Thinking ahead to problems that you can solve during the first week of the New Year is an important part of your preparation for the next phase of your season.
Read the advice below while you are preparing for your New Year’s Eve party! Why not invite your players for a get together while they are still on school holidays so they can have a kickaround with the ball while you talk to the parents about your plans for the coming season.
There are plenty of things to think about that you will have to face once the season kicks off again.
Here are some ideas for those tricky problems both on and off the field that you will face in the coming year:
Have the parents of your players been causing you grief in the first part of the season? Check out my advice in Dealing with critical parents. Criticism from parents is often a tool to defend their children and to defend themselves in the face of other parents with higher achieving kids – it’s not an attack on you as such but it can be hard to ignore.
Once you’ve dealt with the parents you need to think about whether your players are achieving their potential. Read my advice in Challenge your players to use their creativity. Giving players problems to solve during training is a great way to get them to do it in matches.
One of the problems you will have faced this season is how to deal with the players on the subs bench.If you have the same ones on the bench every game they will fall behind and the team will find it hard to be at their best when injuries or holidays mean players are absent. How to handle the subs will help you out.
The way you have been addressing your players could be key to how they respond to you. Having started working with a new team over past couple of weeks I have had to remind myself of some best practice that often gets lost when you’ve been coaching a team for a long time. A good time to reassess the way I talk to my players gives you the low down on the way ahead in the New Year.
in Attacking, Email newsletters
At any level of the game a killer pass that sets up a goalscoring chance is vital to create a successful team and is the finishing touch if you are playing a possession or counter attacking game. MORE
in Attacking, Email newsletters
When you play training games with your team if you have an odd number of players it is always a good idea to play a 'magic man'. This is a position of great responsibility because this player can catch the opposition out during transition or can be the player who creates goal scoring chances because he/she is less likely to be marked when the ball is transferred. MORE
How often are you winning at half-time only to throw the game away because your players are not sure what to do? Should they go for another goal or shore up the defence? MORE
in Defending, Email newsletters
It may sound like I am being negative suggesting ways to stop teams passing but study any of the successful teams around the world and you will see the hard work that goes into stopping teams passing through or around midfields and defences. MORE
in Email newsletters, Tips and advice
It is that time of year when coaches of all nationalities are drawn to the United States to gather together at the largest soccer convention in the world. Over five days there will be more than 250 educational opportunities for coaches MORE
in Email newsletters, Fun soccer games
Getting back into the swing of training every week can be hard work. Certainly for me when faced with a dozen U9 players training last night was very stop/start as players got their legs working again and tried to pass and receive. MORE
