This week was the start of our tryout process for the 2020-21 season. We started by contacting parents and finding out if they were planning to return to the club and let them know what tryouts would look like this year. Since we decided not to move players down this summer, only up, then they knew that they would at least be at the same level as the previous year. This was meant to simplify things for the families, club and coaches. Then on Thursday the … [Read more...]
#235 The Great Debate – Direct Play vs Possession Play
Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend. This is the first time in years I wasn’t in Chicago. With soccer being on hold I actually forgot that it was coming up. Who looks at a calendar anymore. I had planned for my teams to play in a local tournament and stay home anyway but I always look forward to tournaments on that weekend because it's the end of the soccer year for most teams and preparation for State Cup for others. The soccer league season officially … [Read more...]
#234 Using Play – Practice – Play vs. Progressive Training Method
The discussion I’ll share this week is pretty long, like last week, so I’ll give you a quick update and then get right into the conversation. I feel that my players are experiencing a lot of, 'At Home' training fatigue. It's only natural since they've been stuck at home for two month without a chance to play. Training without playing would get old pretty fast for anyone let alone youth players. The trick shot videos that I asked the girls to create last … [Read more...]
#232 Using Game Design in Training Sessions
One week is looking a lot like the last these days; lots of Zoom meetings with teams and coaches as well as a constant stream of webinars. I can feel my players starting to get a bit tired of isolated training at home. I'm trying to do everything I can to switch things up and come up with fresh ideas. This week I have my teams doing a juggling challenge. They're working on their juggling all week and then recording a video to upload to Flipgrid.com on … [Read more...]
#231 ‘Soccer in the City’ with Director Michael Holstein
It's week six of, 'Soccer Coaching through Social Distancing'. I don't have any practices or games to tell you about so I'll let you know how my team meetings went this week. We continue to use the Techne Futbol app for skill training and Flipgrid.com to complete assignments and share videos. These have been great tools for me and my players. While I was reviewing the assignments this week I noticed that there was a lack of intensity and speed in the … [Read more...]
#230 The Impact of Mindset on Performance
Welcome to Week Five of Coaching at Home! This week my son and I build a new computer because my old one just wasn't cutting it anymore. I've heard this described as, "Adult Legos". It was a bit cheaper and more specific to my needs to build it rather than buying one off the shelf. We’ll see if you notice a change in the production quality as I get used to using some new tools. It's certainly going to make reviewing video from my Veo easier! It's also going … [Read more...]
#228 Technical Training at Home with Techne Futbol
We’re now into the second full week of the ‘Stay at Home’ order in Kansas. I wish that more people were following it strictly. I'm seeing too many people on the news that are just acting as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Kansas hasn’t seen the huge spike in cases and deaths that some areas have. I'm hopeful that we can avoid that happening by taking the necessary steps now. My hope is that we can get back on the field starting May 1st. That would give … [Read more...]
#224 Coaching Conversation with Ted Hansen
It was great to get back to outdoor games last weekend. I was curious to see how the teams transitioned back to the outdoor game. Each team had a slightly different reaction. My youngest team that plays 7v7 didn't really have an issues. They seemed to pick up right were they left off but with more confidence and creativity on the ball. That was great to see. There was a bit too much use of the sole of the foot but I always notice this for the first few weeks … [Read more...]
#223 Coaching Conversation with Marcus Walfridson
This is the 5th Anniversary of the CSW Podcast! It's hard to believe I've recorded 223 episodes that have been downloaded more than 1.6 million times. I really appreciate everyone who listens, contributes or spreads the word about the show. THANKS! Last weekend we had our last Futsal games of the winter. It was weird having games after the Nationals but there was a weekend that was canceled due to snow and ice so they were rescheduled to the weekend between … [Read more...]
#221 Coaching Conversation – Robert Scott
I continued to focus on defending with my teams this week. With the younger teams it was more about individual defending while the older teams worked on defending as a team in preparation for the US Youth Futsal Nationals this weekend. During the session I wondered if I might be spending too much time on defending. Would that time be better spent on improving the player's attacking understanding and abilities? Then I realized that even though I hadn't been … [Read more...]