soccer ideas

[cdif911]

ok I'm starting on a new journey into coaching varsity soccer - I've done JV for many years, but I know its a whole different game at the next level.  Any advice from people who have played at a higher level on good skills to work on, game strategies, etc. anything that has helped you can help me I'm sure

[cdif911]

bump bump

[Edgar]

Ok Cd
I think I can help u a little with this one
 
first thing to do is to know your guys
the rough material you are given

Ok anaalyze for starting

Phisical Condition
Speed
Strengh
Lateral habilities and quickness
and specially
ball technicke ( or however u write it)

Plan a week with every single one of those cathegories a day and try to evaluate were each one of those guys are in every single one of them

Never underapreciatte hard work from any of the guys
and valuate mid skilled hard workers over high skill divas in soccer thats even MORE importannt than other sports like basketball.

try to play for at least 15 to 20 minutes at the end of each training, free gaming so you can have an idea of where those guys ^usually ^play most likely you will have to change them for their usual spots.

Try to look for lefties but dont die doing it , if they play with both legs thats a blessing.

I usually recomend that if youre playing with no so skilled guys
use this scheme

1--1--3--3----3

Its the easiest to learn

thy to use the libero system where u put usually an anchor to your d, look for size but size is overrated in this place, speacially look for idea, a player that can slide to the ball sweeping the floor, and to have idea on opening the game laterally, he specially have to be patient intelligent.

more to come if this is helping you................

[Rondo2287]

I think the first skill is the most important.  I know my high school year was one of the first to have lacrosse thus, thus our coach didnt have much experience.  His main skill that he had us do was conditioning.  We ended up doing pretty well just because we were in better shape than alot of teams.  And there is nothing more intimidating than a team doing wind sprints at half time of a game that they are winning.  To quote kurt russel, "The legs feed the wolf gentlemen."

[Galiza Ceive]

I never coached/played at high level so take it for what is worth.

I agree that physical condition is crucial. Poor teams in good shape can win lot of games. Also, totally agree with choosing medium- level hard workers (as long as they can play a minimum) rather than primma donnas (although one offensive midfielder or forward can keep all his/her energy for the attack).

I dont like the use of "libero". It sounds quite old for me. As long as your defense is reasonably good, it is far better to play with 4 in line and training the off side situations. In my opinion the easyest scheme is 4-4-2. There, it is important that the 2 wings defend the adversary wings. Not many players do it and it is crucial for your defense not to be totally collapsed.

Dont understimate the importance of your keeper, train a lot with him/her, particularly corner kicks and centres (90% of the keepers, me among them, are bad when the ball goes in the air)

The right and left defenders are the "exit" option. In attack, they should be free 90% of the time. In case a player with the ball is under pressure, wing defenders are always the best option. In defense they should defend the rival winger when they are attcking on his side and covering the back of the central defender whey the rival uses the other side (in that case the winger should defend the rival winger as I said above).

The central defenders dont need to be particularly skillfull unless you want to play like Barcelona. As long as they can defend the rival forwards and are able to give a 10-meter pass should be ok.

The miedfielders should be the most important players on your team. One player (not neccesarily the same) should be permanently occupying the central position, no matter if you are defending or attacking. It is important that they dont lose the ball too often. Let it simple.

The wingers are very often primma donnas cause they are the ones who should generate danger for the rival. If they are skilfull you would generate a lot of chances by 2 on 1 situations. That is the essence of attack in soocer (generate situations when you have one more player than your rival).

The forwards need to score. If they know how to play, good, if not hopefully they better be big and strong.

As for trainings, appart for physical condition it is important that you work on the coordination of you defense. Playing the off side is effective but not easy.
Also, if you want to develop your players, work on controlling the ball and passing. As long as they can control the ball and pass it 20 meters with some precision the other skills are less important.

Finally, work defense and some attack on corner kicks. It is extremely important on both sides of the pitch.

Sorry for the big post and my deficient English, and good luck with your team

[dark_lord]

a lot of good advise in here.  the only thing i would add, dont teach them to flop like a lot of the pro soccer players.    have them be aggresive 

[Rondo2287]

Also, if your players arent getting yellow cards on a regular basis they arent trying hard enough.  You are allowed two of them for a reason. 

[CelticBrit]

I have coached Varsity level for a number of years at home in England and here in the US. The key is keeping the team focused and interested. Ensure the drills are short, sharp and have direction. No drill should last for more than 10 minutes before an extension is applied. There must be a focus on ball work and skill. Stay away from the traditional US way of kicking the ball long and hard and chasing after it. Focus on whenever a player has the ball, others must move off the ball giving the player in possession at least three options each time. A sideways pass, or one that drops the ball back, is often a better way than just forward. Fitness can be built into the drills to ensure that all work is done with a ball. Pass and move and focus on teamwork will ensure your team has a better chance of success. As a coach, sound confident, even when you are not. Always let your players know that you will go through the wall for them and in return they will do likewise for them. Stand up for them when a ref makes a bad call - do so in a firm but appropriate manner and that will go a long way. Defenders need to be as comfortable with the ball as a midfielder or attacker. Work on those, small sided games with limited touches and things will fall into place. Don't choose a formation to play until you have assessed your players, because that will dictate how you play. If you have a natural left footed player then perhaps playing with wings, if not then a midfield diamond. Good luck.

[Edgar]

I never coached/played at high level so take it for what is worth.

I agree that physical condition is crucial. Poor teams in good shape can win lot of games. Also, totally agree with choosing medium- level hard workers (as long as they can play a minimum) rather than primma donnas (although one offensive midfielder or forward can keep all his/her energy for the attack).

I dont like the use of "libero". It sounds quite old for me. As long as your defense is reasonably good, it is far better to play with 4 in line and training the off side situations. In my opinion the easyest scheme is 4-4-2. There, it is important that the 2 wings defend the adversary wings. Not many players do it and it is crucial for your defense not to be totally collapsed.

Dont understimate the importance of your keeper, train a lot with him/her, particularly corner kicks and centres (90% of the keepers, me among them, are bad when the ball goes in the air)

The right and left defenders are the "exit" option. In attack, they should be free 90% of the time. In case a player with the ball is under pressure, wing defenders are always the best option. In defense they should defend the rival winger when they are attcking on his side and covering the back of the central defender whey the rival uses the other side (in that case the winger should defend the rival winger as I said above).

The central defenders dont need to be particularly skillfull unless you want to play like Barcelona. As long as they can defend the rival forwards and are able to give a 10-meter pass should be ok.

The miedfielders should be the most important players on your team. One player (not neccesarily the same) should be permanently occupying the central position, no matter if you are defending or attacking. It is important that they dont lose the ball too often. Let it simple.

The wingers are very often primma donnas cause they are the ones who should generate danger for the rival. If they are skilfull you would generate a lot of chances by 2 on 1 situations. That is the essence of attack in soocer (generate situations when you have one more player than your rival).

The forwards need to score. If they know how to play, good, if not hopefully they better be big and strong.

As for trainings, appart for physical condition it is important that you work on the coordination of you defense. Playing the off side is effective but not easy.
Also, if you want to develop your players, work on controlling the ball and passing. As long as they can control the ball and pass it 20 meters with some precision the other skills are less important.

Finally, work defense and some attack on corner kicks. It is extremely important on both sides of the pitch.

Sorry for the big post and my deficient English, and good luck with your team

1-1- with libero
Its really Old  but very effective for new coaches I think this is the case here
We are not talking pros (at least thats what i think)


Its easy to learn to the kids I really dont kow the age of the younger who will be teached.


my next post was supposed to be towards midfielders, the best man of the team have to handle midfield, if hes not strong enough you should match him with a skilled deffensive minded , play breaker, your wings are very important in a mix of defensive and ofensive sills. If you can have both lateral defense that can go into attack and come back fast thats a blessing, if not, your midfielders have to be more offensive mindded.

Again
I will continue only if u think this is helping



Try to work on screens and plays I can look for a couple of videos for u if those can help u CD

[cdif911]

I have coached Varsity level for a number of years at home in England and here in the US. The key is keeping the team focused and interested. Ensure the drills are short, sharp and have direction. No drill should last for more than 10 minutes before an extension is applied. There must be a focus on ball work and skill. Stay away from the traditional US way of kicking the ball long and hard and chasing after it. Focus on whenever a player has the ball, others must move off the ball giving the player in possession at least three options each time. A sideways pass, or one that drops the ball back, is often a better way than just forward. Fitness can be built into the drills to ensure that all work is done with a ball. Pass and move and focus on teamwork will ensure your team has a better chance of success. As a coach, sound confident, even when you are not. Always let your players know that you will go through the wall for them and in return they will do likewise for them. Stand up for them when a ref makes a bad call - do so in a firm but appropriate manner and that will go a long way. Defenders need to be as comfortable with the ball as a midfielder or attacker. Work on those, small sided games with limited touches and things will fall into place. Don't choose a formation to play until you have assessed your players, because that will dictate how you play. If you have a natural left footed player then perhaps playing with wings, if not then a midfield diamond. Good luck.

thanks everyone for some solid advice

this one I think was the most straightforward and helpful

I've run a 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3 (diamond d either way) for the last 4 years at JV and its been succesful, but now focusing on truly marking instead of a quasi marking zone which a lot of my players have done in the past is going to be crucial

also the advice on keeping drills short and sweet is very good - I also think repitition is key, one of my biggest weaknesses has been not coming back to drills until it proves in games that we needed to focus more there.  I'd rather my kids be very good at a few things than marginal at a lot

and conditioning is key, I agree with that as well

I'll keep the blog updated as the season goes on, if others have ideas keep em coming

[cdif911]

Also, if your players arent getting yellow cards on a regular basis they arent trying hard enough.  You are allowed two of them for a reason. 

15 total as a team and you're out of the state tourney, sadly

[Casperian]

6:00 am, Iīm wide awake, so what the heck...

I think CelticBrit (and the others) already gave you some excellent advices.
I was never good enough, nor did I ever coach a team, but I am (was) an obsessive fan with friends who played at the professional level and coached professional youth teams, so take it for what it`s worth.

I will give you some basic advices, things that are common soccer knowledge in my country, as I think those will help more than any specific advice.

1. Stamina is crucial, but it`s also important how your guys get their stamina. I suggest you think about ways how every drill includes the ball. Time not spent with the ball is lost time. Still, itīs always good to have guys who want to run.

2. Control - Look - Pass, the mantra of a good soccer player. Seriously, this is the absolute basic drill, and it can`t be stressed enough how important it is. If they`re not good enough to control the ball and pass properly, then they`re not soccer players, and if they`re good enough, then they have to learn to do it faster. You can never do too much drills that base on these basic skills.

3. I suggest you run a lot of 3 vs 5 or 2 vs 4 drills.
5 players in a circle pass the ball to each other, 3 players in the circle try to get the ball. If one of the 3 guys gets the ball, he joins the circle, and the circle-player who lost the ball has to chase the ball now. You train control, passing and one-on-ones at the same time. Btw, the number of circle-players and ballchasers directly determines how hard certain aspects of the drill are, so it`s a good idea to mix it up with the numbers from time to time, depending on what you want to focus on. Absolute basic (and fun) drill, too.

4. My favourite, the pendulum.

Hang the ball just over the heads of your players, and let them train headers like there`s no tomorrow. Let them learn to shoot the ball with the head. Standing, running, diving...whatever. If somebody tells you this isn`t a modern drill, he doesn`t know what he`s talking about. This is such a simple yet crucial drill, itīs ridiculous. Itīs a solo drill, though, so it might be wiser to offer this as an extra after the actual training.

5. Tacklings...and Iīm not talking about the wussy tacklings you see at the pro level nowadays, where itīs all business and nobody wants to get hurt. Diving (or Sliding?) Tacklings are the most underrated and single most important skill at lower levels. Itīs nice to have wonderful ideas of how you want your guys to play...fast, short passes, pressing and forechecking all sound wonderful on paper, but itīs not what wins you games on the lower levels, normally. Trust me, a hard-nosed defender with a proper diving tackle strikes fear in the eyes of your opponents and makes life so much easier for the whole team.

Finally, I suggest you watch games of the greek national team. Iīm biased, but I think their coach is a force of nature when it comes to basics. Itīs really ugly soccer, almost ancient compared to the modern style, but itīs enough to win the Euro with a "sub-average" team like Greece.

I hope there was something you can use, keep us updated on how you do with the team.

[cdif911]

6:00 am, Iīm wide awake, so what the heck...

I think CelticBrit (and the others) already gave you some excellent advices.
I was never good enough, nor did I ever coach a team, but I am (was) an obsessive fan with friends who played at the professional level and coached professional youth teams, so take it for what it`s worth.

I will give you some basic advices, things that are common soccer knowledge in my country, as I think those will help more than any specific advice.

1. Stamina is crucial, but it`s also important how your guys get their stamina. I suggest you think about ways how every drill includes the ball. Time not spent with the ball is lost time. Still, itīs always good to have guys who want to run.

2. Control - Look - Pass, the mantra of a good soccer player. Seriously, this is the absolute basic drill, and it can`t be stressed enough how important it is. If they`re not good enough to control the ball and pass properly, then they`re not soccer players, and if they`re good enough, then they have to learn to do it faster. You can never do too much drills that base on these basic skills.

3. I suggest you run a lot of 3 vs 5 or 2 vs 4 drills.
5 players in a circle pass the ball to each other, 3 players in the circle try to get the ball. If one of the 3 guys gets the ball, he joins the circle, and the circle-player who lost the ball has to chase the ball now. You train control, passing and one-on-ones at the same time. Btw, the number of circle-players and ballchasers directly determines how hard certain aspects of the drill are, so it`s a good idea to mix it up with the numbers from time to time, depending on what you want to focus on. Absolute basic (and fun) drill, too.

4. My favourite, the pendulum.

Hang the ball just over the heads of your players, and let them train headers like there`s no tomorrow. Let them learn to shoot the ball with the head. Standing, running, diving...whatever. If somebody tells you this isn`t a modern drill, he doesn`t know what he`s talking about. This is such a simple yet crucial drill, itīs ridiculous. Itīs a solo drill, though, so it might be wiser to offer this as an extra after the actual training.

5. Tacklings...and Iīm not talking about the wussy tacklings you see at the pro level nowadays, where itīs all business and nobody wants to get hurt. Diving (or Sliding?) Tacklings are the most underrated and single most important skill at lower levels. Itīs nice to have wonderful ideas of how you want your guys to play...fast, short passes, pressing and forechecking all sound wonderful on paper, but itīs not what wins you games on the lower levels, normally. Trust me, a hard-nosed defender with a proper diving tackle strikes fear in the eyes of your opponents and makes life so much easier for the whole team.

Finally, I suggest you watch games of the greek national team. Iīm biased, but I think their coach is a force of nature when it comes to basics. Itīs really ugly soccer, almost ancient compared to the modern style, but itīs enough to win the Euro with a "sub-average" team like Greece.

I hope there was something you can use, keep us updated on how you do with the team.

great stuff, I've never seen the pendulum before...not sure if my school will buy one haha....control and passing are huge, as you said, and drills with the ball are also incredibly important - the problem I've found with slide tackling is two fold (and why I have kids only use it as a last resort) - 1) I've seen many clean tackles get whistled or even carded and 2) if you miss a slide tackle you are absolutely beat as a defender, so only a 1st defender should really do it

but again thanks, great stuff

[boscel33]

teach passing skills.  it seems here in the usa, passing has is a lost art form  and even relates to the nba).  i listened to bill simmons the other day when he first spoke about passing.  then i was able to wathc some mls games and he was right.  u s players don't pass like international players do.

passing the ball and getting everyone involved.  that's the key.  as coach norman dale said, "pass the ball".

[Rondo2287]

Also, if your players arent getting yellow cards on a regular basis they arent trying hard enough.  You are allowed two of them for a reason. 

15 total as a team and you're out of the state tourney, sadly

Awww Man.  That's BS I used to try to get at least one every game.  Course that was on my travel teams, Highschool I did Football instead.  Oh well.  What is this game coming too