I want to give you some info that will help explain how I’m going to present episodes in the future. Usually I record on Thursdays but it's going too hard with my coaching schedule this fall. I'm now going to produce them on Sunday so I'll have a bit more time to put it together and I can talk about what's happened over the weekend. I’m recording this one about an hour or so after the World Cup Final on Sunday, July 15. It’s been a great weekend for sports. … [Read more...]
#151 Evaluating Players During Tryouts
Well, my 2017/18 season has finally come to an end. The team I had in State Cup lost in the Semi Final. Only one team per age group really ends the season having accomplished its goals and having won the title but looking back I'm very happy with the progress of my team and especially of the individual players. That's really what it's all about those. No college coach will ever ask any of these players how they did in State Cup or any other tournament when … [Read more...]
#150 Traveling to Tournaments
Last weekend I traveled with three teams to a Memorial Day Soccer tournament in Chicago so I didn't release a podcast. I talk about the tournament and out of town tournaments in general later in the show. Tonight I had my last practice of the year with the team I have playing Jr. State Cup this weekend. We had two training sessions this week. Yesterday we focused on shooting and finishing. Today we worked on building possession with a purpose and finishing … [Read more...]
#149 Providing Useful Feedback
I had a huge tournament weekend a week ago. Having four teams in a tournament makes for a busy weekend but it's the best way for me to give all of my teams a chance to play with the least amount of disruption to our league schedule. This was the last tournament for one of my teams while the other still have one or two events to play. For those teams that are still playing, this tournament was a preparation for bigger events to come. This year my teams … [Read more...]
#145 Bio-Banding Comes to US Soccer
It seems that I'm always talking about the crazy weather we're having this spring. Last week was our third weekend with snow this spring. I ended up only have one game because of thunderstorms on Friday and bitter cold and snow on Sunday. I helped referee some tournament games on Saturday night. The snow was blowing in sideways! The goalkeeper couldn't take a goal kick because the ball wouldn't sit still long enough to play it out. They had to have a … [Read more...]
#143 The Stages of Goalkeeper Development
I only had a couple of games last weekend. One of them was with a team that is playing up an age group. Not only that but they're playing in the top division against teams a year older. It's been a great way to expose some weaknesses that we need to work on but it's also been a real challenge to continue to play our way against players that are bigger, faster, stronger AND good soccer players. On the podcast I talk about the difficult balance of trying to … [Read more...]
#142 Balancing Skill Development with Game Understanding
I took a break from the podcast last week but it wasn't to go on a vacation or take some time off as much as it was to get ready for our Spring Recreational Coaches Meeting. The week was spent pulling together paperwork and uniforms in preparation for the spring season that starts this week. I also did presented a session to the coaches to give them some ideas that they could use in training. The session was on training players to change direction with the … [Read more...]
#141 How to Become more Involved in Coaching
This week is our spring break in this area so we're missing a lot of players. This has created opportunities for players to guest play with the teams above them and experience a higher level of competition. As a coach I've enjoyed watching how players respond to this opportunity. All of the players that guest played with my teams did great and showed their ability to rise to the occasion. Small numbers in training has meant that coaches are combining … [Read more...]
#140 Dealing with a Poor Performance
In the opening of this week's podcast I describe an incident from one of my games last weekend. It's a story that's better heard than read. This week’s question comes from Evan. He’s asking about formations. Evan says, “This high school girls soccer season has just begun where I live, and I coach a local JV team. As the JV coach, I view my job as one with two parts, soccer development and confidence building. Normally, I have the girls play a … [Read more...]
#139 The Transition to the Spring Outdoor Season
We had our first outdoor tournament last weekend. I like this tournament because it gives my teams three or four quick games before the season starts. The weather was really cold the week before so we weren't able to train much. Two of my teams didn’t practice at all. I had all four of my teams in the tournament. Three made the final. That meant that I had 16 games over three days. I’m just now recovering from the long weekend. All talk more about how the … [Read more...]
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