We love to share what matters. Going into this match, this team, our team, the LA Galaxy U14 team was undefeated with a 19-0-2 record in the US Soccer Development Academy with 101 GF and 12 GA. You rarely, if ever, see us publish or mention our domestic exploits (we could be doing it weekly), […]
Development
Should Coaches be Siloed in Specific Age Groups? Part 2
Part 1 touched on why it makes more sense elsewhere in the world. Here in Part 2, we look at some incentives and consequences for instituting coach siloing in the American environment. An Organizational Perspective Looking at a club perspective there’s this sense that efficiencies are introduced, that it’s just simpler to have a conventional […]
Pay to Play and the Link to Promotion Relegation
First, let’s get something straight. Pay to play will always exist because there will always be a demand for such services. Not to mention services and infrastructure are not free, and so must have a business model supporting the expenses. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s properly contextualize. Pay to play […]
The Best Coaching Advice You’ll Ever Get, and Probably Ignore
Go master how to properly train 10 different rondos. Stop making forays into exotic topics like ‘guided discovery’ or some academic neurological studies on learning. Stop it with the hundreds of sport session planner diagrams, and your buffet of drills. Stop it with buying a new soccer book every week, thinking somehow your art will […]
5 Futbol Links Packed with Value
Legit content curation is a service I believe would be of great value to the soccer community. Meaning, filtering through the vast ocean of garbage that’s published online (>99%) and extracting the gems for you. I have not come across a better curator than a gentleman named Nuno Ferreira (@Nuno_tuga_). Pretty much everything I’ve seen […]
Our Match vs FC Barcelona – U13/14 – MIC Cup 2015
In pursuit of world class, one better have some grip on what that actually means. And that, I think, requires going beyond your domestic soccer bubble, especially if the standard for world class does not reside there. Winning an American league or tournament, no matter which you want to cite, does not give you a […]
Come Join 3four3 in Vegas or San Diego this Summer
You told us in person, you told us via emails … and you better believe we’ve been listening. So here we go, we’ve started working on launching two events this summer: A coaching conference / summit A player camp Coaching summit Location: Las Vegas, NV Date: July 25, 26 or August 1, 2 3four3 contact: […]
How NOT to Coach Playing out of the Back
It’s like everywhere I look in American soccer media, and to quite an extent, the English as well, the advice being thrown around on player development is the worst thing you can follow. The inspiration for this article came from Twitter via a coach posting the following activity he runs (& recommends). I saw the […]
[Video] Chivas USA vs San Jose Earthquakes U13/14
The US Soccer Development Academy held a showcase for its Western region academies at the Stubhub center a couple weekends ago. Here’s a full length match between two MLS teams. I think it’s important to make more matches like these available. That way the country can start better gauging what the team & player standard […]
What Coaches Can Learn from Louis van Gaal’s Recent Statement
Newly appointed Manchester United coach, Louis van Gaal, recently stated it’ll take him at least 3 months to get his team to start executing the way he wants to play. 3 months! And he’s got a whole staff behind him working around the clock. 3 months! And he’s got all international level players. 3 months! And the […]