Soccer Savvy Players
Guided Discovery by Age Group

U06 / U08  –  Low Order Questions
U10 / U12  –  Combination of Low and High Order Questions
U14 - U19  –  Predominately High Order Questions

Being soccer savvy means a player has an innate understanding of what is going on around him/her on a soccer field and having the talent to impact the game. Being savvy comes into being for a player only if the soccer environment and culture in which the player is raised is a rich one. Use of guided discovery by coaches will be a positive influence on this healthy soccer experience for adolescent and preadolescent players. We want to avoid automaticity in our players. Automaticity is putting your brain on autopilot and giving the usual responses, even if you aren’t in the appropriate situation. Too often we teach players things like, ‘There’s a right way and a wrong way to do everything, regardless of the circumstances.’ What we should teach them is how to think flexibly, to be mindful of all the different possibilities of every situation and not close themselves off from information that could help them.

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As we all know, field conditions in the county have experienced a steady decline.  With more people coming into the area and looking to be involved in sporting activities the demand for fields by all sports is at a premium.

“There are many people, particularly in sports who think that success and excellence are the same thing and they are not the same thing. Excellence is something that is lasting and dependable and largely within a person’s control. In contrast, success is perishable and is often outside our control… If you strive for excellence, you will probably be successful eventually... people who put excellence in first place have the patience to end up with success… An additional burden for the victim of the success mentality is that he/she is threatened by success of others and resents real excellence.  In contrast, the person fascinated by quality is excited when he/she sees it in others.”

Joe Paterno – Penn State Football Coach - 1990

Training Priorities
(More thoughts from Lawrence Fine of finesoccer.com)

Edition 211

Welcome to the Soccer Newsletter.  Today’s subject addresses the issue of prioritizing what is important in the training of young players and teams.

I was asked recently why I am not spending more time on corner kicks, direct kicks, indirect kicks and so on in the training of some of the younger teams I work with.  The comment was made that other teams seem to spend a great deal of time working on “plays” while I seem to spend a lot more time working on technical and tactical training but not on the dead ball situations.

Youth soccer coaches have a difficult job.  They are the key decision-makers.  They set examples.  Players look to them for leadership.  Soccer club administrators – and parents -- look to them to make good choices.

As adults we often speak to our young people about making choices— preferably intelligent, positive choices.

That said, coaches make choices, too.  They can choose to be the kind of coach that cares only about “winning”, or a coach that has a deeper—and longer-lasting—impact on the young people they coach and the families whose lives they touch.

Here are some tips to help make the coaching experience better for you—and the young people you interact with:

How can I be more positive?

A player broke a team rule.  How do I handle? 

These and other coaching issues addressed.  Click here.

What Makes a Coach Successful
(Taken from the writings of Lawrence Fine of finesoccer.com)

Edition 22

Welcome to the Soccer Newsletter.  Today’s topic is a bit different than some of the previous issues because today I will discuss what makes a coach successful.

First of all, we need a definition of success when it comes to coaching.  I had a discussion with a friend a few years ago and we came up with some possible definitions.  First of all, none of our definitions included having a good won/loss record.

 Another Player Driven From the Game

(taken from http://www.vadcsoccerref.com/, the Metro DC-Virginia State Referee Program website)

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