They try a bunch of different activities. Doing this, creates no continuity in your training. Which means: Your players aren’t getting a simple digestible message (the philosophy). Your players can’t achieve a level of mastery in the skills associated with a particular activity. And you, the coach, aren’t achieving a level of mastery with a […]
Advice
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. […]
What Are You Talking About?
Lack of definitions is a huge problem! In the context of soccer, when one says: “Culture” “Creativity” “Possession” “Attacking Style” “Development” “World Class” “Great Coach” “Great Player” etc .. Those things can all mean wildly different things, unless you have a proper reference. And that reference must be based on the best – the gold […]
A Letter to Our Players
We have several recently turned 20 year-olds from our first ever boys team that have true professional-level quality. Years ago, I predicted with 100% certainty that one kid in particular would go all the way. I actually have standing bets with people on this (most notable are $500 on one, and a lobster dinner every […]
2 Fundamental and Objective Metrics to Judging a Coach’s Quality
How do you know a coach is any good at player development? I’m specifically addressing those coaches who are implicitly chartered with that goal. Well, here it is: 1) The coach must have a clearly possession-based style. 2) The coach must be a winning one. Metric 1 (possession) First and foremost, if the coach is not […]
UNC Soccer Takes Two of Our Girls
I want to congratulate Brooke Elby and Taylor Ramirez and wish them the best in their next soccer chapter. North Carolina head coach, Anson Dorrance, recruited and got verbal commitments from the girls in the first half of 2010 during their U17 season. And last week he got their signatures. What They Can Teach Us […]
Developing Soccer Technique: The Best Tool
When you’re not training with your coach, learning the game from TV, or playing with others … Go Find a Wall It is the single greatest tool for developing your technique. Nothing else comes close. Claudio Reyna, one of the few quality players to survive the US Soccer landfill, shares a brief story with us. […]
Advice To New Club Soccer Parents
There is so much to know and so much advice that can be given. I’ll offer a couple big ones here. Ones that I think can act as great guideposts over the years. Become a dedicated fan and student of the sport. If your ultimate goal is to have your child fulfill his/her potential, you […]