Back to eteamz Soccer

Jeff Pill is currently the Women's National Staff coach for US Soccer, serving Region 1. He is also the assistant coach with the U19 Women's National Team that are attempting to qualify for the upcoming 2004 Youth World Cup. This page began when Jeff was the Director of Coaching for the New Hampshire Soccer Association and has continued to evolve. He has his national "A" license and is a National Staff Coach with US Soccer. He is also a FIFA Technical Assistant.

This is a Coaching Letter For Parents that is perfect for the first meeting with your player's parents. It is an excellent resource for coaches. Team Discipline is very popular as is Player Responsibility.You can also browse some basic pointers on Technique.

NHSA 4 v. 4 Program

Practice Sessions with Drills

Individual Drills

Defending

Goalkeeping

"Some environments can be used to train goalkeepers and shooters as well. Again, just by putting keepers in these environments and making the situations competitive, they will better. The coach's expertise can enhance these environments. Let us know what you think."

Fitness

Soccer players cover a total distance of about 6 miles during an average game. This distance is an accumulation of walking, jogging, cruising, and sprinting that is randomly spread throughout the game. Added to this is the fact that the movements are not only "straight ahead" running, but often involve agility runing (change of speed and direction), running ackwards, and sideways.

What follows are selected games and activities that attempt to replicate the type of fitness demanded during a game. The activities vary in that some are individual activities, some small group activities and some large group. Notice that all of them involve the ball, and all can be played to keep score so that the activities become competitive and intense. Never are players standing on long lines, waiting to play. If they are waiting, it is to recover from intense activities.

The best way to monitor fitness levels and work rates is by taking one's pulse. The average heart rate should be approximately 90% of maximum heart rate. maximum heart rate can be found by taking 220 minus the player's age (202 for an 18 year old player). Therefore for an 18 year old their average should be about 180 beats / min.. Or a range of about 160 - 200 bpm while working hard. Pulse rates can be found by taking the pulse for 15 sec, and then multiplying by 4.

I would like to believe that the included environments are fun to play as well, thus, making fitness work not seem like drudgery. Try them out, and let us kow what you think.

Favorites

"What follows is a smattering of my favorite drills that I often use because of their effectiveness in teaching the game in and of themselves... just by playing these games, and keeping score so that the games are competitive, players will improve. Many of these games can be used to teach a variety of concepts or skills. Each individual coach's expertise that they bring to these environments can only enhance the learning experience for the players. Try them out, and let us know what you think!"

Team Training

It is essential that coaches take the time to train the entire team as a unit. This allows everyone to "be on the same page" as the team organizes their attack and defense.

The following training ideas assist the coach in achieving some of these "TEAM TACTICS" goals.

Individual Tactics In Defense And Attack

Teams that win a majority of the individual duals during the course of a game generally end up being on top of the final result. The following are some games that particularly emphasize the individual duel both in attack and defense.