I was listening to a podcast from Soccer Wire about the upcoming changes to age groups and small-sided game format. You can listen to the episode from this link. It got me thinking about all of the questions we have about the process and how the state associations, leagues and clubs will handle it. I'm putting together a round table discussion on the changes with an Executive Director of a State Association, a league administrator, and club director and … [Read more...]
#046 Encouraging Creativity and Developing Confidence
I want to share a training session that is intended to build confidence and encourage creativity. I've always spent a lot of time training 1 v 1 skills with young team so this is not a new concept for me but I was surprised at the impact this session had on my players. This training session works on the tool necessary to be creative and skillful but more than that it develops the mentality of the players to go for it and be confident when facing these … [Read more...]
#042 Training the Keys of Possession Play
Happy New Year! Our club took a two week break for the holidays. This is just as important for the players as it is for the coaches. It allows for everyone to spend time with family and friends and enjoy the holiday season. For the last 30 years my family has taken a trip to Glenwood Springs, CO between Christmas and New Years. If you're looking for a great place to teach your family to ski you won't find a better place than Ski Sunlight. I really … [Read more...]
#039 The Foundation of Effective Defending
Last week I enjoyed a great break over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Lots of time spent with family and friends. It also gave me a chance to catch up on podcast episodes that I hadn't listened to. I try to keep up with the latest episodes of Youth Soccer Evolution, Winning Youth Coaching, Coach Your Best and a new one I discovered called, Coach Bain Mused. It is hosted by Alistair Bain. The episode I listened to was a conversation between Coach Bain … [Read more...]
#038 Indoor Attacking Training Session
In the last week our State Association has announced that the changes to age groups and small-sided game formats will be implemented at the beginning of the 2016/2017 soccer year. This was not a surprise to most coaches and administrators but it this announcement makes the decision official. As part of the announcement US Youth Soccer provided a number of documents to help player, parents, coaches and administrators understand the reasons for these … [Read more...]
#036 Training Session – Decision Making on the Ball
I've been looking into new educational opportunities lately and although I've already earned my USSF 'B' License I decided to take the new 'F' license course that is offered online by the US Soccer Federation. The course is a two-hour online course designed to share fun, activity-centered and age-appropriate exercises and training sessions for five to eight year olds. Coaching players of this age is very different than working with any other age group. The … [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...]
#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...]
#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...]
#023 A Progressive Shooting Session
At the beginning of each season I always plan to do a shooting session in the first week. I have a shooting exercise or game in each training session but what I’m talking about here is a complete practice focused on shooting. I set the session up as a progressive practice that begins with a focus on technique and gradually becomes more dynamic and functional. I feel that this is a session that you could do with just about any age group, especially early in … [Read more...]
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