Coaching Women's Soccer : A Revolutionary Approach to Putting the Play Back into Practice

by Stokell, Ian

• ISBN13: 9780071382090
• ISBN10: 0071382097
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-14
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

Introducing a breakthrough approach to creating team excellence In Coaching Women's Soccer, Ian Stokell, an expert with 35 years of experience playing and coaching soccer, presents a revolutionary coaching paradigm that is sure to find mass appeal among the thousands of new and established women's soccer coaches throughout North America. The "freegame" approach Stokell advocates is based on the belief that drill-based coaching methods, adapted from other U.S. team sports, have no place in soccer, where ideally the game is the teacher, and players mainly learn from one another. According to Stokell, players dominated by an autocratic coach and forced to spend most of their time drilling never develop the on-field decision-making skills, sense of teamwork, or spontaneity needed to excel. Stokell provides a tested-in-the-trenches strategy to bring the game back into practice. In place of traditional drills, he teaches freegame restrictions and small-sided games--exercises that allow players to freely work on specific aspects of the game.

Author Biography

Ian Stokell (Penn Valley, CA) is the women's goalie coach at California State University, Chico. He is on the editorial board of Soccer Journal, the official publication of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Some Differences Between Men and Women	p. 1
A Comfortable Environment	p. 7
Don't Overcoach	p. 13
Clipboard Coaching	p. 21
Empowering Players	p. 27
Winning, Fun, and Intensity in Practice	p. 33
The Game Is the Teacher	p. 41
Basic Practice Tools	p. 47
Drills Should Be Banned	p. 55
Small-Sided Games	p. 61
Freeze-Frame in the Freegame	p. 65
Top-Down Progressions	p. 69
Patterns and Shadow Play	p. 75
Freegame Restrictions	p. 81
Width and the Outside Option	p. 93
Attacking Fullbacks	p. 107
The Long Ball and Full-Field Vision	p. 121
The Short Passing Game and the 3 Plus 1	p. 135
Transition	p. 149
A Typical Practice Session	p. 165
A Few Final Thoughts	p. 177
Index	p. 179
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