Coaching Soccer Weekly: Methods, Trends, Techniques And Tactics From World Class Coaching

I wasn’t able to schedule a time to talk with Scott Moody of SoccerFIT about their new soccer conditioning app this week. I decided I would spend my time putting the show notes together for last weeks show on directional rondos. So go back to episode 152 and you’ll find a link to those notes....

I had to take last week off from the podcast because it was our week for tryouts. I’ve described our tryout process in detail in a number of previous podcasts so you can do a search for, “Tryouts” and listen to those episodes if you’re interested in more information on those. At the same time...

Well, my 2017/18 season has finally come to an end. The team I had in State Cup lost in the Semi Final. Only one team per age group really ends the season having accomplished its goals and having won the title but looking back I’m very happy with the progress of my team and especially...

Last weekend I traveled with three teams to a Memorial Day Soccer tournament in Chicago so I didn’t release a podcast. I talk about the tournament and out of town tournaments in general later in the show. Tonight I had my last practice of the year with the team I have playing Jr. State Cup...

I had a huge tournament weekend a week ago. Having four teams in a tournament makes for a busy weekend but it’s the best way for me to give all of my teams a chance to play with the least amount of disruption to our league schedule. This was the last tournament for one of...

Last weekend I feel like I coached three great game and one awful one. The players weren’t awful, it was me. I have a team that’s playing up an age group and there were promoted to the first division after a very good fall season. The difference between DI and DII is substantial and it’s...

We’re finishing up our spring league season in the next couple of weeks. Then there are a couple of tournaments to end the season and we’re back to tryout time again! This is also the time of year I set aside time to complete player evaluations for all of my teams. If you’ve listen to...

I had some good and bad last weekend in terms of weather to play in. One game started at 10:30 am and was miserable. It was hard for the girls to play anything like the way we usually try to. I found myself coaching their effort to fight through the conditions more than anything else. By 1:00...

It seems that I’m always talking about the crazy weather we’re having this spring. Last week was our third weekend with snow this spring. I ended up only have one game because of thunderstorms on Friday and bitter cold and snow on Sunday. I helped referee some tournament games on Saturday night. The snow was...

I was fortunate to have an opportunity to tour the new US Soccer National Training Center. It’s an amazing facility that was built as a partnership between US Soccer, Sporting Kansas City and Children’s Mercy Hospital. The three entities all have their separate areas build to suit their specific needs but they also share areas...

I only had a couple of games last weekend. One of them was with a team that is playing up an age group. Not only that but they’re playing in the top division against teams a year older. It’s been a great way to expose some weaknesses that we need to work on but it’s...

I took a break from the podcast last week but it wasn’t to go on a vacation or take some time off as much as it was to get ready for our Spring Recreational Coaches Meeting. The week was spent pulling together paperwork and uniforms in preparation for the spring season that starts this week....

This week is our spring break in this area so we’re missing a lot of players. This has created opportunities for players to guest play with the teams above them and experience a higher level of competition. As a coach I’ve enjoyed watching how players respond to this opportunity. All of the players that guest...

In the opening of this week’s podcast I describe an incident from one of my games last weekend. It’s a story that’s better heard than read. This week’s question comes from Evan. He’s asking about formations. Evan says, “This high school girls soccer season has just begun where I live, and I coach a local JV...

We had our first outdoor tournament last weekend. I like this tournament because it gives my teams three or four quick games before the season starts. The weather was really cold the week before so we weren’t able to train much. Two of my teams didn’t practice at all. I had all four of my teams in the...

Last weekend was US Youth Futsal Nationals. I know that talking about ‘National’ tournaments for youth players can sound a little over the top. There weren’t teams from all over the country but there were some great teams from the midwest and east coast. Talking about it as a National tournament is really more of a...

This weekend is the US Youth Futsal National that are held here in the KC area. I have one team in the tournament and I’m looking forward to seeing how they do against some very good opposition. It’s great to finish up the season with an event like this. It lets me see how far we’ve...

For three weeks I’ve focused on fast footwork and lateral movement with my players. It’s been great to see their increased on comfort and confidence on the ball. Each practice I’ve given them ‘homework’ to do that related to the movements we did during training. Hopefully they’ll continue to do these exercises at home so that...

We’re starting to wrap up our Futsal season. I’m continuing to work on technical skills that will help the players in Futsal but I’m starting to plan for the transition back to outdoor. I’ll talk about that more in the coming weeks. We wrapped up a three week MicroCycle where we did a progression of...

Now that my teams have been playing Futsal for a few months we’ve gone over and over the basic Futsal tactics that have helped my teams to understand the shape and structure needed to play Futsal effectively. That’s not to say that they can always execute effectively. We could keep working on our shape and...