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As I mentioned last week our latest set of books was released this week called, Smedley’s Soccer Drills Volume 1 – 4. Many of you took advantage of the free eBook that was offered. If you did then you also received an email about release of the four volume set. If you didn’t then you can find that link on the show notes of Episode 7. The books include more than 600 drills that cover every technical and tactical topic you can imagine. There’s a lifetime of drills and exercise in these books. I’ll include a link in the show notes if you want to get your hands these books.

In this Episode I talk with Bob Warming, Head Men’s Coach at Penn State University about a method of training that many of us may not be familiar with.

We discuss what European Academies are doing that we aren’t. How they use mannequins in training. Why we don’t use them. Bob describes ways that we can get the same benefit without the cost and hassle of using mannequins. We close with the three things that Bob looks for in players he’s recruiting.

Mannequin Training, Pep Guardiola, and The Triangle Training Method

Penn State Men’s Soccer Coach Bob Warming has been using mannequin training to develop successful players and teams for years. “Substituting mannequins with The Training Triangles has solved the portability, storage, transportation and other issues we’ve experienced while using full sized mannequins to train pattern play for the last 8 years” remarks Warming. But the PSU Head Coach isn’t the only one beginning to seek a solution to the numerous issues with mannequins, as the list of Men’s and Women’s College, Club, and High School teams now using The Training Triangle is rapidly growing. Coaches can now easily implement mannequin training with their teams, without needing to haul full sized mannequins from a storage facility to the field everyday.

The Triangle Training Method and Pep Guardiola

Warming has helped design a completely free website TheTriangleTrainingMethod.com aimed at sharing innovative training methodologies to develop players of all age groups and skill levels.  The site outlines some of his team’s training practices in Fall 2014 using mannequin training like this one:

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In the Next Episode

In next week’s episode I present six different methods to train your players to be more effective in any 1 v 1 situation. 1v1’s are such a key factor in games at every level that we owe it to our players to help them come up with solutions to any 1 v 1 confrontation they will face.