Category Archives: Coaching

The purpose of possession illustrated

Posted on April 30, 2012 by

Had an email from one of our coaches yesterday. Knows the game, does very well with his team and not sure if he was just having a jab at my obvious Barcelona infatuation but here’s what he added at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Coaching, Video highlights | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Three G.A.G training sessions suitable for U10-U11 players

Posted on April 27, 2012 by

Lots of chatter on Twitter today about G.A.G.  (Game Activity Game or Global Analytical Global) methodology for younger players today so I thought I’d stick up this pdf I put together for the U10 coaches I worked with at VUFC … Continue reading →

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Tactics are… overrated?

Posted on April 15, 2012 by

There’s a great t-shirt, put out by Zonal Marking’s Michael Cox or Inverting the Pyramid’s Jonathan Wilson, that simply says “Goals are overrated”. Feeding the ever growing soccer geek market, it speaks to the idea that our game is so … Continue reading →

Posted in Coaching | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

A few notes on our spring break camp

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

First day of our spring break camp today. Didn’t feel much like spring to be honest. Wicked winds mixed in with enough rain to make itself known. Sixty odd kids out there though and they were troopers. The over-under on … Continue reading →

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Olympic qualifying: Canada v USA playing time analysis and what it means for Canada

Posted on January 31, 2012 by

One of the first assertions made in the aftermath of the USA’s clinical dismantling of Canada in the Concacaf Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament final was that the US squad had much more depth. Canada were far too reliant on a … Continue reading →

Posted in Coaching, CONCACAF, Unspun | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments

NSCAA – Kansas City 2012, Part 1

Posted on January 18, 2012 by

Time to get this thing going again… Just got back from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) convention in Kansas City, Missouri. Buddied up with TSS’s Rob Dattilo to save some money on hotels and cabs but the … Continue reading →

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BCSA: Grassroots soccer and LTPD Volume 2

Posted on October 28, 2011 by

Went to a meeting last night for the rollout of BCSA’s new plan for grassroots soccer (defined as anything below BCPL) and the Long Term Player Development Curriculum. I’ll do a longer post later but just wanted to put it … Continue reading →

Posted in BCSA, Coaching | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Suitable, simple metrics for assessing youth development

Posted on October 17, 2011 by

(pretty catchy title…) A couple of weeks ago, Andrew Latham, Head Coach for Lower Island Soccer Association (LISA) put a very interesting story on his blog. You can read it here. It was based on his impression that the current format … Continue reading →

Posted in Coaching | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

“Little Team”, lots of questions

Posted on August 4, 2011 by

This ten minute film about a group of five and six year old Spanish kids playing their first year of organized soccer is creating quite a buzz and really pulls at your heart strings. It’s worth watching just for the … Continue reading →

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Great clip of how a Man United training session is structured

Posted on July 29, 2011 by

via Nike Football The visuals are great and just seeing the structure is interesting but listening to the various coaches talk both during the session to the players and to the camera about what sets top players apart it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Coaching | Tagged , | 6 Comments