Best coach for player development

In my opinion there is no one coach that can do it all. Not enough time in the week at practice. I guess I'm lucky my DD doesn't take outside lessons.  She finds drills on youtube and does them on her own twice a week.  In my opinion if they have the work ethic and drive that is more important than spending tons of $$$ for outside lessons and half a$$ effort cause she isn't all in.  Whether she sticks with soccer or not learning good work ethic will be a life lesson and that's what its all about.   If she keeps playing high school, college, etc. great.  If not she can be successful in whatever she decides to do if she knows how to work at it and what it takes.

Not sure if this was covered but this is how it was communicated to me for NTX:

As many have mentioned above, 3 hours a week plus games is not enough to get your kiddo what they need from a touches perspective. IF your kiddo is truly interested in getting better, she should take what she learns briefly at practice and apply it herself at home, against a wall or with a friend or parent. The COACH should then keep that player engaged by telling them they want to see improvement by the next practice, week, month, etc and provide feedback when they show they are not improving (i.e. not doing the extra work on their own).

Then, if they are in need of a bit more detailed work, find a good trainer that will give them that same work, only more detailed. They should then take that work home and work on it themselves in their free time, again, with a friend, wall or parent. Touches are king as these kids are growing. To enhance their confidence all work should be done at full speed, not jogging around, picking flowers in between, etc. Full speed work on their own. There are tons of videos out there that help kids with touches as well that are free... i.e. Renegade Soccer is one of these as well as many others. These things will help them improve their ball control and give them the needed touches to improve.

In the end, it also comes down to your kiddo - does she really WANT to do the extra work? If so, all the above applies, if not, you're wasting her time and yours worrying about something that's never going to happen and she'll likely quit on you for forcing her to do it. If SHE wants it, she'll do the extra work on her own - but remember, kids mature athletically at different speeds, just because little Suzy knows more at 10 years old doesn't mean your kid won't get it one day. She may be learning at a different speed and her interests in soccer haven't matured yet. My kid just recently started to really apply herself to learning and she's been in soccer since she was 4. Don't take the fun away by forcing something on her but also read the signs when you see her start maturing to a point that things are clicking, then introduce "ideas" on how to get better, see where it goes from there.

If you're looking for a guy to train at speed and is fairly inexpensive check with Ian Kallis (214-704-5965), he is an ECNL trainer, high energy guy, works with kids to give them confidence. If you're looking for a team that practices full speed all the time SOAP gave you some info you can check into. There are a few others as well.

I was also told by her coach to see if my kiddo would find interest in pickup games around the area to get additional game speed touches in. Turns out there are several places to get these games in. She can do it with friends or on her own and she gets to play at game speed against older kids and in many cases much better kids. They are completely open forum and usually played "street soccer" style so they can play, have fun, make mistakes, all without being pulled out of the game or getting yelled at for making a mistake. Add this to the additional training or additional work they do on their own through videos, trainers and friends, and you should quickly start seeing improvement.

If your kiddo shows no interest in any of it, she's either not ready mentally or soccer isn't really her sport. As someone mentioned above, they have to want it to work at it. If it's really just "for fun" then they should keep it at that level. If they find the competition exhilarating and truly want to improve then the side work really becomes "fun" for them.

LittleFireball wrote:In my opinion there is no one coach that can do it all.  Not enough time in the week at practice.  I guess I'm lucky my DD doesn't take outside lessons.  She finds drills on youtube and does them on her own twice a week.  In my opinion if they have the work ethic and drive that is more important than spending tons of $$$ for outside lessons and half a$$ effort cause she isn't all in.  Whether she sticks with soccer or not learning good work ethic will be a life lesson and that's what its all about.   If she keeps playing high school, college, etc. great.  If not she can be successful in whatever she decides to do if she knows how to work at it and what it takes.

The best thing for player development is a ball and a group of friends with no adults anywhere around.

The next best is the coach your kid is dying to go see. As soon as you have to persuade, bribe, beg or threaten, it's over. Time to do something else.

5050Ball wrote:
The next best is the coach your kid is dying to go see.  As soon as you have to persuade, bribe, beg or threaten, it's over.  Time to do something else.

Amen! I have a 2 sport goalie so we don't do any lessons that she isn't begging me for. When it comes to goalie lessons, the only bribery I use is to get her to take a day off! Player skills, I don't bother with it unless she asks. Seems to be keeping up so far.