You can not be all things to all people. You have to pick. Let’s consider you have a single roster that you get to work with for a certain number of hours per week. I think we can all agree this roster is comprised of players with unique qualities and varying levels of talent (or […]
Soccer Education
You Can’t Copy a Style of Play and What Mr. Sigi Schmid Said.
There are many fundamental issues with talk of ‘style of play’. I’ll state two (which are intimately linked): 1) You can’t ‘copy’ a style of play. (on the coaching front) A ‘style of play’ is a specialty – like neurosurgery or cardiovascular surgery. Yes, it’s all medicine, and yes there are overlapping competencies, but one […]
Stop Playing Up! Start Playing down.
Let’s suppose that a coach would like his team to consistently execute deliberately orchestrated possession-centered, attacking, attractive, and winning soccer during matches. But it’s just not happening. Here are the two main possibilities: 1) The players are not at the level of competition. This is the most cited reason. And it’s most often not true. […]
Soccer Camps: What’s the Deal with Those?
Here’s a recent email I got regarding soccer camps: My son is 12 and [has been] in club soccer for 3 years. He loves the game and is in the top 25% of his team (not top 5%). He plays wing back right or left. Is short, fast and technical. My questions to you were […]
Barcelona Youth Academy 2001s are Ridiculous! Watch the video!
Here’s the video of our first match against FC Barcelona at MIC Cup. Watch carefully – this offers just a flavor of what gold standard football can look like for 11 year olds. Also, we did a report on this match. Context is king! Something we’ll be providing as we continue this path of soccer […]
3four3 and CelebreightFC Partner Up: Time for Your Own Barcelona Experience!
We’re happy to announce we are offering trips to Barcelona for competition, opportunity, education, and experience. 3four3 has partnered with CelebreightFC in offering a component which has invaluable benefits to your soccer education. Why Barcelona? CelebreightFC is a company started by Danny Lederman, whose son Benny became the first American to join the famed La […]
Set Tactical Training
We’ve mentioned the phrase ‘Set Tactical Work’ often, but I know this is a foreign notion to the American Soccer Community at all levels. So let me try to give a more familiar concept. Set Tactical Work is essentially Choreography. Here’s an example from the 3four3 curriculum. Now, Rich asked the following: I think for […]
Coaching Defined – The 3 Key Elements
What gets us in trouble is that anyone, absolutely anyone, can be a “coach”. Everyone’s got thoughts and a narrative about the game. And no matter how ill-developed, incoherent, or superficial they may be, that falls into the philosophy bucket. Everyone’s got activities. And everyone can take a player, or two, or 22, and […]
Freestyle “let the kids play” versus Formal Structured Competitive
Both the ‘freestyle‘ game and the ‘structured‘ game are critical. But much like the rec & pro mindsets, each has their place. Freestyle This is the place for tons of experimentation and individual play. This is where you “let the kids play”. Where you: Dribble all you want Long ball all you want Play on […]
Quality Pro Player Development or Recreation? People don’t know the Difference.
Before we go any further, something must be made clear. A line must be drawn between two camps: Those who ultimately view soccer as recreation. Those who are about creating professional footballers of the highest quality. Both have vastly different requirements. 1) Recreation This does not mean the ‘rec soccer community’ – as in reserved […]