This topic contains 147 replies, has 102 voices, and was last updated by 
-
Posts
-
Oh one last thing Robert although Mexico is a soccer rich country there is much ignorance at the grassroots level …many parents think training consists mostly about running jumping physical exercise w/o the ball…I actually had a dad say to me I have never seen anyone train like you guys do. In fact we have had some dads take their sons away cause they wanted running and more running . so dont feel to bad Canada has problems it does but the grass is only as green as you make it. Keep on truckin!
Hola, Amalia. I must say that your report is quite shocking! There’s an old saying I was introduced to in the previous millennium by a well known British emigré up here: “You don’t get better at billiards by running around the table.” (or words to that effect)
Amalia, are you married to Barry by any chance?
Yes I am…
Small World! Say “Hi” to him for me. Met Barry when he brought a team down to Bellingham and they literally passed circles around my Norpoint team. We couldn’t get a kick. We vastly improved and got some revenge on him the next year at the same tournament, and then I coached the Seattle Sounders BU14 team against Barry and Colin Miller in the Super Y League the year after that. Great guy willing to share knowledge with a (then) young and inexperienced coach.
A few months ago I heard a rumor he was doing exactly what you say in Mexico. Where are you at? On a town with a beach I hope….. I am also trying to set up a club where I can coach some Mexican kids, but in Federal Way Washington.
-
This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by
Scott Nelson.
Crock says hi to you as well! Was it the Seattle tourney /60 acres /16 fields in summer of 2000? He recalls winning and then losing but not the year/tourney.It sounds like you played against the team my son was on ..we had 2 teams U13 U15. Loved Super Y and trips to Nationals in Florida. Good luck in your endeavors and if you ever want to bring a team down let us know Crock is more than happy to help! We have been here 5 years live outside Guadalajara in area called Lake Chapala a little toen called San Antonio population around 5,000.
Cheers
Yes, 60 acres in 2000. Abby won 3-2 but our two goals came very late as your younger team tired themselves out after making us look stupid for 50 minutes. The next year we played them up in Bellingham and we won 5-0 (sorry about that…) with a much improved and strengthened team. I’d met up with Crock and Colin in a pub in Aldergrove the night before.
Good luck with your new club. If we ever want to bring a team down I will let you guys know.
Hello,
Just signed up as member for 3four3. My name is Justin Aguirre, I coach a u-12 competitive girls team in Miami, FL. I played college ball here in Miami at Florida International University and then got into coaching about 3 years ago. I’m a sucker for the Barca style of play and wanted to implement it into my coaching and that’s how I found 3four3. I’ve been working with my current team for about a 7 months now and were unlearning some old habits and adapting true possessional play. The road has been tough but were starting to see some fruit of the labor. Super stoked and looking forward to taking in all the content and learning from everyone here. All the best
Justin
My name is Deano and i coach U13 girls, a Middle school girls team and a High school girls team in Miami, Fl. After studying this sight i have come to the conclusion that i have done many things well and many things “not so much”. I started implementing the activities into my sessions and in just a few short weeks i already see my teams improving and gaining an identity. Thank you 3four3
I was born and raised in Argentina. Until the age of 18 I was in two of Argentina’s largest futbol clubs academy systems. 17 operations ended my dream of becoming a professional player. I have lived in Argentina and Brazil, Wales and Catalonia. I have been coaching for 26 years, 15 of which were as a semi-pro team head coach. I am also an instructor and trainer for the last 27 years. I am involved with all 3 major youth orgs in the USA. A change in the way futbol is taught in this country is long overdue, but it must begin with an understanding of what proper futbol should look like. Having been in a professional academy I am fortunate to have a unique insight into what it takes to become a quality professional player. I don’t feel I know everything so I actively seek to always better myself. My background is financials and physics/mathematics. My biggest passion, aside from futbol and my sons, is the Cognitive Sciences. I currently coach 5 youth teams as well as evaluate talent for Clubs and train/teach fellow coaches. I am hoping to contribute as well as learn from my fellow coaches in the path to intelligent futbol. Gracias…
-
This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by
Luis Lewis.
My name is Ted Jensen and I coach a U17 girls team here in southern Utah. I have been coaching for about 6 years now.
I have been a member for only a couple of months, but I have been following the blog for a few years now and have been really impressed with what Brian and Gary are doing here. I have a lot to learn and I’m excited to learn from these guys.
Hello All,
My name is John Kennedy and I currently coach for Wasatch Soccer Club located in Kaysville, UT. I have been coaching for about 9 Years. 5 of those years have been competitive soccer. I currently coach a U12 boys team and assist with my older son’s U14 boys team. I have coached both of my boys since they began playing competitive soccer at U10 and have a boy and girl who will begin their journey soon.
I have been following 3four3 for about a year and jumped at the chance to become a member in December. I was always dissatisfied with the “let them play” mentality and have always been a fan of possession style soccer since I started coaching.
I have just started implementing the methodology and have seen a big different in the style of play from my team in just the last few weeks. We have a long way to go, but I am excited for the end result.
I am currently schedule to take the USSF National “C” license course in June with a hope to pass so that I can become a trainer for my current club. I want to help steer less skilled teams away from the kick and chase chaos that I see each week. If anyone out there has had any experience taking this course, I’d love to hear your thoughts and strategy getting through it.
John
Hey all – signed up for the coaching membership late last year, just stumbled on to the forum. My name is Rich DeFabritus, I’ve been coaching about 10 years, 5 years at a competitive travel level, albeit at a lower competitive level. I coach a U14G team that I started 5 years ago, and I am the assistant on a U11G team that has been together for 3 years.
In terms of background, I played soccer when I was a kid, about 3 years. I was horrible, and I was not trained to play the game properly. I am 46 years old, so you are talking about 35+ years ago (I believe I stopped playing around 12), Americans just didn’t know anything. However, I have a brother that was a very strong player, coached by an Irish national with a lot more knowledge of the game (at least of the game compared to what the American parent coaches knew). Always loved the game, and since I wasn’t a great player, I watched any chance I could get. I am fortunate enough to have grown up in the NY metro area, and the Cosmos were still huge when I stopped playing. I’d go to games or watch on TV. Into the 90’s, I would watch World Cup when broadcast, always rooting for Italy (since the US wasn’t very strong) – my grandparents are immigrants from Italy, so there’s a bias.
The fact that I wasn’t a strong player has helped open my mind tremendously. In my 10 years of coaching, I can’t tell you how many experienced coaches / former players suffer from myopia. They know in their hearts that what they know is “right” and the “best”. In my mind, my lack of “knowledge” drove me to learn, and I’ve trained with plenty of coaches above and beyond my licenses (I hold a NJ State “E”, and a USSF “F”, both of which haven’t done much for my training, but necessary evils if you will). The EDP league (elite level league in the east) very often holds coaching training, which has been fantastic – I’ve trained under first-team coaches from Club Bruegge, Valencia, Sky Blue, and youth coaches from Chelsea and Liverpool…absolutely eye-opening. Among the best training I’ve received was in the area of tactical periodization, or more specifically what Mourinho calls the “global method of training”. Since I coach girls, and they tend to have higher rates of injury than boys, it’s important that I protect the welfare and development of the players I coach, and the global method encompasses warming up using soccer-specific movements (e.g., small sided games, etc). Many coaches I see still warm up using static stretching (!!!).
Of course, that all pales in comparison to the 3four3 courses. When I started my U14G team, we were a rag tag bunch of kids that were either cut or not offered the opportunity to play on a travel team. I started the team just to have fun, but realized that there was tremendous upside if I developed them properly. My view was that training them to be “more athletic” than other teams (e.g., play kick and chase) would be nothing more than a 50/50 proposition, and given that I had “lower level” kids, it was a losing proposition. I knew that if I could drive a possession style of play, that would even the playing field.
Well, the team that was laughed at (we were called a “rec team”, I was labelled “not a real coach”) became a team that no one wanted to play. We were at the top of our flight(s) for a few years, got promoted, won some tournaments, even played a few so-called “elite” teams and beat them. 2 of my players moved on the elite teams – one of whom had been cut before she came to my team.
The team will never compete at the top level, but the 3four3 curriculum has made this team quite competitive, and we are doing extremely well in our flight this season.
Sorry to be long winded, but I fully endorse the 3four3 curriculum, especially the set tactical work – I’m looking forward to learning more and applying it with both of my teams for the future.
-
This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.