I'm joining you. New coach. Never played organized soccer in my life. Best 2 players (both seniors, both in ODP) left to play for a big public school. I'm it. Boys and girls (in the spring). I have 14 guys. No seniors. I talked a good talked today, but I am pretty sure we are doomed. Catenaccio, or whatever it's called, beckons. One korean exchange student who could be our dynamo, though.
Welcome to the thread, Vicar. Feel free to share your thoughts and crap that happens here as well. Should be a fun season for both of us.
I like that drill a lot, Coryattheplexl. Another one I'll use is 3 v 3 v 3. Break the field into 3 grids (20-30 yards long), and set up 2 small goals on each end. Send each threesome into a different grid. The team in the middle (team 1) gets the ball first, and they're going to attack 3 v 3 on one end against team 2 who is defending that small goal. They're trying to score on that small goal. Once they go into Team 2's grid, they cannot come out of it. If Team 1 scores or the ball goes out of bounds, then Team 2 gets the ball and takes off toward the other goal where they will go 3 v 3 against the team that hasn't been involved (team 3). Also, if the defense (team 2) steals the ball, they should pass it out of their grid into the middle zone. Once they clear their grid, they're free until they get down to the other end. So, the middle zone is a "free" zone, but you should push them to counterattack quickly and to move rapidly from defense to offense. Obviously, they'll then go down the field and challenge Team 3. Then Team 3 goes and challenges Team 1, and so on and on so on. Remind them / push them to play hard since they're getting to rest every third series. You can also do the drill 2v2v2, as well as with large goals and goalies. Expand the size of the grids as necessary.
i neglected to mention: the korean exchange student, who is, by far, the best player in the school, wants to play american football for the experience. NO EXPERIENCES, I NEED SOMEONE WHO WILL SHOOT!!!
Got one for ya on this, well actually two but I'll stick with the simplest first. I assume you mean offesive tasks on corners, so try this. First, name a set piece leader, maybe your captain, but definately a vocal leader. His job on a corner is to gather everyone who's going to be in the opponents box to the back corner of the 18. From there he assigns a run to every guy (Usually 4 guys, sometimes 5), near post, far post, penalty spot, backside trash, top of box trash, ect. Once everyone knows their roles, he lets the corner taker know they are ready for the ball, usually just some random signal the boys work out. The corner taker is to strike the ball only when he sees the runners begin to move....he has to key off of them, so the leaders final job is to give the runners the command to go when he sees the kicker is ready. All of the runners need to stay lumped together at the back corner of the 18 until they break out and make their assigned runs....this scatter effect drives defenses wild trying to figure out who is going to gurad who, and has the effect of ensuring that no two runners go into the same space. VERY SNEAKY AND SIMPLE...just the way coaches like it.
I have plenty of kids that can shoot ... not too many that can shoot on tartget however. I have a feeling we will struggle a bit tomorrow. We should be able to get a good idea who can do what. Unfortunatly, it may the first compettative game for a couple of kids and I am not sure they even know the rules. Tried to explain offsides to one kid, pretty sure he did not get it. We will learn a lot tomorrow at about 5:30.
You've been studying the Di=utch training system haven't you? Books or Video tapes? Or are you really resourcful and use the Success in Soccer magazine? If you guys haven't ever checked that out, YOU HAVE TO! It's a german publication that confers with European professional and national team coaches for their drills and articles..........it's the best thing since sliced bread!
I always tell my newbies that it's an "anti-cherry picking" rule, usually makes enough basic sense to them that they manage to stay onsides out of principle alone.
Hey one more thing before i go to bed, remember (and make your kids remember), that life is full of pass and fail, win and lose opportunities. No matter what happens with the first scrimage, it doesn't determine what happens in the next game. Winning one game does not make you a winner, thats what championships are for, and losing one game does not make you a loser, thank god thats what seasons are for!
Actually I've just been playing for a long time and remembered this as a drill that kept us active and developed skills. Now that I'm coaching, I really like to try to spend as much time as possible having the kids work with the ball - so the more the drills can include running, the less training that is necessary. Currently my "library" is pretty small and I'd like to add to it. I've heard positive things about the Coerver tapes, but haven't shelled out the bucks for those yet. How does one track down this "Success in Soccer" mag? It sounds interesting. Anyone have any other suggestions.
Cory, It sounds like you and I are really on the same page as I use this one as well. The only thing I'd add is that at the beginning of the season I actually assign the routes to the players during practice, so they each can practice their respective routes. As the season goes on and everyone begins to understand what we're doing, the "leader" can start dishing out assignments at the top of the box (note: the assignments are no more than a couple of words each - this shouldn't be some kind of complicated american football huddle drawing patterns in the dirt). An important piece about this to explain to your players (especially ones that are new to the game) is that they don't want to get to the "spot" where they're going to score the goal from until the ball does. If they're standing there, waiting for the ball, they can rest assured that there will be a defender standing there with them!!! So, wait, wait, wait, and then run, and you have a better chance of being open. To drive the point home, time a couple of them running 10-15 yards (1-2 seconds), and they'll hopefully understand that they can get there by the time the ball is crossed. Another thing I'd do on corners at this level is to make sure that you ALWAYS have a second offensive player come out to the kicker. Depending on how the defense reacts, they'll then always have the option of playing a short corner. And, if no defenders come out, they should do this. But, this can also be just as successful if they draw another defender to the corner, freeing up more room in the center of the penalty box. [Although remind the players in the box to delay their runs if they see the short corner is on].
offsides if that kid understands offsides in hockey, tell him the blue line is now associated with the last defender... but he can break past it once the ball is played
Re: offsides this is another useful coaching method to keep in mind. part of me hates referring to other sports because it's some kind of admission that soccer isn't here yet. BUT, i've found it to be very helpful at times in explaining tactics. if you can identify something they can relate to from another sport, use it to help them understand soccer. as another example, and going back to this corner kick discussion, every kid has visions of jerry rice (or some other receiver of choice) running to the back of the endzone with outstretched arms and arriving simultaneously with the pass. it wouldn't do the receiver any good to get to the endzone and then have to stand around waiting for the pass. if he's not running fullspeed, he's going to be covered. if he gets to the corner and the pass isn't there, then he turns and runs across the field to the other corner. he's got to keep moving, or he's going to be covered. (of course, the same goes for the player passing the ball. if your teammate has made a run, you've got to get him the ball then. if you wait, he's likely to be covered by the time you get around to it.)
Ok, taken a shower and had a moment to reflect. First scrimage of the season, we lost 6-0. We had 12 players, one who showed up today for the first time. We had to scrounge around for shin pads b/c some of the newer players did not have some. Might as well start from the beginning. Get to the field at about 3:30. Notice that the lines have been drawn for both soccer and football. Nice. Walk out on the pitch and notice that they forgot to finish both penalty boxes and six yard boxes. AD had to call the folks to come back out and finish. They claimed that they thought the match was tomorrow. Anyway, they get that done. Coach and I sort out the jerseys, give them to the players and start warming up. Game starts. We start the fella that wants to play keeper for the season. Hold them for about 17 minutes, then give up first goal. Have to look at the notes to see how they scored. By the end of the first 40, we were down 4. Second half starts, make a change in keeper, play 1000 times better. Take the attack to the other side. Spacing is better. Passing is better. Communication is better. We did not score in that 20 but took some solid shots. Last 40, we were out of gas and gave up two. Just flat out ran out of gas. Overall, it was what I expected scorewise but we did not quit and showed some heart in that third quarter. Saw a lot of things we can improve on and I am excited about the up curve that most of these kids have. That is a lot to post so I will end it there.
Good omen after that result. Hoosiers is on the tube. Jimmy Chitwood is about to come back and play for the team. We get one of our star players back on Sunday. This team is going to be better than this 6-0 result.
sounds good then much better than what you had been fearing, methinks congrats on the first game... screw the loss factor, just having done it with them and seen hope part deserves congrats
Go here and join: http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~dgraham/coach.html This is the semi-official international coaches mailing list. You'll find everything here from first-timers to long time pros. Every subject is convered from organizing a team, to developing a league, and from u6 to pro players. I've been a member for many years and some of the best high school and college coaches in the country are on it.
This is a great thread. I have been considering coaching for several years, but I would take it too seriously, so I opted for the opposite - the ref. Anyway, it has been several years since I played soccer, but the situation is somewhat familiar, on a personal level, and I think a counter point might be occationally useful. Additionally, I had 3 coaches in my 3 years of soccer (I was injured my senior year), so it always seemed like a new beginning. As a player back then, I was the fit guy on the team - I ran track and cross country - but soccer was about the 5th or 6th sport in my HS. I also has below average skills, but above average understanding (for my team). A couple of comment about fitness: There is fitness, and match fitness. I was fit to do what was asked, but I was not match fit - prepared to do was was needed. To me, being match fit is as much knowing to make the correct pass as it is to be able to make the correct run. Also, try make the team feel like a team. Bring them over to watch a movie or have a bar-b-que or something. My Soph year, we hung out like a team and we almost won our league (we had not finished in the top 3 for 10+ years). The next year, we didn't hang out, and we didn't feel like a team (we finish 6th out of 8). This is a player's perspective on coaching.
Listen closely to this guy P, make the boys understand that being a team is like being family. They may hate each other in the off season for various pubescent reasons, but when the team is together for training or games, they have to stick together no matter what, because each other is all they're gonna have. Getting the kids connected with pizza nights at the local Pizza Hut, or a Saturday movie trip is gonna drive home the point that they're to act like brothers....fight like hell amongst themselves sometimes, but nobody, and I mean nobody messes with their brothers. This will have a profound effect on their work rate, and you as their team "father" will have a more open forum to teach the game.
hey blech, gimme something else out of that noggin of yours for say.......Defensive orginization of my backs and def mids.....we're playin a 3-5-2 with two def mids to do the workhorse stuff, and an offensive mid to be a withdrawn forward. I understand that this takes offensive mid out of deep defensive zone work, but want a reliable outlet to link my backs and mid (His job is to hold the ball a few heartbeats to allow team to reshape for counter or buildup). So gimme something to help my three backs see their role alone back there with only the def mids to come back deep to the center.....not in a panic, but i want to be sure I see this from all angles. Oh, and P..........sorry for stealing your thread for a minute
aye... these guys are dead on... when i was in track and x-c... we always went out for pasta the day before a meet... when i started helping out in the summers (once i entered college)... i got everyone to do a lot more... paint ball, movies, road races... the team also became much, much better than what it had been when i was in highschool mainly because the bonded
No worries. When I was coaching youth soccer, I remember my team losing the 1st game 8-0. We played that same team again at the end of the season and lost 2-1. Progress comes with time and effort. Obviously you want your players to develop as skilled soccer players, so skills development is still of primary importance. However, when you get up to the high school level, you have to balance this with fitness and tactics. If you care about winning and losing, then you build from the back up. That is, focus on defending and goalkeeping first. Defenders should play the ball wide whenever possible instead of the middle. Keeper should be vocal and agressive. Midfielders must mark players coming through. Defenders must jockey and contain instead of flying in with a tackle and getting beaten. Players must mark goal-side and be very persistent in their marking. This is all basic stuff. I find that defending and shooting drills give the most bang for the buck, and I would include them in every practice. Small sided games develop ball control, dribbling, and crisp, accurate passing. Lots of touches on the ball is the fast way to development. Attacking soccer skills take years to develop, so don't expect miracles overnight. If the coaches before you haven't done their work, it's a tough road ahead. At the high school level, you have to be fit. You can't fight if you're tired. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all". Fitness is a necessary but not sufficient quality. Fitness drills done with the ball are usually better than those without. Suicides, 100/200/400/800 repeats, hills, and 2-3 mile jogs should form the basis for the fitness program. I doubt I've really told you anything you don't already know, but take it for what it's worth. Ultimately, I hope your team plays good soccer. I wish you the best of luck.