometimes it's related to the topic of the session and sometimes it's not. The important factors for me is that it's realistic and competitive. Early in the season the exercises tend to be more on isolated shooting technique. As the season progresses and the players demonstrate an understanding of the key principles of shooting then I start to make the exercises more … [Read more...]
#033 Three Sessions to Teach Combination Play
Teaching your players the key elements involved in effective combination play will give them a framework to combine with their teammates in a free flowing game environment. Today I share three progressive training sessions that I've used to teach my players these key elements. These sessions represent a three-week MicroCycle that I used with a couple of my teams to teach them how to combine effectively. There are a wide variety of combination plays that can … [Read more...]
#032 How to Transfer Training into Matches
I think we all have experienced the frustration of running a session on a particular topic where the players performed well and appeared to understand the points we were making but then you don't see any of those ideas being used in the next game. This week I talk about this issue with Bob Warming, Head Men's Soccer Coach at Penn State University. This is the second time Bob has been on the podcast. If you haven't listened to our discussion in Episode #8 on … [Read more...]
#031 Training Session for Position Specific Possession
This week I will share a training session that will help your players make the connection between the work you do on possession in practice to the way they function within a team shape in the match. But first.... Congratulations to Sporting Kansas City for winning the 2015 Lamar Hunt Open Cup! As a coach with a Sporting KC Affiliate Club I've been fortunate to work with the first team staff on ways that we can help develop more homegrown players like … [Read more...]
#030 More than 20 Adjustments to Small-Sided Games
This week I discovered that the training session I did on give-and-goes helped my young players better understand how to stay onside. The coaching point for the wall passer is to stay on the shoulder of the defender. This creates an angle to receive and pass around the defender. When one of my players was offside a couple of times during the game I told him to, 'Stay on the shoulder of the defender until the ball is played just like in the give-and-go.' You … [Read more...]
#029 Getting the Most Out of Uneven Match-Ups
As we reach the midpoint of the fall season here in the Midwest my training sessions are becoming more focused on small-sided games. Early in the year I spend a lot of time on technical training and individual skill development. This provides a foundation of understanding for dribbling, fakes, passing, receiving and shooting. The players have heard the coaching points from me over and over so we have a kind of short-hand that makes it easy for me to help them … [Read more...]
#028 Organizing Your Training Sessions
As I mentioned last week I took some of my teams to a Labor Day tournament over the weekend. Taking three teams made for a busy weekend but the teams played well and I enjoyed spending time with them away from home. My younger teams played in traditional tournaments brackets with the top two teams playing in the final. My high school age team just played three teams of similar ability with no final. I think this is a great way to format the tournament for … [Read more...]
#027 Building an Unbreakable Defense
This week I want to share a session focused on teaching the key defensive principles. The session starts with the basic building blocks of individual defending and progresses to include small group defending and finishes by working with the entire defensive unit. The amount of time you spend in each phase of this session will depend on the age and experience level of your players. With younger players you may only go as far as the 2v2 defending work because … [Read more...]
#026 Developing Players in Full Sided Games
An email came out from US Youth Soccer on Monday, August 24. It was to announce changes that most people had heard something about already. The first is that they are mandating small-sided soccer for players below the age of 12. They are also standardizing the formats for each age group. The U8’s will play 4 v 4 without goalkeepers, U9-U10's will play 7 v 7 and U11 and U12 teams will play 9 v 9. This is a change from the 6 v 6 and 8 v 8 formats that many of … [Read more...]
#025 Systems of Play for U11 and U12
Last weekend was our first tournament weekend. There is always a lot of discussion about whether playing multiple games over a weekend is good for players. I think it depends on the age and level of the players. For high school age and above I think more harm than good comes from playing more than a game a day and no more than three days in a row. These are players that are playing close to if not full 90 minute games and often with limited … [Read more...]
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