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Teaching Tactics

Teaching Tactics

This was originally published as a two-part series. The first part focused on individual tactics and the second part on team tactics. Individual Tactics When coaches talk about tactics, many of us get excited and love to start analyzing and scheming all the different strategies we like to use. We then spend loads of time trying to teach these schemes to our players - sometimes successfully, sometimes not. In reality, we are making it way more complicated than it has to be. At

The Concussion Crisis

The Concussion Crisis

Concussion. The word sounds kind of serious. When many people think of concussions, they visualize people who are delirious, falling over, or can’t remember anything. These are all possible. But concussions can have much less severe symptoms. In fact, there could be seemingly no symptoms at all. Regardless of how serious a head injury may appear to us, it can be very serious and very dangerous. This is why it is so important that everyone involved in youth soccer learn as muc

Tactics Before Technique

Tactics Before Technique

If you speak to most knowledgeable coaches, they will tell you that players at young ages need to focus mostly on technique first; tactics become more important later. This is sound advice. After all, what good is a strategy if you don’t have the technical skills to execute it? However, this approach is a little short sighted. At the very beginning – when kids are first starting out – they need to learn tactical concepts more than anything. This does not mean positions. Thi

Winning Matters

Winning Matters

Over the years, there has been a huge emphasis placed on winning in youth soccer. Still today, many adults focus on winning and do all they can to help their children’s youth soccer teams win. In case you haven’t heard the memo, this is not a good approach. In response to this, many people have been battling the “win at all costs” mentality. Those leading the way likely understand the right approach. However, many people following them misunderstand the intent. They hear th

The Goalkeeper Epidemic

The Goalkeeper Epidemic

The worst part about writing this article is that many people won’t know what I’m talking about. Most people are not familiar with goalkeeping, which makes sense because there’s only one goalkeeper to ten field players, so most people are not goalkeepers by trade. But that’s not an excuse. As coaches, regardless of personal playing experience, it is essential to be as knowledgeable as possible about goalkeeping. Here’s why: 1. If you coach a team by yourself, you need to b

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