Simple Ways To Coach Soccer Intelligence

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

Are you looking to take your kids' soccer game (under 15 years) to the next level? Note: The author has coached teams to finals of national competitions - his teams have played at St George's Park, the home of English soccer, twice. He was invited to be a part of the expert panel when the Government re-wrote the curriculum for sport in school in 2010. He has coached across wide ages, but his main experience is ages 8-13, and within that 9-11. All of the drills are ones he has used; his teams were not selective, just normal school sides. All these drills can be adapted by a good coach for any age. Soccer is the most popular team sport in the world. It is perfect for kids to play. It is safe, simple and the skills required can be easily acquired. Becoming an expert player requires high levels of dedication, natural athleticism and innate skills. Any girl or boy can take to the sport and find enjoyment at their own level. It is for this reason that the game is escalating to such a rapid extent in the US. And it is why the need for coaches and players is growing continuously and rapidly. After all, who would not turn down the chance for their kids to keep physically fit, to allow their natural competitiveness to be channelled in an organized way, to be kept busy in a manner that is both productive and worthwhile? In addition to this, soccer develops dexterity, problem solving, collaboration, friendship, respect, self-discipline, team spirit and sportsmanship. All of which are life skills that are best acquired young. But there is so much to learn for youngsters who wish to become soccer players at a good club level. Shooting, defending, pressing, passing, controlling the ball, the laws of the game (even professionals struggle at times with the offside law as do, it sometimes seems, the referees themselves). And more important than all of these, children must learn about the spirit of soccer. Fair play and the sportsmanship mentioned above. This is especially so for today's youngsters facing all the pressures of growing up in a challenging world driven by the twin pressures of consumerism and social media. Here's What's Included In This Book: The 7 different kinds of skills that kids need to learn in soccer How Ball Control Skills escalate the level of your kids soccer game 6 Passing Drills that will improve team cohesion quickly Offensive Tips, Tricks and Drills that will make your team win 6 Drills that will make your kids get to defend in numbers and strength How to get kids to learn from the pros on TV 6 Drills that will make your kids get to defend in numbers and strength 5 Dribbling Tips and Drills that will make your kid stand out How the Mental Side of Soccer will improve your kids social and life skills What Parents must do during soccer practice and games Scroll up and Download Now

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.

"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.

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]

In this installment of the Soccer iQ series, college soccer coach and best-selling author, Dan Blank, educates coaches and players on the most effective ways to implement a high-pressure style of team defending. Nearly 80% of goals scored are the result of three or fewer passes, and more than half of all goals scored begin when a team wins possession of the ball in its attacking half of the field. The numbers clearly indicate a statistical advantage to winning the ball in the opponent’s end of the field, and that’s exactly what high pressure is designed to do. High pressure is perhaps the most misunderstood term in soccer’s vocabulary. There are countless coaches who want their teams to play high pressure, but many of them aren’t always quite so sure about what that means. They tend to translate ‘high pressure’ into ‘run around like you stole something until we score.’ They only extract the urgency of which the term implies without much understanding of the nuance that makes high pressure a formidable system of team defense. Those coaches understand that high pressure requires a high work rate, but they don’t understand the tactical savvy that can maximize the output of that work. As a result, their teams feature only the madness but not the method behind successful high pressure. High Pressure provides an easy-to-follow blueprint for coaches and players so they know not only what to do, but why they are doing it. In this book, Dan Blank clarifies the differences between high and low pressure and explains the big picture of high pressure defending. You will learn the roles of each position, the importance of restraining lines, and how to set up pressure funnels to win the ball in the attacking half. Coach Blank also details the telltale cues that signal a team to step up or back off its pressure, and much, much more. High pressure defending requires more than just hard work. It requires organization, communication and an indefatigable team spirit. This book will show you how to create and implement these elements to get a maximum return on your team’s effort.

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.

- Named the #1 book for Soccer Players and Coaches by Football.com- Named a Top 5 Book of the Year by the NSCAA Soccer Journal- A #1 best-seller in the U.S., Canada and Australia- Translated into nine languages- Includes links to free Soccer iQ companion videos that bring the lessons to life!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