Simple Tips that will Significantly Impact Games

As I approach my one-hundredth post, I have learned the following:

• Gore sells. Besides the home page, my most popular post was the one about Aaron Ramsey\’s broken leg.
• Initially, I thought I only had ideas for 25 or 30 posts. I now know I have what seems like an endless supply of material to write about.
• My content must be OK as Soccer America has reprinted five articles to date and Potomac Soccer Wire reprints one of my posts weekly.
• I have learned that most soccer blogs cover professional games, leagues, and players. Very few blogs are dedicated to improving youth soccer for an audience of youth coaches, players, and parents.

The other day I was looking at the page hits and noticed that a set of very valuable articles I wrote early on has not gotten the love or attention I feel they deserve. I have written 20 articles that start with the title, \”2-3 Goal Difference per Game\”. These were written primarily for coaches who tend to over-coach, place too much importance on the X\’s and O\’s, and don\’t let their players go out and have fun and make mistakes.

Soccer, especially at the youth level, should be about free play and only a few coaches\’ instructions during games. These articles include simple coaching tips that should be easy for players to understand and learn quickly. These tips will dramatically affect the outcome of a game. While player development, and not winning, should be a youth coach\’s ultimate goal, increasing a team\’s chances of winning without compromising development and fun is not a bad thing either.

You will find the subject matter and respective links to the 20 articles below. Enjoy!

• Indirect Free Kicks
• Goal Kicks
• Corner Kicks
• Throw-Ins
• Quick Kicks
• Dribble On Goal
• Penalty Kicks
• Role of the Goalie
• No Offside Traps
• Bombs Away
• Good Sportsmanship
• Play the Whistle
• Shots On Goal
• Communication
• Simple Goalkeeper Tricks
• Never Let the Ball Hit the Ground
• Follow up the Shot
• Smart Pass-Backs to the Goalie
• Neutralize the Best Player
• Home-Field Advantage