This is the fourth week of training for the teams in our club. I'm finally getting into the flow of the season. Each team has had a number of games and I'm starting to learn more about the players and they're starting to understand what I'm look for from them. The recreational league games started last week as well so with that, the amount of time and energy I have to devote to that area of my job will become less and less just as my coaching and Age Group … [Read more...]
#156 Starting Your Season with Structure or Skill?
This week has just been insane. Create cards and rosters for our older team and getting the uniforms and coaches meeting organized for the younger teams has been a bigger job than I could ever have imagined. his weekend I have to get the schedule done and then hopefully I can get my life back into balance again. On top of all of that, we also started training our teams this week. With all of my responsibilities to the rec program over the summer I really … [Read more...]
#152 A Rondo Session with Direction
I had to take last week off from the podcast because it was our week for tryouts. I've described our tryout process in detail in a number of previous podcasts so you can do a search for, "Tryouts" and listen to those episodes if you're interested in more information on those. At the same time as tryouts are occuring we're also coming up on the deadline for the recreational soccer registration. That's a new role for me on top of everything else. I now have a … [Read more...]
#148 Focus on Technique Before Speed
Last weekend I feel like I coached three great game and one awful one. The players weren't awful, it was me. I have a team that's playing up an age group and there were promoted to the first division after a very good fall season. The difference between DI and DII is substantial and it's been a difficult spring for the team. They played well in the first half this weekend and were up a goal at halftime. We talked about ways we could improve in the second … [Read more...]
#146 Using ‘Levels’ to Encourage Development
I had some good and bad last weekend in terms of weather to play in. One game started at 10:30 am and was miserable. It was hard for the girls to play anything like the way we usually try to. I found myself coaching their effort to fight through the conditions more than anything else. By 1:00 pm is was beautiful and the teams were able to play some great soccer in very competitive games. It looks like we've finally turned the corner on spring. Hopefully this … [Read more...]
#144 Starting Practice with a Small-Sided Game
I was fortunate to have an opportunity to tour the new US Soccer National Training Center. It's an amazing facility that was built as a partnership between US Soccer, Sporting Kansas City and Children's Mercy Hospital. The three entities all have their separate areas build to suit their specific needs but they also share areas of the facility that they all benefit from. I give you an overview of the tour on the podcast but I'd highly recommend that you … [Read more...]
#137 Attack vs Defense Game to Train Decision Making
This weekend is the US Youth Futsal National that are held here in the KC area. I have one team in the tournament and I’m looking forward to seeing how they do against some very good opposition. It’s great to finish up the season with an event like this. It lets me see how far we’ve come and gives me ideas on how to improve in the future. Last year we were down a goal and the other team packed it into a tight diamond. We couldn’t break them down. This year … [Read more...]
#135 Training Players to Move Individually and as a Team
We're starting to wrap up our Futsal season. I'm continuing to work on technical skills that will help the players in Futsal but I'm starting to plan for the transition back to outdoor. I'll talk about that more in the coming weeks. We wrapped up a three week MicroCycle where we did a progression of fast footwork and change of direction moves. This last week we did mostly 1 v 1 between two dots. The dribbler tries to fake the defender and get to one of … [Read more...]
#133 How to Improve Technically and Tactically at Home
The Central Regional Championships for the US Youth Futsal Nationals was in Kansas City last weekend. I had one team win and qualify for Nationals while the other had a tough weekend. They played some very good teams but didn't play as well has they have recently. I've said before that the only thing consistent about young teams is there inconsistency. I can point to the long holiday break and missing players for other sports commitments as reasons but these … [Read more...]
#130 Movement to Create Options
I had a ton of Futsal games last week. As I've mentioned before, I've divided my teams up for the Futsal season to make sure they all get plenty of playing time. This is great for the players but it doubles the number of games I have on any given weekend. I love working with my players but 14 games on the weekend will really take a toll on you. This is the last week of training before the club takes a two-week holiday break. This allows the families and … [Read more...]
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