The Coach Diary Football Blog

Author: The Coach Diary

  • Horst Wein

    Horst Wein

    The Horst will be in Ireland next weekend kicking off on Friday 22nd July @ 7pm at Portmarnock Sport and Leisure Club. Other venues TBC

    If your club or league is interested in hosting this amazing coach please get in touch ASAP.

    Mr Horst Wein will introduce his world renowned YOUTH FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT MODEL.

    Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Centre (PSLC) (Top of Carrick Hill Road, Portmarnock).

    Friday 22nd July

    7.15pm to 10.00pm

    Registration from 6.50pm

    €10 per person

    OR

    Saturday 23rd July

    10.15am to 1.00pm

    Registration from 9.45am

    €10 per person

    Youth Development

    The IRISH YOUTH FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT MODEL has been designed by perhaps the world’s foremost mentor of football coaches, Horst Wein. The contents of his books, some published by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, since 1985 have changed the game at youth level in many Spanish clubs and are now taught in 53 countries of the four continents to more than 11 500 coaches. Horst was Head Coach of Nike FC in the UK from 2000-2003 and has consulted at such top clubs around the world as Arsenal, Inter Milan, FC Barcelona, Villareal, Peñarol Montevideo, Leeds Utd, Schalke O4, Pachuca, America and Pumas from México.

    He also cooperated with the United Nations in a project to use the game of football as a school of life for excluded children in South America. He is the author of 35 sports text books, some of them translated in 8 languages and the world’s first ever multimedia book in football coaching.

    His model gives also the answers to the big dilemma that all youth coaches face every weekend: How do I develop all the young players in my care to the maximum of their potential, when I am constantly put under pressure from their parents and the football administrations which encourage more winning games and leagues instead of favouring long term development ?

    Experts and officials are commenting since a decade the lack of creative talent in Irish football. To overcome this, Horst with his different vision of developing young football players, proposes the answers and will explain and demonstrate them practically and theoretically in his taster sessions in Ireland this weekend.

    The taster sessions serve as an appetizer for his main clinic on 30th September to the 2nd October in Dublin: Developing Game Intelligence in Football

    Brought to you by The Beautiful Game

    Attached link is an interview Horst did with an Indian Radio station last May.

    Horst on Indian Radio podcast

  • Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill creativity?

    Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill creativity?

    Worth posting and certainly worth 20 minutes of your time.

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  • Pre-Season Training

    Pre-Season Training

    Verheijen has been a member of the coaching staff of the national teams of the Netherlands, Russia and South Korea, has been at 3 world cups and 3 Euros. He has also worked with a number of European club sides, including Barca, Zenit, and Chelsea and Man City. He has also been a personal fitness coach to Craig Bellamy.

    Verheijen was appointed to the position of Assistant Manager to the Wales in February 2011, is a primarily a fitness coach, Verheijen has publicly criticsed the training methods of a number of English teams, such as London-based clubs Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs as well as former club Manchester City.

    Earlier in his career, Verheijen publicly criticised the coaching methods of Dutch team Feyenord, but returned there to advise on the pre-season build this July

    Post below by Footblogball

    Pre Season Training

    The general guidelines for preseason training Raymond Verheijen uses in pre-season when working with clubs like Barca, Zenit, Chelsea, Man City or Feyenoord.

    Week 1 : Mon tactical, Tue conditioning 11v11/8v8 (for example 3x10min), Wed off, Thu tactical, Fri tactical, Sat amateur game, Sun off.

    Week 2 : Mon tactical but no games, Tue conditioning 11v11/8v8 (3x11min), Wed off, Thu tactical, Fri tactical, Sat amateur game, Sun off.

    Week 3 : Mon tactical no games, Tue conditioning 7v7/5v5 (e.g. 4x5min), Wed off, Thu tactical, Fri tactical, Sat pro game, Sun recovery.

    Week 4 : Mon off, Tue tactical, Wed pro game (group 1) & conditioning 7v7/5v5 (group 2, e.g. 4×5.5min), Thu recovery (group 1+2). Fri off, Sat tactical, Sun pro game (group 2) & football conditioning games 7v7/6v6/5v5 (group 1, e.g. 4×5.5min).

    Week 5 : Mon recovery (group 1+2), Tue off, Wed tactical, Thu football conditioning games 4v4/3v3 (2x6x1min Work/2minRest),Fri tactical (pm), Sat tactical (pm), Sun top game (last game before start of season with strongest team).

    Week 6 : Mon recovery for starting XI & football conditioning games for subs 4×5, 5min 7v7/5v5, Tue off, Wed tactical, Thu conditioning games 4v4/3v3 (e.g. 2x6x1minWork/1.5minRest), Fri tactical (pm), Sat tactical (pm), Sun 1st league game.

    Summary

    The main objective of pre-season is to have all your players back training at the same time. Organise as many friendlies as possible, this will stand to them team when the season officially kicks off.

    One of the golden rules in pre-season is NO conditioning session or physical testing on Day one. Players need 1st day to restart the engine. Also, never conditioning on consecutive days.

    At least one tactical day between conditioning days to avoid the accumulation of fatigue. To cut a long story short, with this approach your team will be as fit as any other team & look even fitter as their is no accumulation of fatigue. More importantly you will have significantly less injuries, so you can train and play more often with the  best players and develop your strongest team.”

    Your training should mirror the game, so don’t do anything that doesn’t resemble the game. Good luck for the season ahead and remember to let “all the kids play”

    -End

    I always like to hear your opinions and views. If you feel you have something to say, please comment below or email me info@thecoachdiary.com If, you don’t have anything to add then please forward this on to a friend. As always, thanks for reading.

    I’m also on twitter @Coachdiary

  • Total Football Show

    Total Football Show

    Bags packed..total football show here I come! Looking forward to meeting up with Strikezone, igoals, The Matrix, DB Sports Tours will be there and many more

    Not forgetting the u16s Academy tournament that also happening, with the likes of Wolves, Stoke and Newcastle to name a few

  • Your Kids, Your Say

    Your Kids, Your Say

    All over England this summer the English FA are on the road running a series of roadshows focusing on the future of children’s soccer.

    (FAI road show were are you?)

    It comes on the back of over a year of consultation that forms part of The FA’s Youth Development review.

    The ‘Your Kids, Your Say’ events will provide the opportunity for grassroots volunteers to come and hear the proposals being put forward and then discuss their implications.

    Many coaches and parents will get a chance to ask questions of key FA staff and seek help and advice on overcoming some local challenges they face.

    We Value your opinion..

    As we know to well, many adult values are very different from children’s views and values and it is this that should drive young player development system.

    Gareth Southgate says,  “If there are hurdles and challenges to be overcome then the football family needs to work together to achieve these, ensuring that we create the best possible opportunity and environment for young people to play, enjoy and learn the game of football”.

    The English FA are saying, “Children’s football in England needs to be based on common sense, be exciting and innovative and be world-leading. We have a fantastic opportunity to be at the forefront of change and, whilst not forgetting the excellent work that the army of volunteers and parents do for children across the country, ensure that we all pull together in the same direction”.

    The key areas of discussion in the roadshows will be topics such as; Formats of the game, Child-centred approaches to competition, Addressing relative age effect and Developments to Mini Soccer.

    In Summary

    What I can’t undertand, is we have a Dutch man who’s title is International Performance Director; yet we see absolutely no Dutch ideas or methodologies in Irish Youth Soccer and I know his title is “International Performance Director” but wouldn’t we be better off with a Dutch man in charge of “Youth Performance”.

    In Holland all the best coaches are down at the Grassroots level and working with the kids every week and in Ireland most of our best coaches are working within the professional game or with the Football Federation.

    The Pressure is on

    So many countries in Europe are restructuring Youth Football, because like Ireland it has got out of hand and been run by morons, over competitive coaches and parents. The men at the top who make the decisions, (clearly no intelligent ones have been made in the last few years) who go from one opening of an envelope to another and pose for all the medal ceremonies at the end of the season “A la politician style”

    None to similar to FIFA delegtion only not travelling by plane, our lot travel in bus loads to vote against changes for the better of the kids, they stick by each other and back each other when it comes to making change, change that they don’t want to happen anytime soon. But it will happen whether they like it or not, because the FAI are under pressure to achieve, under pressure to restructure and follow the example of so many other European countries.

    The game here is suffering , kids are moving to other codes like GAA and Rugby which are better organised, have better and safer facilities and look after the children that play. So the pressure is on, whether they like it or not!


  • Who’s up for Coerver?

    Who’s up for Coerver?

    Coerver Coaching originally came to Ireland in 2008, thanks to an invitation from Salthill Devon F.C.

    The well known Galway club invited Austin Speight, the UK and Ireland director for Coerver Coaching, to discuss the possibility of working in partnership with Coerver to develop their players and coaches.

    The club loved the programme and offered to provide a base for Coerver Coaching at their top class facility. Since then, Coerver has established academies across Galway, Dublin, Dundalk, Drogheda, and Limerick.

    NDSL

    In Dublin, Coerver is responsible for the training of the N.D.S.L. coaching staff and has developed a plan to assist the N.D.S.L. to grow and become the leading representative district in Ireland. This includes providing the technical curriculum for their programme across all age groups.

    In March 2011, a Coerver Coaching Workshop was attended by 150 coaches at the Oscar Traynor Development Centre in Coolock. Shamrock Rovers are also discussing the possibility of incorporating Coerver into their club to follow the lead of many top professional clubs in the UK & around Europe.

    Coerver Coaching

    is suitable for all ages and abilities, especially those between the ages of 5 and 16, between which time young players go through ‘the golden years of learning’. Coerver provides players and coaches not only with optimum content in terms of the curriculum taught, but also ensures that it is delivered using the most effective teaching methods.

    Coerver Coaching can help a young player to improve their speed and skills and learn how to use them effectively in order to gain maximum benefit, regardless of their age, ability or position. Coaches can learn the secrets to effective technical skills coaching and get more ideas for fun and challenging drills to use in their sessions.

    Adidas

    Coerver is supported and partnered by leading football brand Adidas, a relationship dating back over 20 years. This allows Coerver exclusive access to Adidas sponsored clubs such as Chelsea, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Ajax Amsterdam, A.C. Milan, and Real Madrid. Last year Coerver brought players, coaches, and parents from their Irish based academies to the Chelsea F.C. Academy, where the players were coached by the Chelsea coaching staff. Further trips are planned for Liverpool and Ajax Amsterdam later this year.

    Coerver Coaching – A solution of the Technical deficiences in Irish Football. Coerver coaching is the world’s No.1 Soccer skills teaching method, allowing the development of skilled, confident, creative players based on a foundation.

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    In the UK, Coerver is widely regarded as the No.1 programme for educating coaches and developing top class technical players. The Premier League has appointed Coerver Coaching to provide a training programme for all academy coaches, with a heavy technical focus – the key foundation upon which other parts of the game can be built. This places Coerver at the forefront of player development.

    Globally, Coerver Coaching has a prestigious heritage in the game, operating in 28 countries and having contributed to the development of hundreds of professional players around the world over its 27 year history. They are endorsed by some of the biggest names in football including Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Liam Brady, Franz Beckenbauer, and Gerard Houllier, as well as national associations such as the French Football Federation, the Spanish FA, the English FA, Football Federation of Australia, and the Japanese FA.

    Coerver Diploma

    This year has seen Coerver launch the brand new Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma which caters for
    coaches of all levels. The diploma has already taken place at Birmingham City, Fulham, Manchester City, Bristol City, and Glasgow, and will visit Dublin on August 13th and 14th at the Oscar Traynor Development Centre (N.D.S.L. Centre) in Coolock, North Dublin. The Diploma in Birmingham was attended by Real Madrid 1st team coaches, as well as coaches from many of the top professional clubs across the UK.

    The Youth Diploma launch in Dublin will see Coerver Coaching Co-Founder and Specialist Skills Advisor to the Premier League, Alf Galustian providing expert tuition to all attendees. Alf has gained a reputation over the last 30 years as being one of the leading technical skill teaching experts in the World.

    For more information on Coerver Coaching and the upcoming youth diploma in Dublin, log on to www.coerver.co.uk/ireland or email anthony.oneill@coerver.ie

    Coerver Coaching Youth Diploma Dublin

  • Over 18’s only

    With the Women World Cup on at the moment it would be rude not to comment on it. After Saturday game in Augsbourg with 1-0 victory over the North Koreans Swedish Player Josephine Oqvist swapped her jersey with a German fan.

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