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 […]
Solutions
Why “Developing All Players to Their Potential” is a Lie
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
It’s Time for Some Tough Love Again
Gary, let’s ‘move on’ already. What is all this crap you’re writing? Start telling me / showing me, how to do ‘it’. You’re repeating yourself. Ok guys, I hear you. Ever consider the possibility that I’m doing exactly what I should be doing? Ever considered that these so-called ‘repetitive’ posts are crucial? Think about this: […]
23 Goals and 14 Assists – This Player is Legit!
Uh … no. Don’t ever cite to me a player’s goals and assists … as if that were proof of player quality. Do that, and you expose just how much of a newbie you are. What was the quality of their goals? What was the quality of their assists? How many goals should the player […]
This Must Be Unprecedented! Not One … Not Two … but all 3 Surf Cup Titles!
A clean sweep is what it was. All three academy teams – U10, U11, and U12 – which Brian overseas, took home the hardware at the prestigious Surf Cup. Not a bad start to the new season. The 10s are beginning to show some signs of keeping the ball and combination play. The 11s have […]
Recruiting is The Right Thing to Do
The perception and values associated with the practice of recruiting depends on who’s doing the perceiving and the act itself – be it an organization, coach, player, parent, or whoever. This post will take the position of what every interested party supposedly wants. Development and a meritocracy. Right? Recruiting If the goal is to develop […]
5 Simple Words Stagnating Your Soccer Development
If you want to get closer to excellence you must eliminate the following from your vocabulary: Pace Unlucky Target [forward] Obviously [I, You, They, He, She, We] Deserve it These are the words of the status quo. They make you focus on the superficial, excuse you from responsibility, and brainwash you into the philosophy of […]
Staged Positional Training Commences
June 16 marked the beginning of our position-focused training sessions. Of course most sessions we run have positional play development going on. But this is different with respect to focus, and magnitude. What I’m talking about here is segregating the players by time. It’s not uncommon for the pros to do this (ie defense shows […]