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Position Specific Training
I think that much of our time as coaches is spent teaching all of the players the same thing. There is obviously a place for this at the younger ages when they just need to learn the basics. But in my...
View ArticleBeing Creative with Free Kicks
When you see a free kick with in shooting range in a game today you just see a shooter, a wall and a goalkeeper. These are great examples of an ability to strike a ball but how many times do they end...
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Three Different Ways to Organize a Training Session
As a young coach I always organized my session in the same way: simple to complex. This is the way I was taught through the my USSF Licensing Courses and this was what I always stuck to. Only in the...
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Teaching Build Up Play Progressively Part 1
I’ve written before about our club’s philosophy that encourages teams of all ages to play out of the back as often as possible. The key to implementing this with your team is to teach the players what...
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Teaching Build Up Play Progressively Part 2
This session builds on the one I described in last week’s post. The focus of this session on taking the shapes and patterns that were taught in the last session and making them more function. This is a...
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Coaching Team Shape in the 4-2-3-1
One of the biggest challenges when coaching young players is getting them to stay in position. Time and again, you see them charging for the ball, before huddling around it in a clumsy effort to get a...
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The Penetrating Pass
I’ve spent the first few weeks of the year focusing on passing and possession with one of my teams. They’ve picked up on the concepts very well but there have been times when have just kept possession...
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From Futsal to Soccer
Rather than standing in lines and running around cones, it’s through playing futsal that many elite level players, particularly in Brazil and Spain, developed their silky ball skills, smooth passing...
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Technical Passing Practices Using Different Shapes
Once we’ve taught players the proper technical components of passing (foot next to the ball, toes out and up, ankle locked, pass through the middle of the ball) then the natural progression is to have...
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Dutch Up, Back and Through to Finish
Some coaches may consider pattern play to be limiting. They say, ‘I don’t want my players to be robots that just pass and move in the patterns that I’ve taught them.’ I can understand this and I agree...
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Teaching Pressing to Increase Effort Level
Occasionally a team will play a game when the effort level is just not there. There can be many reasons (or excuses) for it but when this happens with one of my teams I use it as an opportunity to...
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Dynamic and Active Warm Up Variations
A good pregame warm-up should get a team physically and mentally prepared to play from the first whistle. You can look for some patterns that may point to a need to change how your team warms up before...
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Breaking Down the Technique of Shooting
A player’s shooting technique is a bit like a golfer’s swing; there is a generally accepted way to shoot a soccer ball but there are also individual differences that can exist without a negative effect...
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Teaching Possession Play
Telling a team that they need to, ‘Keep possession’ is such an abstract and nonspecific concept for so many young players. Teaching them what it takes to keep the ball gives them specific things that...
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Creating a ‘False 9′
This excerpt is from one of our most popular titles, ‘The False 9‘. This is a unique offer of both an eBook and videos that compliment each other very well. Detailed diagrams and descriptions from the...
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Training Movement in Futsal
In any sport, movement is the key to creating options. When players don’t move or move in easily predictable ways they become easy to defend. The fewer players that are involved in the game, the more...
View ArticleMikes Accident
PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM MIKE SAIF Unfortunately I was involved in a serious accident recently. I explain all in the video and although things have been a little quiet around here, we have big plans...
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Running with the Ball
Everyone does dribbling exercises but you don’t see many coaches teaching their players to run with the ball. It might seem like this doesn’t have to be ‘taught’, players will just do it on their own....
View ArticleWhat Do You Want to See?
As we prepare for the new year we’d like to hear from you. What topics would you like to see us cover next year with our books, videos and magazine articles? The topics can be technical, tactical,...
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Combination Play Exercise
A large part of teaching combination plays is teaching timing. The challenge is that timing is developed through an understanding of the basic principles and then getting the number of repetitions...
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