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Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #15 on: August 27, 2009, 09:35:12 PM »

Offline cdif911

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day 1 down, good so far, my jv coach is amazing...
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Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #16 on: September 01, 2009, 08:22:02 PM »

Offline cdif911

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today was the first day I felt like a real varsity coach, not sure what clicked, but something did. But we're setting up a good program, lots of ball skills, starting to put in tactical skills as well, I'm excited and nervous for our first game in a week
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Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #17 on: September 01, 2009, 08:26:26 PM »

Offline Hoyo de Monterrey

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good luck cdif... I used CB as a basketball coach and picked the brains of a lot of quality coaches on here. Team ended up 12-2 and lost in the state semis last year.

Keep us posted.
"Let me call him," Floyd said.

The man shook his head. "O.J. doesn't give out his cell," he said. "He'll call you."

Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #18 on: September 01, 2009, 08:29:02 PM »

Offline cdif911

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good luck cdif... I used CB as a basketball coach and picked the brains of a lot of quality coaches on here. Team ended up 12-2 and lost in the state semis last year.

Keep us posted.

thanks Hoyo - what level did you coach at (I coach hs bball too)
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Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #19 on: September 01, 2009, 11:50:37 PM »

Offline MBz

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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. 

Wrong.  In Mass high school rules, there is a rule where a certain amount of yellow cards for your team keeps you out of the state tournament.  I played for Medford High and graduating in 05.  We used to a 3-5-2, which was very successful(we lost in the state finals in 03).  The most important thing you can do is have their fitness level up and ready to go.  We used to do these things called 8 80's which sucked.  We'd run from 18 to 18 8 times, and it was 80 yards so thats why it was called 8-80s, but it was a full out sprint and it was rough. 
do it

Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #20 on: September 02, 2009, 03:32:42 AM »

Offline KevinConnor

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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.

I completely agree with Casperian! I come from Europe(The Netherlands) and have no idea what the basic level of these kids is but:

1. Stamina training with the ball has two advantages a. they not only train their stamina but also their ballhandling skills and b. if these kids liked to run without a ball they would have turned to track and field. They simply enjoy it more with a ball involved.

2. A lot of kids control the ball with their heads down. Try to teach them to control the ball with their head up. This saves time because during the time it takes them to control the ball they also have an understanding what is going on on the rest of the soccer field.

3. Donīt worry to much about playing 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 or whatever tactics. Itīs just a basic strategy on paper. When you have them play 4-3-3 for example you could tell the wingers to retreat 10 to 15 meters more(after they lost the ball) than they are used to to create a midfield of 5 instead of 3!

4. Make sure these kids enjoy playing soccer and of course make sure you enjoy coaching!

Good luck!


Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #21 on: September 02, 2009, 08:16:17 PM »

Offline Hoyo de Monterrey

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good luck cdif... I used CB as a basketball coach and picked the brains of a lot of quality coaches on here. Team ended up 12-2 and lost in the state semis last year.

Keep us posted.

thanks Hoyo - what level did you coach at (I coach hs bball too)

Just junior high school ball... I'm only 23 so for a kid like me it was a great experience to run a team. It's something I definitely love to do though, and I see myself as a coach at some level just about anywhere life would take me.
"Let me call him," Floyd said.

The man shook his head. "O.J. doesn't give out his cell," he said. "He'll call you."

Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #22 on: September 04, 2009, 03:34:11 PM »

Offline cdif911

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good luck cdif... I used CB as a basketball coach and picked the brains of a lot of quality coaches on here. Team ended up 12-2 and lost in the state semis last year.

Keep us posted.

thanks Hoyo - what level did you coach at (I coach hs bball too)

Just junior high school ball... I'm only 23 so for a kid like me it was a great experience to run a team. It's something I definitely love to do though, and I see myself as a coach at some level just about anywhere life would take me.

good stuff, yeah I'm pretty young for a varsity coach (26) - my first bball team was freshmen when I was 22, and we lost every game...next season we went 12-4 so I felt better
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Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #23 on: September 04, 2009, 03:34:54 PM »

Offline cdif911

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so we won our first scrimmage...still plenty of work to do
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Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #24 on: September 04, 2009, 04:36:01 PM »

Offline Casperian

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so we won our first scrimmage...still plenty of work to do

Congratulations. I hope itīs the first in a long row.

Something else I thought of are Set Pieces. Free Kicks, Corners, Throw-Ins...they often decide over win or loss. I suggest you create certain plays that you train with your team. These situations often get out of control, so itīs important that your guys have a plan they can rely on and execute. Itīs not a sexy way to win the game, but a very effective one.

For Corners, one option is to cross the ball long into the box for headers, another is a short pass to someone who then crosses the ball, or simply drives into the box himself. He could also play it to a teammate who lurks outside the box who shoots it from distance. Make sure that everyone knows his role. If your player plays the ball long into the box itīs a good idea to drive the ball away from the goal, as itīs much easier to head a ball thatīs coming your way instead of one that drifts away from you (I hope that makes sense).

Itīs also important to assign your guys a fix opponent for the other teamīs corners. Normally, your defenders should take care of the opposing strikers, while your strikers stick with the opposing defenders. Your Goalie has to get the ball, and everyone else should "box" out.

For Free Kicks and Throw-Ins, youīll have to watch some games, so you can pick some set plays up, if you havenīt already, like stepping over the ball to let someone else shoot, passing the ball low to a quick attacker who crosses or drives, high crosses to your deepest striker, and so on.
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Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #25 on: September 08, 2009, 07:07:03 PM »

Offline cdif911

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won our first game, 6-1...practice tomorrow then 3 in 5 days, yikes
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Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #26 on: September 08, 2009, 08:07:18 PM »

Offline CelticG1

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One thing that was always implemented in my training sessions with both high school and college soccer was 2 touch possession. Whenever we played possession games and also many times when we would scrimmage, we were only allowed 2 touches on the ball. This became so instinctive that after a while our coach wouldn't even have to tell us, we would just go out and know we only had two touches on the ball. This is good because it makes your players concentrate on their first touch, makes them think ahead with what they want to do, helps players communicate and to let them know where they are or if they are covered, and it just keeps the ball moving. It really works on a player's skills especially if it is in a small confined space. If you can get them playing two touch as much as possible in practices, it will translate into games and they will get the ball moving a lot quicker and smoother. If the players aren't at that level yet, if you don't think they can play 2 touch, then start out with 3 touch and move down to 2 when they get the hang of it. Good luck and have fun!!

Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #27 on: September 08, 2009, 08:35:01 PM »

Offline cdif911

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One thing that was always implemented in my training sessions with both high school and college soccer was 2 touch possession. Whenever we played possession games and also many times when we would scrimmage, we were only allowed 2 touches on the ball. This became so instinctive that after a while our coach wouldn't even have to tell us, we would just go out and know we only had two touches on the ball. This is good because it makes your players concentrate on their first touch, makes them think ahead with what they want to do, helps players communicate and to let them know where they are or if they are covered, and it just keeps the ball moving. It really works on a player's skills especially if it is in a small confined space. If you can get them playing two touch as much as possible in practices, it will translate into games and they will get the ball moving a lot quicker and smoother. If the players aren't at that level yet, if you don't think they can play 2 touch, then start out with 3 touch and move down to 2 when they get the hang of it. Good luck and have fun!!

yup have definitely done a lot of 2 touch - its amazing when you do something in a practice then see it in a game
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Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #28 on: September 08, 2009, 08:47:20 PM »

Offline Rondo_is_better

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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.

That's a great post. I agree with that coaching strategy 100%. TP.
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Re: soccer ideas
« Reply #29 on: September 15, 2009, 06:49:09 PM »

Offline cdif911

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dropped 2 last week on the road, then came back home and won a good one...2-2 now, still working; its a long long season
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