Wow that has been some off season this year with the pandemic and all the changes that have had to happen to get coaching soccer back on track. Getting the team back together can be a tricky business at the best of times so you can make use of Soccer Coach Weekly's Pre-season Guide to help you get the team ready for the first matches of the season. MORE
Dave Clarke was a guest on Rush Soccer's Webinar series discussing coach development and coach education with Chris Panayiotou the director of coaching for senior boys. There is a lot of good information, advice and ideas for any budding coach to listen to. We discuss my journey and my passion for Coach Education and Development. MORE
Filipe Ragel the Under 19 head coach of Marcet Academy in Barcelona shares a video of his team doing a 4+2 x 2 Rondo which shows the technical and tactical practice MORE
It was the first game of the season on Saturday and the local council had decided to close the main road leading to our club's ground. So the phone calls started coming in thick and fast: "Dave we are going to be late." MORE
My go to activities when players have had been on the summer break are Rondos – and with this being one of the longest breaks from playing due to lockdown I am going to be using Rondos over the next few weeks to get players back up to speed. MORE
There are a number of places where the social distancing rules are not the same as here in England, and I've been asked for sessions that are non contact but not just 5 players so this ssession can be used with any number of players. MORE
I was asked by a coach this week about what a good warm up was for his U10 team. The answer that I gave him was to use Rondos. You can use them at any age group and they really work well to warm up players for training or matches and they don't involve much setting up. My favourites are the simple ones like 5v2 or a combination that works for your age group. MORE
The key rondos passes can be used in tactical play during matches to play between the lines with the key play splitting lines of defence to create goalscoring runs MORE
When I am planning my coaching sessions or thinking about warm ups before a match I always start by planning in a Rondo. It is a great way to get players ready for training or for a match – and they never complain about doing it because they love it. MORE
I cannot second guess when we will all be out of this strange way of coaching with no opposed sessions but hopefully it will be fairly soon. To that end I continually remind myself that I will be going back to getting my players warmed up in a different way to how I am doing it at the moment. MORE
Both teams must try to win and keep possession of the ball. A goal is awarded to the team that completes a certain number of passes (a minimum of 5 for younger players). The game is played for a set time period. MORE
Small-sided games are a fantastic way of getting players to work together to score lots of goals with every single player having a big part to play in the game. Small-sided games are not ideal for coaching player positional roles but they do get players to face match relevant situations. MORE
If your team hasn't won a match for a while, you need to get your players back to basics and working on their core skills. Try this small sided game to help them with their basic skills MORE
This week’s session is designed to improve your goalkeeper’s ability to pass and receive the ball and make him more confident while in possession. MORE
Fine-tune your players’ general passing and receiving and passing. skills with this trio of drills that all take place inside a circle. Increasing the speed of each activity will improve players’ skill level. MORE
This session works on patterns of play building up to the final ball into the striker. Important for youth players to understand the role of the support players in build up play. MORE
Your team is 1-0 up but your opponents have a two-man advantage. A game to teach each team the importance of setting out the tactics to hold on to a lead. MORE
Your players have made it to week 4 with the first whistle of the new season not far away. But before it blows you've got one final week to get your players through so they are ready and focused for that first match of the season. MORE
Jose Mourinho the Tottenham Hotspur manager says communication is not only difficult at youth level it's difficult at the top level as well. He said: “Sometimes people say the team has no leaders, it’s this, it’s that, but what we need is everybody with the same kind of mentality." How do you get players talking? MORE
Last night I played 5v2 for half an hour with stops to show what it was I wanted the players to do when they were either trying to play the ball or working in pairs. Players make a lot of mistakes in games like this but mistakes are one of the best ways the players can learn and understand the game. MORE
PIcking a style of play for your age group is vital to a successful season. Your players will have more fun and enjoy playing much more if they are in a formation that helps them play the game. Find out which formation is best for your team. MORE
“With the introduction of new ideas picked up from Soccer Coach Weekly, the squad were exposed to new ideas and training drills. This makes a long season easier to remain focused and more importantly help maintain the enjoyment of playing soccer.”
Brett Demetriou, Campbelltown Collegians FC, Sydney, Australia
“As a volunteer coach with the time constraints of a full-time job, I’ve found it so much quicker and easier to plan my sessions since subscribing to Soccer Coach Weekly.”
“Soccer Coach Weekly has improved my training sessions for adults and I instruct my other coaches to use them with kids. I must say that I am happy with what I receive and I will continue my subscription.”
“We have weekly meetings and the ezine is printed out on the table for our coaches to read and use. If our coaches are ever short of ideas they can always pull one out to help with drills.”
Martyn Rushmore, Cedar Stars Academy, New Jersey, United States
