Free Report on how to make your soccer practices better
I have just finished a FREE REPORT on How To Make Your Soccer Practices Better.
The report is 14 pages long. In the report I outline what I think should be included in a typical soccer practice, I break the practice down minute by minute and I outline what should be covered in each component of the practice. The practice lasts two hours, includes warm up, cool down, technical training, tactical training, shooting practice and two scrimmages. There is a specific reason for each component of the practice and I go in to depth my reasoning behind each component.
I am looking for people to download the free report, read it through, let me have their feedback including a good title for the report and also, if they find it useful I would welcome a testimonial so that I can include it in the marketing of the report once it becomes an ebook that people will pay for.
So, please go to the box on the top right hand side of the homepage and submit your name and email address and I will send you the Free Report. I look forward to reading your comments..
Let’s Talk Soccer….
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Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 9:33 am and is filed under 
Club Soccer, High School Soccer, How To...., Kids Soccer, Soccer Drills, Soccer Player Management, Soccer Practice Tips, Soccer Practice Topics, The SoccerDOC Way, Youth Soccer.
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4 Responses to “Free Report on how to make your soccer practices better”
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Hi Paul…JR forwarded this to me. Great website and great report. I’m in the twilight of my on the field activities and im working my way out of the goal and onto the sidelines. I have been playing in the EAST Bay Senior Soccer League in the B division and my team, The Crown, just took the B division title. Time for me to go out at least close to the top…;) My kids both are heavily involved in Lacrosse. Many of the concepts you outline here can be translated to other sports. If not while coaching soccer, I think I can implement much of this as a defensive coach for the Ahambra girls LaCrosse team next year. I really appreciate this report. Well written and structured. Good to see you are well.
Tony Blackburn
Thanks for the feedback Tony. Great to hear from you. Never thought about this being used for other sports, that’s a good point! I will be producing a series of coaching reports and accompanying dvds, so I will keep you informed. Subscribe to the RSS feed and then you won’t miss anything. Also, when I am working on the goalkeeper topics, I would definitely like your feedback. Say hello to the family for me! Cheers.
Hi Paul,
Read through the free document and wanted to offer some feedback.
I am a reasonably experienced coach and have been coaching for around 19 years now.
Over the last year or so, I have been keenly devouring everything the FA has been putting out on the new AAC (Age Appropriate Coaching) courses aimed at Youth Coaches specifically.
A common theme arises which is to include the child (player) in the learning process. A commonly used phrase (which I also know from my professional life as a financial services people leader) is: “Tell me and I will forget, Show me and I may remember, Involve me and I will understand” – I’m sure you probably know it.
The main thing I picked up from your latest download was that the coach is providing all the answers, in the example your provided – in other words, giving the pupil answers to remember (or forget if you trust the wisdom of the statement above).
So maybe it is worth adding in a bit about asking the player – Why do you think your shot went over the bar? If the pupil knows enough to tell you, they may say I hit the ball too low or I was stretching and leaning back etc. If that is the case, then the next question is, so what do you think you need to do to keep the ball low? Again, if the player knows the answer, all the coach needs is to say, OK (if the answer is correct) show me !
If the child provides incorrect answers as a result of a lack of understanding that’s when the coach can help. But again, I would provide hints or ask further questions to allow the player to work stuff out for themselves. Eg, So, say you have a ball in your hand – if you push the ball underneath, what happens? The kid gives it a try and says “It goes up”. So the coach says, that’s right, so what would you do to push it down? The player says I have to push down on the top of the ball. OK says the coach, but now you have to use your foot – so where do you think you have to kick the ball to keep it low – show me. So say the kids suggests right, again, the coach says ‘Show me’ and if it’s right, the kid has worked out their own solution with some HELP from the coach and not just giving the answer.
Obviously if the player can’t get it right the coach may have to tell and show the answer. Or maybe not – If the coach can identify a good shooter, the coach may be able to get that player to demonstrate and explain what he/she does to keep it low and then the players start to help each other too. The teachers do that in school all the time (work in groups, devise a solution to this problem)
Now this is pretty complex, I’ll agree, but maybe worth including somewhere in the SoccerDOC way as a means of passing learning to the pupil rather than insisting the coach does it – at least not all the time.
I thought the other points were excellent: diagnosis – essential; does the coach understand what they are looking for and at? Can they see what is going wrong and can they correct it (coaches need to practice their technical skills too!)
The other point was possibly the greatest point and was about specificity.
Shooting low with the instep /laces. Brilliant – as you say “Shooting” is too general – That could be side foot, laces driven shot, inside or outside of boot with swerve etc – So I really think the specific type of shooting is the ‘Learning Focus’ for the session and as the coach did a good job of providing a practice or a game for the kids to get lots of repetitions to have a go at the technique, that would seem to be a good job.
Just finally, I noticed you mention that the coach shows them what they are doing wrong, but for my money I would rarely (but probably not ‘never’) do that. I would only show them (if they can’t be prompted to find the answer for themselves!!) how to do it the right way. So giving them a good / correct example rather than a poor one.
Hope this helps, I have massive respect for you putting this stuff together and trying to improve kids’ coaching. Continued good luck with your ongoing project and I hope the feedback is useful.
Kind Regards
Steve
Wow Steve, Thanks for taking the time to send me an email with this feedback, I went ahead and posted it on my blog to share with our soccer coaching community.
The feedback is really helpful and you raised a good point about getting the players involved in Diagnosing their own mistakes. That would definitely engage them more.
As for the coach showing them what they are doing wrong, I think it is useful to paint the picture for them, but it must be done in a way so as not to demean the player, it must be light hearted and brief, so that the player recognizes what he has been doing and can then quickly focus on what he needs to do to improve.
Thanks again for taking the considerable time it must have taken to produce this feedback.