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

As I mentioned last week I took some of my teams to a Labor Day tournament over the weekend. Taking three teams made for a busy weekend but the teams played well and I enjoyed spending time with them away from home. My younger teams played in traditional tournaments brackets with the top two teams playing...

This week I want to share a session focused on teaching the key defensive principles. The session starts with the basic building blocks of individual defending and progresses to include small group defending and finishes by working with the entire defensive unit. The amount of time you spend in each phase of this session will...

An email came out from US Youth Soccer on Monday, August 24. It was to announce changes that most people had heard something about already. The first is that they are mandating small-sided soccer for players below the age of 12. They are also standardizing the formats for each age group. The U8’s will play 4 v...

Last weekend was our first tournament weekend. There is always a lot of discussion about whether playing multiple games over a weekend is good for players. I think it depends on the age and level of the players. For high school age and above I think more harm than good comes from playing more than a game a...

The questions and suggestions keep coming in each week and one that I received today gave me an idea. Michael K said, ‘I am really enjoying your podcasts and am finding them very informative and educational. Would it be possible to include sessions that focus on set plays and restarts? This is a topic that I...

At the beginning of each season I always plan to do a shooting session in the first week. I have a shooting exercise or game in each training session but what I’m talking about here is a complete practice focused on shooting. I set the session up as a progressive practice that begins with a...

Training sessions have started in our area and it’s great to get back on the field with the players again. The summer provides a welcome break but I enjoy working with kids and watching them develop so I’m always excited to start a new year. I have a range of age groups that I’m working with...

I continue to receive a lot of great feedback on the podcast as well as ratings and reviews on iTunes. I really appreciate everyone that has taken the time to send an email or write a review. I’ll do my best to bring you information on the topics and ideas you’ve requested. This week we went past...

I’ve continued adding printable show notes for each episode to CoachingSoccerWeekly.com. So you’ll find printable notes for this episode at the bottom of this page. I’m also working through the previous episodes as well so keep checking back if there’s one your looking for or you can email me at [email protected] and let me know if...

The summer months are an important time because they give our players a chance to rest and recharge at the end of a long season before they prepare for the next one. You can’t constantly train at a high level without breaking down and risking injury and burnout. But it’s important for players, especially as...