By now most teams have played their first tournament and league games.  Hopefully your teams are developing and the hard work from the winter and pre-season training is starting to pay off!

   Barry

1. coach training

2. MYSA reminder
3. Away Game tip.

4. website of the month

5. Article of the month - Stick to the Point!

1. coach training
   We had a good turnout for the VUSC-sponsored MYSA Y module at Velocity Sports on 4/18.  Minnetonka varsity soccer coach Jeff Hopkins provided some good ideas and fun skills and activities.

2. MYSA reminder.
   MYSA has asked us to remind you to check both goals before each game to be sure they are anchored.  They also asked that you remind your team parents that younger siblings should not play around the goal area before or after games to help preserve the goal area for the season.

3. Game tip.
   A day or two before an away game, it's a good idea to contact the opposing coach to: a) make sure the game is still on for the scheduled time and field, and; b) see if the published field directions are correct (or if there's a better way to get there!).  It's nice to keep the last-minute surprises to a minimum on game day.
   Also, please remind your players, players' parents, and coach team about sportsmanship.  We want to be sure that Valley United keeps its reputation as a club that values fun, skill and sportsmanship!

4. website of the month
Secrets to Soccer - skills and drills videos - https://www.s2s.net/todays_skill.php

 a great collection of sample skills and drills with video, written description and coaching points.

5. Article of the month - Stick to the Point!
from Lawrence Fine...

If there is one thing that will both confuse and turn players away from soccer more than anything else, it's coaches trying to cover too many subjects in their training sessions and talks.

It's important when running a training session to have an emphasis and to stick with that emphasis throughout an activity and throughout the session.  For example, if the session's emphasis is on possession and in the course of a small sided scrimmage, a player hit's a shot poorly, if you, as the coach, make a big deal about the poorly struck shot, it takes the players minds away from the correct emphasis (possession) and changes it to shooting technique.

When designing a training session, pick one point of emphasis and stick to it.  This emphasis can be somewhat broad (for example attacking with numbers would allow you to work on 2 v 1 then 3 v 2 then 4 v 3 etc) but if you try to combine two that aren't closely related (possession and tackling for example), it will most likely fail.

On a similar point, when a coach is talking to the team, it's also important to stay on point.  Too often, during a halftime speech, coaches will try to address every point they noticed during the first half.  As the coach goes down the long list of points, the players will start to lose focus.  At best, they will remember the last points mentioned.  Instead, the coach should pick three or four points (at the most) and stick to them in the speech. 

The thing to remember, when trying to address everything, nothing gets addressed properly.  Instead, pick the points that are most important to the team and address them and while you aren't addressing everything, you will get more accomplished.

If there is something you feel needs to be addressed with an individual player, pull that player to the side and address it one on one.  This way you can get it addressed without confusing the rest of the team.

Stay on point and you, and your team, will be more successful.

Any questions, comments or suggestions should be sent to Lawrence@finesoccer.com or they can be posted on the FineSoccer Forum

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Have a great day!

Lawrence