Author: Gordy

I have served in the capacity of the board-appointed leadership role (since 2014), and on the board since 2010.  I farm in west-central Minnesota. My prior business background includes co-founder and owner of Davis, Thomas & Associates, Inc. (DTA) with offices in Minneapolis MN, Chicago IL, and Bangalore India.  I was a former systems programmer in the banking, hospital, and transportation industries.

A Father’s Day to Remember for Soccer Loving Dads

Spend quality time with your kids this Father’s Day learning soccer moves and skills.  Use the FREE Foundation Soccer Skills available from MOTI Sports to help you teach soccer skills to your child while enjoying time with them.  Make this a Father’s Day to remember.    

·  Download the MOTI™ Soccer app Free from iTunes or Google Store

·  Press – I am new to MOTI Sports

·  Enter your email address and get on the Free Foundation Skills Team 

Thank you for learning Soccer and stay healthy!

Going Forward – Managing our Expectations

The Past 90 days have changed the way we look at things.

Recent changes in social distancing have brought “the family unit” within many countries closer together.

Youth players are at home with their parents and trying to keep their heads in the game, their foot skills sharp and their physical conditioning up to pair. Parents are closer to their players now more than ever before and can now provide positive feedback communications their coaches used to provide on an in-person basis.

Parent’s providing that critical feedback mechanism need to be aware of the positive impact on self-esteem the player will feel with proper communication.

Externally, Coaches are using apps, such as MOTI Sports (MOTI Mobile) to rollout practice plans for youth players to focus on various Foot Skill development, while using Zoom (or like apps) to conduct a player review. Many groups have created video challenges among players to keep that competitive spirit going.

There are over 60 million children in the United States involved in youth sports.  As you know, sports help youth to develop self-confidence, skill development and friendships. Given the economic stress that families are experiencing, we need to keep sports non-exclusive, affordable, and safe.

Participation in recreational youth sports is increasing and the physical education our youth are receiving in our school systems is decreasing. This is leading to an increase in our reliance on volunteer coaches (usually parents). We need to provide affordable and effective means of educating those volunteer coaches so they can properly train youth in skill development, provide psychological support and encourage our young players while keeping the training in a safe environment.

Take a moment as a parent volunteer to obtain some self-development training in the following areas:

Slowly as it is safe to do so, players have migrated outside into open areas to begin, safely, passing the ball and dribbling around.

Remember every time someone picks up a ball, it becomes a source of infection, so besides practicing safe social distancing, wear gloves for ball handling and keep wipes handy to clean along the way.

If you need help with a Coaching curriculum, MOTI OneCoach is a place to turn for advice and having an app coaching you thru your season.

FOX 9: App helping burgeoning soccer stars keep their skill sharp

The MOTI 3D Soccer Training App is helping young players learn the sport of soccer while developing their skill.

Alan Merrick was interviewed recently on KMSP FOX 9 TV about the MOTI Soccer (previously known as MOTI Mobile) 3D Soccer Training App. View the news story now.

WATCH ON FOX 9 TV

Stuck At Home

We understand that kids have lots of energy. The MOTI Soccer Training App is here for you. Keep your kids busy learning Soccer skills. 

In this time of uncertainty and distancing, we have decided to offer our Foundation Soccer Skills package for FREE!

This is for all children, so please pass this along. Thank you for learning Soccer and stay healthy!

Fixing the problem – A Carpenter with no Hammer Skills?

We all have seen how a carpenter can use tools, like a hammer to drive nails binding two pieces of wood together to create structures. 

But what happens when a carpenter does not have the skill or know how to use the hammer to drive the nails into the wood to bind two pieces together?

Youth Soccer Players often face the same dilemma. 

Parents signup players, players then come to practice and with the new Play-Practice-Play training methodology from US Soccer without any knowledge of foot skills. US Soccer assumes that players will learn them by watching other players. That eventually does occur. But in the meantime, what happens to that player? 

How long does that watching and learning take? What are the emotional challenges a new youth player faces when they cannot control the ball? Do self-esteem and respect issues arise when players mishandle a ball passed to them? Will other players trust that player and pass the ball to a player once they’ve shown they mishandle and lose it to their opponents? Is that player having fun?

At MOTI Sports, we believe that the “See it, Do it” method of learning does work, but it should not be at the expense of the player. Like a carpenter learning to drive a nail, instruction with visualization and practice can make the carpenter more productive much faster. Similarly,  a soccer player with a ball, visual and auditory instruction can develop the foundation of their foot skills easily without having emotional issues presented by other introductory coaching methods.

We know not all coaches helping coach youth soccer know how to instruct players on many of these Foundation Foot Skills, so MOTI Sports is here to help!

We are making our Foundation Foot Skills available through our App. We believe players can learn and have a great experience, because if they can “See it, they can Do It”, without the emotional challenges. 

As you sign up your player for youth Soccer this spring, don’t forget to put the skills they need to hammer through the season in their tool bag with MOTI Sports 3D Foundation Skills.

You get what you inspect, not what you expect

When MOTI engineers began collecting analytics at the inception of our system, the thought was that training systems should provide feedback to all levels of users.

It always amazes me when coaches say, “I can come up with my own videos for training”.

What they fail to realize is do they have a system to monitor and determine:

  • Who is using the training content?
  • How often is it being used?
  • Is it being used effectively?
  • How does one encourage usage of training content?

Over the past few years we’ve seen enormous amounts of energy spent by coaches creating their own video training and wondering at the end why it has not worked as effectively as they desired.

As with many change implementation methods, one needs to be able to measure what is being used and how it is being used. Then occasionally, manage by walking around to listen, see and hear what is happening on the practice field or pitch.

With MOTI it is easy for the player to monitor what skills they have worked on, and what they have not worked on as much. The coaches can do the same with reviewing the practice plans and the individual skills and drills contained in them. Finally, the administrators or coaching heads can pear into the system and view the teams to analyze how the entire system is being used.

Most people understand that if they are monitored there is an expectation of performance, just like on the pitch!

People work better and more effectively when the expectations are defined for them.

Have a great season!