With so many spring Cup soccer games being played at this time of year, it gives me a chance to go out and see some teams play, but more importantly for me, to go see some players that I have coached and trained play.



So over the last 3 weeks I have watched 0ver 10 youth games being played. When I go to a game, I watch how both teams warm up, I watch how the soccer players conduct themselves during the pregame warm up, I watch for what soccer skills are being worked on before the game even starts.



I must say, while 1 or 2 teams did a good job in preparing for their match, most players and teams were unprepared for the soccer game to start. In most occassions these teams also didn't produce quality soccer either once the game started.



But one of the main problems that I saw over these last 3 weeks was that most players lacked technical soccer skills. It was apparent in their warmup and it certainly was apparent in the game.



I was talking about this point with a friend of mine who coaches a Division I College Women's program. His assessment was, players lack the technical skills to play the game at a higher level. For the better part of an hour, we discussed why is that, what can be done about it. I'll report those specific thoughts in a future post. But for now, the general comment was we need our players to have better soccer skills. Specifically:

• clean 1st touch


• ability to beat a defender 1v1


• properly weighted pass


• ball striking


• composure with the ball

So coaches, instead of rolling out the ball and yelling "play" at every practice, please start working on and ensuring that your soccer players have massive soccer skills.

Have a great day!

Gary