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Hello Everyone!
I’m Christian from Ireland. I’ve been following 3Four3 ever since I saw their U11 possession soccer video on youtube. I’ve been intrigued ever since to know what these coaches were doing to get theses kids to play football the way they do.
The children I coach are ages 6-7 so at the moment they are a little young for this type of possession based football. At the moment we teach 1v1 skills and ball mastery. However from what I’ve seen so far on this site I will take some of the basic concepts and introduce them to my players. I look forward in a year or so to start teaching this type of stuff real.
Follow me on Twitter to share our journeys @christianre
Hello Everyone!
I am very excited to continue the learning process from the right minds. My name is Alan Portillo and I currently am an assistant coach in Arlington Soccer Association just outside of Washington D.C. I am currently working with the u14’s. I have spent the last 4 years working u9 to u12 age groups. I discovered the 3four3 blog about 1 year ago and have been following ever since. I do not write often but I will contribute much more and try to get out my comfort zone. I had the privilege to play against Brian’s u13 Chivas USA team in the semifinals of VW Junior Masters Tournament over this past summer and that just gave me motivation to learn from you guys!
Hi Everyone,
My name is Alfredo Ramirez and I’m a coach with Sky FC in El Paso, Texas. I work with a U11 girls competitive and U6 team. I’ve been coaching for about 10 years now and over the past 7 months have been working on implementing a true possession based playing style. This site has been a tremendous help to say the least.
Very excited to have the concrete guidance this course/membership is providing.
Thanks Gary and Brian!
Alfredo
I love it Sebastien,
“Out of the comfort zone” is key!Thank you for sharing, and I’m going to be expecting to see you regularly in here over the coming months and years.
Oh yeah … and those damn buzzwords! 🙂
Hi Hector, and a warm welcome.
Thank you for opening up and sharing.Seems like I often think about who might be the ‘silent readers’ of the blog.
Always wondering who you guys are … and BAM here you are!It’s a privilege having you here.
And yes, video is massively useful!Hey Everyone,
My name is Mike Fluhart. I currently in charge of a program at New Hope Christian Academy, a small private school just south of Columbus, Ohio. I am the head varsity coach and we also have a middle school team. I am hoping to start a younger team as well at the school. We are a new progam and we just completed our first year as a varsity program. What is great is that I am free to build the program how I want with a lot of support from the school.
As far as coaching, I have been coaching since my playing days ended for the last 5 years. What I am looking forward to with this forum and membership is to proivde some framework to how to build a playing philosophy. As I have studied more with coaching, I am finding out how much I really don’t know. I have been reading the blog for awhile but now I am going to test myself in this forum and you can hold me to it.
Can’t wait to get to know you guys,
Mike
Hi,
My name is David Tkach, I’m 30 years old, and live in San Francisco, CA. I got into coaching several years ago when a knee injury forced me to sit out a season, and my youngest brother’s AYSO team needed a coach. It ended up being an awesome experience and as a few more knee surgeries have forced me to stop playing, I’ve found coaching is a great way I can still stay involved with the sport without worrying about getting hurt yet again.
I currently coach a women’s team (the age ranges from 24-34 and about 25% played college soccer) in San Francisco but have worked with different groups from U8’s to high school but have found that I enjoy the U10-U12 the most . I discovered this site about a year ago and it has really opened my eyes into becoming a more effective coach (especially with committing to a possession oriented style of play) and an overall better understanding of the game.
I’ve always believe that maintaining the ball through passing and movement makes a lot more sense than kicking and chasing but at times have struggled to teach it. I’ve used the excuse of “my players aren’t technical enough” to prevent myself from focusing on possession as much as I’d like but since coming across 3four3, I’ve been working hard to commit to this and am excited to see what the coaching curriculum has to offer.
David
Hi all!
My name is Cameron Baker.I’m 20 years old and I’m a full time student at the University of Michigan. I told myself that this is about the same price as a college textbook.
I currently do not coach anywhere besides training with kids one on one to help them sharpen up before they move off to college. I’ve had an interesting experience with coaching so far. My junior and senior year of high school I was named captain of the team and our “coach” was non existent. He showed up to practice, but usually just chatted with kids and ate sunflower seeds. So I coached the team for the last two years I was there; coaching to what were my strengths as a player (short passing game). It was only a step in a direction, we were still very very very rough, but parents and coaches who had seen my school play for years told me they had never seen us play so well.
I discovered 3four3 when I saw the U11s video come out. My jaw hit the floor and I told my buddy that that team would bulldoze our high school team, and these kids are 10. I became a hardcore fan since then, though, I am a silent reader. I feel as if I don’t have the experience to really engage in some conversations, but I love to learn and I’m so passionate about football. I’m taking in as much good info as I can to build on my philosophy.
Super excited for this! Excited to learn, talk and learn. Twitter is @cpbaker11
Cameron! Dude! Good job at taking the initiative and getting started so young. Even though you don’t have a team right now, you’re going to be better prepared when you finally get your chance. Just remember, take it slow at first. Don’t expect your kids to look like the U11’s in a matter of weeks.
And kudos for taking over for your high school team. I had a very similar experience. I remember handing my coach a roster a couple days into tryouts and telling him ‘just go post this!’ haha I knew I would end up hating the guy. Little did I know the bonehead would turn to refereeing when no other school would hire him. He’s given me a yellow card every time he has refereed one of my games! I take them all with a smile 🙂
Cheers dude!
Just tell me when, boss.
Alan! Great to see you on here. Guess we can take our telephone conversations a step forward by bringing them to the message board!
I’m Christopher Cramer and I am the DOC and coach of the U12 and U17/U18 boys at TFA Barcelona OR, located in Gresham, OR. I also coach a varsity boys program in SW Washington at Columbia High School.
I have been a fairly silent reader of 3four3 for several years now. I have always coached an attacking, possession-oriented style of soccer and my search for educational resources led me to Barcelona USA about 6 months before Brian and Gary’s first video post. I had recently taken over the DOC duties at a small club and was working on overhauling the entire structure of the club, implementing a possession-based system throughout all levels of the club. We joined the Barcelona USA collaboration program (now Total Futbol Academy) about the same time all the videos starting coming out.
Our club hosted Brian for a coaching clinic last winter and I was privileged to visit La Masia with Brian and the TFA crew last March (the week before Brian’s team competed in MIC Cup).
I’m really excited to be taking this journey with everyone. I will definitely be posting videos of games and training.
You can also follow me on twitter – @thisguytoph
Hey Christopher,
There was no way i was going to miss out on this.. We most certainly can take our convos on the phone to the forum! I am going to watch the U17 USA vs Brazil game tonight! Maybe we can discuss tomorrow.
My name is Pete Duguran. I have coached for several years. It started with my daughters in rec and continued into competitive club. My soccer experience was very limited and I knew I needed help. Lucky for my daughters a young talented coach came into the seen. His name is John Pranjic. John introduced me to 3four3 and I have been a silent reader ever since. I have watched my daughters blossom and grow so much from John and his biggest influence Gary and Brian @3four3.
I am excited and proud to be a member of 3four3 and continue my soccer education.Hey everyone, my name’s Matt Emmert and I currently coach at Lehigh Valley United in eastern Pennsylvania. Right now I coach U10 and U11 boys as well as a U11 girls team. I started coaching about 7-8 years ago when I was a junior in college (two ACL injuries effectively ended my playing career), first with JV boys and girls. After college I was the men’s assistant at an NCAA DIII school here in PA before getting into club coaching more or less full time about 5 years ago.
I had a pretty ‘typical’ American upbringing and it wasn’t until I started coaching that I realized just how little about the game I actually knew. Still have a ton to learn but at least I’m aware of it now! That pushed me to spend every bit of free time finding information and connecting with other coaches to try and learn as much as possible.
Been reading 3four3 for a few years and have to credit Gary and Brian for really opening my eyes with their work and the blog. Looking forward to learning from everyone involved here.
Always happy to have conversation with anyone on twitter: @mattemmert85
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