One belief I grew up with — and I hear it echoed all the time — is that a great soccer player naturally makes a great soccer coach. The longer I’ve been coaching, the more I’ve realized that playing soccer and teaching soccer are two entirely different worlds. Sure, if Read more…
Where Do the Best & Least Experienced Players Play?“My child is playing defense, but I’d really like to see them scoring goals. Should I be concerned?” Here’s a quick overview of the most and least important positions by age group and game format: 7v7 Format (Formation: 2–3–1) Most Important Read more…
What to do when your kid barely gets off the bench It’s Sunday morning, 6:00 AM. Everyone’s up early for your 8-year-old’s soccer game that kicks off at 8:00. You drive an hour, spend two more on the sidelines watching warm-ups and a tough 3–0 loss… and your child plays Read more…
As many of you know, we had the pleasure of hosting several German coaches over the past few weeks. Before they left, we asked them: What are the biggest differences you see between youth soccer in Germany and the U.S.? Here’s what they shared: 1. A Unified, Institutional Club SystemIn Germany, Read more…
Fussbally Blog back to home The Problem With Goalkeepers The Problem with Goalkeepers: Why Early Specialization Can Hurt Development The Problem With Goalkeepers is that while they may be the most important position on the field, they are also the hardest to replace and the most difficult to learn. Mistakes Read more…
Fussbally Blog back to home Silent Sidelines in Soccer Lasse’s thoughts – The Math Test – Why Silent Sidelines in Soccer Matter Imagine your child going to school. It’s competition day: your child’s class versus the class from the next town over.Your child sits down to start solving the day’s Read more…
Fussbally Blog back to home No Participation Trophies Policy Why I Hate Participation Trophies The Dilemma of Trophies Trophies can be both a blessing and a curse—bringing happiness and tears, life lessons and also false expectations. At Fussbally, typically around 10% of participants in an average camp receive a trophy. Read more…
Fussbally Blog back to home Soccer Training Vs Practice Soccer Training Does Not Equal Practice When we talk about our sessions, I call them trainings, not practices. This distinction—central to the soccer training vs practice conversation—is intentional and meaningful. In short:Training = learning something newPractice = repeating what you already Read more…
Fussbally Blog back to home Aggressive Behavior in Youth Soccer “He/she is just not aggressive enough!” “We need to be more aggressive!” “How can I get my child to be more aggressive?” These are things I hear often — but we need to pause and ask: what do we really Read more…
Fussbally Blog back to home Why is weak foot soccer training important? Have you ever seen a professional swimmer compete in the regular Olympics while only using one arm? If you use only one leg in games, it’s literally like trying to win a swimming race using only one arm. Read more…