I had a huge tournament weekend a week ago. Having four teams in a tournament makes for a busy weekend but it's the best way for me to give all of my teams a chance to play with the least amount of disruption to our league schedule. This was the last tournament for one of my teams while the other still have one or two events to play. For those teams that are still playing, this tournament was a preparation for bigger events to come. This year my teams … [Read more...]
#142 Balancing Skill Development with Game Understanding
I took a break from the podcast last week but it wasn't to go on a vacation or take some time off as much as it was to get ready for our Spring Recreational Coaches Meeting. The week was spent pulling together paperwork and uniforms in preparation for the spring season that starts this week. I also did presented a session to the coaches to give them some ideas that they could use in training. The session was on training players to change direction with the … [Read more...]
#133 How to Improve Technically and Tactically at Home
The Central Regional Championships for the US Youth Futsal Nationals was in Kansas City last weekend. I had one team win and qualify for Nationals while the other had a tough weekend. They played some very good teams but didn't play as well has they have recently. I've said before that the only thing consistent about young teams is there inconsistency. I can point to the long holiday break and missing players for other sports commitments as reasons but these … [Read more...]
#130 Movement to Create Options
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...]
#129 Four Key Elements of an Effective Warm-Up
The first full weekend of Futsal for my teams is always interesting because it's first time some of my players have been in a Futsal game. Some are surprised how much they enjoy the new experience while others aren't as sure. It's just too different than what they were used to with arena soccer. I think most coaches would agree that they'd like to start the season with an easier game so that they can really work on the new skills and tactics that they've … [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...]
#127 Building Technical Training Progressions
Well, last weekend was the end of the outdoor season for the last of my teams. Just in time too because the weather has really made a turn to the colder side in the midwest. All of our training sessions from now on will be focused on the techniques and tactics of Futsal. It's almost like starting over with my teams since the skills of Futsal are so very different from many of the skills the players use outdoor. Some see this as a negative but I think they're … [Read more...]
#124 Adding Passive Pressure to Technical Training
Last week was our final weekend of league play which came just in time because the weather is due to get much colder this weekend. Since I don't have any games this weekend I scheduled my recertification courses for outdoor and Futsal refereeing. It's always interesting going into a room of referees as a local coach. There's an adversarial relationship between these two groups that can't be avoided. I think I'm pretty quiet when it comes to dealing with the … [Read more...]
#120 Don’t Look at the Ball
I had another tournament with some of my teams last weekend. It's been a crowded schedule lately which I think contributed to a slow start for a couple of teams. I could tell early on that they just weren't up for it the way that they usually are. They just weren't competing with the other team. They were trying to do the right things but the intensity level wasn't there. Once we talked about it at halftime I saw a steady improvement throughout the … [Read more...]
#107 Train Fast to Play Fast
We completed our club tryouts last weekend. It's a crazy time for player, parents and coaches but an important one to make sure that our players are challenged at an appropriate level. I've talked about our process in previous episodes including Episode 105 just a couple of weeks ago. We're not working to prepare our teams for the preseason meetings that we hold each year. I'll talk more about that process on next week's podcast. This week’s question … [Read more...]