I only had one team playing last weekend. My U17 girls competed in the Presidents Cup tournament. For those not familiar with how the state tournaments work in the U.S.; the top teams in each age group compete in the State Cup for a chance to win and go on to Regionals. The winners of Regionals move on to the National Championship. A few years ago US Youth Soccer created the Presidents Cup. The tournament gives teams that are not quite competitive enough for … [Read more...]
#163 Game Day
I only had three games again last weekend; one Friday, one Saturday and one Sunday. The teams all played very well. It doesn't always work out that way so it's fun when it does. We’re at the point in the season where I’m seeing the results of what we’ve worked on in training. It's great to see them applying concept to games under pressure. Now it’s time to add on to that. For me, that means spending more time in 1 v 1 and 2 v 2 environments to help the … [Read more...]
#162 It’s Not About You
I took just one team to a tournament last weekend. We had a great schedule; we played at 8 am and noon on Saturday and Sunday and then we headed home. There were only five teams in our group so we played each of them once. Not having to stay around to play a final against a team we had already played was great! Having only one team allowed me to spend more time with the kids and parents than I'm usually able to so that also made it a fun weekend. When I … [Read more...]
#157 The First Games of the Season
I'm sorry for missing last week's podcast. Everything just piled up and I ran out of time. On top of a crazy week I also had three teams in a tournament so there was no time to get it done over the weekend as I've been planning to do. With all of that taken care of now I'm confident that I'll be able to get a new episode out to you each week from here on out. Thanks for your understanding and sticking with the show as I get through the busiest time of … [Read more...]
#151 Evaluating Players During Tryouts
Well, my 2017/18 season has finally come to an end. The team I had in State Cup lost in the Semi Final. Only one team per age group really ends the season having accomplished its goals and having won the title but looking back I'm very happy with the progress of my team and especially of the individual players. That's really what it's all about those. No college coach will ever ask any of these players how they did in State Cup or any other tournament when … [Read more...]
#150 Traveling to Tournaments
Last weekend I traveled with three teams to a Memorial Day Soccer tournament in Chicago so I didn't release a podcast. I talk about the tournament and out of town tournaments in general later in the show. Tonight I had my last practice of the year with the team I have playing Jr. State Cup this weekend. We had two training sessions this week. Yesterday we focused on shooting and finishing. Today we worked on building possession with a purpose and finishing … [Read more...]
#147 The Game-Based Approach to Training Sessions
We're finishing up our spring league season in the next couple of weeks. Then there are a couple of tournaments to end the season and we're back to tryout time again! This is also the time of year I set aside time to complete player evaluations for all of my teams. If you've listen to the podcast over the last three years you know that our club uses ZoomReports.com to communicate and save the evaluations for our teams. It's a great system and if you're still … [Read more...]
#145 Bio-Banding Comes to US Soccer
It seems that I'm always talking about the crazy weather we're having this spring. Last week was our third weekend with snow this spring. I ended up only have one game because of thunderstorms on Friday and bitter cold and snow on Sunday. I helped referee some tournament games on Saturday night. The snow was blowing in sideways! The goalkeeper couldn't take a goal kick because the ball wouldn't sit still long enough to play it out. They had to have a … [Read more...]
#144 Starting Practice with a Small-Sided Game
I was fortunate to have an opportunity to tour the new US Soccer National Training Center. It's an amazing facility that was built as a partnership between US Soccer, Sporting Kansas City and Children's Mercy Hospital. The three entities all have their separate areas build to suit their specific needs but they also share areas of the facility that they all benefit from. I give you an overview of the tour on the podcast but I'd highly recommend that you … [Read more...]
#143 The Stages of Goalkeeper Development
I only had a couple of games last weekend. One of them was with a team that is playing up an age group. Not only that but they're playing in the top division against teams a year older. It's been a great way to expose some weaknesses that we need to work on but it's also been a real challenge to continue to play our way against players that are bigger, faster, stronger AND good soccer players. On the podcast I talk about the difficult balance of trying to … [Read more...]
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