Advanced Soccer Drills: 69 drills for techniques and tactics (book)

This collection of challenging drills is a great resource for teaching advanced skills and for developing smart team players. You'll find 69 drills to help players develop the ability and confidence to handle the ball under pressure, improve the way they see the field and make decisions, master advanced skills that they can use in specific game situations, and apply their skills successfully within a team framework. The drills are organized according to specific objectives, with a drill finder to help you select the drills that work on the areas you want to improve. Each drill is presented in a two-page format that includes instructions about the drill's organization and procedure, key points for learning it, a large, clear diagram, and suggested variations for adjusting the difficulty level of the drill. Coaches will especially appreciate the chapter on using drills to construct practice sessions, as well as the 1-vs.-1 player-evaluation model, which you can use as a tool for selecting team members or as a practice exercise. The drills in this book are more challenging and more fun than the basics and are particularly valuable for select youth league, high school, and college-level players. Players under the age of 12 who have a solid grasp of the fundamentals will also benefit from some of these drills. Better practice means better performance. Advanced Soccer Drills is the perfect tool for developing complete players with high-level skills and soccer savvy. AUDIENCE Trade book for soccer coaches and players; reference for coaches. CONTENTS Drill Finder Acknowledgments Introduction Key to Diagrams Chapter 1. Winning 1 vs. 1 Chapter 2. Improving Vision and Decision Making Chapter 3. Applying Advanced Skills Chapter 4. Fine-Tuning Team Play Chapter 5. Using Advanced Drills in Practice Chapter 6. A 1 vs. 1 Player Evaluation Model About the Author ABOUT THE AUTHOR For more than 10 years Colin Schmidt has conducted soccer camps for players of all ages and abilities. The author of Coaching Cards/an innovative resource that features practice drills on pocket-size cards/he also has led coaching clinics for both new and experienced coaches. He is currently the director of coaching for an organization of 700 youth soccer players. A former All-State and Olympic development player, Schmidt has played soccer for nearly 25 years. At Claremont McKenna College in California, where he played varsity soccer for four ye