So, you have had a long week, full of challenges. Work issues, running around to get the kids to school, after school activities and sports, dealing with bills among tons of other things. Stress level through the roof and wish you could just get away. You realize that it is not possible. What can you do to just relieve some of the stress? Go out and get drunk? Not a good option as the consequences could be high. Go for a drive and listen to loud music? Sounds good but it may not relieve all the stress. You then realize that your kid has a youth soccer game and you must take him/her. As the game begins and you are sipping your favorite cup of java or tea the moments of the game are beginning to slowly creep under your skin. Your encouragement comments quickly turn into loud comments and eventually full blown yelling at your kid, because in your opinion he/she are not doing their best or playing well. Then you realize that the other players are being more physical than your kid and you decide to stand up for your kid and start yelling at the opposition players. That spills to you calling the referee blind and all other explosive comments. The coach at some point has to come into your rage as he/she are not doing a good job managing the team or the game. 

The game ends and while driving away from the game in the car, you begin to point out all the things your kid did not do right as well as what you think the coach should have done and what the referee should have called. Now you have a kid that is just bowing his/her head and can't wait till you stop or the ride is over, whichever comes first. 

You arrive at the house, get a beer and lay at the couch to watch the football game. Your attention is now shifted to the football game. Are you feeling any better about the youth soccer game that ended? No because it does not matter and your attention is shifted to the football game. However your kid is still trying to recover from all the comments and yelling you did. He or she do not remember the score of the game or what really happened. He/she remember how dad behaved and how they felt at the time.

The lesson here is, DO NOT use the weekend youth soccer games to relieve your stress as if you keep repeating the habit your kid at some point may say this is not fun and I do not want to do it any longer. I QUIT.

Instead find another activity to release your stress.

PS: This is not limited to just dads as some moms are just as guity.
​
Signed
A caring coach

US Soccer is making changes to help the beautiful game, soccer, keep up with the rest of the world and hope to compete with other countries in producing top level soccer players. One of the things most needed in American soccer is more free play. In every top player producing country kids have a lot more free play opportunities and are encourage more to just go out and play. No structure, no coaching, no adult supervision. Just play.

U.S. Soccer has launched Grassroots initiatives to come online through the launch of the in-person and online Grassroots coaching courses, a critical concept that all Grassroots coaches will learn about is Play-Practice-Play. Researched and developed by technical leaders across the domestic Grassroots landscape, Play-Practice-Play is the optimal manner to structure a practice session for youth players, as it utilizes best practices for the learning and application of game-like scenarios.

WHAT IS PLAY-PRACTICE-PLAY?
Play-Practice-Play is a Grassroots developed philosophy designed around a player-centered approach to coaching. Taking a player centered approach places the needs and motivations of the player at the forefront of a coach’s approach to coaching his or her players. The concept of Play-Practice-Play is to allow young players to experience the game and game-like situations as much as possible. This approach differs from traditional practices that may have children standing in lines, running laps and participating in drills that don’t resemble the game of soccer. We as coaches here have always implemented a curriculum that started training sessions with rondos or small sided games followed by technical or tactical training and finishing with games. This is not being rolled out by US Soccer and mandated in their grassroots training for coaches.

Free play can be implemented and conducted in many other ways, not just during training. America must get away from so much structured, organized coach based training and have more player based free play. Parents must understand and accept the fact that if they have played soccer when they were younger things have changed. Our culture has changed. The evolution of technology has seriously changed the way kids play today. Kids do not go out on their own search for their friends and just play. The dangers of our society have made parents be more weary of their kids going out playing unsupervised. Most parents grew up going to parks or school yards with a ball and a bunch of their friends and just play. That concept is not seen as much any more. We need to recreate the school yard, no adult supervision scenario. Parents should not expect just drills and coaching from training sessions. In fact they should look for more free play from their kids' coaches. Be flexible and willing to accept new training methods. For those that do not know the sport do not allow your perception to overtake what is right or what is recommended by experts. 

​Encourage more free play

So here we are April 1st and the emails for next fall tryouts have began.  Every paying organization is claiming to have the best scenario for your young soccer player and his/her path to a college scholarship. As long as you trust them with your soccer player and write the check they will make your soccer player's dreams and off course yours, that is of a free college education a reality. Some organizations are massive and claim to be great fit because of their size and contacts others are medium size and off course there are the smaller ones. But not everything is as it appears to be. Families must do their research and come up with what is best for them which is no easy task. New Jersey Soccer Tryouts can be very strenuous and produce all kinds of results which sometimes are not realized till the families are in those organizations and find out first hand the consequences of their decisions. In today's soccer market which is full of options we are happy to be founding members of a new amazing program that we can not wait to show. It fuzes soccer and futsal in a year round curriculum. Most do not understand the magnitude of this because as we said before things are not always as they appear to be until we really take the time to review and understand them. We urge you to watch the entire video below and hope you see exactly what we mean.

Quality trainers come in all ages and sizes. Erica Skroski and Madison Tiernan are quality because they bring a lot of characteristics younger players can relate to. The fact that they are in their prime of their professional careers and on top of their game is a quick draw as younger players see them play on Saturdays at the stadium and then train with them on Mondays & Wednesdays. It's a GREAT relationship as now younger players have direct access to pro players and can see that they are everyday players just like them.
They can see that by working hard maybe one day they can be in Erica's and Madison's shoes. They can see the quality in their words and actions. They go home and pretend they are them on Saturday being introduced at games or signing autographs after the games. They pretend they are making soccer moves or scoring goals. Then during #SOCCERSKILLZ Summer Development Soccer Training they try to show them those moves and how they can be just like them. It is something that youth soccer needs more of. Interaction between pros and youth players. It can promote so many qualities youth players need.

It's TRUE pleasure to have them train with #soccerskillz summer development soccer training.

​As the sponsor of Central Jersey Futsal, SOCCERSKILLZ has teams playing in the Central Jersey Futsal based league, that train in a futsal environment. Recently one of those SOCCERSKILLZ trained teams played an outdoor game and the referee was an academy coach who from time to time referees this SOCCERSKILLZ trained team. After the game was over the referee asked what type of activities does the team train with as he said the team's passing not only has improved drastically but they can possess the ball at will. He went on to comment that if his academy team, same age as the SOCCERSKILLZ trained team, could pass the ball and possess the ball the same way the SOCCERSKILLZ trained team could, they would be unstoppable. By the way, his academy team is a highly ranked team in the state of New Jersey. He said although they win plenty of games and get positive results they are like robots. They do not possess much creativity and they rely mostly on their physicality to win 1v1 battles, possess the ball and create scoring opportunities.
 
Well, now you may ask...
What is wrong with that? They are winning battles possess the ball and create scoring opportunities. Isn't that the object of the game? To non-soccer people yes... To people who know and understand the sport probably not. First of all, if the academy team plays against another team that has the same physicality, player for player and skill set, and if the other team can pass the ball better is more creative and can understands how to move off the ball create space with passing to exploit lanes chances are they will win the game. The physical game only wins if a team is superior to another team, and we see a lot of this in youth soccer. But if the physicality is a non-factor, the skill set is equal, now other things come to play, like player thinking, ball movement, on and off the ball, creativity, creating lanes, exploiting space, taking advantage of miss matches and so many other variables. Physicality only wins games if the other team is less physical and does not have any other qualities as mentioned previously. At the youth level physical teams can get away with just that. As the players get older and play for better teams mostly all players have physicality and skills, or if they do not have all the other qualities discussed earlier. Therefore, teaching the game from just a physical aspect does not serve players in the long term.
 
So, my answer to the ref./academy coach was: What you see is a product of many years of teaching them passing and moving, playing in a small sided environment, learning to develop not only individual skills but team skills. Learning how to be creative and allowing them to be creative. We do not sit on the sidelines constantly barking directions. We are not developing robots but free-thinking soccer players. Futsal has a lot to do with this kind of development. It's a fast pace game which does not allow physicality. A player must be sound with their individual skills, be able to think fast and always move. It's a 5v5 game that all players must move, no real set positions other than the keeper who can also play as a field player. Creativity is at an all-time high in futsal. Coaching from the sideline is very difficult as the game is so fast, by the time a coach blurs an instruction the play is already over, therefore a player must think for themselves and must think fast. Futsal is also played on hard surfaces as opposed that of slower turf surfaces making the game even faster.
 
Being able to play a "Barcelona" style of game as we teach at SOCCERSKILLZ futsal and soccer training is a long-term development method, but it provides solid results as opposed to quick physicality methods that although provide immediate results fail in the long run.
 
To get a firsthand idea of how the SOCCERSKILLZ futsal training in New Jersey works check out our programs and come for a free training session.

​Half time - Man U up 1-0 vs Madrid in the International Champions Cup! - Half time interview with Ronaldo from China - When he first burst into the pro ranks I was not a fan of his...too cocky, too self-absorbed too flamboyant, not a true team player. He would get the ball and only look to dribble and in my opinion, show off. Teams learned how to defend him and would shut him down. He then slowly transformed himself and became a better teammate, got better at realizing that he needed to make himself available to his teammates for scoring opportunities. He had to contribute more in the buildup of the creation of the goal, not just try to showboat his dribbling skills. And he did, he started to drop back more and receive the ball deeper in the midfield and then distribute the ball and make runs. He even got better at assisting his teammates to goals. Aside from him becoming a more team player, in my opinion, the more I started to learn about him, the more I liked him. I found out about his work ethic, always staying after training to work on his attacking style and finishing. I learned his off the field charity work and many other things he contributes to his community and country of Portugal. The more I learn the more I like…

Quality trainers come in all ages and sizes. Erica Skroski and Madison Tiernan are quality because they bring a lot of characteristics younger players can relate to. The fact that they are in their prime of their professional careers and on top of their game is a quick draw as younger players see them play on Saturdays at the stadium and then train with them on Mondays & Wednesdays. It's a GREAT relationship as now younger players have direct access to pro players and can see that they are everyday players just like them.
They can see that by working hard maybe one day they can be in Erica's and Madison's shoes. They can see the quality in their words and actions. They go home and pretend they are them on Saturday being introduced at games or signing autographs after the games. They pretend they are making soccer moves or scoring goals. Then during #SOCCERSKILLZ Summer Development Soccer Training they try to show them those moves and how they can be just like them. It is something that youth soccer needs more of. Interaction between pros and youth players. It can promote so many qualities youth players need.

It's TRUE pleasure to have them train with #soccerskillz summer development soccer training.

Do the players know the difference and if so, can they read the game to be able to make quick adjustments and decisions?

As a player, student and coach of the game I have been taught to appreciate ball control and possession. I am a product of being able to read the game at all times, make adjustments and quick decisions. Having and maintaining possession is a key element to the game. Without possession of the ball a team cannot apply the principles of attack. They cannot penetrate a defense and eventually score.

How much possession is enough, what makes an effective possession from an ineffective one and how can we make sure our players understand the difference?

We all know Barcelona are the masters of the possession game but we can't all play like Barcelona because we may not have the skill set to do so.

If Barcelona are the masters of possession why has the team conceded loses to Milan, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and the unforgettable disaster to Borussia Dortmund in 2013 Champions League semis? Is it because they have fallen so in love with their own style of possession game that they do not make proper adjustments when needed?

Let’s take a step back and first analyze what do we need to maintain possession. In my experience before we even attempt to teach possession a team needs to have sound fundaments. Players need to be able to trap the ball, control the ball and pass the ball. If players cannot do those things, there is no way they will be able to maintain possession. At SoccerSkillz FUNdamentals are part of every day training. When a player trains in our system foot skills have to become second nature, so that a player develops the confidence to be able to receive, control, pass or take on another player 1v1.  

So once we have developed the individual player’s skill set then we need to move forward and work on the concept of possession, passing the ball, moving without the ball and offering support to the player with the ball. This is something that takes time and patience; as players now need to read the game, make adjustments and decisions.  As they get better at it the possession touches and time of possession increase to the point a team can move up and down the field with ease. As the team reaches that goal of mastering possession now it faces a new problem. POSSESSION OVERKILL. That is what happens when the team passes for the sake of passing but really is not moving towards the other goal, remember the reason why we want to keep possession is so at the right time we can penetrate the defense and possibly score a goal. Yes, the goal was to teach our team how to keep possession but once that is mastered the team must be able to read the game and know when to pass, where to pass, how much to pass. If a player has the right opportunity to take on a defender one v one and thinks he can beat that defender then by all means he should do that. If the ball is passed to a player and the player has read the game quick enough and accurately and can make a one touch through pass to penetrate through the defense instead of just passing the ball back to a teammate that is great adjustment and decision. If the ball comes to a player and he is in a good position, has the right angle, and sees an opening to take a shot instead of passing the ball again that is a great adjustment and decision. How about the fact that slow passing, predictable passing or just too much passing helps the other team set up defensively and takes the element of surprise away from your side. The space where a team passes is another consideration. With TIMELY passing we want our team to spread out the other team so it can make it easier for our team to penetrate. A lot of times teams fall victims of small untimely passes which although it gives the illusion that our team is doing great, in reality it helps the other team set up defensively and crowd the middle of the field or their penalty box making it difficult for our team to penetrate. As our team may push all players up to try and break this massive crowd up we leave ourselves vulnerable to counter attacks and quick goals.

All these things happened to Barcelona, as they fell in love with their possession style of play and over passed at times, did not take shots when it was the best option, let the other teams counter attack them with quick through passes and timely finishing.

Being able to balance the passing possession game with quick proper read of the game and appropriate correct decisions is the magic of the game in my opinion. Teams that can master a blend of proper passing possessions, quick 1v1s, through passes, long balls and timely shooting are teams that will be able to see positive results.