This article will guide you through a process for Selecting Soccer Training that is right for you and your organization.

Evaluating Soccer Training Apps & System(s):

I recently watched a YouTube video that evaluated a handful of Soccer Training Apps. Their evaluation criteria focused on the “glitz and glitter” of the apps vs the content quality and delivery methods of instruction.

Evaluate training Sports Apps and Systems, focus on the criteria, method & style of instruction as well as the  “what, where, when, and how” content is being presented to the coach or player. 

Goals for your Training System:

Write down the goals/expectations of what you want to achieve when purchasing the training system.

Goals may be different for coaches and players. Age and regional location may play a role in selection criteria. As an example, you would not want advanced skills being taught to an age group that is too young, or you would not want a series of activities that are games designed for 6-year-old players while training high school age players.

Is an integrated system required with your team management platform, or a nice to have?

You also know that people do not all learn the same way.

As a result, this will help you focus on what is important and what isn’t, as you walk through your evaluation. 

How do we learn?

Coaches and players learn by:

• 65-75% visual (seeing things for ourselves)
• 15-30% auditory (coaching points)
• 5-10% kinesthetic (a learning style in which learning takes place by carrying out physical activities or “doing it”). 

First, the app should use engaging visualizations that clearly define what is being learned. Second, it needs auditory coaching/teaching points that are easy to understand at the age group listening. Finally, exercises/activities & drill(s) are needed. Make sure all Coaching Points are clearly understood and presented at the same time with the visualization. 

Coaches should watch the visual movement of players within the activities/drills from the beginning to the end of the drill.

This results in teaching the transitions of the activity. Also, it helps the Coach understand that “what is being taught” is clearly understood.

Auditory coaching points need to be easily understood linking directly into the visualizations.

There are times when coaches need to physically Do the activity such as Mentoring, in order to understand the importance of it as well.

Players need to watch the visually engaging movements (skills or activities) of what is being taught.

They must clearly understand auditory coaching points in language that is easy to comprehend. 

Skills/Technique development requires the need to physically do the activity multiple times to train the brain and muscles to do the move in unison.

The app should have a method of recording analytics like “time on task” & “number of times” it’s been practiced. This will require thousands of repetitions of doing the move “correctly”.

Create a training matrix for the coaches and players:

1. What teaching/coaching methods, drills/activities, strategies, setups/set-plays, skills/techniques are being employed. Are the best training methods being used to insure coaches and players alike, understand, and quickly comprehend concepts, skills, setups and scenarios you want them to adopt into the game.
2. Where should the training process occur? At practice, home, games?
3. When, at what age is training content best learned? What age are skills, rules, strategy training most critical and best processed?
4. How training should be conducted and how often should different types of training occur?

Summary:

Soccer Training app(s) or system must monitor and measure what is being learned. This is critical to ensure coaches and players are learning and performing what you are expecting them to do.

Oversight is an important aspect often overlooked in training. A key phrase here is you can’t expect, what you don’t inspect.

Make sure you can monitor to see things are being done the way you anticipate they should be done, measure system usage as well as perform improvement.

Get the Soccer Training app:
MOTI Soccer for Android: https://motisports.com/google-soccer-app/
MOTI Soccer for iOS: https://motisports.com/apple-soccer-app/