Player Development Series: Should You Develop 2-Footed Players?
Since I have been coaching soccer, I felt some compelling need to encourage kids to use their weaker foot. Is that really good for their development? Should we spend more time making our strengths...
View ArticleSebastian Giraldo: Developing Creativity in Youth Soccer Players: Three...
“I do everything through instinct, I play like a child … I think about myself on a small field, or in the street, I see myself with the ball in the same way as I am now. I have not changed at all. You...
View ArticleSebastian Giraldo – The Often Overlooked Role of the Trainer as Teacher, Part I.
The following is part of a 3 part series from Sebastian Giraldo regarding the importance of Teaching when you train or coach. I love this piece by Sebastian and it is special to soccerthought.com. As...
View ArticleSebastian Giraldo: The Often Overlooked Role of the Trainer as Teacher, Part II
Effective, Successful teachers Our knowledge of teaching is pretty expansive and every day we have highly intelligent individuals who continue to add to this literature. I have had the pleasure to not...
View ArticleSebastian Giraldo: The Often Overlooked Role of the Trainer as Teacher, Part III
This is the final piece in a Three-Part Series from Sebastian Giraldo, PhD, regarding the role of the soccer trainer as a teacher. You can access the prior posts on the home page if you cannot find...
View ArticleCTE & Soccer – New Stories Out
For those of you who read this blog, you know that I post as much information as I can find about the effects of repetitive heading and brain injuries in soccer players. Yesterday, a story broke about...
View ArticleAjax Video Review Part I: Heroes of the Future, The Ajax Training Concept...
I purchased the video set from Ajax titled Heroes of the Future to get a glimpse at Ajax’ storied youth development model. I will post about different parts of it in a series. 1. Recognition of...
View ArticleOut-of-Town Tournaments Doubly Expensive for Traveling Teams
Here is one other issue I have. Some clubs require out of town teams to schedule their overnight accommodations through a booking agency. Hotels get placed on the list of available hotels by...
View ArticleCoaching Youth Soccer: Teaching Progressions and Building Proper Foundation...
The biggest mistakes I see from youth soccer coaches, whether they be parent, or worse, they are paid to coach, is the failure to follow teaching progressions and failure to communicate with youth...
View ArticleSoccer Camp Review: Manchester United Soccer Schools (“MUSS”)
We made the trip over the pond and took our 11-year-old to Manchester United Soccer School. This is a 6 day camp. The location of the boys camp was Denstone College – a Boarding School south of...
View ArticleHeading and Brain Damage in News Again
If you have read this blog for any amount of time, you will note that I repost or link to articles discussing the issue with heading in youth soccer. Many “head trauma” articles as they relate to...
View ArticleUS Youth Soccer and US Club Reach Concussion Settlement – Heading Restricted
I can hear it now … blame the lawyers. Well, I am one and I applaud the efforts made to affect change. I have posted many articles and links on this blog regarding the issue of repetitive heading for...
View ArticleSummer Camp Special – Should You Spend the $$$?
This is my annual take on summer soccer camps. I have spent tens of thousands of dollars on camps through the year – from England to Dynamo to local colleges to UT to LSU to Challenger. I have 5 kids...
View ArticleTraining Session: Player Development Model from Lake City Hawks Guest Carl
I was reviewing my old posts on this site and stumbled across a great reply that we received from an ex-professional player. His name is Carl from Seattle. He included a session broken down by minute...
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