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
Filed under: Dwyer Scullion, Soccer Coaching, Soccer News | Tags: better soccer coaching, Football, Gaelic football, Manchester Utd, marketing, Soccer, UK and European coaches
It’s Only a Word
“Why would I buy one of your products when you don’t even know what the game’s called?”
So reads a response I received to an email marketing one of our weekly subscription services. In fact, I’ve edited that down to remove one or two expletives. This respondant was – you guessed it – English, and he/she was upset at our use of the word “soccer” rather than “football”.
I’ve heard the same sentiment voiced by respected radio journalists, one high profile match commentator intoning the word “soccer” in a syrupy and exaggerated American accent.
For the purposes of this posting I’m going to stick to my guns and use the word “soccer”. I’m Irish and was raised to refer to the Beautiful Game as “football”. But I’m comfortable using the word soccer. I have absolutely no problem with it.
Readers with a slightly wider world view will be aware that the reason we at Better Soccer Coaching use the expression is because we are an online publisher with a global market and a huge proportion of that market play a game called soccer.
That game has the same rules, the same beauty, passion, excitement, thrills and spills as what we in England insist on referring to as football. They love it just as much as we do. They may not have been playing it for quite as long, and they may not have the same proud tradition of freezing cold stadiums selling poisonous pies and watery beer, but they love the game just as much.
As I mentioned I was brought up in Ireland playing Gaelic football, basketball and football. In the last 12 months, working at Better Soccer Coaching and dealing with coaches from around the world I’ve grown used to using the expression soccer. So much so that it’s started to slip into my daily conversation. However, when I say “soccer” to my fellow coaches at my local club I’m treated with a combination of ridicule and scorn. Clearly, I know nothing about the game.
But we’re all coaches. We share the same values and ambitions for our players and our teams. Whether we refer to the game as soccer or football makes not a jot of difference. In the UK and Europe we borrow liberally from American culture in music, fashion, art, cinema and lifestyle (McDonald’s anyone? – a significant sponsor of grassroots football – I mean, soccer – in the UK).
You can bet your bottom dollar (pun intended) that when Manchester Utd and Arsenal play an exhibition match in Boston or Los Angeles they will be perfectly happy to market the event as a soccer match.
But culture is culture and you can’t change it overnight. For those UK and European coaches who baulk at the word soccer, maybe the thing to do is build a website just for them. Watch this space.
Filed under: Dwyer Scullion, Soccer News | Tags: Carlos Alberta, David Beckham, FIFA, Franz Beckenbauer, Johann Neeskins, LA Galaxy, Pelé, Soccer, Soccer Coach Weekly, South American, The New York Cosmos
I came across the following quote in this week’s issue of Soccer Coach Weekly.
South American soccer is renowned for the skill and quality of its players, its different styles, the interest it attracts among its fans and the dedication they have for the sport. If the South American imports are able to inject all this into MLS, as the great Pelé did when he joined the New York Cosmos in 1977, the league may well undergo such a huge transformation that its teams may eventually compete with the top clubs of Europe, both in success and popularity. Gregory Sica in Sports Illustrated
Gregory Sica is an acknowledged expert on South American soccer and really knows his stuff. However, I’m not convinced that his belief that MLS teams can “compete with the top clubs of Europe, both in success and popularity” is a realistic one.
Have you seen the movie “Once In A Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story Of The New York Cosmos”? It tells the story of how a couple of extremely wealthy record executives created the Cosmos from scratch and the story of the trials and tribulations of the team through to its demise in 1985. This is a more a tale of rock and roll glamour and excess than sporting achievement. The Cosmos were first and foremost a business venture and when it became clear that the American public weren’t interested, the club was dissolved.
The New York Cosmos featured, at various times in its 14 year history, some of the world’s greatest players, albeit well past their best – Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberta, Johann Neeskins and many other legendary names. I’ve seen footage and the truth is that, despite the obvious quality of many of the individuals, the soccer played was slow, clumsy, tactically naïve and frankly uninspiring.
The fate of the Cosmos mirrored that of the North American Soccer League itself. The average attendance in its first year (1968) was a mere 4,747. By the time the league was dissolved in 1984 the average was 10,769 – clearly not sustainable.
Major League Soccer came back to the States in 1993, really in response to FIFA’s requirement that the USA hava a professional soccer league in advance of the 1994 World Cup. The league failed to set the American public alight and the standard was poor.
David Beckham’s move to LA Galaxy was heralded by some as a big step forward for the MLS. I’m not so sure. I don’t believe that expensive foreign imports and has-beens are the answer (although you might argue that this process is what reinvigorated English soccer in the late 80s and early 90s).
So what’s different now? Why does Gregory Sica believe that an influx of South American talent to the MLS could enable it to compete with the European leagues?
Perhaps he believes the issue is that of quality. South American players will no doubt bring skilful, exciting soccer to the American public who, like the rest of us, want to be entertained. But it takes more than that.
I think the issue is more to do with the standard of coaching. And I think that that’s where the good news starts for the MLS. In my experience, American grassroots coaches are extremely open and keen to learn, share and develop. The US has a history of sporting excellence which suggests that when the numbers of young people playing the game reaches critical mass there will be enough homegrown talent to produce a league of real quality. I think that critical mass is here and I think that in 10 years the picture will be entirely different.
There are already signs that there is a new generation of young American players coming through who will be good enough to play at the top level. And as is the case in so many other sports, American coaches are becoming increasingly wise to the realities of the professional game.
I don’t think the MLS needs South American players to achieve success. They need the interest of the American public. That is growing but can it “compete with the top clubs of Europe, both in success and popularity”? Maybe one day, but I don’t think it will be for several generations and I don’t think it will ever have the cultural resonance that it does in England, Spain or Italy.
Filed under: Dwyer Scullion, Soccer Coaching, Soccer News, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: coaching, communication, grassroots coach, Kevin Keegan, knowledge, listening, motivation, Newcastle United, organisation, Premier League level, Soccer, Soccer Skills, youth coach
I’ve been thinking about what it is that makes a great soccer coach. What is the essence of coaching? What are the core
skills that a coach needs to have in order to fulfil his role?
I guess the answer depends on what the role is, and there are a number of different ways to look at that. For example, a great youth coach might have different characteristics to a great adult coach. Similarly, a great grassroots coach might need different skills to that of a professional coach.
For the sake of argument, I’m going to lump them all in together and take the broadest view possible. Here are my five criteria for what makes a great coach:
Communication: a great coach should be able to communicate with his players on their level. The communication should be supportive and encouraging and should include everyone in the team.
Coaches should generally avoid using the word “don’t” and should try to be nurturing as opposed to bullying. And it’s important that no one is allowed to slip through the cracks – a loner in a soccer team is a potential problem and communication has to be consistent.
Listening: a great coach needs to be able to listen to his players and everyone else with a stake in his team’s success.
Players need to feel that they can talk to their coach about their game, and a good coach is able to respond to that in a positive way. I’m not saying that we should let players dictate where or how they play, but I think that a good coach can establish an effective two-way relationship with his players.
We also need to be able to take advice and guidance from other coaches and assistants. All the world’s great coaches recognise that they are part of a team and I doubt there are many successful coaches who dictate everything at their club. I know some coaches who are uncomfortable when a peer suggests a different approach. They need to be able to tell the difference between helpful advice and criticism. For me, the more ideas and viewpoints the better. I’ll still make my own decisions, but I’ll do that with the benefit of the views of the people whose judgment I trust.
Motivation: a coach has to arm his players with the tools to be better individuals and a better team. Chief amongst those tools is the motivation to succeed. Many people would say that this is the key factor – the magic ingredient – that every great coach must have.
Organisation: an effective coach must be organised. Everyone’s time is wasted if no-one knows what they are supposed to be doing, if the equipment isn’t in place, and if arrangements haven’t been made. Some coaches are terrible organisers but the trick is to recognise that and find an assistant who is a good organiser.
Have the knowledge: a coach can have all of the skills and characteristics described above, but it won’t count for much unless they have the technical knowledge to back it up. At youth level that might mean knowing how to coach players to pass over distance or perform a stop turn. At senior level that might mean knowing how to coach a team to change shape when moving from possession to defence. Either way, the coach has to have the knowledge, and whether they get it from the internet, a bookshop or a training course, a great coach has to know the nuts and bolts of the game.
I found it very strange that Newcastle United appointed Kevin Keegan as their new manager. Keegan is no doubt a great motivator and is known for his strong bond with his players. But it’s also true that he has tactical and technical shortcomings. I know that he will have people on his team who take care of that, but for me a truly great coach shouldn’t have to ask someone else to work out his team’s tactics.
Motivation alone is not enough, at grassroots or Premier League level. A great coach will invest the time to know and understand the principles and techniques that underpin the game.
So that’s five for now. As soon as I post this blog I will no doubt think of another half dozen so I’ll post those in due course. In the meantime, please feel free to get in touch and tell me what you think makes a great coach.
