CSW Extra 7 – Drills and Videos

09/23/16 • 2 min

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

We have so many projects going here at WORLD CLASS COACHING that I just didn’t have time to pull together a complete episode for this week.

I’m working on a number of topics that I discussed last week but I’ve also added a new one, “What to do when your session is just not working”. This happened to me last night and I’m sure we all have the experience from time to time. I’ll let you know how I dealt with this situation, how are discovered what wasn’t working, how I adjusted the session and what the results were.

In the meantime, I’d suggest you check out our Instagram account. We’ve been updating it daily since January and there are now more than 200 posts that include the diagram and description of a training activity. The topics cover every technical and tactical area you can imagine.

You might not have thought about using Instagram to find drills and exercises but it’s a great way to share them. It has a huge advantage over twitter; you can post a much longer description on Instagram along with the image of the diagram.

Every day we post a new exercise, interesting photo or thoughtful comment related directly to coaching soccer. You can find us @worldclasscoachingsoccer. Please follow us there if you’re on Instagram already. If you’re not, you should check it out because there are some interesting people to follow there (also check out @433) that relate to what we do.

We also update our YouTube Channel weekly with great videos. Some of them are of drills and games that I’ve described here on the show. The videos show the exercise and I breakdown everything from the setup through the coaching points.

Some of the videos include footage of me doing the exercise with one of my teams so you can see how it works with an actual team.

I’ll be back next week with a complete episode.

Thanks!

We have so many projects going here at WORLD CLASS COACHING that I just didn’t have time to pull together a complete episode for this week.

Some of the videos include footage of me doing the exercise with one of my teams so you can see how it works with an actual team.

I’ll be back next week with a complete episode.

Thanks!

Previous Episode

#073 Drills or Small-Sided Games?

Last weekend was weird for me because I didn’t have any soccer games! The first month of the season can be a very busy time so this break was a welcome one for me and the players.

As I talked about in #071 The Importance of Recovery Sessions, it’s important to balance stress and recovery so this short break could help the teams take an important step forward in the coming weeks.

The players did seem a bit rusty in their first training session of the week. This could also just be the fact that being in school all day and then coming straight to training had them a little squirrely and lacking focus.

This week I want to look at the trend over the years away from ‘Drills’ and toward ‘Small-Sided Games’ as the primary training method. The thought has been that ‘Global Training’ of physical, mental, technical and tactical aspects of the game is the most efficient way to train players.

Games are certainly more fun than many line drills and this is something we should be aware of as I talked about last week in #072 What Motivates Soccer Players?

So today I look at the various training methods and give you my opinion on the drills vs games debate.

I’ve included my complete outline of today’s podcast and diagrams and descriptions of the sample training session in the show notes.

Printable Show Notes

The show notes for each episode are accessed through the WCC Training Center.

They are FREE but you will need at least a Free Membership to the Training Center in order to view and print them. They’ll be available there for eight weeks before they’re placed in our archive which can be accessed at any time by Pro and Elite Members.

Click on the image of the notes and if you’re already logged in to the Training Center you’ll be taken to the Podcast page. If you’re not logged in your be taken to a login page where you’ll also be able to login or register if you are not already a Member.

Remember!

Make sure you subscribe to Coaching Soccer Weekly through iTunes, or your podcast provider of choice, to be sure you never miss an episode.

We would appreciate it if you would leave us a 5 star rating and/or a written review on iTunes to help spread the word about the show and ensure that we can continue to bring you top notch guests in the future.

In Future Episodes

We have a lot going on at WORLD CLASS COACHING right now. I have a couple of topics that I’m working on for future episodes. The role of pattern play in training teams of all ages and I want to talk about an article I read recently about whether or not parents should watch practices.

Mike Saif is putting together a book that lays out the key factors that went into his U14 girls winning a National Championship. He’s finishing it up now and it should be coming out in the next few months.

I’m also working on a coach’s tour to visit Dutch and German Academies in the spring. I’ve done this once before and it’s a great opportunity to get a behind the scenes view of how they develop players. I’ll only be able to take a handful of coaches but if this is something you might be interested let me know and I’ll keep you up-to-date on the plans.

Next Episode

#074 An Overlooked Key Aspect of Skill

I’m Sorry, but I had to get some thoughts about sponsorships off of my chest. I think it matters who’s sponsoring organizations and events.

You may disagree but if you do I’d ask you where you draw the line? Which companies or products do you think would be inappropriate to have as sponsors for activities your son or daughter are involved in?

In this episode I talk to Scott Moody of Soccer FIT about his recent blog post about the most overlooked aspect of skill development. It’s a post that peaked my interest so I thought that it would be a topic that a lot of coaches would be interested in.

We talk about how the physical and technical side of skill are connected as well as the elements of physical skill that coaches should be training and the mistakes to look for in your players. We finished off with suggestions for where to start today to begin to improve your player’s physical skills.

I highly recommend this Quick Feet Ball Skills eBook. It’s complete with videos showing the exercises and will help your players to develop a foundation of physical skills that will carry over into their technical development.

If you’d like to learn more about the eBook and videos you can CLICK HERE.

Mike Saif is finished with his book, ‘Coaching a Team to a National Championship’. It’s due out in October so look for more information on that in the coming weeks.

Coaching young players is not the same as coaching adults. The way you motivate them, organize the team and the tactics are completely different. Understanding these differences and how to harness them is the key to success in youth soccer.

Mike built a youth team from scratch that was the first in Kansas to win a US youth soccer championship. His U14 girls KC Dynamos, made up of players he coached since age 7, won 22 games from 24, scored 92 goals and kept 22 shutouts in a season long run to the championship.

In Coaching a Youth Team to Win, Mike shares all of his secrets on how he did it. This includes his youth team tactics, training philosophy and how he gave his young players the winning mindset that led to their dominance. If you’re a youth coach, there are few better blueprints on how to build a team of youth national champions.

The book will be available later in October. We’ll bring you more details as the release date draws nearer.

Printable Show Notes
The show notes for each episode are accessed through the WCC Training Center.

Remember!

Make sure you subscribe to Coaching Soccer Weekly through iTunes, or your podcast provider of choice, to be sure you never miss an episode.

Next Week

I’ll talk about what to do when a training session just isn’t working. It’s something every coach experiences so I’ll give you what to look for and what to change that can help get your players back on track so that you can have a productive practice.