The Natural Mistake Good Youth Soccer Coaches Make? The difference between a good soccer and a bad soccer coach is hard to learn, however it makes all the difference. http://www.blasttheball.com/soccer_coaching_tips.html sports http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss en-us Thu, 1 Jan 2009 14:03:23 -0500 Thu, 1 Jan 2009 14:00:35 -0500 FeedForAll v2.0 (2.0.2.9) http://www.feedforall.com The new SoccerU® training series was finally released this month and many who previewed it have called it, “The best to ever hit the market.” The SoccerU® series is a soccer technical skill training series that contains a total of five disks and over 10 hours of soccer skill training. It has 4 SoccerU® disks and also includes the now worldwide renowned Blast The Ball DVD, making it the most extensive series ever released. Blast The Ball is a two hour instructional DVD that focuses solely on the soccer kick and ball flight. It takes the coach, parent and player all the way through the evolution of the soccer kick, then through full step by step training all the way up to very advanced. The SoccerU® series is said to be more of a “field work” series that takes the trainer or player through all the essential skills needed to become an advanced and skilled soccer player. The nice thing about this series is the broad range of topics. Instead of buying a “soccer moves” instructional video, you simply go to disk 3, chapters 4,5 and 6 and there is over an hour of soccer moves training. With over 70 chapters in the 5 disk series, there is little that is NOT covered. They are also offering an affiliate / soccer club fundraising program which has been a huge success for Blast The Ball affiliates and soccer clubs around the world. The package special is being offered for a limited time at their website www.SoccerU.com and they are also offering free world wide shipping. The series is available in DVD only and ships worldwide. http://www.socceru.com/soccer_news.htm Sports 31511469-80F1-4DB9-972F-6351025DDD59 Thu, 1 Jan 2009 14:00:35 -0500 I don't care if you are 8 or 38 years old, a funny thing happens when we place a soccer ball on the grass in front of a goal. Something in our mind seems to snap and we try and strike the ball as hard as we can. Most of us however don't realize this actually slows down the soccer ball’s speed. http://www.blasttheball.com/adding_power_to_soccer_kick.html sports 926AFBA8-2C58-4C5E-BF9D-57056906CD74 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:30:59 -0400 Blast The Ball
The boys were hand picked from the previous year’s recreational league and were the standouts in the league. In addition, we hired a coach that is a former professional player and a recently retired head coach of the San Jose Frogs of the National Premier Soccer League.

After several severe beatings in our first games, we believed our main problem was defense. We gave our opponents too many break away opportunities, which put a huge burden on our under-sized Keeper. Moving one of our strongest players to Sweeper helped reduce our opponents scoring chances somewhat, but we still were not clearing the ball and most of the game was spent in our half of the field. On Offense, when we were able to advance the ball, the boys were getting chances by either dribbling around our opponents or centering the ball to an open player.

Unfortunately, we rarely put the ball into the back of the net. Most scoring opportunities were concluded with inaccurate and weak kicks that went wide or were easy to block. Many times, their Keeper would block or deflect the ball without securing it, giving us an opportunity for a follow up attempt at goal, but our Strikers had either fallen down or stopped after the initial kick. We finished the season with a record of 0 Wins, 9 Losses, and 1 Tie. (GF-8 GA-38)

Later in the season we finally realized that we had an underlying problem that our boys were just not kicking the ball with any power. That’s why they had trouble clearing the ball out of their end or scoring when they had good opportunities. We started doing some extra drills at practice that we thought would increase the power of their kicks, such as repetitively kicking the ball as hard as they could or doing exercises such as hopping on one foot to build up leg strength. But that didn’t help.
We later learned that it was only reinforcing bad habits.

It wasn’t until late in the season that we realized that most of our boys had various problems with their basic kicking techniques. Several boys were putting their plant foot well behind the ball causing them to over extend and fall after the kick. Others had their plant foot too close or too far away (not hip width distance) or they were toe kicking the ball. And, almost all the boys were just pushing through the ball, not winding up, and therefore, not kicking with power.  How did we change this pattern?
Read the rest of the story here:]]> http://www.blasttheball.com/youth_soccer_team_winning.html D607DF65-47BB-4FA0-9DCF-A10E4D6D5662 Mon, 7 Jul 2008 14:55:07 -0400 Dump the after game snacks and hand out the CHOCOLATE MILK. Yes, you heard me right. Believe it or not I was finally right about a "theory" I have had for several years. When you take a look sports drinks they have very similar attributes to those of chocolate milk. My assumption was that there would be little difference between a children drinking chocolate milk after a soccer game vs. a sports drink. Guess what? It looks like I was right. Indiana University conducted a study in conjunction with a grant from the dairy council. They wanted to put "my" theory to the test. The results were just as I thought they would be. "As compared to the commercial products tested, (sports recovery drinks), chocolate milk is an effective recovery aid following exhausting exercise." http://www.blasttheball.com/sports_drinks_soccer_chocolate_milk.html sports D33C4E60-405C-4BD5-AFE8-ED0780388417 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:09:12 -0400 How many times have we heard it shouted from both the coaches and the parents? "Kick with your laces, not your toe." Sounds like an easy request, but you must understand you are trying to change the evolution of a child. This is why so many struggle with this seemingly simply task. While many think this is a problem for very young soccer players, 5 - 9 years old, we have seen this problem frequently in the 13 - 16 year olds as well. One of the benefits of our research while creating Blast The Ball is we were able to work with players at all levels from all over the world. The "not so shocking" findings to us may surprise you. There are soccer players at the most advanced levels of play that can’t perform all the different types of kicks correctly. If they can, they often can’t perform them with both feet. Understanding the EXACT and correct form is essential for the development of advancing players. http://www.blasttheball.com/how_do_you_kick_a_soccer_ball.html sports AE9143EC-BBB6-48A5-84A0-E43A0EBDEE75 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:22:39 -0400 I remember uttering those words in my mind many, many years ago after listening to the usual coaches’ meeting before the season started. I thought to myself, "If winning isn't everything then why do they keep score and why does this youth league have tournaments at the end of the season?" When I walked out of the meeting I knew that EVERY coach had the same thing on his mind. They were already planning their "killer tactical plans" for their U10 soccer team. http://www.blasttheball.com/soccer_coaching_tips.html B6BA3241-10B0-411C-A6E1-FF3D745EA1E4 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:11:35 -0400