Professional Development

There’s a better way for soccer coaches to get their message across to young athletes — and it starts with video. Data. Analysis. Statistics. Film. These words haven’t always been part of the soccer world, but over time they’ve become extremely powerful components to coaching and athlete development. A prime example is Lincoln City. Glenn Skingsley, the club’s Performance ...

Planning Training Sessions with Coach Patrick Ouckama: Current Director of Coaching for New England Revolution Academy, U17 head coach. Played 4 years as a starter at Ithaca College with multiple collegiate athletic awards. Training sessions are a concept most coaches do not necessarily think about when it comes to game performance. Coach Patrick Ouckama from ...

By: Hannah Bauer From the Hudl Blog The Women’s Sports Foundation released its Chasing Equity report on the land­scape for women and girls in sports at the begin­ning of 2020. Some of the find­ings are promis­ing. Others are stag­ger­ing. Here’s what you should know. The Women’s Sports Foundation released its Chasing Equity report at the begin­ning of 2020. ...

The post was provided by Coaches Network by Chris Wellman Productive coaches spend 75 percent of their time teaching the sport to their players, and the other 25 percent of the time coaching. With younger athletes, this gap increases with teaching becoming more important. The problem is that many coaches don’t understand how to teach athletics effectively. Plus, ...

This article was provided by Coaches Network To be successful, coaches must evolve and grow over time. Not only do sports change, but there are also countless lessons to learn from athletes, other coaches, and experiences that you have. As you add new pieces to your coaching philosophy and develop your own style, you will graduate ...

By Dr. Rob Bell Dr. Bell is a Mental Toughness Coach and Certified Consultant of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.  He consults with hundreds of athletes, coaches, and teams and has served as the mental coach for PGA tour winners, USTA Champion, and Olympic Medalists.  He is also the author of several mental toughness books. ...

Change is inevitable in coaching. Great coaches must be willing to embrace it. This article was provided by Changing the Game Project Have you ever heard of Blockbuster Video? Have you seen one lately? There is a reason only one Blockbuster store remains today. Let me explain. In 1992 I was a senior in High School playing for ...

This article was provided by Coaches Network By Alan Hargreaves and Richard Bate There is nothing worse than a player who won’t or can’t listen. Because successful communication with your players is crucial, it pays to have some insight into the field of knowledge called communication. This field of knowledge has much to teach us, including the ...

This article was provided by Busy.Coach By Mandy Green, University of South Dakota. The Pareto principle states that 20% of a person’s effort generates 80% of the person’s results. The corollary to this is that 20% of one’s results absorb 80% of one’s resources or efforts. For the effective use of resources, the coach’s challenge is to ...

This article was provided by Changing the Game Project Remember this…As coaches and parents we judge ourselves by our intentions, however 0ur athletes and children judge us by our actions By James Leath “STOP LOOKING AT YOUR PHONE!” yells Tasha, a point guard on the 6th grade YMCA basketball team I was coaching. Immediately, I smile and start to explain to ...

This post was provided by Changing the Game Project By John O’Sullivan “Do you want to win every game you play for the rest of your life?” That was a question that Olympic gold medalist and current USA Women’s Volleyball team head coach Karch Kiraly asked his team as they prepared for the 2014 World Championships. “Because we can,” ...

This article provided by Coaches Network By Wayne Goldsmith, Also known as the “Sports Coaching Brain,” has 25 years of experience coaching and providing advice to others. With a nod toward Stephen Covey, he offers “The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Coaches.” Train beyond the target: Goldsmith urges coaches to train athletes for challenges greater than the ...

Professionals seek a standard of excellence, constantly improving and incorporating the best knowledge and research in your field in order to get better at what you do every single day. By John O’Sullivan, founder of Change the Game Project. “What makes you a professional?” That was the question Dr. Richard Bailey, Head of Research at the International Council ...

This post is provided by Coaches Network Communication is a two-way street. Not only do coaches need to be able to send clear messages that are interpreted as intended, they also need to receive messages from their athletes and staff. In a book published by Human Kinetics, Sports psychologists Damon Burton and Thomas Raedeke, describe what good ...

  Mentally strong people have healthy habits. They manage their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in ways that set them up for success in life. Check out these things that mentally strong people don’t do so that you too can become more mentally strong. By Amy Morin, LCSW, author of “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do” 1. They Don’t ...

How can coaches best draw out and utilize the knowledge and insights of their athletes? This article was provided by Coaches Network It’s no secret that many coaches seek advice and input from others, whether it be assistants, coaches that they had in the past, or even coaches of other teams. What they might not realize is ...

Everybody wants to be somebody.  Once this becomes a fundamental way of viewing your teammates, classmates, and everyone you meet, you will become a person of influence. Dr. Cory Dobbs The Academy for Sport Leadership Homelessness is a complex problem. Not just because a person without a home needs money and other essential resources—but because the psychological consequences ...

Are you a leader who has reached a point in your coaching career where you no longer measure success in wins and losses, and in trophies and medals? If so, you are a coach of positive significance.  Coaches of positive significance realize that when you invest in people off the field, success on the field ...

This article was provided by Coaches Network Coaches often find themselves trying to explain complex, multi-layered ideas to their athletes, and this is inherently challenging. From practice drills to in-game strategy, the mental side of sports can easily become overwhelming. Fortunately, there are a number of ways that you can simplify complex concepts and make your ...

The following seven questions require you to turn off the noise for fifteen minutes daily and sink your mind into your walk and your talk for the day. This article may be found at Coaches Toolbox, a collection of free resources for coaches of all sports By Cory Dobbs, Ed.D., The Academy for Sport Leadership In 1953 New ...

Great coaches and elite athletes understand that performance is a behavior, not an outcome. It is doing the little things correctly, moment to moment, day after day. But how do we do this in our teams? By John O’Sullivan, founder of Change the Game Project. Last week I received the following email (edited for anonymity). We get calls ...

By John O’Sullivan, founder of Change the Game Project Coaches, imagine if there was a way to gain insight, understanding, and connection with your athletes by asking a simple question? There is. let me explain how. A few years back, I coached a talented, yet underperforming sixteen-year-old girl I will call Maddy. She was incredibly inconsistent in her ...

By Matt Settles Coach Settles  is entering his 12th 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 I have played in tons of soccer games since starting when I was a little kid and playing club, high school, ...

Do you want your players to play soccer year around? Do you want them playing soccer in their offseason?  Well then, you might want to check out this data first. This article was provided by Training-Conditioning A study conducted by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and funded by the National Federation of State ...

Have you ever done something as a coach and later realized your were wrong? Most of have. Here are coaching mistakes and 8 coaching corrections. By John O’Sullivan, founder of Changing the Game Project In 2002, I received a phone call from Patrick, a former high school player I had coached. He had graduated college and was applying ...

Too many coaches are worried about selecting talent rather than developing players. Coach John O’Sullivan shares his thoughts as well as six ideas to help develop players. By John  O’Sullivan, Founder of Changing the Game Project In 2004, FC Midtjylland in Denmark set out to establish Scandinavia’s first youth soccer academy. As a new club, it did not ...

  When linked to video, these statistics can provide game-changing insights. The best way to improve is to look back on what has already taken place. Through careful study and analysis, one can find once-overlooked issues or uncover some insights previously missed. It’s now easier than ever to find the exact moments in the game you want to ...

With practices set to begin soon for many of you, I thought I would post some information regarding heat illness. Being prepared to treat heat illness is essential, but it’s even better to follow smart prevention steps that keep athletes from needing treatment at all. This article was provided by Training and Conditioning By J. Allen Hardin J. Allen ...

By Mandy Green Mandy is the  Head Soccer Coach at The University of South Dakota. She is also an Author, Speaker, Trainer and Consultant. She has posted many useful tools for coaches on her site Busy.Coach I’m sure you have had or a conversation with your staff about your priorities and what you want to accomplish for the ...

By Mandy Green, Mandy is the  Head Soccer Coach at The University of South Dakota. She is also an Author, Speaker, Trainer and Consultant. She has posted many useful tools for coaches on her site Busy.Coach Coach, have you ever come back from lunch, checked your email, fiddled around on the web, and realized that two or ...