Thanks to an email from listener Kevin I discovered how to allow iTunes to include up to 300 podcast episodes in the feed. I've made that adjustment so we have a couple of years before we have to worry about older episodes dropping off of the feed. Thanks Kevin! I don't usually use guest players for my teams unless we're very short on players. This weekend one of my teams really need a couple of guests because of illnesses but none were available to we had … [Read more...]
#197 Are Youth Soccer Championships a Good Thing?
The last week has been crazy as I continue to prepare for the fall season while also finishing the second in person meeting for the US Soccer Director of Coaching Course being held at the Pinnacle National Development Center. We still have a two week development period after the this week as well but the lions share of my work will be finished this weekend. I've learned so much about what should go into developing and operating a soccer club that is truly … [Read more...]
#185 Preparing for PK’s
I had three teams that played in the SPORTING Next Gen Invitational last weekend. The event was organized by SPORTING KC for it's affiliate clubs. The 12 SKC Affiliate Clubs sent teams in the U8 through U12 age groups on both the boys and girls side. The divisions were rounded out by other good local teams Unfortunately, the weather was an issue again. It snowed on Saturday morning with the wind chill factor in the upper 20's. It doesn't bother me because I … [Read more...]
#176 Tournaments – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
We had the US Youth Futsal Regionals here last weekend. I'm going to talk about my teams' experiences and tournaments in general in the main part of the show so I'll save that for later. We had another major winter storm here earlier this week. My teams train on Tuesdays indoor and my oldest team trains outdoor on Wednesday but we lost all of our training sessions this week. I thought our winter break was great but now a couple of my teams haven't played … [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...]
#061 Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
Since I didn't put out a podcast last week I thought it would be a good time to do a survey that I've been considering for a while. I appreciate everyone who took the time to fill it out. There were a number of things that I’ve learned from it already. Over 80% of coaches who responded want more training sessions. The recent episodes have included more commentary than actual training sessions but there's been a lot going on to talk about. I asked what … [Read more...]