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.

Soccer Club Dynamic Warm-Up

All Soccer pre-game or practice activity soccer warm-ups should be done with motion, there are many benefits from conducting a correct warm–up and many more negatives from staying with outdated ideas like static stretching. Much research has been done and it has shown over and over again that dynamic warm-ups are much more beneficial to an athlete prior to competition than static stretching. The dynamic warm-up can also assist in increasing a player’s overall level of ability as it aids in the player’s muscle memory, coordination, footwork, and overall agility and mobility. There is a place for static stretching and it is usually after a game or exercise to massage some the lactic acidity out of muscles.

A correct warm-up needs to increase blood flow and get the heart rate pumping at a faster rate. Soccer athletes need good circulation and increases in muscle and blood temperature, conducting a dynamic warm-up will help jump-start the cardiovascular system to appropriate levels for performance. The dynamic exercise also gets the brain working to concentrate on body motion and produces a focus for the impending tasks once the game starts. With this motion, the entire athlete’s body is activated including the Nervous System because the motion demands increased muscle and body control, awareness and coordination. As the body is warmed in this fashion the range of motion within muscles and joints they are protecting increases, this range of motion will decrease potential injury. The dynamic warm is likely to assist your players to produce the explosive energy and power needed to increase their abilities in the game.

The Dynamic warm–up is a form of stretching done while the body is in motion, it asks for quick stretches for short bursts. The idea of this stretching is to keep the players moving to increase body temperature, while increasing flexibility. Some of the exercises can be very ballistic and will assist in promoting the player’s ability to produce explosive power while still maintaining coordination, muscle memory and also control of their body.

The exercises used in the MOTI Sports Soccer Club warm-up are all soccer specific and are pivotal in reducing injury; all movements are well tested in their efficacy as warm up components. A gradual increase in demand is needed during the warm-up period the player’s body needs to get warm before too much is asked of it, the intensity of the work up should gradually increase during the session to include several flat out speed sprints of different distances.

Many of the best movements during a Soccer Dynamic Warm Up are multi-directional stutter steps with 1-2-3-4-5 steps. Rhythmical players who have this plyometric step sequence are usually found to have better ball handling skills, first touch, ability to change direction and pace of play.

The movement during the dynamic warm-up is best done across the width of the penalty box 44 yards on the large field; it should be done with players either stretched out from half way line to the top of the box or in pairs following each other. Try and stay out of the penalty box areas to avoid wear and tear on this high traffic zone of the field.

These moves and more can be found in the MOTI Soccer Training Platform and accessed by using the free MOTI Mobile App

Here are samples of appropriate moves:
Basic skip
Basic skip with arms clapping (above the head, out in front of face)
Basic skip with arms hands touching the chin and down
Basic skip with arms going backward looking to clap or touch behind the back
Basic skip with then a side shuffle step to the left then out to the right repeat
Jog with all the same arm movements as above
Jog with one leg coming up quickly with thigh parallel to the ground (single leg sprint motion)
Jog with one leg coming up entirely parallel to the ground like a hurdler
Jog touch left hand to the ground/ right hand to the ground/both hands
Jog call of # 1 is left hand to the ground #2 is right-hand #3 jumps in the air (header style with heading motion)
Jog high knees
Jog clap hands underneath hamstrings
Jog slap inside of your foot – right hand to left foot/left hand to right foot single stride set up
Jog slap the outside of your foot with the same hand
Jog backward
Jog backward with a slide step in each direction
Jog kick heels to touch backside or hands placed on players butt
Jog to the command of ‘1’ touches the ground with both hands
Jog to the command of ‘2’ is left-hand touches the ground
Jog to the command of ‘3’ is right hand touch the ground
Jog to the command of ‘red’ which is a jump off the left foot
Jog to the command of ‘blue’ which is a jump off the right foot
Jog to the command of ‘white’ which is a jump off both feet all jumps mirror a heading of the ball
Forward Shuffles where you open hips lift the leg high to the outside then rotate hips stepping in a 45-degree step over motion plant foot in neutral position repeat with the other leg
Hip crossover where player swings leg high upwards and inwards, rotating on the forward leg and pivoting on the planted leg, the player ends up facing the opposite direction. Repeat with the opposite leg.
Carioca is the regular cross over getting players to swing their arms gets even more rotation and flexibility
Carioca ‘TAPioca’ with very short steps and also very wide steps ‘WIDioca’ are both good alternate exercises
Walk skip kick leg high across the body – length of kick can be altered to be a side-foot volley, a goal kick a sharp strike on goal all working on correct technique
Side to side shuffle facing each other – need to go in both directions so leading foot changes
Side to side reverse so back to back – can be changed by the leader of the pack or coach
Side to side as above but with arms swinging crossed on chest past each other above the head
Side to side then chest bump with a partner directly in front of each other
Two-step run – skip and kick leg across body repeat from the other side
Two-step run – skip lift the trailing leg up and to the outside like a hurdler repeat each side
Two-step run – skip and lift the front leg back with thigh parallel to the ground
Forward Lunge left foot right foot
Forward Lunge left foot with an upper torso twist at the waist left and right repeat the right foot lunge
These can all be found on the MOTI Soccer Training Platform and accessed by using the free MOTI Mobile App

Special exercises’ ideal for the Women’s program with ACL Injury prevention;

Just how Far are you Behind?

So how far are you behind in what you set out to be your best season yet?  Whether a Player, a Coach, an Assistant Coach, a DOC, a Board Member a Soccer Mom or Dad, all your best laid plans may not be in sync to the in-climate weather.  Who can plan for late April Snow and all the rain and water logged fields the country as a whole is suffering from. It seems like everyone is over-scheduled and spare time is hard to make available. With that said the soccer season is upon us all, so we go into true focus on the tasks on hand. The most important topic to give time to is the team training program. This is where the biggest impact can be made on player development and growth. Do a check now as to where your portfolio of practices stand, have your looked them all over, are you making adjustments and tweaks to refine them so that you understand the flow of every practice? Can you make a visualization of the activities, the dimensions of field size and player numbers? Do you have a good grasp of the coaching points and coaching clues you have to unleash insight and player awareness with your squad? Have you taken time to review your player activities in the off season/winter? Have you been able to asses any players increase of skills, addition of moves and individual betterment on ball mastery? Are you able to access all of the coaching notes and curriculum you are going to utilize this season in a mobile fashion?  Were you able to get a moment to write down any anecdotes, funny sayings, inspirational quotes and words of wisdom? Have you decided how to communicate with your squad post practice and pregame, and what are you likely to use as a theme to encourage, prompt, cajole, all naturally as age and development opportunities reveal themselves. What have you done to improve your Coach Preparation and Clarity of Coaching Points? Does your team have coaching continuity when the assistant coach has to run practice and maintain discipline and content within the session?

This laundry list of questions I have posed can all be answered with new mobile technology, saving time and getting pertinent soccer curriculum to players, parent’s, coaches and Board Members. This age and gender specific information has all been curated so that the Practice Plans and Skill Techniques go in a sequence that allows incremental developmental layers so players get more enjoyment and satisfaction from the game. Skilled technical players will stay in the game as they can easily navigate the next progression level because of the groundwork done in their informative years and then into their teen years. Start trusting technology as many schools around the USA are teaching Science, Mathematics, Languages.  Learning Sports, in this case Soccer, from a screen is inevitable and is this generation’s preferred method of learning. They are engaged and their brains are now wired to receive and absorb this visual smorgasbord of soccer skills and tactical movement, X’s and O’s are a thing of the past and do not start me on 3 ring binders with schematics.

What did I learn? When did I learn it? Can it be passed on?

I was so fortunate to be coached by some pretty established and notable coaches during my 26 years of affiliation as a Player and Head Coach in the Professional Game these coaches rose to the top ranks of coaching and became National Team Managers and Coaches. Here are some of the names, their backgrounds and their status within the Soccer World as I learned from their tutorage. I played in three countries England, Canada and the United States of America.

I represented England in the 1968 Junior World Cup in Lyon France. The coach was Wilf McGuiness, a Manchester United staff coach who worked extensively with the English Football Association.  He was possibly the youngest coach I ever had, and his playing career was cut short by an injury. The next National Team Coach I rubbed shoulders with was Don Howe when he was named coach/manager of West Bromwich Albion in 1971 thru 1975.  Don coached the England National Team under three different managers in 1981 with Ron Greenwood then Bobby Robson and was an assistant under Terry Venables from January 1994 thru 1996.

My next coach in 1975 was Jonny Giles who not only coached, but was player coach of the Republic of Ireland from 1973 through 1980. Coach Giles was an accomplished midfield player who was able to dominate the game and set up goal scoring opportunities galore.  Giles was tough as nails and typified a very workmanlike approach to the game where he never backed down and was always looking to set his team mates up with excellent service of the ball.  He even scored 115 goals himself while playing for Leeds United.

Jumping across the Atlantic Ocean in 1976 got me to Minnesota where I played for the Minnesota Kicks.  It was in Minnesota that I started to take coaching courses and get Coaching Diplomas to bolster my English Coaching Badge that I got when I was 18 years old.  I subsequently got my USSF B and USSF A licenses.  I also worked up the coaching ladder taking NSCAA Diplomas to finally getting their highest coaching level, the Premier Certification  

I left Minnesota in 1979 to join the LA Aztecs which got me exposure to another National Team Coach, Rinus Michels, the famous Dutch coach of the Netherland’s notorious Clockwork Orange group named after their success in the 1974 World Cup.  Rinus played his entire career at AFC Ajax, where he is credited with the invention of ‘Total Football’ in the 1970’s.  He was named Coach of the Century by FIFA in 1999 and in 2007 the Greatest Post War Football Coach by the London Times.   France Football ranked him at No.1 on their list of the 50 greatest football managers of all time in 2019. He had 4 stints as the Manager of the Netherlands National Team and also coached Ajax in two stints but also Barcelona and the LA Aztecs in 1980 where I had the privilege to play for him.

Claudio Coutinho was my next coach at LA Aztecs 1981 when he took over the coaching duties when Rinus left to coach FC Koln.  Coach Coutinho coached the Brazilian National team 1977 thru 1980.  Unfortunately I only got to work under Coach Coutinho during preseason when I left the Aztecs to go play for San Jose Earthquakes with Jimmy Gabriel as coach.  

On to Canada where I joined Toronto Blizzard in the North American League for the 1982 season.  Bobby Houghton was the coach at Toronto who went on to coach China 1997 thru 1999,  Uzbekistan in 2005 and India 2006 thru 2011. Coach Houghton was probably the most organized coach I played under, his practice sessions worked like clockwork and had excellent content that were designed to set his style and formational shapes into the group of players.  Bobby also encouraged me to take the Canadian Coaching License which helped broaden my coaching scope and the understanding of teaching methodology.

From every one of these fine men who coached at the very highest National Team level, I owe a huge thank you for the education and guidance I learned and gained from playing under them. I also played for, in order, Jimmy Hagan and Alan Ashman – West Bromwich Albion, Derek Dougan – Kettering Town, Freddie Goodwin and Geoff Barnett – Minnesota Kicks, Alex Pringle- Pittsburgh Spirit MISL, I have the best of memories of all of these great coaches and mentors.

The aforementioned coaches gave me all the ‘clues and understanding of the game’ that has served me well.  I took notes, I observed, I was engaged, I was a sponge for information.  It helped be through my 17 years of professional play and I proved to be a good student and eventually a student of the game.  I coached at the  professional level for 5 seasons, have coached youth soccer,  including my own children, high school, Minnesota State Men’s and Women’s teams, and a Men’s University program over the last 20 years.

If I have to choose which one coach influenced me the most I would select Rinus Michels.   I spent hours in airport concourses, on flights, in hotels,   at meal times while on road trips, where I would camp out with Rinus and mine him for his insights and knowledge of the game.  Rinus was a formidable man who was very confident and had an aura that intimidated most of the players.  He scared most if not all members of the LA Aztecs players in 1980 the year I played for him.  I had none of those underlying feelings so I was able to capture many minutes going into hours picking his brain of soccer knowledge.  Rinus was very easy to understand in his demands of players in game situations. Keeping it simple – it was find space for yourself to play in while giving passes to feet of your team mates.  Play the game quickly – invariably the first instinct was the best choice to find an open player, the priority was always to maintain the ball and keeping the ball in your possession.  If your team has the ball, the opposition is negated.  Rinus manufactured players by giving them tasks that they could perform, because the practice rehearsal gave them all the key elements needed to succeed.  He always gave instructions that were easy to understand and never caused any doubt as to their intent.  . He gave reassurance and structure that was attainable and doable by all players in all positions.  Every player was well informed and versed in their role and duties within each game. This detail made all players accountable and responsible for their individual and collective success in each game.

‘Total Soccer’ is ingrained in my soccer make up and my psyche is fine tuned into thinking that the game can be played with a certain style where players should have flair and be able to make the game exciting. One thing to remember whenever you watch a game is that statistics tell us that no player has the ball in possession any more than 3 minutes in a 90 minute game. That being the case each player must know in advance what they need to be doing in the other 87 minutes that make up the game. The impact players naturally take up key position in defense midfield and in the final third while going to goal. Inserting yourself into a game and being affective while not touching the ball is an art and requires a combination of game management, experience, intelligence, awareness and discipline. I saw Coach Michels manufacture players with manipulation, guile and fear during my time with the Aztecs. Every player knew their role, their tasks, their individual undertakings, and their collective contributions to their team mates. Poor performance or a slump by the team was not acceptable under his watch and in Rinus’s case the entire team would be punished with incredibly severe training loads that would leave players getting sick and with sore muscles loaded with lactic acid that took several days to recover from. The overriding theme was for players to compete against the opposition producing the work rate necessary to win a game and dominate your opponent, to win the small battles within the game as needed. Players were on notice that no energy could be saved during the actual game or the consequences’ of a slump in effort would be dealt with one of these Draconian workload sessions. The fear of having to do one of the ‘slump trainings’ was scorched into everyone brain and got all players on the same page. That page was giving ‘Total Effort’, ‘Total Motivation’, ‘Total Concentration’, ‘Total Focus’, ‘Total Execution’.  Rinus was famous for his ‘Total Soccer’ nickname while coaching the Netherlands National Team in the 1974 World Cup. I learned what, ‘Total Soccer’ was, and to this day I mirror many of those aspects that emanated from this great coach.

The tactics that prevail when looking at “Total Soccer” is capsulated in a mentality that your team is superior to the team you are playing. Your players are prepared to work harder than the opponent and your star players have flair and flamboyancy that will push you over the top. ‘Total Soccer’ gives you the ability to be able to meld the long direct passing game with the short passing game.  Blending formations are also part of the ‘Total Soccer” formula. The ability of players to function in multiple positions, players who understand interchanging positions starts to get the opponent’s heads spinning and creates a disorientation of their assignments thus starting to give your team an edge in the form of momentum and hopefully territorial advantage.  

Blending formations during a game is a way to provide solutions of using the inevitable spaces that appear with good ball movement and clean crisp passing. There are so many variations in formations so think of it as a concept that is ever evolving during any game confrontation, the key is which set of players or which individual can utilize the movement to dominate space and the opponents they find there.  The best explanation of “Total Soccer” is to visualize it as each player is supported always by one player with two other players striving to connect with them by rotational or gyratory runs which relates to players making overlapping runs or darting forward runs into space opened up by players coming short to be a set up player.  The offensive stages of this ‘Total Soccer’ requires incredible physical output –  the sprinting and dynamic movement is grueling but to top it all the same influences need to be used in the defensive duties. Players have to be two way players – they need to destroy the opponent, if needed, while getting the ball back and when in possession they need to have wonderful techniques with the ball, be creative, be an athlete, be focused, be intelligent, be sharp – to develop meaningful possessions and attacking superiority.

I am telling you all of this insight into the game because Rinus Michels is no longer with us, but his legacy is still available for coaches and players to emulate, copy and plagiarize because that is what we do in soccer.  We find clues, game understanding, good sessions, things of interest, techniques and then we put them to use in our coaching files.

In my last three years of working for MOTI Sports I have been utilizing as many of these soccer content concepts.  I learned from all of these coaching geniuses. Techniques are central in players’ development and having Motion Capture Techniques in your players hand can be the physical catalyst for players to get the correct foundation into the game, thereafter giving your players the lifetime enjoyment in the finer points of the game.  The MOTI Soccer Training Platform is full of clues, I am hopeful it will in turn assist players, coaches and parents alike in understanding “Total Soccer” oh yes and make Rinus a happy spirit.  Get your fully mobile MOTI Soccer App and have a piece of curated Soccer knowledge on your tablet or via a smart phone and have soccer power in your hand. And Yes, soccer knowledge can be passed on! 

Practice makes ????? What ?

First of all this revelation is going to be short and precise.

Practice makes Permanent! Think about those three words with this statement it refutes the normal message of Practice makes Perfect. So how can we now merge the two concepts and make a statement like Perfect Practice makes Perfect and Permanent! Just a play on words but the outcome become less clouded in its last form. If you practice and you are not doing it correctly and you continue to practice that way your skill sets are going to be less than stellar. This is why practice needs some structure and it also needs precise coaching points and ideas that provide clarity for both coaches, players and parents as a bonus if they can be engaged.

Motion capture gives perfect renditions of the movement needed to conduct the actions that are needed to train the eyes and body to have ball movement, ball mastery and ball control. 3D Animated training sessions shown on a gaming platform (not Video) allow players, coaches and parents to see the first pass and movement of players all the way through to the final motion. In a complicated exercise like this where 10- 20 -30 passes and multiple player movements can still be followed in 3D. Watching the complete session gives all viewers a complete perspective of how the session works and runs.

So player’s coaches and parents can have a ‘Perfect’ perspective of session content that can be replayed in normal time or one frame at a time enabling absorption of subtle intricacies of the game.

MOTI Sports Soccer Training Platform allows the ‘Perfect Practice concept’ to be made as a permanent visual reference point for all ages, gender and levels of play within the game. 3D and Animation is revolutionary and available now!

Why Soccer Skills are So Important

Having the ability to manipulate a soccer ball is so important for young players to work on. It is impossible to work up the ladder of Soccer if the basics of ball movement skill sets are not in place. Being able to keep a ball close to your feet and anticipating the balls next revolution is paramount in gaining later enjoyment from this complex game.

From a young age, ball manipulation with all surfaces should be sought by all players, and a goal of all coaches. Being able to stop the ball with the sole of the foot is one of the very first successes players will accomplish. This is good because it will enable players to keep the ball inside of the field markings and it will also stop players from running into the opponents, another good thing. Developing building blocks and forming a foundation from which to succeed will entail adding inside and outside touches of the foot.

An ideal task is to have players do a four touch routine that goes, outside touch, inside touch of the same foot then use the outside of the other foot to make a third touch and the forth touch is the inside of the foot bringing it back to the starting position.  The ideal touches in this description are lateral touches so the player stays in one line for all touches, going to the side and not moving forward. This will prove to be invaluable later when defending opponents are present. The player in possession does not want to close their maneuverability spaces down and give defenders help. More complex progressions can include having two and three touches on each surface, moving up to 8 and 12 touches all going laterally.

The turns are with the sole of the foot using a drag back and a 180-degree switch of direction. Others include inside of the foot hook turns and outside of the foot hooks turns. These alone give a solid base as far as ball skills go. Once these core skills have been ingrained in players the plyometric foot movements learned will facilitate more complex approaches with the ball.

Moving forward with the ball is one of the easier tasks. All the player does is turn the foot in approximately 45 degrees and strikes the ball with the 5th Metatarsal (or the pinky toe of the foot) and strike the ball forward. This will be the fastest form of dribbling and also the most challenging because defending players and field dimensions will call for cutting and stopping of the ball to avoid collisions and loss of control of the ball. Being able to turn with the ball helps in navigating the obstacles found during the game.

Developing abilities to beat players such as the Mathews Move, the Maradona Spin Turn, the Rummenigge, the Cruyff fake cross, fake shot across the body and pass will all start to be easier tasks for players to add to their tool box. 

It is important to know that players do not have to be equal in ability from the right side to the left side of their bodies, but having one dominant foot that can keep track of the ball is key.  So while being ambidextrous is a wonderful idea, getting there will be nearly impossible for 99% of players. Do not stress out over it. Having one foot that is trained and competent will assist in the enjoyment and fulfillment within the game.

This is just a short idea on how a curriculum can be designed and curated to have the best holistic effect on player development. Coaches that do not have the ability to demonstrate these skills should look at the MOTI Soccer App that has an extensive library of 3D Animated Techniques that can be used as a development tool for both players and coaches.

New Year & Time for A Prediction

A New Year & Time for A Prediction: New Technology Will Continue to Change & Enhance the Sports We Love

The articles, magazines and reporting that flash across my desk, computer and phone are screaming at me about technology and the ways it will impact how sport is going to be consumed, played and coached. Following are some of the technologies that are going to influence watching, playing and learning sports in 2019.

The printed ticket for any sporting event has become nearly extinct, replaced with a barcoded impression or picture on your smart phone or a PDF sent to your email for you to print and produce at the event. I think they call it mobile ticketing or biometric verification – new technology that is searching for a stable nomenclature that has been embraced by everyone. It is upon us and only took the first few months of 2018 to gain acceptance.

Last year also saw sports streaming services, with new technology and band width being launched by every outlet and media company that had a server. Do you think the cable companies are looking over their shoulders as they see their dominance erode? In 2019 you can bet that streaming services will morph into an even bigger presence and even more sports options will be on the menu. It has been reported that niche sports can be expected to thrive while gaining respect and popularity because streaming services are sure to gain even more traction and build a following.

Since the May 2018 ruling by the Supreme Court that opened up legalized gambling, states across the USA are looking at regulations to make gambling more accepted and commonplace. It appears that sports betting kiosks could be part of the scene found in stadiums everywhere, perhaps with Las Vegas as the starting point using existing betting apps technology and interactive mobile game platforms. There are now new startup companies building corporate headquarters and then using their technology to find and farm data so that they can deliver fantasy and betting experiences to fans.

Washington State has approved Biometric Identification to buy alcoholic beverages in the Seattle sports stadiums. So the technology that TSA is using at airports around the country to keep us safe is now finding its way to stadiums, where fans can gain entry into games with a fingerprint scan. Facial recognition technology is sure to follow once regulators in more states allow it to expand.

As a former high school soccer coach and college coach, I get at least one email per week trying to get me to buy wearable vests. A new technology, they tell me, which will give me all of the data a player generates during a practice session or during a game. The devices also have GPS to show all levels of motion and work rate to track players strain and recovery. The professional leagues have only had this type of technology for a couple of years, but now every athlete has the ability to have this information, as costs have dropped drastically. Technology companies that are making massive inroads into health care monitoring with sensors that look like a watch giving alerts when a heart rate is too low or too high. Similar monitors that count how many steps you have taken, your sleep patterns. Apple has an ECG device in a watch which can be taken by a user placing a finger on the top of a watch for only 30 seconds.

In the process of creating a revolutionary new 3D Animation Technology to help coaches and players understand the game of soccer, the development group of MOTI Sports had to solve all sorts of problems – including how to put together a soccer training platform that could be used by players as young as 5 years old and coaches across the spectrum of experience. To help players understand soccer skills, Motion Capture Technology was used, which allows players to watch movements from all angles and perspective. Rather than use old video technology, the development group used a complex gaming technology platform that allows smart mobile devices, such as phones and tablets to provide screen manipulation of rotation and zoom in and out. This new technology is in the category of ‘Immersive Technology’ that engages users to stay on the device and produces an energized learning environment for soccer development. If you are involved in soccer in any capacity, start looking at technology – let it help you! Don’t let the new technologies intimidate you and cause you to get stuck with some of the same old ways. The seven worst words a coach can use is “it’s the way we’ve always done it”. I am a living example of an “old dog learning new tricks.”

I predict 2019 to be a new start on soccer player development: use 3D Animated Technology to help all your visual learners…there are certainly a lot of them!

Why do players leave the game


I cringe when I hear Sports Coaches, Players, family members and fans talk in terms of effort and performance “I gave, or my team gave, or my favorite player gave 101% 110% ….120% etc. blah blah”! These statements just do not correlate with my experience as a young player, as a high performing professional player or as a pro coach and as a coach of all levels and ages of Male and Female soccer players. Cutting to the quick I would tell you no one can give more than 100% and the percentage an athlete actually gives in most performances is never maxed out at 100%.   This is an unrealistic level to achieve and causes the athlete to place unnecessary stresses and strains on their desires to be competitive. The new concern being sent out by the American Psychological Association is that their reports, ‘show that recent generations of college students have reported higher levels of perfectionism than earlier generations’. The emphasis that is being discussed across medical institutions is that soccer players are putting themselves under so much pressure to get perfection in every sporting event that they play in.

This is a road to destruction and inevitable failure for many players. The pressure results in ‘real anxiety’ and loss of perfection produces a downhill spiral. The warnings are now being broadcast by therapists and the psychologists that this quest for perfection and 100% plus performance is producing anxiety, deepening depression and leading some athletes to suddenly quit on the spot. It has been reported that millennials are continually getting messages that they must achieve perfection. The millennials and Gen Z generations are the athletes that are the most critical of themselves that we have ever experienced.

Social media Facebook and Twitter add to the pressure of belonging and having ever increasing stats and performance records. Studies have already documented that athletes who show signs of not making decisions and continually setting goals that seem farfetched and unattainable are athletes that are hindered and need some help.

Players need to be continually brought down to earth with doses of reality talk, and reality checks, the grounding renews the base level of understanding and allows for new growth in the game. It is ok to accept a little failure to gain inner strength and use that experience as a healing method to cope with natural pressures within the game.

Doing your best, giving your best effort, playing smart, using your experience, being fit and athletic, showing your skill set, setting realistic goals, making good decisions, working for your team mates need to be the messages that are continually given to our soccer players. We want them to know that if you only have 75% in the performance tank we are all cool with that, especially if it means they make Soccer a Lifetime Sport for them to enjoy as an Adult.

The Joy of Coaching at Multiple Levels – Part 1


Part One – The Young Player

When coaching the very young player or a player very new to the game, one must gather all of your faculties, your organizational skills, and your nurturing instincts, in order to maintain a positive practice environment. There is nothing quite like seeing the grin on the face of a young player who has just completed a skill element and see the satisfaction of accomplishment beaming across their entire set of teeth.

These young players may lack physical strength, power and range but they are there to enjoy the game as they develop their coordination, gain a repertoire of technical moves, and confidence with a ball. They will quickly build some muscle memory from their very astute imitation and visual memory instincts. At this age they play for themselves and are very egocentric. As a coach, you give them some boundaries – cones, some supervision, do some demonstrations of moves or guide them to a 3D animation skill library. Coaching points should always be motivational and a boost to their effort. Encouragement drives them to develop quickly so that basic techniques are assembled in all the players so that introductory games and exercises bolsters their motor skills.

The introduction of small sided games 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 ensures that they are all getting huge numbers of touches and opportunities to dribble, control and pass the ball. This is a great time to gain Coaching knowledge that focuses on teaching techniques specific to the player’s position while moving from offense to defense to learn the game. When teaching and coaching at this age you must take into account all of the physical, physiological and physiologic aspects of each stage of childhood and adolescence. Remember a young person is not a small adult and one should always treat each individual appropriately.

There is a need to make a distinction between growth and development characteristics’ with a very positive and encouraging practice environment that nurtures all players and allows them to grow in the game while having fun and enjoyment. So the training session you are trying to produce goes a little like this:

  • Player with ball in a one on one duel
  • Focus on a repertoire of technical moves and confidence on the ball, coordination skills and technical moves using all the surfaces both feet, chest and thighs.
  • Introduce variations on simple exercises
  • Introduce dynamic movement, rhythm and ultimately getting up to full velocity
  • Have players get their heads up to develop creative offensive minded play and consistent efficacy of pass and movement
  • Increase speed of play on execution and making the correct choice from options in front of them
  • Training through progressive practice plans, exercises including drills, technical exercises and playing in small sided games to ensure as many touches as possible.

Implementing these coaching techniques may bring you as much joy as the kids get from having a smile across their entire face for every practice session and game they play in.