Coaching Soccer Weekly

Coaching Soccer Weekly

A Podcast that Shares Training Sessions, Interviews and Commentary from WORLD CLASS COACHING

Coaching Soccer Weekly is a podcast that gives you an in-depth look at the methods, strategies and techniques used by a youth soccer coach working full time with players of every age and skill level. This includes training plans, team management and planning ideas, the latest trends in soccer coaching and education, as well as approaches to deal with challenges.

The podcast also includes interviews with other soccer coaches and trainers that are on the cutting edge of modern soccer development.

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#038 Indoor Attacking Training Session

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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...]

#037 Conquering Your Next Coaching Course

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This episode includes an interview with Jonny Carter. Jonny is the Academic Director for ‘Education Football’ which offers UK accredited courses on the concepts of soccer. He is also an author who has published a number of books through WORLD CLASS COACHING including ‘Coaching Possession with a Purpose’ and his latest, ‘Conquering Your Next Coaching Course’. Jonny has traveled throughout Europe, America and much of Asia learning and sharing his unique … [Read more...]

#036 Training Session – Decision Making on the Ball

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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...]

#035 11 Different Diamond Drill Variations

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At the end of each season the coaches in our club complete evaluations on the players in their team. The evaluations focus on the four key areas of player development: technical, tactical, physical and psychological. We make comments in each area about the strengths and weaknesses of the player and give them feedback on their progress. We use a website called ZoomReports.com to complete evaluations for more than 60 teams in our club. The online format allows … [Read more...]

#034 Getting More Out of Your Finishing Exercises

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I like to end every training session with a shooting exercise of some kind. Sometimes it's related to the topic of the session and sometimes it's not. The important factors for me is that it's realistic and competitive. Early in the season the exercises tend to be more on isolated shooting technique. As the season progresses and the players demonstrate an understanding of the key principles of shooting then I start to make the exercises more … [Read more...]

#033 Three Sessions to Teach Combination Play

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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...]

#032 How to Transfer Training into Matches

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I think we all have experienced the frustration of running a session on a particular topic where the players performed well and appeared to understand the points we were making but then you don't see any of those ideas being used in the next game. This week I talk about this issue with Bob Warming, Head Men's Soccer Coach at Penn State University. This is the second time Bob has been on the podcast. If you haven't listened to our discussion in Episode #8 on … [Read more...]

#031 Training Session for Position Specific Possession

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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...]

#030 More than 20 Adjustments to Small-Sided Games

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This week I discovered that the training session I did on give-and-goes helped my young players better understand how to stay onside. The coaching point for the wall passer is to stay on the shoulder of the defender. This creates an angle to receive and pass around the defender. When one of my players was offside a couple of times during the game I told him to, 'Stay on the shoulder of the defender until the ball is played just like in the give-and-go.' You … [Read more...]

#029 Getting the Most Out of Uneven Match-Ups

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As we reach the midpoint of the fall season here in the Midwest my training sessions are becoming more focused on small-sided games. Early in the year I spend a lot of time on technical training and individual skill development. This provides a foundation of understanding for dribbling, fakes, passing, receiving and shooting. The players have heard the coaching points from me over and over so we have a kind of short-hand that makes it easy for me to help them … [Read more...]