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Greetings Everyone,
My name is Joe and I coach in the Tampa bay area in Florida. I learned to play in the streets of my home country . I played until about age 40, although, never near pro level. I have been coaching for about 13 years now. I have coached almost all age groups between u-10 and U-16. I use every single resource I can to constantly improve myself and here is another one I warmly welcome. Learning must never, ever end!
Hey,
My name is Nuno Ferreira
I was born and raised in Portugal where I grew playing futebol.
One of my first big frustrations as a player was when I had to sit out on the U16 Lisbon District Cup final against a Benfica side that stared Paulo Sousa (time cue) because on the semis I had gotten a (first ever) red card.
As a player I played a couple of seasons on the lower divisions and for a while I was technically “away” from the game.
I ended up in the US (different storyline) and of course I kept playing for fun, watching it and I got involved in coaching as another way to be involved in the game.
I was always a bit obsessed about the game but once I started coaching my perspective changed and I really felt a “need” to understand it at a deeper level.
Currently working at youth level on a relatively small Midwest community “adjusting” has been a process.Culture shock does not start to describe it.With all the challenges I have decided to give it a shot and try to make a difference.
From a distance I have followed Brian and Gary’s work and I have been impressed.Nobody has all the answers but their mindset and approach have been refreshing and they already have helped on raising the expectations immensely.
I’m here to keep refining my understanding of the game and also to support and interact with others that like the Kleibans are on a mission to take the US game and environment to a different level.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by
Nuno Ferreira.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by
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This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by
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This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by
Gary.
My name is Bret Anderson, and I live in Folsom California. I’ve been coaching for 5 years, and over that time it has become a passion/obession. I currently coach two teams with my wife Jessica. We coach a U12 girls rec team and a U9 boys competitive team at American River FC. We’ve wanted to implement a possession style of play for our teams, but the results have fallen short of our expectations. That is what led us to 3four3. The statement at the top of the sign up page sums up what we are after perfectly: “Reduce the Trial & Error Cycle and Gain Confidence in your Coaching”.
A huge thanks to Gary and Brian for helping to feed our passion and get us on a path to realize the vision we have for our teams!
I look forward to interacting and learning with you in the future.
My name is Alex Seldin and I have been a parent/volunteer coach of a U14 boys travel team in the Philadelphia area for four seasons. Our club covers a small area, so our team is mostly the kids who want to be there – not the cream of the crop athletically or technically. I became enamored of this kind of possession football because, frankly, it was our only hope. Our players were never athletically superior so “kick and run” has always been a losing proposition. Our motto has been “No Plan B” – we either possess and pass and move, or we die. It fits my way of playing as well; I succeeded in the high school and (to some degree) college ranks because of skills and game IQ; definitely not speed or strength.
As the group is aging and heading into high school, it may not last much longer, but I aspire to reach back and help my club by starting over with a U8 or U9 group. I’m hoping they will be my guinea pigs for what I learn here on 3four3.
Cheers!
Hello, my name is Theron and I live in Sacramento, CA. I discovered 3four3 over two years ago via the U11 YouTube video. I was looking to educate myself to help teach my 7 yr old son who was about to play rec soccer. I made contact with Gary who was extremely helpful in giving advice and guidance as I prepared my son for the season.
My soccer background is minimal. I played one year in prep school. It was a quite unremarkable season for me since it was the first time I had kicked a soccer ball. My boys are the reason for my interest now but I must say I enjoy it so much now that I would stay involved even if my boys stopped playing.
This last season I coached a U8 rec team to get some coaching experience in a low threat environment. It was a very positive experience mainly because I had all of the lessons learned from 3four3 contributors to guide me. Before the season I sent an email to the parents explaining what I wanted to accomplish during the season and what I expected from the boys. I was pleasantly surprised how supportive the parents were. I think because they could see how competitive the boys were and how they played as a team.
I had a great time our record was 1 win 8 losses and 1 draw. Despite the record I was very encouraged by the development of the team. There were those moments when suddenly everything came together but they were just moments. We really never had any offensive punch but there were games we would possess for 70 percent of the game but loose 1-0 because of a defensive breakdown. I had more than one referee tell me after a game how U8 rec games are usually boring but that they really enjoyed working our game seeing the boys pass and playing as a team.
I will be coaching a U9 competitive team this coming season and I’m very excited about the opportunity. I now have a mentor locally who is helping me with my coaching and I have the 3four3 coaching course which I think is a dynamite combination and I have nothing but enthusiasm for the upcoming year.
I will try to get video of our games and share whatever I can through the season and hope to share as much as possible.
My dream is to start a soccer club in Sacramento that is top to bottom possession-based with a true goal of player development. I’m glad to join you all on this journey.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by
Theron Johnson.
My name is Ken Miranda and I, like some others, found 3four3 on youtube watching the U11 possession video and have been following for about a year now. I coach U8, U11, and U12 at an all girls club in central NJ and was just recently put in charge of the U8 to U11 age groups. Love the philosophy and been preaching it for about 20 years now and can’t wait to incorporate the great info from 3four3 and my fellow coaches on here. We’re in our off season in NJ now, finished at the end of November and will be starting up again after the new year, training indoor and playing in a futsal league. I’ll try to get some footage of some of our futsal games on the homework page once we start. If anyone is going to the convention in Philly next month, let me know and we can try to meet up. I’ll be there Friday and Saturday. Can’t wait to keep learning and becoming a better coach.
Hey All!
My name is Caleb, I’m 30 years old, and I coach an U12 girls team for a new club in Central California (Cen Cal United out of Hanford). This past season was my first year coaching competitively, I coached U11 girls bronze. We finished the year 3 wins, 4 draws, and 10 losses. Being a new club we definitely had some mistakes. We had two U11 girls teams instead of an age pure U10 and U11 team- I was given the lower of the two. I had 9 year old girls who had no business playing comp go up against 11 year olds. Other mistakes would be zero philosophy or coaching support. I discovered 3Four3 while searching for coaching help on the web. Like many others, my first experience was the U11 boys possession video. I was completely blown away and knew instantly this is was good soccer looks like. I then spent many a long night going through all the past postings and reader comments.
This upcoming season is starting next month. I want to improve. I want my girls to improve. I want to succeed.
I have sorted out the roster for next years team. I have age pure, and I recruited as best I could to get better soccer players on the team. We do have tryouts first week in February, but I feel I have my roster set unless I am blown away by a new drop-in.
I am so happy to be apart of this community. I’m afraid I may be more of a “taker” rather than a “giver” for awhile at least. I will do my best to share my process though- what is working and what isn’t.
Thanks for reading and all the help you will undoubtedly provide!
Hi – My name is Jed Davies and it goes without saying that I am a huge fan of what Gary and Brian are doing out in the States and I’d put them alongside others who have shaped my way of thinking as a coach.
Those who have shaped my way of thinking and have had a huge impact on me in different ways: Brian and Gary Kleiban, Jon Collins (Oxford Centaurs and PHD in Spanish Training Methodology), Raymond Verheijen, Tim Lees (Wigan FC), Louis Lancaster (Watford), James Nash (MK Dons) and most recently Brian Ashton (with his training method philosophy – former England Rugby Manager). I’ve been lucky enough to be in regular contact with all of the above and credit absolutely everything I know to each of them. It would be interesting to hear from all of you who your biggest influences are too. There’s only so many great and inspiring coaches out there! What better way to find them through likeminded coaches on a forum like this!
I currently work as the manager for Oxford University Development side, Assistant Head Coach for the Centaurs and Football Development Officer for Oxford University Football Association that has over 100 teams from 30+ colleges, a Women’s club and a Men’s club too. A lot of ‘work’ but treasure every moment of it! We’ve ran into implementation problem after implementation problem with the University teams – but learning every day as a result of it!
I also run a company called Inspire! Football Events Ltd with a close friend. We’re in regular contact with Raymond Verheijen and he wants the two of us to run his World Football Academy UK as the two company merge sometime next year. Just to quickly defend the man’s public perception – he’s an extremely knowledgeable man who seems to judge others how he judges himself – so when someone sets such a high standard for themselves, it’s not difficult to see where his regular twitter outbursts are stemmed from! There is no “off the record” and “on the record” chat with him, he just says it all as he sees it! I see Gary to be as fearless and honest too – a very good trait to have when you are as knowledgeable as the two of you!
Always happy to talk about my influences and cannot wait to finally start learning within a fantastically likeminded community on here too – just had a look down who has signed up and the calibre of member is already sky high! Great stuff!
Hi Jed,
I was wondering if you were going to sign up. For those of you who do not know it is Jed who is asking the questions in the audio on the homepage. I didn’t realise it was you till the goodbyes at the end.
I recently bought your book and must say I can appreciate the research you did in writing this. I noticed that there are a number of the drills in your book are also here on 3four3 coaching. It was mentioned at the end of the interview that the Kleibans were sending you their curriculum. I’m wondering if theses drills made it to your book from your trips to La Maisa or was it from talking to the Kliebans.Although the drills looked good eg 4v0 and I taught about them while reading them in you book, it’s only after looking at them here and seeing Brian execute them did I truly understand them. It’s true you can search the web for soccer drills and get millions of hits then why is every football team not playing beautiful football; well I have it confirmed to me now. It’s the way you teach, it’s the way you communicate, it’s the little details and it’s striving for perfection in your players. Not moving on till they are perfected. These qualities are hard to convey in a book.
In your introduction you asked who your biggest influences are. I came to coaching because of my son. When I first saw my son playing to coaching I taught to myself that he will never be able play. Through practice and learning, he is now one of the most skillful players in his age group U8’s at the academy where I coach. I once taught like a lot people that you were born with talent now I know that is not true. I love being wrong because when I find out; it means I’ve learned something. You talk about this in your book. I have another son 4years old who can do almost as many tricks as his older brother.
So for the last couple years the biggest influence on my short coaching career has been Mark Senior (@markproskills) bear in mind that I have only coached kids 5-7 years old so I believe in lots of touches, skills, tricks and dribbling for this age group. He in many ways goes against the grain, just like the Kliebans. Like a lot of people when I first saw the U11 possession video on youtube I was fascinated by it and have been following 3four3 ever since. This coaching website has come online at a perfect time for me. In 2014 our players will be U9’s and I’m excited about implementing this program. I will start with the 4v0. I plan to record the very first time they do 4v0 and then again a number of weeks later. I will post the results here.Christian
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This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
Christian McAuley. Reason: typos
My name is Shaun Nicholson originally from England now I coach in Maryland with Calvert Soccer Association. I coach two U11 boys teams and a U14 girls team. I also run my own coaching company called Three Lions Soccer Academy. Been following the blog for quite a while, also been tweeting to Jed to try get more ideas on how and why we should reinforce possession teaching. I have been trying to reinforce the receive across your body and then pass with the opposite foot with all my teams and camps for over 2 years now. Could not believe I was the only guy doing it until i found 3four3’s blog and saw you guys were as well.
I believe we can do better as people and coaches and there is always a need to learn more, so here I am.
You can find me on twitter @shauninusa
Hi Christian – yep unfortunately that is me on the Podcast trying to extract all the info possible out of Gary and Brian – I wasn’t expecting it to be used like that so apologies for the lack of two way conversation etc on that! But it did the job and I could have quoted the guys over and over in my book from that interview!
I’m 100% with you on drills in books – it takes the smallest of detail watching a session to lead you off onto understanding something so simple in a new way – books don’t quite offer that to me at least anyway.
I really like the fact you’ve stayed very specific and age relevant with your influences to date – it’ll be good to see how this evolves as you go up through the age groups. I used a lot of Coerver stuff with U7/U8’s when I first started coaching back in the early 2000s. I recently went up to a premier league club for a week and spent the week with the head of U9-11’s; and was absolutely fascinated with the language they used with the 8 year olds – “look to get it on the third line”, “you rotate here and you there”, “receive on the back foot” etc etc. Most academies wouldn’t dare use language like that with those age groups! That’s not to say it’s wrong or right, but it’s proof to me that it is a way that works. Those 8 year olds actually understood it – at least I could tell from the rotation intervention and back foot reminders – the club’s coaches believe that it’s a full immersion of language at the youngest of age groups that allows them to coach in this way. I know other clubs where they’ll consider the idea of splitting the pitch up into 7 lines of play or 4 (depending on how you do it) and view this as a coaching tool only, not for the eyes of 8 year old players.
Anyway – fantastic to be involved here and look forward to a crazy number of conversations about rotation patterns etc!
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This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by
Hi, all. I’d like to say thank you to Gary for opening up this great opportunity for all of us to learn not only from him and Brian, but also from everybody in the community.
My name is Liviu Bird (pronounced leave-you). I grew up in the great white soccer hotbed of Fairbanks, Alaska, but my heritage and soccer background come from Romania. I moved to the Seattle area for college, where I played two years at Highline Community College and two years at Seattle Pacific University (NCAA Division II). I also played PDL with the North Sound SeaWolves and Kitsap Pumas.
These days, I’m mostly a freelance soccer reporter specializing in tactical analysis (but I write all kinds of stuff). Follow me on Twitter to see all the stuff I write, when I write it. I’m moving away from writing a little and more toward coaching, though, as soon as I can get on with a club.
I was an assistant/goalkeeper coach at Edmonds Community College for two seasons, and I am the junior varsity assistant coach at Lakeside School (where Bill Gates went!). As with everybody here, I believe in the possession soccer model and what Gary and Brian want to build, and I’m eager to learn more and start building my own teams to play that way instead of being a frustrated assistant.
I look forward to interacting with everybody here. This promises to be well worth every penny, and I’m excited to see it all grow.
Good to see you on here, Chris. I’m down in the Portland area quite often, since I’m based in Seattle. We’ll have to get together at some point.
Hi guys,
My name is Kamran Rahim, 28 years old and I coach for Celtic in Upland, California and also at Rancho Cucamonga High School. I have 2 girls teams, U13 and U16 and am the varsity boys’ coach. I have been coaching for 7 years and have been following Brian’s team for the past 2 years. I have been able to watch his team several times and I walk away in awe each time. I am excited to begin this journey with my club teams and my varsity team.
Liviu,
Absolutely. I am always looking to meet up with like-minded people. During the Spring my high school team occasionally makes it up to the Seattle area as well. Plenty of opportunity to meet up, I’m sure.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by
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