I had the luxury of fielding two completely different teams for this game. I used 23 players to give all of our fit players some game time as well two of our four goalkeepers.

The teams played well, winning the first half 1-0 and the second half 2-0.

So, that puts us at 12 regular season games unbeaten with a record of 9-0-3.

This is light years away from when I took on this challenge three years ago. A combination of tremendous amount of work with recruiting new players plus building each year on the players we had. I am proud of the seniors who began as freshmen 3 years ago and stuck with this team through thick and thin.

Now, we are not getting ahead of ourselves, we have a long way to go to achieve anything this season, but I could not be happier with tonight’s start.

I will keep you posted of our progress.

One of our new international recruits, went for a ball and landed awkwardly and dislocated his elbow. Ugly injury, but fingers crossed it is not going to be too bad. We are hoping that he will only be out for a couple of weeks.

All credit to the boy, he has handled it well so far and he has already set a target for when he wants to be back. He will be seeing and orthopedic specialist on Wednesday, so hopefully we will have good news.

I spent a few hours in the ER with him, then when he was released we went back to the practice field for our second practice of the day. The players were fantastic in that they let him know they were there to support him.

I was very impressed by the attitude of the players in practice, they could have easily let the injury play on their minds, but they were fantastic. They really gave their all in practice and put on a very good performance.

I have a good coaching staff made up of our goalkeeper and fitness coach, Jerome. Alongside him I have three other assistants who played NCAA Division I and Division II as well as a volunteer coach who played four years for our school. It is good to have fresh perspectives and people to bounce ideas off and to learn from. The players get tired of hearing my voice, so it is good to have other coaches to listen to as well.

So, we have our first pre season game in a couple of days. Tomorrow’s practices will be lighter, focussing on set plays, defensive work and finishing.

Check it out and leave a comment.

Let’s Talk Soccer!

The day started at 6.30am with a disciplinary measure since one of our players showed up 2 minutes late to a team meeting. As a result all of the players had to meet me at the track at 6.30am for a “team building” exercise. They decided to come up with a buddy system to make sure that everyone was on time. Fifteen minutes before any event, the buddies need to check in with each other.

After breakfast, they all assembled for yoga…yes yoga. They wanted to add yoga to pre season and they thoroughly enjoyed it. It was worth it for me to see them all quiet and relaxing and focusing in the gym with no distractions.

Next we had a team meeting and run through the principles of defending as a team.

Lunch followed.

Then, in the afternoon we finally got them on the grass. They started off with their warm up and stretch and then went into their conditioning. Good workout for them. We then split them up into 4on4 scrimmages, then an 8on8 scrimmage from penalty box to penalty box. We finished off with an 11on11 scrimmage.

We got a good look at them all. The returners looked good. The new recruits all looked good, with a few really making an immediate impact.

After dinner we had them back out on the field for their second practice of the day. This was made up of ball work and a finishing drill, followed by a good 45 minute 11on11 scrimmage.

We are very pleased to have strength and depth throughout the roster and we have so many options this season.

So, a very good day. Feeling excited and also a little overawed with all the work we need to do, especially since we play our first game next Wednesday!

It was great to see all the players, to say hello to the returners and to meet the new recruits. We took care of all the NCAA requirements, then brought them all in for our first team meeting.

Here was the agenda:

1. Welcome and Introductions

2. Housekeeping

3. Practice Format

4. Team Rules

5. Team Goals

6. Style of Play.

At the end of the meeting, the players now know what is expected of them, how things will run, what our goals are and how we are going to achieve them.

We set a disciplinary standard tonight, one player showed up 2 minutes late, so all of the team will be on the track at 6.30am tomorrow morning. This disciplinary measure is there to help us set the standards and to illustrate that if one player does not maintain our standards, the whole team will lose. Just like the game really!!!

Tomorrow the schedule is as follows:

8.45am-10.00am YOGA
10.30am-11.30am Team Meeting
1.00pm-3.00pm Practice 1
6.00pm-8.00pm Practice 2

Tomorrow’s first practice will be as follows:

12.45pm-1.00pm Arrrive for practice and get ready, juggle a ball while waiting

1.00pm-1.15pm Warm Up and Stretch

1.15pm - 1.45pm Conditioning

1.45pm-2.00pm Ball Work

2.00pm-2.20pm 4on4 scrimmages

2.20pm-2.40pm 8on8 scrimmages

2.40pm-3.00pm 11on11 scrimmage

The ideas behind this format is to get the players out there with a moderate conditioning session and as much scrimmaging as possible. This is because we want to take a look at what we have as soon as possible. We will then be able to put together our next few practices knowing what we are working with.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Champions Manchester United
Runners Up Chelsea
Third Place Arsenal
Fourth Place Manchester City
Relegated Blackpool, Wigan Athletic and Wolverhampton Wanderers
First Coach to be fired, Mick McCarthy, Wolves
Top Scorer, Didier Drogba

There you go, leave a comment with your predictions…

Now if you are coaching club players, high school, college etc, you will then go into the “meat” of the practice and work on technical and/or tactical (functional) sessions.

For this report, I am assuming you are coaching recreational youth soccer.

So, in order to keep your players motivated and interested it it important to help them learn soccer skills by keeping them busy and letting them have fun.

AVOID SOCCER DRILLS AT ALL COSTS!

AVOID USING FLAGS (I have been involved in the game as a player and coach for over 35 years and I have never seen a flag on the soccer field…I have never had to dribble around a flag in the middle of a game!)

Some soccer coaches use so many flags and cones, you can actually see them from the Space Shuttle!

I was introduced to “Non Directive Coaching” back in 1994 when I was employed at the Preston North End Soccer School back in England. Preston North End FC play in the English Championship League (one league below the Premier League.) They were one of the founder members of the first professional soccer league in the world back in 1888.

Basically, “Non Directive Coaching” describes soccer sessions that do not have kids stood in lines or stood around the coach while he/she explains something.

Instead, it involves having the players involved in a group game that usually involves some kind of “Catch and Evade” activity with most if not all the players having their own ball.

For example, one of my favorites is “Shark Attack.” This involves having all of the players with a ball, dribbling in a specific area (yes you can use cones to mark out the area!). In the middle of the area is a “Desert Island” (go ahead, use your cones!)

The “Shark” (usually the coach at the beginning) patrols around the outside of the desert island, while the “Fish” (the players with their own ball) “Swim” in the sea. (dribble with the ball.)

Suddenly the “Shark” yells, “Shark Attack!” and then chases after the players. The players have to dribble away from the shark and dribble onto the desert island to be safe. If the shark manages to kick the ball away from a player, that player then immediatley becomes a shark and can chase after the remaining fish.

Quick tip here, the fish must dribble their ball to the island and stop it with their foot and put their foot on it to be safe. This avoids them just kicking the ball and chasing after it.

The game continues until their is just one fish left and all the sharks chase after it. Finally they catch ths fish and the game is over.

I usually repeat this game 3 or 4 times and in the last game I am one of the fish. At them end I am usually the last fish and all the sharks chase me, that is usually a lot of fun for the kids and also a way for me to demonstrate dribbling skills to them…it is also one heck of a workout!

There are hundreds of such games, names like “Crab Soccer,” “Monster Trucks,” “Space Invaders etc.”

If you would like some help finding more games, just leave a comment.

So, I suggest a couple of these kind of games in the middle of the practice. The players will have lots and lots of touches on the ball as they try to “Evade” and they will also work on their defending skills as they try to “Catch.” They will get a good workout and they will have LOTS OF FUN.

I am sure many of you will have your own favorite games, please feel free to leave a comment with their description for us all to share.

Let’s Talk Soccer!

Tip #1 concerned equipment and also covered a couple of ways of taking control of the practice as well as setting the tone of the practice.

Here is Tip #2 WARM UP

The Warm Up is a very important part of the practice. Obviously for all physical activity it is important to warm up correctly. I am not going to go into all the physiology, biomechanics and other technical aspects of a correct warm up, instead I am going to “Soccerize” a basic warm up for you.

Here we go.

Firstly, recognize that at the youth soccer level players are primarily playing soccer for fun and also to socialize.

Remember this.

So, bearing that in mind, when the players arrive, I say hello to them, make sure they are OK and then I keep away from them.

I give them time and space to put on their socks and shinguards and their cleats, have a drink and I allow them to chat with their friends and hang out. As soon as they are ready I ask them to juggle with their ball until everybody is ready to start the practice.

Now this next part can come across as a little old fashinoned, but once I have called them all in, welcomed them and let them know what we are going to do at practice, I then have them line up in twos, each player with a ball and I have them run a couple of laps while dribbling their ball.

I do this because it gives them some aerobic activity, has them touching the ball and mentally it signifies to them that by the time they have reported back to me after their couple of laps, practice has now begun and the work has to be done.

While they are running their laps, I spend the time to set up the next part of the practice. I also take a look at them as they are running to see if there is anything I should be concerned about.

Once they have completed their laps, they dribble their balls in to me and immediately I have to start the next phase of the warm up.

This is the time that we would have the players stretch accordingly.

What I like to do is have the ball part of each stretch. Get creative with this, but don’t have them kick their balls to the side while they stretch, have them use their ball or at least have them focus on it while they stretch.

Next, my focus is to step up their aerobic activity and to also have them touch the ball as many times as possible with both feet as well as different parts of the body.I mark off a suitable sized grid, or we use part of the penalty area or we use the center circle, whichever is available and appropriate.

Now, as you advance as a coach and work on more advanced topics, it is important that this part of the warm up ties in with the theme of your practice.

For more beginner kind of practices and/or younger players, simple games such as “Red Light/Green Light” will suffice.

The basic premise is that you spend 5-10 minutes working with the players in a small area, with lots of tempo and lots of touches on the ball.

AVOID LINES AND AVOID HAVING THEM DO DRILLS THAT INVOLVE STANDING AROUND A LOT.

Instead, “Keep them busy.” This will help them up their tempo, give them lots of touches on the ball and it will also keep them interested and focussed so that they don’t get bored and maybe drift off mentally.

At the end of the warm up, let them have a water break then quickly get into the “meat” of your practice.

So, In Summary, here are the components of the Warm Up:

1. Socialise and juggle with the ball while they get ready and all the players arrive

2. Have the team run a couple of laps while dribbling with their ball

3. Suitable and appropriate stretches.

4. Lots of touches, keep them busy and up the tempo so that they get a good aerobic workout while working with their ball.

So, there you have it, that’s Tip # 2 the Warm UP completed.

Not to worry, we are here to help.

I will be posting 5 Tips to help you get through your first practice…

Here is the first one:

TIP #1 Equipment

Cleats must be soccer cleats, no baseball cleats.

Make sure each player has the correct sized ball, mandatory that they all have their own ball.

It is important that each player has a ball because as you will discover in later tips, that the entire practice should be centered around the ball. By making each player have a ball that will give them something to focus on and it take one more responsibilty away from you, the coach.

Each player must have the correct type of shinguards and have them inside their socks and the socks must be soccer socks.

This may seem basic, but I cannot tell you how many times I have seen players practice with their shinguards on the outside of their socks. Have them wear them correctly, this is another step in the right direction.

There are lots of stores that carry a player pack which usually includes a ball, a pair of cleats and a pair of shinguards.

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Agree beforehand that you team will practice in matching colors. I have all of my teams wear a white t-shirt, black shorts and white soccer socks. Doesn’t matter the brand or the style, just white shirt, black shorts and white socks. They do not need to all match.

This immediately makes them look like a team and immediately makes them feel part of a team.

Have each player bring their own water bottle and have it clearly labeled with their name on it.

It is important that you regulate water breaks.
Make them often and use it as a way to give them a break and to buy you some time while you think about and prepare for the next part of the practice.

DO NOT LET THEM WANDER OF A DRINK FROM THE WATER BOTTLE WHENEVER THEY WANT. DO NOT LET PARENTS BECKON THEM OVER TO GIVE THEM A DRINK.

If you let them wander off by themselves when they want a drink, or if you let parents give them a drink, YOU WILL LOSE CONTROL OF THE PRACTICE.

When they are on a water break, STAY AWAY FROM THEM.

What I do not recommend is that you take your water break when they do and you hang out with them. Give them some space and let them socialise and complain and gossip etc, its their break time, not yours.

OK, so there are some basic tips that should help you set the tone of your practices and help you take control of the practice and the players.

TIP #2 will follow shortly.

Feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions.

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