Author: Alan Merrick

I provide content, curriculums, topics and detailed coaching points to the MOTI Soccer Training Platform.  I am pleased that a product like MOTI Soccer Training Platform is now available to all players, coaches and soccer enthusiasts.

Keeping your Eye on the Ball – Keeper “Threat Assessment” Training

Keeping your eye on the ball as the Keeper also means understanding the capabilities of yourself and your opponent.

Opponent:
As the Keeper is watching play develop and what amounts to be the “invasion” of the mid-field, and the defensive half, it also means the need to understanding the opponents passing successes & capabilities, their ability to change the point of attack, their control play to maintain possession. .

Watching and understanding their player positioning as they approach is critical to understanding where the Keeper needs to position to defend appropriately.

In the scenario below the White Forward on the left of the screen, just successfully did an overlap on your left defender, so the logical move is to defend against the immediate threat and protect the near post.


(Goal Follow View)
(Keeper View)

In the blink of an eye – the attacker can transition the threat from the left side of the pitch to the right with the proper strike on the ball, leaving the defender out of position to defend. Note the very fast service and ball movement from the left to the right side of the field below.


(Goal Follow View)
(Keeper View)

The time needed for a foot moving shift toward the threat and defending of the keeper needs to happen in a fractions of seconds, or the result is the Goalkeeper being out of position to defend the crossed ball.

One of the reasons Goalkeepers tend to take more time to mature into the game is that visual coaching clues and learning could only be obtained on the pitch through repetition, but now they can improve their game knowledge through 3D simulation. Watching, learning and understanding the keys to “Threat Assessment” over and over again is what makes visualizing with MOTI’s Soccer Training Platform Mobile App invaluable to fast tracking the learning curve of Goalkeepers.

Click the image above to watch the Keeper’s Perspective

Learning to Play and Becoming a Player


Some reflection on ‘learning to play the game’ and ‘becoming a player’.

Learning the Game

If we could provide only high level coaches to the younger age groups the development game would be literally turned on its head. So many more players would develop their appropriate skills sets providing them the foundation to go forward and play at the highest of levels. I have seen and been involved in camps where players are coached like an assembly line plant, good staff coaches give expert instruction for a week. The players respond well in the conveyer belt stations where skills are demonstrated, broken down and coaching points are attached for clarity and comprehension. Players do get a respectable skill set installed in that environment, but it is quickly dissolved once the camp is complete and that classroom is removed, only a few, a very few retain the required knowledge as their connection to the coach resource is gone.

One of my favorite mantras is ‘Practice makes Permanent’ NOT ‘Perfect’. These initial practices that young players are involved with can often burden them to do remedial sessions to correct or erase their exposure and absorption of counterproductive incorrect soccer instruction.

Young players need much time to grasp the complexities of ball control and mastery mainly because they tend to take five steps forward and three backward or vice versa which completely throws development for a loop! In the early stages of development players find themselves with invariably inexperienced volunteer parent coaches. While these coaches are the lifeblood of soccer growth in the USA these recreational coaches are cajoled into coaching with the threat that if a coach does not come forward in the next few days the Club will have to disband this team. These coaches get one hour of instruction at the start of the season and thrown into the volunteer soccer cauldron. While they do a great job of giving players a positive experience with high fives and postgame treats they invariably know little or nothing about the technical needs and tactical spectrum of the full game.

Learning to play requires correct learning environments that nurture a players love, respect and comprehension of the makeup of the game. The informative years of ‘learning to play the game’ need the crucial four pillars of the game. 1) All ball control and ball mastery. 2) All ball striking techniques. 3) All physical attributes. 4) All aspects of mental fortitude, these make up my pillars of the complete player. Mental preparedness for every element of a practice session and ultimately a season should be one of the keys for individuals, the squad and the coaching staff.

Learning to play the game entails producing good habits and layers of self-discipline so players can survive at the next level, age or standard of play.

In the early stages of the game young players are just looking for fun, comradery, group acceptance. As the skill sets get developed other focus centers arise. Players look for satisfaction from performance and results. The player starts to take the game seriously and the layers of game understanding start to support the next level of play. When players start to take practice and the game to heart and devote themselves to it, the foundation becomes sturdier and stable.

Becoming a Player

In small sided games players can get a concentrated dose of experiences that prepares them for success and failure, it allows young players to educate themselves on how to win and also losses. There are often fine lines of difference between the two, so getting an education on wins and loses prepares and rounds out players for the trials and tribulations of later years of soccer experiences.

At this stage they add more disciplines like self-reflection on performance, they start to understand the difference of always giving perfect performance and not athletic effort during a game. The game revolves around what a group of players can do at the level they encounter and play at it at any given time in the season. Soccer players need to live with the adage ‘Results reflection what you can do with what you know – it has no interest in how you learned it or experience it!’ You have to play in the present and produce your best play, think that you are only as good as your last game, your last pass, your last run and your last decision.

Learning to win is a player characteristic, almost a skill, which comes from competitive practice. Players who can be placed on a small sided team game and learn how to compete and find a way to win are the game changers that rise to the top. Player character is developed in these small sided games where the score does matter. Players need to be accountable and have the ‘metal’, ‘the backbone’, ‘the desire’ to get the job done, always maintaining that winning mentality. The better players are mentally prepared for every event that transpires in any game or in any session. The most successful players I encounter have always been the hardest workers the ones who run the extra yard, the hustling player. ‘Work Rate’ is an element that any player can develop it is not in ‘Genes’ it is not a God given talent it is a mindset. A developed talent from sheer self-will and effort. Simply put if you want to be lucky, work hard with your skill set from an early age, continue to refine your ball control and ball mastery it is the ultimate foundation for any ‘Player’ always maintain your focus.

Through the Players Eyes


Interview young players and ask them what they like about soccer and I guarantee nearly 99% of them will say quite simply, “it’s fun!”

Why do they play? “To hang out with friends.”

How do they learn the game? “By playing,” “from watching it on TV and going to (MLS) games” and “seeing older players at tournaments or in high school matches.”

Who inspires them? “The professionals and (their) coach.”

Young players love to love the game – to score goals and play in drills and games where they get to express themselves. They often show up time after time because their friends are teammates and their teammates become lifelong friends. They look up to professionals but the professionals are “out there” but their coach, who is right in front of them day after day, is usually their most immediate and consistent role model.

With this type of adoration from young players it is imperative that their coaches up their own game – show up prepared and ready to inspire.

Ignoring Recreational Training?

Why does US Soccer ignore “Recreational Soccer” training, their largest talent pool?

Recreational soccer (6 – 12 year old players) typically is organized and run by parent volunteer coaches whom receive an hour or two training at the initiation of the season. Often training involves reminders of how to handle medical, or weather emergencies as well as concussion detection and having the “two” adults at all times policy for parent and player safety. Ball handing techniques are relegated to 30 minutes of orientation for the parent coaches and sometimes 1 practice for players. This is almost universal across the US.

In recreational soccer, during a game scenario, if a skilled player passes the ball to an unskilled player and then the ball is turned over, often the skilled player will seldom pass to the unskilled player again. The reality is if players remained unskilled the sense of satisfaction goes down and they leave the game (by age 12) of soccer as boundless other opportunities exist for our youth. However, given a bit more training in the form of foot skills or techniques, the ball that is passed when controlled and returned to a team member, raises confidence in a young player dramatically and they stay with the game.

I’ve heard that the cost of training those players is too expensive. I’ve even heard it will cut into the private training revenue of one academy coach! The financial reality is that the typical recreational player generates a net $60 (net is the fee, less insurance cost, medical kit supplies, t-shirt, participation award, etc.) a season toward the organization overhead. If that player receives training they generate an additional $60, less the training cost, for a second season. So investing in training actually enhances the revenue to the soccer organization. Long term then a player staying with the recreational program over a 5 year period (U6 – U10) will generate (in this scenario) $300 or more towards the organization, less the cost of training.

Training recreational players & parent volunteer coaches on how to control the ball with techniques or foot skills correctly does not need to be expensive. But often the problem is that the trainer, teaching the foot skills is only there for one or two sessions, and if players understand it, great, but if they don’t they tend to be left behind in the team pecking order. Yes, even U6 players have their own pecking order. There are mobile alternatives that are now available to soccer organizations that can remain with the player and coach throughout the season.

The recreational soccer pool is 3 – 4 times the size of the competitive pool, it’s time to invest in them to generate greater numbers of players entering the competitive pool.

Soccer is Evolving: How do you Handle Change?

The modern game is changing and every head coach, assistant coach, player and parent needs to take notice. How are all these integral elements and branches of the game embracing the new challenges and performing tasks and meeting demands to keep the game moving forward?

The global game of soccer has seen massive changes in how the game is presented to consumers. When satellites were able to broadcast
International games across the world in the early 1980’s right into homes, the convenience to watch the beautiful game created changes. I had a 12 foot span dish in my yard and was able to scan the world and receive live feeds of soccer games, enabling me to conveniently observe and learn so many vital nuances of the Worlds game. Rush forward to today, and in a relatively short span, technology allows us all to watch this spectacular display of World Soccer Skills from an 18 inch dish or a cable service. One step ahead of that is the ability to stream games and content from the Internet into a laptop, iPad, tablet or even a smart phone, making mobile watching a reality. Every game watched is a building block to understanding the complexities of the game and is an educational tool not to be missed.

Your day to day life has changed for the better with all the Mobile Apps
that are available to make your life easier. Soccer is no different. Now
Soccer Apps are there at your fingertips to enhance your education and sort available information into manageable and accessible files.

The new norm in schools is to have all the student’s course and year of
curriculum in a iPad or Tablet. Books and paper are no longer being used. If this is the new educational norm why wouldn’t we want our soccer players to have the preferred dissemination of soccer Techniques and Practice Plans in their hands so they can learn from the ‘Neck Up’ and be better prepared and organized going into practice.

Looking for good practice sessions and solid content from the internet can be daunting and so time consuming. You will find you do not have enough time to view, review, catalogue and select age and gender specific content that shows appropriate progressions and meaningful coaching points with refined curriculum. Video is cumbersome and is so ‘Old School’.

If you had the time to invest in researching the techniques you need to
have each player develop at each age group, how many videos on the internet would you have to screen? How many hours would that require?

Would you be acquiring another video series that players and coaches would embrace and utilize? Then you need to pair up the necessary tactical information to activities to reinforce the techniques you want players to learn. How many hours are you willing to spend, or more to the point, do you have time in your schedule to devote to that type of exhausting endeavor? Now you need to assemble this so players and coaches can view them in the proper sequence and use them in their sessions. How will you accomplish that? Then of course the question is, can you monitor whether players and coaches are using the materials you devoted hours to researching, gathering and distributing to them.

This is a full time commitment to training content development that is a
complicated platform.

“There are solutions available for handing this process that can save you hundreds of hours. I work with just such a company. MOTI Sports does it all for you… or as much as you want” and keeps it simple.

Having the ability to have Techniques and Training Sessions in a gaming
platform where you can use a mobile device, smart phone or tablet to zoom and pinch the screen activity. This format allows frame by frame viewing of 3D Images and activities to enhance the experience and engagement of the user. Visual information with voice over coaching points shortens the learning curve for both players and coaches. Having Technical Skill Elements in Motion Capture where you can zoom, pinch, rotate to any view and perspective, viewing from above is really close to virtual reality. From below, you can see all the Plyometrics of foot prints and ball movement, try that with video.

The MOTI App has analytics that give feedback to players, parents and Club DOC’, and Administrators allowing tracking of how much time each player has spent logged on to a Technique or Practice plan, This can be a validated true reflection of how prepared the player is for practice and game performance. The concept of doing soccer practice at home can now be a reality and monitored. Spending 15 to 30 daily minutes in a home basement, the garage, in a yard or a bedroom can be reviewed and used to determine the true interest and dedication to improvement each player has. Paper practice sessions are obsolete, now replaced by hand held or pocketed devices. Technology and the game of soccer are blended and ready to show you Animated 3D sessions. Pleasing and clear depictions of the beautiful game illustrate the progressions and beneficial curriculum, presented in gender specific dynamic Practice Plans. By the way, the MOTI Sports Practice Plans are really just templates and can be fully adjustable and can be easily customized and modified with new drawings, video and other media.

I have seen firsthand the engagement my Grandkids have with iPads and smart phones. This is their preferred method of entertainment and education. Give these players the 23 Techniques of Passing, Dribbling, Control, Ball movement and the moves that show how to beat and go past players, and we have them engaged and visualizing the intricate details of every key development aspect of Soccer.

Handle change by going to look at MOTIsports.com or give me a call at
612-867-0390

Best of Kicks
Alan Merrick

The DOC and Recreational Director Survival Code

Coming Up for Air

“So much to do so little time” is a much-used statement from Directors of Coaching and Recreational Directors this time of year. As we come to the end of May 2018 the preseason and team set ups are all complete, the schedule changes and field conditions have been resolved. It would make sense that the DOC should be coasting along and be in a “Good Mood”. Not so! You can be guaranteed that in every Club there are several teams that are unhappy with their new coach. This puts the DOC in front and center in getting those teams calmed down. Additionally, the DOC is doing some remedial education, tweaking of scheduled practices so they can be present and in the hands of teams. If the DOC is already coaching one or even two teams within the Club, time management becomes a nightmare when practice & league game schedules get even more entrenched in conflict of each other.

While helping design the content and seamless delivery of the MOTI Soccer Training Platform I recalled my experiences as a DOC and was determined to engineer components that help in Club DOC Management. The Practice Plans while complete and ready to use out of the box, are really templates and guides for the DOC to place their personalized preferences into them via drop and drag action from the Media Library. The system gives the Director all options to impart their “Style of Play” throughout Practice Plans and therefore, the Club. By having a digital formatted practice plans that can be loaded and scheduled in the DOC’s downtime in June, then the often hectic and frantic Club Team Management can be done calmly accomplished with professional care and consideration.

The Directors of Recreational programs have appreciated the curriculum development considerations MOTI has on file; they have found it fits into their unique challenges. Recreational Directors are always scouting for and recruiting coaches throughout the community. They are always thankful for the volunteers who come forward. But, then the Rec Director also hit a wall when volunteers stop coming forward and the coaching demand is greater than the supply. Then they have to strong-arm parents, who find themselves shanghaiing unsuspecting parents into being coaches, by sending out the notice “if no volunteer comes forward to coach we will have to abandon the squad”.

In most cases a warm coaching body comes forward, but too late to attend the scheduled Club coach training Murphy’s Law takes over again. Getting these last minute coaches up to speed is paramount on the “tasks and jobs to do”. The MOTI App gives a complete session of training content that has been designed with sound curriculum progressions that are mobile on all smart phones and pads. The Coaches Quick Start video inside the app gives complete instructions to begin using the system. The sessions have all the visual and auditory coaching points for very fast orientation into coaching principles.

If you are a DOC, a Board Member, or a Coach consider MOTI in the next two months of June and July, wouldn’t it be nice to spend just a few hours setting up the entire program for this Fall season? The MOTI Sports 3D Soccer Training Platform has a complete program at your fingertips, one that engages and helps train all of your players, coaches and their families.

Use the MOTI™ Sports 3D Soccer Training Platform to get rid of some of “the coaching Chaos” that you find yourself in. Embrace 3D Soccer Training Technology that it is here now, by implementing it and accepting it into player and coach development. I keep on hearing “It’s not what technology can do; it’s what you can do with technology”. This technology is “awesome” it is “phenomenal” it is now up to you to show what you can do with technology, that is going to be amazing, save you lots of time and allow some calm breathing!

Making the most of Spring – never mind the weather

Coaches: Ever changing weather patterns can present major challenges to your spring practice times! In some areas, practice fields won’t be ready to play on until the end of May! Overcome the weather by giving your players Home Work! Players need to be creative and find a square yard or larger in their home, bedroom, basement or the garage. Assigning MOTI Skills from the Library of Technique Skills challenges them to fiddle with the ball and build familiarity, emphasizing close control and ball manipulation. The skills needed for development are all in the palm of their hands which they can view in 3D and then try, emulate and master. It also allows coaches to monitor the players time on the MOTI App and see how active and prepared their individual motivation is. Think of it as being on the virtual field.

Here are some MOTI Sports ideas to save the season and maximize the time you do have for practice, as we strongly recommend that you encourage and enable your players to get those touches on the ball on their own time.

Consider assigning homework. As you schedule the practice plan for the players, put a note up on the Announcement board telling the players to:

  • Practice each 3D Foot Skill on their own time, so they have performed the individual skills 100 – 200 + times each before they get to the next organized practice. We suggest younger players do 100+ repetitions, while 200+ repetitions for older players are recommended. This work load will help form good habits and the skills will develop much faster. Following the precision of the MOTI motion capture ensures ‘perfect practice’ references, promoting natural player movements even faster. Practice makes Permanent – Perfect practice makes Perfect – Don’t be confused!
  • Recommend that players watch each 3D Drill 5 times so they can visualize which foot skill they would be using in the drill as they move through each rotation and progression in their head.
  • Remember visualization creates a great learning environment.
    It is well documented, that time on task and practice repetitions increase skill mastery. Using a simple backdoor step from the garage or the front door step can act as a player home rebounder, returning the ball in a 1 – 2 passing movement. Or better still have them find a neighbor or a parent to pass back and forth with.

The MOTI App will always be there to act as a go to resource giving visual reassurance to the student and audio referencing the correct technique and execution.

If MOTI can provide solutions to you in the Spring just think what it can do for you All Year Round!

Maximize your practice time using MOTI’s 3D Soccer Training Platform.

Spring and New Era of Coaching

Spring and the Birth of a New Era in Coaching using Visual Technology – “Watching the Game”.

Virtual experience is the new key to shortening and shaping the learning curve for Soccer Coaches and Players. Instead of watching unimaginable hours, even years of game footage, or live matches, a new option is available through mobile 3D animated content. Think of a Soccer Session in your shirt or hip pocket at all times via a phone or tablet.

The Modern Game demands coaches and players to increase their understanding of the important ‘small elements’ of the game. These elements, like good technique and positioning are the glue that enables Speed of Play, Cooperative Input, Cohesive Interactions, and Synergies of Offense and Defense. A shared virtual learning experience can produce both individual player and team organizational speed and execution of tasks on the soccer field, even before taking the pitch. If that virtual learning is a Soccer Training Platform that has soccer ideas, concepts and theories melded into an intuitive, organized, curriculum, which is age and gender specific, it can be an instrumental aid for all participants in the Modern Game.

Make better Soccer decisions! Place yourself in a position where you can make yourself and people around you more successful, improve your game understanding and competitive edge from Recreational to the highest level. Don’t be scared or timid about the ‘Birth of a New Era in Coaching – try using Virtual Technology and share with your Director of Coaching, your Board of Directors, your Team Coach, Players, and Parents. No one wants to be stagnant and everyone wants to have fun.

Having a streamlined Soccer Training Platform that has real time collaboration and fast operational efficiency is available now with MOTI Sports! Welcome to a New Era in Coaching with Accelerated Soccer Education for both coaches and players.