Soccer 1:1

Parents and Friends,

Ball juggling is a fantastic exercise kids can do training on their own and it significantly improves ball control and touch.

But nobody ever said it was easy!

It’s you against the ball and requires dedication, mental focus and most importantly technique.

A nine-year-old I worked with recently said she couldn’t understand how it’s done. How do you keep the ball off the ground?

Here are my top SIX tips:

1) Let the ball drop low.
2) Don’t lift your foot up and kick the ball when it's high in the air.
3) Keep your ankle locked (not floppy!) so the ball is hitting a hard surface.
4) Your foot must be curled back towards your shin.
5) Make contact with your laces near the base of your toes.
6) Use little taps and try to get back spin.

Start off practicing the correct mechanics without the ball, then proceed to juggling once and catching it.

Once you get to a comfort level move on to two juggles catch and so on.

Set a monthly goal improving your...

Parents and Friends,

With new families interested in our training program there are there two prerequisites before they can sign up.

Those are a phone interview followed by a field evaluation.

I screen because unlike other training programs I don’t want to help everyone!

I’m looking to establish early whether the family really wants help.

Simply because I know the perfect fit is a COMMITTED family that really wants their child to improve.

When chatting on the phone the problem the player is having is nearly always technical.

The parent feels their kid isn’t getting the PERSONAL ATTENTION they need and help with their game.

And that’s never a surprise because players can display significant technical limitations despite having played soccer for years.

Especially if the child is coming from an environment that prematurely focuses on team success and not individual player development.

If the phone interview goes well the next step is the field evaluation with...

Parents and Friends,

We’ve all observed kids practicing on their own at the fields and they are nearly always doing the same thing… they’re taking shots.

Then they chase the ball down to take another.

Sure, it’s fantastic they’re out there having fun but it’s pretty much useless in terms of quality technical training.

It’s essentially wasted time because it’s not PRODUCTIVE.

When chatting with new families one of the main concerns they have is their child doesn’t know how to practice on their own

Their kid has never been encouraged to do so nor been given guidelines on how to individually improve their game.

At Soccer 1:1 every player in the program receives a handout on footwork, fundamentals and ball mastery exercises specific to practicing on your own.

And I make it a requirement that they follow through. 

How? The kids maintain soccer journals with their practice days and I read them at every session.

This makes players...