Coaching Soccer Weekly: Methods, Trends, Techniques and Tactics from WORLD CLASS COACHING

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 train much. Two of my teams didn’t practice at all. I had all four of my teams in the tournament. Three...

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...

The Central Regional Championships for the US Youth Futsal Nationals was in Kansas City last weekend. I had one team win and qualify for Nationals while the other had a tough weekend. They played some very good teams but didn’t play as well has they have recently. I’ve said before that the only thing consistent about...

Last weekend I had my first games back with my teams after the long holiday break. Because of the way the schedule worked out we didn’t have a practice before our games. I knew we wouldn’t be really sharp but I was surprised by just how rusty the players really were. You could tell that...

It was a great time for a break! I really enjoyed the time away from the field and the chance to spend time with family and friends. It was also a productive time as I was able to complete my spring league and tournament plan as well as the Technical Training curriculum for next season....

I had a ton of Futsal games last week. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve divided my teams up for the Futsal season to make sure they all get plenty of playing time. This is great for the players but it doubles the number of games I have on any given weekend. I love working with...

The first full weekend of Futsal for my teams is always interesting because it’s first time some of my players have been in a Futsal game. Some are surprised how much they enjoy the new experience while others aren’t as sure. It’s just too different than what they were used to with arena soccer. I...

My Thanksgiving holiday week was full of family, american football and too much food. It was a great break and chance to reset. I usually have my teams take the first week of Futsal off because that gives them a two-week break between the end of the outdoor season and our first Futsal game. This...

Well, last weekend was the end of the outdoor season for the last of my teams. Just in time too because the weather has really made a turn to the colder side in the midwest. All of our training sessions from now on will be focused on the techniques and tactics of Futsal. It’s almost...