I followed up the out of town tournament two weeks ago with an in-town tournament last weekend with two different teams. One team played their own age group and the other was playing up. They both faced some good competition and didn't end up making the finals but they both had great experiences that will definitely help them continue to develop and build on a great start to the year. I talk more about their experience in the episode. There's a Grassroots … [Read more...]
#208 Ways to Encourage Your Players to Compete
#207 What’s in Your Coaching Toolkit?
I took one team to a tournament in St. Louis last weekend. This was my first trip to St. Louis in many years. In the past they just didn't have the same quality of fields that we could find by staying closer to home. The teams have always been very competitive but I just never wanted to play those teams on inferior fields. Now there are a number of good turf field complexes in St. Louis so I'm sure to be traveling that direction more in the future. We had … [Read more...]
#206 Choosing the Best Size Field for Your Small-Sided Games
It was a crazy wet weekend. I know this podcast sometimes sounds like a weather report but it has such an impact on the game and my coaching that it's an important factor. You can listen to the episode for the details. I'm continuing to experiment with not coaching during running play. I think it's having a very positive impact on most of my teams. However, one of the teams hasn't reacted as well to it as the others. I talk about the details more in this … [Read more...]
#205 Eight Different Coaches You See Every Weekend
It was another hot weekend on the soccer fields. I'm hoping that it was the last weekend we'll have like this before we start to get some relief. I really enjoy the fall season so I'm looking forward to some cooler temps. It also makes it a lot easier on the players. Three out of my four teams played really well. One just wasn't up for it on Sunday. I'm not sure if it was the temperature or if they were just a bit off. That's the great thing about coaching … [Read more...]
#202 The After Effects of the Heading Ban in Youth Soccer
I had three teams in a tournament last weekend. As with all early season tournaments in KC it was HOT. Two of my teams were playing in their own age group and one was playing up. The two playing on-age both made the final. One lost on PK's and the other won. I think the players learned some good lessons from the experience. You can listen to the episode for more details. The team that was playing up had an up and down weekend. At times we played great, at … [Read more...]
#201 Formations for U13’s Transitioning to 11 v 11
I only had one team in the tournament last weekend so it was almost like having a weekend off. It was nice to focus on just one team for the whole weekend. It was my U12 team that is playing in the U13 11 v 11 division. They've really made the move to 11 v 11 must smoother than I thought they would. It's helped that half of our games have been against other U12 teams playing up so I'm sure it will get more challenging but it's been a good start. Today’s … [Read more...]
#200 Too Many Coaches
Wow! It's hard to believe that this is the 200th episode of the podcast. I'm so grateful to everyone who listens and supports the show by commenting, emailing a question or posting a link on social media. Even just mentioning the show to a fellow coach helps to spread the word. This was the first week of games for my teams. Early season games mean that we were missing a few players. That gave me a chance to bring in guest player to make up the numbers. It's … [Read more...]
#198 Should We Be Doing Isolated Technical Training?
It's great to have completed the Director of Coaching course. Last weekend I finished the revisions for my assignments and the reflections on each assignment. Now I'm just waiting to hear if everything I've turned in is satisfactory or not. Now my attention has turned to preparing for the recreational league season as well as my first week of training with our competitive teams. There's a lot to do in the next three weeks and then everything will be up and … [Read more...]
#197 Are Youth Soccer Championships a Good Thing?
The last week has been crazy as I continue to prepare for the fall season while also finishing the second in person meeting for the US Soccer Director of Coaching Course being held at the Pinnacle National Development Center. We still have a two week development period after the this week as well but the lions share of my work will be finished this weekend. I've learned so much about what should go into developing and operating a soccer club that is truly … [Read more...]
#196 Technical and Tactical Q&A
Last Sunday was one of my favorite days of this year. I called it, "Soccer Sunday". With the US Women's National Team in the World Cup Final in the morning and the US Men's National Team in the Gold Cup Final that night it provided a great day of soccer. The Women's World Cup Final was great. I thought we played very well and controlled the game. The use of VAR for the PK was perfect in my opinion. That is the kind of call it was meant to catch. The referee … [Read more...]
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