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...]
#128 Futsal Techniques and Tactics
My Thanksgiving holiday week was full of family, american football and too much food. It was a great break and chance to reset. I usually have my teams take the first week of Futsal off because that gives them a two-week break between the end of the outdoor season and our first Futsal game. This also gives me a chance to have more practice time with them before our first game. It also compresses our season so that we have fewer midseason breaks which … [Read more...]
#092 Reviewing the Winter Season
Last weekend the US Youth Futsal Nationals marked the end of the Futsal season. This week we've started our spring outdoor training sessions. Then we go right into an outdoor tournament on the weekend. This makes for a quick transition between seasons but starting any season with a tournament helps to knock the rust off quickly and gets the team back in the flow of things very quickly. The challenges of the outdoor game are so different than those of … [Read more...]
#084 How I Start My Season
With the indoor season in full swing it was a very busy week. I coach five different teams that are divided into eight Futsal teams. The smaller teams give the players a lot of playing time but it makes for a lot of games to coach. They've made great progress since the start of the season and some of them are incorporating great combination play along with excellent individual skills. It's fun to see them pick up the concepts of the game that we've been … [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...]