SoccerInnovations.com Blog

Courtesy of: OnlineSoccerSkills.com Today we're gonna be working on a few different foot skill drills and these are drills that you can do anytime and you don't need a lot of space and you'll notice behind me, I just have two cones . So, I'm gonna be dribbling kind of in between these two cones and the cones are about 5 yards away from each other. So, I'm gonna be practicing a few different skills. 1. Inside-inside and moving with the ball A lot of players when they do this drill, they're just going in one spot. But notice, I'm gonna be moving to the cone out one-way and I'm gonna be moving the same thing coming back. This is really a good drill for your coordination with the ball and you wanna make sure that you stay on your toes. So when you're going back and forth, you gotta be on your toes, ready for the ball. And the easier it gets, you can play faster. 2. Small touches - inside and outside The next drill we're gonna be wo...

One of the areas that has always been challenging for me as a coach, as it pertains to defense, is teaching players the flat-back four defense.  Now, I'm not one of those coaches that stays with one formation for every team that I coach.  The formation that my teams play are based on the players that are on the team and what works best for their qualities. However, back to my original point, the flat-back four defense, has alway been an interesting area to coach. Interesting and often challenging.  Obviously, the older players catch on much more quickly than the younger ones. But, there are still challenges at all levels; especially if the players have never played that style of defense before.  Why is it so challenging?  In my opinion, teaching the spacing and the movement of the flat-back four is the challenging part. Defensive minded players always want to go for the ball. They love the thrill of the chase. Then when you attempt to teach t...

The Jimmy Ball by Kevin Farley Recently a parent was speaking to me and asked me a question. The parent said, “Coach, I know you have a career that has spanned over various levels of soccer, so I have a question for you.” The the parent asked, “What are some of the common themes that you used at each of those levels?” Great question. Having coached at the youth, club, high school and college, several thoughts came to mind. However, the first thing that came to mind is very simple. Nothing is a better teacher or coach than a soccer player getting more touches on the ball. At every level, a soccer player is going to improve more when they touch the ball 5,000 times than when they touch the ball 50 times. This simple thought is what makes The Jimmy Ball such a great soccer training tool for soccer players at all levels. There are many training balls (on a chord) out there these days. There are training balls where the players hold the chord in their han...