I hope you're not one of these soccer coaches!
For two hours on a Tuesday night I spend my time watching other coaches take sessions and then I take my team for their session. From 6 - 7pm which is when my youngest son, Harry plays... I walk around the training ground looking for ideas to build into my sessions. Being constantly alert to other coaches sessions and opening your mind to new ideas is what all of the great coaches do. Want proof... Jose Mourinho did a tour of duty of a variety of Premiership clubs when he was assistant coach at Barcelona, looking for fresh new ideas. Good coaches never stop learning. However, some coaches don't seem to get it and carry on doing what they've always done. Let me describe a situation that occurred last night with one of our club coaches and how I put his session back on track. For 15 minutes I watched Coach X do doggie runs with his players. 20 yard shuttle runs, with star jumps, burpees or some other type of fitness based exercise at the end of the run. NO BALL IN SIGHT! PLAYERS TOTALLY DISENGAGED! AGE GROUP?... Under 11's! As I watched, shaking my head I thought at some point soon they've got to start playing soccer. We only get to work with the players for 1 hour a week, so what you put into that hour has to be quality. For starters, U11's don't need fitness training... their aerobic capacity hasn't developed sufficiently to gain any benefit from doing these doggies. What's worse is that for 20 minutes they hadn't even kicked a ball. Between the ages of U10 - U13 it is the absolutely golden age of development. The techniques and skills learned at this age will stay with the players their entire playing life! Please don't mistake running and doggies as coaching soccer. To coach soccer, you must have the ball at the feet of the players for 95% of the session... the 5% is for static stretching and water breaks. So how did I jump in and rescue the players? Very simply... I just adapted the exercise. Instead of simply running up the lane, I put a ball at the feet of the player and told him to dribble it. Once he got to the end, do his 5 star jumps then hit a 20 yard pass back to the next player in line. We then added some other elements, such as... To stop the ball at the end of the lane, they had to use the outside hook, inside hook, drag back... When dribbling the ball do some step overs, drop your shoulder... Instead of a 20 yard pass to the next person in line, dribble it 10 yards then hit a pass on the move when 10 yards away! Coach X said he hadn't even considered doing any of what I introduced. Your Take Away... Whenever you're coaching your soccer players ensure that they almost always have a ball at their feet for the majority of the session. Do you have a specific problem or want some fresh ideas for your training sessions? If you answered yes to either of these two questions then you should take our trial membership offer immediately. Join Junior Soccer Coach For Only £1 We've got all the answers to your coaching problems, all you need to do is ask us. See you in the 'members only' area today! Have a great week in training and good luck in this weekends games. Neil T. http://www.juniorsoccercoach.com Helping You Develop Tomorrow's Soccer Talent, Today! PS... Here is a definition of insanity... "Doing the same thing repeatedly, but expecting a different result each time!" Does your training or soccer team need freshening up? Join Junior Soccer Coach For Only £1
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