Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: Better football coaching, coach education, coaching, coerver, Courses, youth module
By David Clarke
What is fantastic about watching and listening to Alf Galustian about youth coaching is that it all makes perfect sense.
- Speed + technique + skill = player excellence
- Safety + competition + fun = coach excellence
For a coach working with youth players the sums add up. It’s all about touch, control, confidence, 1v1s, 2v1s, 4v4s, 1 goal, 2 goals, 6 goals, feinting, beating your partner, keeping the ball, winning the ball back – using the coaching environment to get the best out of your players in a safe, fun atmosphere.
I was watching Alf on his Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma which is aimed at coaches at all levels of the game – professional academy coach, grassroots coach, teacher or parent. It gives coaches a greater understanding of how to plan and execute more effective coaching sessions.
I’m on the course to learn and it doesn’t take long before I’m drawing diagrams and writing down the scenes that unfold before me on the Fulham Academy astro pitch, something which I can pass on to my readers of Soccer Coach Weekly.
Alf is a co-founder of Coerver Coaching and the list of top clubs he has worked with around the world is as long as your arm. The course was held at Premier League team Fulham’s superb academy training ground and you really feel you are in a pure coaching environment.
The Coerver Coaching concept concentrates on attacking, fast-flowing football and this style has been demonstrated during the past few years by teams such as Barcelona, Spain and those from South America.
In Alf’s own words: “The knowledge you gain on our diploma will help you to plan and deliver effective sessions that are challenging and fun for the young players that you work with and will hopefully provide the pathway to the devlopment of game effective, technical excellence which we are all striving towards.”
The final session of the day is about how to build and deliver a session. It was run by Coerver’s excellent coaching director Scott Wright who coached Fulham U12s for the session. Scott said: “Hopefully this session has helped or changed your outlook on how you will plan & deliver sessions.”
A great session to watch it gives loads of hints and tips about coaching groups of children and helping develop their playing ability.
There is no doubt that this course will make you a better coach so make a mental note to get yourself on the next one, Alf runs them up and down the country.
But if you can’t go on the course then why not invest in the Coerver CD set, there’s lots of material on how to help you plan your sessions.
To order the CD in Europe: Click Here
To order the CD in the USA: Click Here
There will be two further Diplomas in the summer, one at Manchester City on the 2nd and 3rd June & the second in Birmingham 9th and 10th June. For more information click here
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer News, Soccer Team Management | Tags: coach education, motivation, people coaching
As we develop as coaches we should be constantly aware of what is going on in our sport around the world. In some countries parents are now deciding which sport their children should participate in on the quality of the coaching they will get.
This is catching on in a lot of countries and you can expect it to happen in your neighbourhood soon. Not necessarily the sport they choose but the team they choose. If the coach isn’t up to leading the ‘people’ side of the sport then they will go somewhere else.
Bo Hanson is a four-time Olympian and a sports consultant for Athlete Assessments. He has just returned from a 2-month tour of the USA and Australia. According to him one recurring theme kept popping up…there is a growing war for talent across sports, vying for the best athletes, coaches and referees.
“Only those sports focused on attracting, engaging and retaining their talent grow and prosper. Sport is no longer just about technique and fitness. Progressive sports are those that can manage and lead the ‘people side’ effectively and that parents will choose for their children.” Hanson says.
Australian Football has over 720 000 participants and recruiting and retaining not only coaches, but also referees has become another major challenge. The demand for referee appointments is growing at 89% pa yet the number of actual referees is only increasing by 13% pa. Around one quarter of referees drop out each year due to abuse from players, coaches, parents and fans. Without referees and umpires, sport cannot be played and cannot grow.
Hanson says, “The AFL is promoting the fact that coaches are a key selection criteria for young athletes in choosing which sport to play.”
If a sport is to grow, a large part of that growth relies on the skills and characteristics of their coaches.
Here at Better Soccer Coaching we are educating our coaches in skills and techniques but we are also helping to improve their non-technical skills to enable them to be better leaders and people managers. In my own Soccer Coach Weekly publication I write two columns designed to help this – The Art of Coaching Children and Touchline Tales.
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