Soccer Toolbox

1 0n 1 with World Cup Winner Mia Hamm

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It’s time to elevate your game! 

Have you ever had a private lesson from a soccer legend? 

There is no better learning curve than to have a secret to success guide on fundamentals by two true professionals. Mia Hamm and Ian Sawyers. 

Mia Hamm is a two time olympic gold medalist and a two time World Cup Champion. A true US Icon. In her prestigious and record breaking career, She was named Sportswoman of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation in 1997 and 1999. 

 In December 2000, Hamm was named one of the top three female soccer players of the twentieth century in the FIFA Female Player of the Century Award. She’s taking it a step further and becoming your personal soccer coach. 

Ian Sawyers is an American soccer coach. He played professional soccer for the Rotherham United club. Sawyers was named head coach of the Bay Area CyberRays. The CyberRays won the inaugural WUSA championship, and Sawyers was named WUSA Coach of the Year for 2001.

It’s important to know how to approach the game and your opponent. It doesn’t matter if it’s 3v3 or 11v11. Beginning with footwork to step over  to instep passing. The best way to become a force on the field is to master those individual skills. 

There is no secret that Core skills and fundamentals are essential in the game of soccer. 

With the season approaching, there isn’t a better time to master your skills.

In this course Mia provides you with the fundamentals to build a foundation to achieve and attain your goals. She breaks down how to develop your skill set, and be effective in the game. Focusing on dribbling, passing and shooting. All the tools she learned and used to become a legend. As well as Ian Sawyer demonstrating how to be a great coach. 

( Click the Image below for video )

This video clip was taken from a complete coaching course with Mia Hamm. To learn more about that course click the link: World Cup Soccer with Mia Hamm


Controlling the Ball with the Inside of the Foot: Mia Hamm

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The inside of the foot is the most utilized sides of the foot and therefore the most important to learn early in a players development

In the video clip below Pro Coach Ian Sayers and all-time great player Mia Hamm discuss the importance of learning to control the ball with the inside of the foot.

The clip also contains a demonstration of a ball control drill that they call The Shadow Play Drill.

Key Coaching Points include

  • Stay light on your feet and balanced
  • Keep the ball prepared in front of you so that it is ready for service
  • Use inside of foot to change directions
  • When you change direction also change speed
  • Get on the opposite side of the ball

This clip is from a complete training course with Mia Hamm on CoachTube. For more information about this course click the link World Cup Soccer with Mia Hamm

The video below has audio, so please make sure that your speakers are on. Click the arrow to play

CoachTube | Coaching and Instructional Videos on Demand – Footwork 1 from coachtube.com on Vimeo.


The Best Way to Score More Goals

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What is the best way to score more goals? Stats show that it is not getting wide and crossing the ball into the middle? Focusing on technical skills may be the best way to score more.

In the clip below Don Williams, head men’s and women’s soccer coach at Feather River College, instructs coaches  at a recent Glazier Soccer Clinic during his classroom session on The Best Way to Score Goals – Philosophy.  He is an experienced collegiate coach that has trained field players and goalkeepers.

The following is a summary of  the key points of Coach Williams presentation:

  1. Less than 25% of all open play crosses find a target

This is a stat from the EPL (English Premier League) that Coach Williams discusses with coaches.  Only one fourth of open play crosses actually finds a teammate, so 75% does not find the right player and the other team is able to defend it by clearing it out or winning possession.  This goes against a common strategy to get the ball wide to attack and then cross the ball in as much possible to try and score.  If only one fourth of crosses are finding a target, then does it make sense for your team to focus on attacking this way?

  1. Focus needs to be on technical play

 

Coach Williams discusses the importance of teaching technical skills to players.  He involves dribbling, passing, and receiving in all his drills.  He wants his players to be able to beat the other team by moving the ball and attacking defenders off the dribble.  All coaches are different on their tactics and strategies they believe in with regards to how to play and win a game.  A common focus though is that technical play is a key area to develop and improve in order to be successful.  The best players in the world are normally some of the best technical players because of their skills with dribbling, passing, receiving, and finishing.  Players need to be constantly working on their technical skills through drills and training, and then utilizing those skills during games.

The clip below is just a sample from Coach Williams’ presentation. For more information about how to gain access to his complete presentation, as well as hundreds of other great clinic presentations click the link Glazier Soccer Clinics.

The YouTube video below has audio, so please make sure that your volume is turned up. Note that some schools block access to YouTube.


Creating Creative Players

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By Matt Settles

Coach Settles recently completely his 11th season as a high school coach in Indiana. The former collegiate player at the University of Southern Indiana is also a regular contributor to the Soccer Toolbox

If you follow professional soccer or more specifically, the United States Men’s National Team, one of the issues with the team is that they lack creativity on the field.  Our top players in the U.S. don’t match up or even come close to the top players and teams around the word.  Our forwards and offensive players can’t find ways to score goals when it counts and this results in an early exit and disappointing end to the largest sporting event in the world (World Cup).  Our defenders and goalkeepers are just as important and play a big role in the team results, but it seems we struggle a lot more on the offensive end.  How are our top forwards and midfielders not able to match up and compete with other top players around the world?  There are multiple explanations and a lot of different viewpoints, but a big reason is that our offensive players are not creative enough in the attacking third of the field.

If creativity is a problem, then how do we fix this and develop more creative soccer players?  One of the most important ways is to teach players at a young age how to do soccer moves and be creative on the field.  We need coaches demonstrating good and effective moves and then allowing the players to practice and refine these skills.  Another part of this is allowing players to practice these moves during practice sessions, scrimmages, and games.  For the younger age groups, don’t worry about scores and results.  Let the players play and make mistakes while encouraging them to figure out situations on the field.  Instead of relying on speed and quickness, help players beat defenders with moves or attacking in creative ways to score goals.

Another way to develop creative soccer players is to put kids in difficult situations and get them out of their comfort zone.  There are a lot of ways to do this, but a few examples would be to make players understand different positions and to put restrictions on drills and games.  How many players on any given team fully understand each position and how to play it?  My guess would be very few.  If offensive players don’t understand a defender’s job and responsibilities on the field, do they fully understand what it takes to attack and beat these players?  At young ages, kids should experience playing each position rather than specializing in only one.  I know from a personal standpoint, I played outside back on my club team for a few years when we lacked defenders, and that experience was extremely valuable in my development as an offensive player for my high school and college teams.  Also, putting restrictions on drills and games forces players to think and play at a high level.  This not only helps develop creative players, it encourages kids to think and use more of their skills.  Simple restrictions like a touch limit or a consecutive number of passes creates more game like situations and forces kids to play a different style.

If you are looking for  specific ideas on how to develop creativity in your players, you might find the eBook below from World Class Coaching to be helpful. For more information about the eBook, click the link Developing Creativity Through Small Sided Games 
Developing Creativity Through Small Sided Games is an innovative book that will be a great addition to the library of coaches of all ages.  The core of the book is based upon economical training by players rotating through stations of different activities.  From 1v1 to 4v4 to 11v11, players are placed in game-like situations that teach the technical, tactical and physical sides of the game.  There are lots of variety in the exercises and plenty of opportunity for players to gain repetitive practice of game skills and decision-making.  This is a book that you will use again and again. Gary Eyles, DOC Ames Soccer Club, IA, USSF A License and National Youth License

Juggling: Individual Skill Development

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By Matt Settles

Coach Settles is a veteran high school soccer coach in Indiana. The former collegiate player at the University of Southern Indiana is also a regular contributor to the Soccer Toolbox

Soccer is no different than a lot of other sports in that the more touches a player gets, the more they will improve their skills.  Similar to a basketball player shooting hundreds of shots, a soccer player can do the same by juggling a ball.  It does not require another player, teammate, or friend to be around and can be done just about anywhere at any time.  If you watch warm ups at the club, high school, college, and professional levels, there are always players either juggling individually or in small groups.

Juggling a soccer ball is critical for younger players to improve their skills.  It not only gives a player a lot of practice with the ball, it helps improve the touch, eye and foot coordination, and other technical skills with different parts of the body such as the thigh, chest, and head.  Kids can not start young enough with juggling and learning how to properly juggle a soccer ball.  Also, one of the best parts of juggling is that is can be used for coaches to have a few minutes if trying to set up the next drill, need to talk a player(s), or just need a quick drill for players to get a lot of touches on the ball.  There are several keys to juggling in order for your players to improve:

  1. Keep track of high numbers

    2. Juggling can be boring and repetitive for a lot of players.  Challenge each player to keep track of consecutive touches or juggles before the ball hits the ground.  This highest number should be the goal for each individual player to beat every time they practice juggling.  Your best players should be challenged to try and beat this number and will hopefully keep practicing until they do just that.  Without a high number or target number, juggling will normally not be taken too seriously by a lot of players.

  2. Focus on touches with the feet, but use all parts of the body

    3. The emphasis on juggling should be using both feet, but too many players end up using other parts of their body more than their feet.  This is ok as long as the majority of touches are with the feet.  Encourage each player to use their thigh, chest, and head as needed.  If the ball gets too high or up to a part of their body they can’t control, then use that to get the ball back down to the feet to continue juggling.

  3. Make it competitive and fun

    4. Develop your own games and contests for players to juggle against other.  Start with each player juggling, then move to groups of two juggling together, then groups of three and so on.  Challenge groups to juggle together where each player takes one more touch than the previous player before passing the ball to someone else.  The first player takes one touch, the second player takes two touches, the third player takes three touches, etc.  Make it a contest and see which group can get the highest number.