Better Soccer Coaching / Better Soccer Coaching / The Dug-Out / Introduce Yourself / Latest Posts

RE: Introduce Yourself

eriklane — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:05:51 GMT

I'm Erik, an American coach living near Baltimore, MD. I still play competitive men's league (indoor and outdoor), coach a few travel teams, run a 40-team league, run a 400+ kid rec program and with my free time do technical training sessions with kids. I'm committed to providing the training to the local kids I never had growing up. Work is slow sometimes, so I hope to lend a hand on occasion through the forum.

RE: Introduce Yourself

matth — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:40:56 GMT

hiya. My names Matt and I've coached kids and adult football for 6 years now. I'm based in oxfordshire and love my time out on the field both when coaching and playing. I hold a level 3 (eufa b) licence, a level 1 goalkeeper badge, have fully up to date crb and first aid certificates and am a member of the fa's licenced coaches club. Nice to meet you all and look forward to sharing views. Enjoy your football people. Matt.

RE: Introduce Yourself

tonymee — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:30:27 GMT

I'm Tony Mee, a UEFA A Licence Coach. I'm the Technical Development Officer at Rotherham United. I'm also a FA Tutor for Level 1 and 2 courses and Safeguarding Children workshops. I coach a local College Academy Under 18 team as part of a deal we have with them and am responsible for the 9 - 11 age groups within the RUFC Centre of Excellence.

All views expressed are my own and not that of the FA or Rotherham United! ;)

RE: Introduce Yourself

kmoller — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:43:03 GMT

I am located in SLC Utah USA. Have coached for 15 plus years and played for a lot longer. Now i coach 2 U-17 boys teams and have been asked to take a U-12 girls team in the spring. Love the game and still play a bit. Hold a USSF C level license as well as their Youth license. Like to learn as much as i can about coaching as it is about the kids and the better i am then the better i can help them reach their goals.

RE: Introduce Yourself

rpfelder69 — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:27:43 GMT

Hello, I'm Rickey. I've been a rec coach for several years and want to become a better coach. I am attempting to get my National D License.

RE: Introduce Yourself

tablesetter — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 02:21:29 GMT

Name is John
First time coach of U6 (5-6 year olds)
Played as a youth in the 80's but Wow, the kids are 10 times better these days.
Coaching bug has bitten me hard
Located in Southern California

RE: Introduce Yourself

JGU — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:42:25 GMT

Many of these stories sound familiar. Personally, I played as a child then washed out of the sport just before high school with a badly negative season. I then moved on to American football, track and field and weightlifting, I was surprised when my son chose this sport. His first season as a U4 was pretty dismal - the coach was only doing it so the team could exist. After sitting out a season, he wanted to try it again. This time I was recruited by his coach to assist. Never looked back. Two years later, I am coaching his team that just moved from U6 to U8, have a USSF D license, am a USSF grade 8 referee, and am playing again myself. I also took on a U6 girls team as a favor to a friend and will coach my younger son when he decides to stay on the field long enough to be coached.

Our U8 team has had the same core of players for going on two years now and while I still refuse to count goals, it is clear they are competitive. The most amazing thing I have gotten from coming back to the sport is the brightness that comes from the players' faces when they are playing for nothing more than the pure joy of it. I hear from many parents how their children talk about the practices and games and look forward to it, which is priceless. Our goal is to play rec until we age into U9, then enter a tournament and see what happens.

Jeff

Virginia Beach, VA, USA

RE: Introduce Yourself

BuddyF — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 21:43:27 GMT

I'm Buddy.

While I am new to coaching soccer (first year coaching U8), I am very familiar with leading teams from highly trained, cohesive and focused military combat teams to highly unfocused and non-cohesive childrens teams. I've been playing soccer myself for too many years to count, and have a 14yr and 7yr old that both also love the game.

I look forward to learning from those of you that contribute to this forum. Thanks for all you do.

RE: Introduce Yourself

Pompey Geezer — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:27:45 GMT

Hi, It's Lee I've been managing a local Sunday side for the past 5 years and am now managing an Under 9's in the Portsmouth area. I'm an FA Level 1 coach but looking to take the level 2 as soon as I can squeeze it in.

Have been lucky and run a successful team for the past 3 seasons and have only lost 2 league games in 3 seasons. However, as every season goes by we have to work even harder to try and remain strong.

I've enjoyed the games we've lost even more than the games we've won because it provides the proof of how things go wrong when the kids ignore what they've learnt previously.

This is a great site and I also get a lot of good ideas from the BSC newsletters, Smart Coaching Session weekly tutorials and the myriad of Michael Beale guides of which I have pretty much them all!

Good luck to everyone this season!!

RE: Introduce Yourself

johns282 — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:18:47 GMT

Hello, I'm Matt. My son started playing mini soccer last year (U7) and is now completely mad on anything related to football!!

Let's just say my eyes have been well and truly opened to all the good and the bad that gets reported on kids football.

I (stupidly) volunteered to help with his teams coaching this season, so will no doubt be trawling the archives for help and tips.

Like all adults who love the game I have my own ideas on how the beautiful game should be played so hopefully they'll be no kick and run tactics employed next season and I promise I'll do my very best not to focus only on winning but to try and help the little fella's turn into better players (but I guess only time will tell!!)

RE: Introduce Yourself

robcaven — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 11:05:07 GMT

Hi all

My name is Rob, I'm 46yrs old and I've been coaching our school football team since june 2010. As we have a small school my team is made up from years 6, 5 and 4. We were in a school league of teams and ended up playing a total of 8 games. We also entered into an under 11 tournament at Lincoln and played 4 matches. Out of the 12 games we lost 11 of them whilst winning just one which was our last game of the season. Even in defeat the children are still thoroughly enjoying themselves. I don't have any football qualifications, any knowledge I have is either from my own previous football experience or from the internet using footy4kids, soccer coach weekly and better footballing coach. The school have very kindly enrolled me on a level 1 coaching course this june to get me more qualified. I am hoping that by joining this forum and introducing myself I'll be able to use this site as a supportive network to help me become a better coach this year.

Thanks

Rob

RE: Introduce Yourself

Darrell — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 01:22:57 GMT

Hi

My name is Darrell. I have been playing soccer since I was about 5 years old. I had a successful college soccer career. I later played for the Rochester Raging Rhinos in Rochester NY. I am now a coach in the city of Rochester.

RE: Introduce Yourself

DreamingNomad — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:45:36 GMT

Hi,
The name's Martin and currently I am following a football club for Under 9's, as their photographer you could say.

My friend's son plays for fot club, initially for the A team but mid season both him and his Dad, now a coach, moved to the B team.

Outside of work I am training to become a youth worker, or at least qualified to work with young people, alongside following this football club I am also volunteering with a saturday morning club and a youth centre of a monday evening.

I'm a huge fan of football but growing up I was never that good or maybe was never pushed enough to improve myself and play regularly, therefore find myself searching some of these interesting football coaching sites to educate myself more about the game as much as I can.

When looking at the way the kids are being taught I sometimes think about how I would feel being taught in that way and how much I would actually respond to it at their age... always trying to think of ways that could challenge the young kids and develop them as players.

I am not currently coaching but would like to in the near future...

Martin

RE: Introduce Yourself

markh1968 — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 11:30:55 GMT

Hi all my name is mark i have recently along with a friend taken on a u6 team to coach i have small amount of coaching experiance but iam looking forward to the challalenge i have subscribe to the soccer coaching weekly and am going to get the Fun Soccer Games For 5 to 8 Year olds .

so far all that i have put into practise works and am looking forward to our first game on 6th march 2011.

RE: Introduce Yourself

jusjos472 — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:02:35 GMT

Hiee everyone :) My name is Justin Jose

I have done my FA Level 1 License, and now working in a project called Vision India. Its basically about coaching under-privileged kids from U-8's to U-14's.

I love what I do and it has been my passion. Next year i will be back in London to complete my degree under Arsenal FC and gain further qualifications.

Take care 7 enjoy coaching!!

RE: Introduce Yourself

JOCKY39 — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 21:59:28 GMT

HI I'M NEIL JUST FOUND SITE AND THINK ITS GREAT, I HAVE JUST STEPPED UP TO MANAGING UNDER 9'S AFTER A FEW YEARS COACHING NOT WON A GAME YET BUT AM LOVING EVERY MINUTE GRADUALLY SEEING A SMALL IMPROVEMENT HOPE IT CONTINUES.:D

RE: Introduce Yourself

Bakkar — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 02:50:49 GMT

hello, im Naim Bakkar from Lebanon, well this is my 2nd season as a coach for the advanced soccer academy-Lebanon- its the number one academy in the middle east, as proven in Barcelona, Spain, in which we were in a tournament and reached good ranks, according as a Lebanese academy, and we are improving each day by day...and im more than proud to be in this forum, because it will help me a lot in my career.

Note: how can i get coaching certificates ?

RE: Introduce Yourself

micky s — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:54:48 GMT

Hi all

Im Mick, I train and manage Ballyjamesduff FC U/14. I have been coaching since 2001, and happily still have 7 of the origional kids from U/6 in my current team!

We play in the Cavan Underage League, which we won last season. I have 6 players in the County team, of whom put in a great display in the Kennedy Cup in Limerick this summer. I am qualified to FAI kickstart1 level. ( FA level 1 equivilent )

I am looking foward to implementing some of the Smart Sessions tips in this years training.

I welcome any tips from coaches:)

RE: Introduce Yourself

Coach Fred — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:45:22 GMT

Name: Fred
Played soccer in an in-house program for 8 years as a youth. I resumed playing soccer 5on5 (or ? on ?, depending on who shows up) at a local park during lunch every Tuesday. I have two sons currently playing soccer in an in-house program one is U13 and the other is U10.

I coach my sons U10 team, in this league it is 7on7 or 8on8 if both sides have enough players. I previously coached two seasons for my sons U8 team and now we are moving into the big leagues, LOL. U10 is the age group around here where they introduce offsides and goalies.

Our league is in Western Pennsylvania. I joined this forum because it looks like the members have a lot of knowledge and a general fun time talking soccer.

I am sure I will be asking members for links to good instructional drills while also retaining fun! I only get one hour a week for practice, games are always Saturday mornings.

Be posting to many of you soon. Good to be here.

RE: Introduce Yourself

hally0301 — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:25:33 GMT

Hi All
My name is Steve. I have been coaching kids at various levels for about 10 years. I still play (mostly badly!!) and am a qualified referee although I am not refereeing at the moment because of work commitments.
I am really looking forward to getting involved in the forums and hope that I can contribute something useful.
Steve

RE: Introduce Yourself

Wendell Gee — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:05:45 GMT

Hi,

I'm Paul, about to start 4th year of coaching, am moving to u9s this year, of a club in Ireland called Wolfe Tone. I've had the same 13 lads for 4 years now, and love every minute of it. Like most people just manage to get involved as i have a football mad son, so now coaching his team..

Cheers
Paul

RE: Introduce Yourself

Coach_Rich — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:37:42 GMT

hello fellow football / soccer coaches of the world, I am Paul I was born in Bristol, Beminster but emigrated to South Africa with my parents when I was 13, now 30 and expecting our first son in November. I have started to assist an experinced junior coach at a local football side in order to get some experince with children and have fallen in love with coaching, we have 40 under 10's and run an A & B side in a competitive league structure. I still play amature level football also, although unable to complete the remaindar of the season due to ankle ligament tear (took a Dirty chop in the middle of the park, in a league fixture last Friday night)

I am also doing a few online courses with the FA and would like to complete a level 1 and hopefully a level 2 :)

this might be a complete overshare and a simple, Hello might have been better :D

RE: Introduce Yourself

mrg — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:53:13 GMT

hello all, my name is paul i'm 34 years old & i've played footbal all my life to a semi pro standard & i have been helping out coaching my 7 year old sons team of 24 players for just 6 weeks. the team has now split into 3 teams of 8 players & i have been made manager of 1 of them. i've been looking online for drills and advice for a couple of weeks and will very soon start my on the course to get my 1st coaching badge. i'm looking forward with trepidation to managing & want to make it fun but make sure the kids advance in skills until they are ALL millionaire footballers with page 3 girlfriends... quite a modest ambition i think

RE: Introduce Yourself

garper66 — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:57:17 GMT

Hi my name is Gary and I have been playing or coaching football for over 37 years. I have no formal training as a coach and only got the coaching pisition I an in due to default (real coach had a heart attach and kidney failure).

I have coached U6's but am now the coach of the All Age Mens P Grade Team. Our team page is here (parental guidance recommended) http://plattsburg.nathanbird.id.au

We started the season with two losses but we have won our last three on the trot and have beaten the top team 3-0 and the second placed team 4-1 in out last two games...:cool:

RE: Introduce Yourself

Little Bloke — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:37:26 GMT

Hi, name's Steve. I've been involved (in one way or another) for just over 19 years (I'm only 27 by the way, before others say they've been involved over 50 years or something :P). Used to play, then refereed (still do!), ran a local Sunday morning league, now turning my hand at coaching/managing (hoping things go well!)

Just about to start my first ever managerial/coaching position, with an open-age club (obviously, 11-a-side 'adult' matches) that play on a Saturday afternoon. I currently have the FA Level 2 coaching badge, starting Level 3 in August this year. Just browsed the web (which is how I came across this site) for a while to see if I could get any further advice or suggestions. I appreciate that the majority of people on here are connected to youth football however the principals of coaching remain the same (even though the methods do vary greatly).

Looking forward to reading/answering posts on here :) Hopefully I can give helpful advice to anybody that wants it ;) Nice to meet you all and here's hoping the fun in the game is never lost ;) :D

RE: Introduce Yourself

danny6722 — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:11:39 GMT

My name is Danny I coach Sinfin Sharks u8s( Derby mini soccer league ) I am FA level 1 qualified and have been coaching for about a year. I joined this forum to hopefully pick up ideas and get some of my questions answered and also hopefully answer questions from other coaches.

I have a really good side but as with most kids this age they tend to bunch during the game, we start of well passing it about then after 5 mins all start bunching and it takes a while for them to realise is anyone else having these problems?

Can anyone offer any advice as to how to get them to keep ther positions?

RE: Introduce Yourself

danny6722 — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:11:18 GMT

Can anyone offer any advice as to how to get them to keep ther positions?

RE: Introduce Yourself

rafadevine — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:55:38 GMT

Hi Steve, from liverpool.

Just started coaching my first team u7's, love the game and the coaching even more, team is the bottom of the league played 4 games in a summer league and lost them all, but progress is being made in every game. Kids faces are great when you hand out that man of the match trophy at the end of every game. All give 100% and cant ask for any more. glad of any tips pointers etc as all new to me.

Thanks

Steve

Netherton Athletic U7's

RE: Introduce Yourself

TheSoccerEssentials — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:08:48 GMT

Hey everyone,

My name is Dylan Tooby. I've played Soccer all my life (and still play at the highest level in my province), which may not be that long compared to some of you "Wiser" coaches in the forum. However, I've recenetly started coaching in the last 3 years. I am also a technical director at a Youth Club in my town, meaning I train a wide range of teams from ages 8 to 18.

I love Soccer and want to share the passion of Soccer with the world. In an effort to do so, I have recently created a Blog for Soccer player development and New coaches who want to improve their knowledge of Soccer.

I realize this is not a place to promote your own products but I feel if you want to become a better coach or have some players on your team that are passionate about becoming better and improving their Soccer game it can be a very valuable resource. If you guys want to check it out and give me some feedback as well it would be greatly appreciated (things you like about it, don't like about it, be brutally honest). Thanks so much.

Dylan Tooby - The Soccer Essentials

RE: Introduce Yourself

Wolf — Sat, 08 May 2010 03:34:08 GMT

Hello All,

Wolfgang here. Been coaching youth soccer for 18 year and playing soccer for 35. I hate the USA pay to play system and how it leaves good kids and good players without a place to compete. Also I get really discourage with what I see so often being called coaching even from those charging kids thousands of dollars to be coached.

RE: Introduce Yourself

Dalles — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:03:11 GMT

Hi all,
My name is Dalles, I am the President of a small club south of Hobart, Tasmania, I also coach under 13 and under 16 (mixed), senior Men and senior women (both social). I have been coaching now for about 4 years and loving it. I have my youth coaching licence through FFA and may consider going on to doing my senior licence.
I really look forward to bouncing ideas of everyone in this forum, thanks in advance.

RE: Introduce Yourself

Luis Silva — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:36:15 GMT

Hi.

My name is Luis, I'm from Portugal and I coach U14 in a local club.

Despite all the dificuties of coaching I still can't get tired.

In Portugal there aren't many (I don't know a single one) forums like this, that's why I registered.

RE: Introduce Yourself

thrasher76542 — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:56:08 GMT

Good Day all. My name is Jennie Bisese, I am from the USA. I currently live in Texas.

RE: Introduce Yourself

bigdaddyliamo — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:50:09 GMT

Hi all, I'm Liam from Dublin. I've have been coaching for about 5 years now. It is nice to have a forum to bounce ideas around!

See you out there!!:)

RE: Introduce Yourself

tankjeep — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 01:42:22 GMT

hello all, just got signed up. my name is frank, but my friends call me tank. i coach in the U.S., both travel/club & high school ball. i've been coaching for nearly 20 years and love it. played thru high school, but unfortunately had a career ending knee injury before i was to go off to college and play. oh well, i've had reconstructive knee surgery and play recreationally.

i look to learn quite a bit from the coaches on this forum. thanks in advance.

RE: Introduce Yourself

Martin Irwin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:48:54 GMT

I'm Martin. Been coaching for about 5 years, and then, last year, I heard about certification in coaching. I live in UTAH, and had never heard of being trained for Soccer coaching. I'm not certified for D coaching, and love it. It's sad I never certified earlier. There's so much more to coaching soccer!

RE: Introduce Yourself

DaveC — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:38:16 GMT

Having stopped playing many years ago I lost my interest in football but this was rekindled some 8 years ago when my son started training with a newly formed team at the age of six. As a team the boys have progressed to a good standard in the Derby area. I was asked by the manager if I would be interested in helping out with the coaching of the team last year and jumped at the chance.

Dave

RE: Introduce Yourself

coach84 — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 12:50:46 GMT

Hi,

Just a note to introduce myself to the forum.

My coaching experience and current roles are mixed between chilren and adults as i have my own 'fun' soccer school on a Saturday mornings as well as involvement with Kent Based club, Hollands & Blair Under 18's, Reserves and 1st team. I also work with Gillingham FC's development centre in Swansombe, near Ebbsflleet which is looking after under 7's

I have worked with Charlton Athletic's youth development in Kent as well as a four year stint with Chatham Town's youth.

Happy to be on board this forum for both advice and knowledge sharing.

RE: Introduce Yourself

StevieGrieve — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:46:49 GMT

It seems as though you have a couple of problems - one is that you seem results focussed. Instead of looking at what the girls cant do, give them experience in all positions, and give them the knowledge of all skills, recieveing, turning, a variety of strikes, dribbling moves whn the opponent is in different situations ie behind, infront, at the side, diagonal. Having coached in New Jersey, with girls of the same age, i know the prblems encountered with the girls abilities.

The 2nd problem is the parents. For the team to do well on the field, there has to be a committed group of parents supporting the team, for prctice, team days out etc. Makethe parents feel part of the team and tha should help.

Stevie

RE: Introduce Yourself

StevieGrieve — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:38:52 GMT

Hi, Im Stevie Grieve, i coach 2 football teams - Dundee FC u17s in the SPL youth league and Letham Tangrines u13s, In the Perth and Kinross YFA. I also run an independent coaching school which produces technically brilliant players with good game intelligence and movement. I also coach Futsa, with Perth Youth Futsal, where i help young players improve and enjoy with Futsal - a great development tool for young players.

I have been coaching for 6 years and have recently passed the 3 parts of the SFA youth Level 4 and have to complete 1 part of the SFA Advanced childrens licence level 5 at Toryglen, Glasgow.

www.freewebs.com/lethamtangerines it hasnt been updated for a while!