Hello- Football/ Baseball guy here turned Soccer Dad. Any good one on one training resources out there that I can use to help midfielder/ striker daughter improve her game? Thanks in advance!

Hi all. I am coaching a first year competitive youth team. There are probably more skill deficiencies than I would have hoped for, but they are U9 so it is all things we will practice.

My biggest concern is games. I feel like I am failing them. I have been rotating positions every 2 games to try to get them to understand different facets of playing.

But I worry this is just stressing them out. We are getting dominated in play, and every game it is like they are trying to learn something new. I find myself joy sticking while they are on the field as what I explain on the sideline isn’t implemented. Many look uncomfortable as they appear to be overthinking and not just playing as they try to figure out their role.

Am I putting too much on their plate with learning the game from multiple positions?

I coach HS girls soccer and I’m looking for a good offseason strength and conditioning plan that would be more tailored to the female athlete (focusing on injury prevention and strengthening the lower body, including ACL/hamstrings/etc)

As a male coach, I know what works for me, but obviously that’s not always universal.

Any resources or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Myself and another guy have started running our daughter’s U8s team this season, it’s everyone’s first season (us and the girls!) We are over half way through the season and week in week out are getting hammered, by 5 or 6 goals. Today we played a team we lost 5-1 to first time round and this time lost 7-0!

I understand it’s not about the winning and we instil this in the kids, they are all smiling at the end of every game, but I’m worried this is starting to wear thin. It feels like our girls are a lot physically smaller than the other teams and often struggle to get involved with the game. The desire is there, but there is no contest! The girls ball skills and passing are improving in training, but this seems to count for nothing in the 5 v 5 matches.

Any advice? I’m concerned we are letting the girls down and not developing them as much as they should.

Hey all - my son is in his first year of club soccer and for the first half of the season his coach is having the kids play all the different positions on the field and then will assign each kid a position in the second half of the season when the competitive games begin. I'd like for him to build a base of knowledge of all the positions on the field regardless of what he ends up playing (and then focusing on what he's assigned to). Does anyone have any youtube coaches or players that have developed a really good library of positional strategy videos that they'd recommend? I know there are a lot out there but I grew up playing different sports than soccer and can't really vet the good advice from the bad like I could do with basketball or volleyball videos (the sports I played in college). I'd really appreciate any advice! (English only recommendations please:)

Can anyone recommend a good rebounder? My son is almost 15 and has been talking about them but I am clueless at what kind/size to get.

Thanks so much!

Has anyone had their Rec team make the jump from D3 to D2? I’ve got parents wanting to and I’m weighing the options. My concern is the parents thinking it’s a good idea and then losing the commitment/drive. Anyone gone through this and seen some challenges/what would you say to the parents if you could go back and warn them about what to expect that they didn’t see coming?

Hi all! My brother loves soccer, he’s a soccer coach, 1:1 soccer trainer, and loves watching the sport in his free time. What’s the best gift you’ve gotten as a coach? What’s a tool or something really helpful you use often as a coach that I could get him as a gift? Thanks in advance!

I'm working through the USSoccer coaching 7v7 course online, and the course uses the terms "openings" a lot. I am not a soccer expert and got drafted into the coach role but am enjoying it. Still, every thing I've heard before was about "space".

Is this just an American thing using "openings", and "looking for opening", etc. instead of "finding space", etc.? Or is there a fundamental difference between openings and space? Or even, is it because I lack experience that space just sounds better (because TBH "openings" grates on me a little).

Edit:

Thanks for all the helpful responses! It definitely does clarify the difference between openings and spaces as it is used in the US.

I’m a high school girls coach getting ready to go into my 3rd year. In my first year, we made it to the second round of the region tournament. Last season, we made it to the state quarterfinals. However, we were definitely the lowest scoring team in the tournament.. We ran 4-4-2 most of the year. Context to why we ran 4-4-2 is because it’s a simple formation to understand and can be applied in a shorter off season.. I’m at a small high school so athletes have to be shared year round. It’s hard to run an efficient offseason program when most of your team is in other sports.. I know that no one knows the skill of my roster but, is there any advice on a formation or some rotations that can boost scoring and offensive efficiency. I’m thinking of adding a 4-3-3 or even an unorthodox 3-2-3-2.. just looking for advice. Thanks

Hi everyone!

I have been into this reddit for a tiny bit, I am actually an amateur futsal player but I am really looking forward into coaching either futsal or football in the future. I do work a full time job already and I saw that lot of you guys do this as a side gig or even as a hobby. But I started wondering if any did the transition into making it their full time job or at least their main income.

I would love to know how did that happened, how many teams you manage to do that work and if started needing to have bigger qualifications (such as courses, licenses, etc).

Thanks for reading, I look forward to see each one of you experiences!

I'm an 18 yr old Ugandan,without prior playing experience and a burning desire to coach the sport professionally. I have some light experience as school team assistant at my school and 3 year experience coaching my classmates.I would like guidance and help on improving my tactical knowledge and just any assistance with opportunities within or out of Africa,to work within a coaching staff at an apprentice level and more formally down the line.

I need people to talk to about the tactical side of football, and if it can be someone who knows amateur analysts, or even, is an amateur analyst, or a professional, obviously it would be better, but if you are a person passionate about the tactical side of football, it's also fine, leave a comment on this post, and I'll talk to you tomorrow in the DM.

Im a 16 years old guy who love tactical gootball, but i have never played it at a local team, so, i need someone to talk me for solving many doubts I have, thankss!!

I’m going to an interview (or at least I think cuz in the Email it didn’t say interview just meeting but same thing I guess) with the technical director of my local football association. He’s new so quite busy and it took a while for him to answer the first email and I didn’t get an answer for when I asked basically what I should prepared for in advance. So what should I be prepared for? For context I’m tryna volunteer then get a job at the place and I’m 17. Thanks in advance

Hey all, below is an outline for my practice plan that I have in mind for my U9 boys for the Spring. We're US based rec team playing in our town league. They have 2 practices a week and I'm upping the practice time to 75min for each practice. We practice at a park - we're not a club or travel team.

Please critique the outline - both positive and negative, and pitfalls to watch out for. As a note we have a full squad of 14 and kids of very mixed abilities. The team stays together and is mostly friends from the same school.

Setup: Arrive 10-15min early to set up, and have small sided games going as kids arrive.

0-10min: small sided games (if everyone turns up it'll be a 3v3 and 4v4)

10-40min: Split the group up into 2 fairly balanced sides and rotate them through 2 exercises (I have an assistant coach - actually 2 since I've recruited some parents) for 2x15min = 30min. One exercise will always (almost always) be a rondo, other will be small game like situation with our area of focus for the week.

40-55min: Whole team pattern play (especially building out from the back); Keep it game like

55-75min: Scrimmage

This is roughly also what I have been doing so far,except I haven't leaned in as heavily on the rondos yet (kind of just doing it on some weeks, especially weeks focusing on passing) and we've had 60min to do the above which felt a little rushed.

Looking for an app or an online service that will enable my athlete son to develop his body / muscles specifically for soccer. (Not looking for training on running a marathon or body building - which is all I can find) Does such a training exist ?

At what age are youth soccer teams trying to build out of the back? At what age can goalkeepers not use their hands when receiving a back pass from a teammate? 

Generally curious how youth soccer coaches are teaching their players how to build out of the back. It seems like most recreational soccer teams, especially, are just booting the ball when pressured. 

Players have to be technically sound on the ball to even start learning how to build out of the back. However, I would argue that the teams that do learn how to do this will find success stringing passes together. I guess it comes down a lot to the lineup and how you're positioning players who can fill these roles. Defenders with skill and forwards who can hold onto the ball if receiving a long pass, and of course goalkeepers who can use their feet. It is all a lot to ask.

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to look at/answer my questions.

A little context. I recently passed my level 1 in coaching football, the coaching introduction. I'll be coaching with a local team shortly. I should've started today, but it was called off due to rain. A shame, but there it is. I recently added a job alert for coaching jobs, more so I can get a feel for exactly what employers were looking for, but also on the off chance that there might be something I felt I could do.

So, exciting times, a job has come up, a part-time job which matches exactly what I'm looking for. It'll mean I can maintain my walking routine while (if I'm successful) coaching and, most importantly, learning how to coach to a high standard. This brings me to my questions.

I don't know the exact age but I know I'll be coaching young kids, likely 12 and under.

TLDR

My questions mainly revolve around these two:

A. Do you have any tips on how to interact with the kids?

This is what I have:

• Start with a positive greeting and lots of positive energy
• Encourage wherever possible.
• Be vocal.
• Keep moving, energy is infectious.
• Embed criticism within a positive encouraging statement.
• Smile whenever possible. We're here to have fun and learn
• Kneel/squat when talking to players for better eye contact
• Clap and cheer
• Have a fun little drill to change things up if the players are getting bored
• Always show respect to everyone. Attitude reflects leadership.
• Don't get hung up on mistakes
• Always end on a high note complimenting the players

B. Do you have any tips on simple and fun drills (The employer has said the interview is to find out how I interact with the kids. That said, I have some simple drills to do, which should be fun and easy to remember off the top of my head.)

• 'Keepy up' - Have the players place the ball between their foot and leg and trap it there, keeping one leg off the ground
• 'Flick up' - Have the players trap the ball between their feet then try and flick the ball into the air
• 'Drop kick' - Have the players drop the ball and volley it to a teammate
• 'Target ball' - Have 3 footballs on cones. Have those separated by markers. Have 3 v 3 try to knock over each other's cone footballs whilst also defending their own.
• Penalties

Hi guys, I’ve been wanting to get into coaching, and i wanted to find out how possible it is to do so while working a full time tech job. I’m based in the US and was hoping to get some more insight from some people that might have had a similar path

I wrote a new free ebook which is specifically for parents and coaches who coach kids age 6-12. In the book I cover age-appropiate training and how it can lay the athletic foundation in speed, agility and efficiency.

https://tannerspeedacademy.com/products/speed-mastery-for-kids-free-ebook

The idea behind the book actually came from various questions I saw here in the group, but also during seminars, in which parents and coaches asked for tipps on how to train kids at such a young age. I consider this age group the golden age, as everything you learn during this time will greatly benefit your future as an athlete.

Again the book is completely free, but I will also as always be happy to answer questions either here in the group or per private message.

Have a great day!
Carsten

Hi everyone, i was wondering what the us youth soccer coaching scene is like, as i coach in England but was thinking about doing it in the US. I was wondering is their many private coaching companies and how much do they charge and what are pitch rental prices and also is there demand for group session coaching.

I know that it is a pay to play system which mainly favour the more financially stable families so i was wondering if there is demand for more affordable coaching to the lower income families.

Any help would be appreciated!

Hello there. I am a 19 year old and right now I am on my way to complete the US soccer basic coaching license. I come for help since soccer and coaching is my passion, however I don't have any experience playing professionally or for a college, highest level I got to play was ECNL and more recently UPSL. Every single coaching opening seems to ask for people that played at a higher level than me, and frankly I am finding it hard to get taken seriously by other people in the field because of that reason. I do have experience coaching, I coached the same team in a recreational league since they were 10 year olds all the way to 13 year olds and I would say it was pretty successful. Even though it is not a high level at all I know how to teach kids from absolutely zero into teaching plying philosophies.

I wanted to ask for advice and tips for how to get into the industry. Thanks!

Let me begin by saying how much I value and appreciate this sub and its members. There’s a wealth experience here and it’s very helpful to have this venue available as a resource. Quick background, I’m a father of a u12 player who is also his teams assistant coach and training to possibly be the incoming head coach. I’ve posted before regarding his teams struggles, small town club playing in an NPL league in their top division vs other clubs with multiple teams at each age level. Our team has struggled mightily, losing every game for the 1 and a half seasons they’ve been together, sometimes losing 15-0 etc. I was told that all our teams lose for the first few years and then “catch up” around u13-u14 when other clubs lose their star players to ecnl teams. After posting here and being advised that we should be looking into more appropriate levels of competition, I looked further into NPLs structure and found there are indeed different levels of competition, including a classic (lower level) that some of the other clubs 2nd and 3rd teams play in. There’s also lower level regional divisions that some small clubs play in. I’ve gone to our technical director multiple times to discuss this, but it hasn’t resulted in any sort of action, so I went to my clubs board meeting last night.

Our club has exactly 1 “open” board meeting, the “annual” board meeting. All other meetings are closed to the public. The board has been criticized for a lack of transparency in the past. The meeting began with “public comments” and I went first. I clearly and efficiently laid out my concerns with our club and the lack of appropriate levels of competition for our younger teams, citing their records. I explained how i understand winning isn’t a priority over development, however when a team has no success, players and families lose motivation and love for the game. I spoke about our clubs lack of preparation for our players moving into travel competition, especially vs other clubs top level teams at the early age group. I explained the availability of classic and lower level divisions as an option, as we have played several of those teams in lower level tournaments and it has been beneficial to our players to have an opportunity to play without smothering defenses, and offsides traps, etc.

My time was short but I was satisfied with the time I was given. The TD stated that he would be meeting with other TDs in NPL this week and that he would bring it up. The board president explained that we participate in block scheduling with the other teams in NPL and that our older teams are able to compete well (our u19 boys won presidents cup this year). I’ve heard this from other more experienced coaches, but it seems crazy that we would be unable to have the freedom to place our teams in the appropriate level of competition due to scheduling. He made it sound as if either the entire club plays at the highest level or none of them do. We only have 1 team per age group (small club).

A few more parents (4 public non board members) spoke about similar issues, everyone on the board seemed annoyed, and then they continued their meeting. About an hour into the meeting, the board stated that they had “HR” issues to address and that the meeting was now closed and all the non board members had to leave. The next open board meeting would be in a year.

My question is..does all this sound right? Do most boards operate this way? Would block scheduling tie our club/team into playing at the highest level regardless of our teams ability to compete at an appropriate level? Should I give up and head to the closest town (30 mins away) and try a new club?

Sorry for the length and thanks for any input. I appreciate you all!

I am in my first year coaching club u11, and we have done 4 indoor matches. Our team is all new players to club, so formations are still relatively new. I am trying to do a 3-2-1 formation to keep more defensive position since that is our big weakness. But at the same time, I do try to move kids around to learn new positions. I was talking to another coach who mentioned that at a game he was subbing at, the head coach did a 2-2-2 and the two forwards would come off at a sub rotation, and then the mid would move up, then defence up to mid, and the two coming on would be defence. I just think for a newer team, that’s a lot of movement. It does sound better, but wonder if there are other thoughts. The other concern is, not a lot of our players have a lot of stamina, and I feel I’d like them to rest a little more.

App recommendations with good training drills/technique for varsity level teams?

I'm coaching a U12 boys team and I've got one player who likes to play defence and has quite a few of the necessary traits to do well there but he has a hard time staying focused on the play - slow to react at times, loses his mark easily, seems to be 'switched off', etc.

Any thoughts on how to help such a player?