On these pages, I will place items that I feel will be helpful to the Harrah Soccer Club coaches. As I mention on my welcome page, there are many web sites full of outstanding information about soccer and soccer coaching in general. I am not going to attempt to outdo those fantastic sites. I will link some of them for you.
Our higher division coaches should have experience to coach at that level. Once a coach gets to the U14 and up levels, the game becomes more competitive than we want to admit. Soccer, as with any youth sport should not just be about winning. It should include character building. I have seen very good soccer players who became so obnoxious and unimpressive when things didn't go their way, that I would not want to associate with them on nor off the field.
On other pages on this web site you'll find my approaches for the beginning and experienced coaches. It is redundant to belabor those again here, so I will link some of them for you, or expect you to search for them yourself. You are very welcome to comment to me via my regular Email or the "Contact Us" Page.
A "Goalie" wears a mask and has ice skates on their feet. So PLEASE, in soccer it is called
The Goalkeeper The goalkeeper is one of the most respected positions. It is so revered that the starting keeper wears the number 1 on the jersey. He/she is the commander of the backfield. The keeper starts the offense by proper distribution of the ball. A keeper can fire up a team or deflate the same with attitude and skill. At HSC we have begun to introduce keepers at the U8 level. These are with modified rules to protect the younger players. It is obvious that there is a vast difference between a U8 keeper and a U19 keeper.
The first thing we need to emphasize to our keepers is that the goal line is not their anchor. In fact, it can be their doom if that is where they "park." The angle of opportunity for a striker is what a keeper must eliminate and staying on the line only leaves the goal wide open.
General discussion:
It should be apparent (I hope) that the keeper for the a U8 division willbe a less training-intense position than say at the U19 level.There are things I will teach upper division keepers that are inappropriate for keepers at the U8/10/12 or even U14 levels.Their progressive experiences with good coaching will develop excellent keepers at the High Schoollevels.Keepers who start at the upper divisions who have never played in goal will find themselves with too many new things to learn.Some grasp it quickly, while others won't.I have seen both at the higher divisions.
Keepers who, on the other hand, have been coached at incrementally more difficult stages (learned appropriate things at the various divisions), should develop into mature backfield leaders.Mental maturity is what gives great keepers the edge.It is thus paramount that focus be stressed at all levels, even at the U8 level.
One of the difficulties is that many coaches who know enough about soccer to coach, never became familiar with goalkeeping drills and tactics.The consequence is that they will put players in goal and let them fend for themselves, hoping they can figure out how to keep the ball out of their goal by themselves.We find many keepers in the higher divisions who make decent goalkeepers but other than stopping a ball, lack the training to become well developed game makers.
Look for the sub-navigation bars from the HSC coaches help page.I will put some simple goalkeeping items there to try to help our U8 through U12 coaches.Elsewhere I will discuss goalkeeping in general for all levels.
The squares drill.
When teams have a problem building space and play too close to a teammate or teammates on the field, the opposing team can easily rotate around the bunch and break away for an easy approach to goal.As a defending coach, one would stress the old term of “Attach wide and defend narrow.”An opposing team that doesn’t build space properly is more likely to bunch in the middle.By moving the ball out of their mainstream middle and sending the ball wide, often a flanking player can drive down the line and break away. One of the difficult things coaches face is teaching teams proper spacing and movement.An exercise was developed that can get players to not only realize spacing, but correct movement as well.
The “squares” drill is designed to help with this.Using ½ of a field, divide it into a number of squares, using button cones.If using a full field, say 120X60 yards, use the 60X60 half.You should have a number of squares more than ½ the number of players. Of course if using small fields, adjust the squares accordingly.
Divide into two teams, one team with target jerseys. Assign a player from each team to the squares (remember not all squares will be filled).Now toss a ball unto the field.
The objective is for a player in the square where the ball lands to become an offensive player by trapping, and dribbling the ball into another square.In the mean time the defensive player in the square with the ball tries to steal the ball.If the offensive player moves into another square that contains a teammate, that teammate must find a square not already occupied by another teammate (most likely the square just opened up by the moving teammate).As soon as the offensive player moves into the next square, the ball must be passed to an open teammate in another square.
If a defensive player steals the ball, that player becomes the offensive player in accordance with the previous offensive rules
