December 16, 2008

This will be the last issue of Hey Coach! for this year. Hey Coach! will start up again on January 6, 2009. All of us at NSTC wish you and your loved ones happy holidays and a happy New Year. 

Send questions, story ideas or comments to HeyCoach@....

Thanks!
John Ouellette
AYSO National Coach

Ask The Coach...
Everything You Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask
 

Coaches have to deal with all sorts of scenarios week in and week out. Each week John will address a question that has been sent in by an AYSO coach. This week's question is:

"I have a player that has played sweeper for me all year, he is one of the top performers in terms of overall play and attitude. He was involved in more than 50 percent of our goals this season. For our championship game, I assigned him the duty of covering the top striker in the league and told him to stay with him and forgo offense in the interest of the team. He was not happy with the assignment and got angry. I took him out of the game and asked his dad to remove him from the sideline. The player later came back and said he was ready to play, and I didn't let him play the rest of the game. Did I handle the situation correctly?"

Click here to the audio link for John's answer. Click here for the text version of John's answer.

Training Activities Spotlight

"Playing It Wide" Is An Activity You Can Use With A U-19 Team

"Playing It Wide" works on penetration and width for your U-19 team. You will need 30 cones to mark the girl and three or four soccer balls. You will also need 12 training vests (half one color,  half different color).

Organization: Place three players, two attackers and one defender, in the starting grid. Also place one attacker and one defender in each of the outside channels, and in the goal area at the other end of the grid.

How The Game Is Played: The first pair of attackers must connect at least four passes before they can play the ball out wide (to either side). The player who passes the ball out to the left or right flank joins his teammate to create a two versus one on the flank. Now the two flank players attempt to work the ball down to their teammate at the other end. Four passes must be connected before the ball is played to the flank that was not used. Change teams when possession is lost.

Winners: First set of players to complete the activity three times without losing possession.

Click here for more training games and activities.