Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer News, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: better soccer coaching, English Premier League, my family, pitches, Sky, soccer matches, soccer teams, Spanish League
I’m constantly making notes thinking of ways to coach situations I see every week out on the pitch. I watch the English Premier League and the Spanish leagues on Sky, from which all those junior players get their ideas. It’s eat, sleep, and drink soccer especially as I have two sons who both play in my teams.
I’ve even considered starting a team for my 5 year old daughter, who has grown up on the side of soccer pitches since she was born. She used to come to the park with the three of us, and would play on the slides and swings while I crossed the ball for the boys to volley and head into the goal. Now she plays along with us and is becoming quite good. But my wife would kill me if I as much as mentioned the phrase “girls soccer team”.
My eldest son and I support Leeds United who have slumped to the third tier of English soccer. It’s not pretty soccer, the former Gods that played in our famous all-white strip will be turning in their graves at the kick-and-run stuff we are now playing. I put my notebook away whenever I watch Leeds – they offer me nothing that I would dare run in Better Soccer Coaching.
My youngest has fared better. A lifelong fan of Barcelona, his English team is Chelsea, so in any given week one or the other win – and usually both. He got his first Barcelona kit when he was four years old. He was always wandering off when we were at soccer games so I went to the local soccer store and found the brightest all orange strip you have ever seen – Barcelona’s third strip. Since then friends and family have always brought him a Barcelona shirt back whenever they are in Spain.
My daughter says she doesn’t support a team but if there was a team that played in pink she’d support them. Any ideas? So that’s my soccer background. When you get Better Soccer Coaching Weekly on Wednesday you’ll see that I watched Liverpool v Chelsea at the weekend which gave me a great idea for one of the features on attacking in threes and I’m going to get my under 15s to practice it this week…
David Clarke, Better Soccer Coaching editor
