Developing Game Intelligence In Soccer

There is no greater power on the soccer field than the game intelligence of the players. With a great variety of attractive and effective simplified games, specially designed to simulate the most important game situations that may occur on the pitch, Horst Wein shows how to stimulate most of the aspects which are involved in game intelligence in young soccer players as well as professionals. Remember, Playing soccer without thinking is like shooting without aiming.

Blending contemporary sports science theory with youth specific coaching practice, this book offers soccer development strategies that are tailored to the needs of young players.

Soccer is the biggest game in the world and has proved to be an unprecedented phenomenon of social impact, inhabiting a prominent place in the daily lives of millions of human beings, a game that has impact even in the most remote places. In an ever-changing world of soccer coaching and tactics, player intelligence has become increasingly important, providing the essential ability to act effectively in a given moment. Therefore, in recent years, the tactical component has been increasingly valued and diffused. Around the world, this dimension of sport performance is being studied and applied by many professionals in the field, from the youth academies all the way through to the professional level. This book is designed to help those who devote much of their time to improving the quality of the game, by coaching and training highly informed, creative and intelligent players. These coaches devote their time and energy to improve players’ and teams’ performances. In turn, match analysts, physiotherapists, psychologists, clinicians and the sport science team dedicate themselves to optimize resources that help boost the performance levels of the players, the coaches and the team. Football Intelligence: Training and Tactics for Soccer Success presents procedures and ideas that, besides assisting in the task of evaluating the tactical performance of soccer players and teams, also allows improving their expression throughout the learning and training phase. This book will be key reading for football coaches and players alike, as well as students and practitioners of sport psychology and performance analysis.

An Amazon #1 Best-Seller! Named the #1 Soccer Book by Football.com. Named a Top 5 Book of the Year by the NSCAA Soccer Journal! Soccer iQ is the first book for soccer PLAYERS! In a world saturated with books about how to coach soccer, Dan Blank finally gives players a book on how to think it. Standing on two decades of collegiate coaching experience, Blank has catalogued soccer's most common mistakes and provides simple, connect-the-dots solutions to help players solve their soccer problems. Soccer IQ is soccer's first text book for players; an almanac of smarter soccer decisions intended to flatten out the learning curve. It covers everything from hunting rebounds to the value of the toe-ball; from playing in the rain to the world's dumbest foul. Blank tells his story from the familiar and humorous voice of a coach who has endured years of stress at the hands of his players. Written in plain-spoken language, Soccer IQ is an easy read and a quick-fix to the most common yet critically important soccer problems. Includes a bonus chapter on the college recruiting process. " Finally someone wrote this book! If every soccer player read Soccer IQ, every coach would be a lot happier." Mark Francis - Head Coach University of Kansas "Dan Blank has just written soccer's first definitive text book." Colin Carmichael - Head Coach Oklahoma State University "This book has immediately become required reading for my team. I'll take 30 copies." Steve Nugent - Head Coach UNC-Greensboro "Soccer IQ may the best practical soccer book I have ever read. There's no fluff. Just nuts and bolts principles that we teach every day. It'll solve a lot of your soccer problems." Steve Holeman - Head Coach University of Georgia

"Author Horst Wein provides more than 150 games, corrective exercises and competitions for players aged 7 to 14. Based on the internationally renowned Football Development Model, training and coaching methods are divided into four levels, resulting in the best age-appropriate coaching resource available. From fundamental skills and goal-keeping to tactics and game intelligence, Developing Youth Football Players covers it all with clear writing and colourful illustrations, making it easy to incorporate each lesson into your programme."--Jacket.

Soccer Brain - from Dan Abrahams - teaches coaches to train players to compete with confidence, with commitment, with intelligence, and as part of a team.

I started out coaching over twenty-five years ago and its safe to say a whole lot has changed since then. Even when I was a player, it was the physical side of the game that was emphasized, along with being brave and committed, words like cognition were meant for psychology class and not the soccer field. Maybe once in a while the coach would shout, "what are you thinking", undoubtedly not to teach us anything but more as a reprimand then anything else. The idea of developing the soccer the brain wasn't something I was ever exposed to as player and young coach. However, there were pioneers back then; Wiel Coerver was spreading the message of the importance of technical training, but the link between technical training, physical training and the brain was never fully developed or discussed. This motivated me to make it my mission re-think player development on every level, from youth to adult. I ended up creating a coaching methodology that is specifically designed to develop the soccer brain. The theory and applications behind my work are presented in detail in my five book series "Cognitive Soccer Instructors Diploma Course Manuals" #1-5, these are also sold on amazon.com. This book focuses primarily on ways you can train the soccer brain by playing small-sided games using different variations, rules and conditions. In order to be successful in SSG's (small-sided games) the players will need to problem solve and figure out solutions to each exercise, the exercises will ultimately become the teacher. The coach can certainly step in to ask questions (to guide the players), make corrections or adjust a rule or condition. However, it is important the coach does not try and over-coach the players, allows enough time for players to become comfortable with the exercise before making changes and keeps a good overall flow to the practice. SSG's are so effective because players get to experience a variety of different meaningful situations which they have to strategize and problem solve collectively as a unit and as individuals to solve. This in turn will ultimately develop the soccer brain! Don't get me wrong, expert feedback from a talented coach during training is necessary, but it is even more critical that the coach understands how to set-up exercises that will allow players to learn on their own as well. If the exercise is breaking down, the coach should have the tools to make an adjustment, so the correct level of challenge is present. If the players are not challenged enough, the coach should be able to make an adjustment that will increase the games difficulty. I can go into detail about the importance of novelty in training, sweet spot of learning, the value of unique soccer experiences, the benefit of healthy stress in training, the use of priming, the power of questions and much more, but the purpose of this book is to give coaches the tools to make any SSG into a "Brain Development Game". If you are interested in learning more about Cognitive Soccer Development or wish to become a "Cognitive Soccer Certified Instructor" please visit my website at www.soccersmarttraining.com Feel free to email any question of comments to [email protected]

Today's modern soccer player must be able to make ultra-fast intelligent decisions under pressure, while possessing the ability to successfully execute on those decisions with high-level technical skill. Top players are able to sort through, instantly organize and chunk essential information together, while discarding all non-essential information. The high-level player rarely gets stuck in the decision making process, while the lower level player will frequently get stuck. Often the lower level player will fail because somewhere in the decision making process, they fail to process data quickly enough, focus on the wrong cues or they simply do not have the technique to execute the required skill, even if they made the right decision. It is no coincidence that top-level players possess higher intelligence levels and are better problem solvers on and off the field then lower-level players. Today's scientific data is making a convincing case that becoming a high level elite athlete has far more to do with your brain than your body. "Developing Soccer Intelligence" Part I & II, delve into the science and theory behind the development of soccer intelligence. These books are intended to provide unique insight into the development of the soccer brain, increasing the potential for maximizing performance. Coaches who understand the science behind game intelligence, will be better equipped to provide their players with more meaningful experiences in training. This is not your typical soccer book, if you are looking for purely a drill book, this will not be for you. If you have read my cognitive modules already, much of this material will have been covered.