FineSoccer Drill 99

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills newsletter. Today's newsletter is a bit different in that it's not explaining a new exercise, activity or game but rather an explanation of why you should choose any of those options instead of drills.

Just a reminder that the Full Season Training Sessions will no longer be available to purchase here at Finesoccer.com after Friday December 21 so take a moment to check it out at http://finesoccer.com/full_season.htm

The second biggest mistake I have made regarding this web site is my choice of the name "FineSoccer Drills Newsletter" for this newsletter. The reason I consider this to be a big mistake is that when people think of drills, they think of players standing in line waiting their turn and when it is their turn, they try to fulfill the rules and requirements of the drill.

Instead of having players stand in line and wait to stay within the rules of the drill, I prefer to keep my players involved in different types of games and exercises that keep the players more involved and even more importantly, keep the players thinking in terms of playing the game as opposed to doing the drill. An excellent example can be seen in the game described at http://finesoccer.com/finesoccer_drill_89.htm. If you check it out, you will see that according to the rules of the game, the players can't cross over the midfield line. When most people would do this activity, if a player crossed over the line even slightly, the coach would stop the game and award the ball to the opposing team. That would be an example of playing the rules of the drill. However, if you are trying to work on a a given situation in a game, it
doesn't always come out exactly as you planned. In the game mentioned above, if a ball gets played back to a player who slightly crosses the line to get a first time shot hit, we let that go because while it violated the rules of the drill, we want them to get into the habit of playing the game and too many "drills" are done at the expense of the game of soccer.

In creating your training sessions, look to find games that are soccer related in order to create teaching opportunities. If you can do this on a regular basis, you will be more successful as a coach. 

By the way, if you are wondering what I consider my biggest mistake with this web site it's the choice of the name FineSoccer.com. Those of you who know me will know why.

Any comments, questions or suggestions should be sent to comments@finesoccer.com or posted to the FineSoccer Forum at http://finesoccer.net

To subscribe to the FineSoccer Newsletters, please go to http://finesoccer.com/subscrib.htm

Have a great day!

Lawrence