We were finally able to play some early season games last weekend. With the stops and starts we've had to our training during the late winter and early spring seasons it was hard to know what to expect. Add to that the fact that we were missing a number of players from each of my teams because they got a head start on their Spring Break trips. That gave us the opportunity to bring in some guest players from the teams below ours. The players we brought up did … [Read more...]
#113 Early Season Training Sessions
After two weeks of training my teams are getting ready for their first games. I'm starting to get an idea of how the teams fit together. The formations I use for small-sided soccer keep it pretty simple. I always use a 2-3-1 for teams playing 7 v 7 and 4-3-1 for playing 9 v 9 games. I've found that these formations are effective, easy to teach and create a great pathway to the 11-a-side game. They allow me to teach the principles that the players will use … [Read more...]
#100 Double Box Training Environment
100 Episodes! When I started this podcast more than two years ago the idea of getting to 100 episodes seemed so far off. Just producing the first three was a huge challenge. Now thousands of coaches listening to each episode. There have been more than 690,000 downloads of the show since I started. I owe all of you, the listeners, a huge THANK YOU! I appreciate you listening each week and sharing your comments and suggestions online and directly to me … [Read more...]
#065 Only Train Dribbling and Finishing
The last few weeks have been great! We've launched our new Membership Program for WORLD CLASS COACHING. We've also updated our web sites and Coach's Training Center making it much easier to search for and find exactly what you need for your next training session. There are also a number of new features. I’m going to dedicate a whole episode next week to all of the aspects that will help make your life as a soccer coach so much easier. The down time has also … [Read more...]
#048 Do Your Players Lose the Ball Under Pressure?
I received an email from US Soccer Referees Department this week that included a link to US Soccer's Concussion Initiative. That link with allow you to download a PDF of the document. The US Youth National Teams and Development Academies will be implementing these new initiatives but it appears that each State Association and League will be able to make its own decisions about how to use this information. It covers new education guidelines for referees, … [Read more...]
#044 The Key to Being an Effective Coach
I'm sorry that last week's podcast wasn't released until Sunday. Our internet was out from Thursday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. I've prided myself on releasing a new podcast every Friday so this was extremely frustrating. If you missed the episode I'd encourage you to go back and listen because there's some great information there on shooting activities you can do with your team during the winter months. This week I want to focus on what I feel is … [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...]