Tournaments

Article by Dr. Jay Martin
Tournaments! Tournaments! Tournaments! They are swallowing youth soccer in this country! Everyone wants to play in tournaments!! Soccer America has an entire issue devoted to tournaments. Every soccer publication in this country lists pages of tournaments for our children to attend! Every year the biggest decision a club team makes is-which tournaments do we attend? Most clubs have a person or three who do nothing but prepare for tournaments! Stop the Tournaments I want to get off!!! Tournaments are hurting America’s soccer playing youth!!

Soccer tournaments started in this country as a way for clubs to make some money to pay the bills. Great idea. Clubs would sponsor a tournament early in a playing season, or in the summer when league play was suspended to make some cash. Now these tournaments rule youth soccer. It is now very important to participate in these types of events. Many clubs advertise for players based on the tournaments they attend. Many coaches entice U16's, U17's and U18's to their club by promising attendance at tournaments where college coaches will attend. Really? Many player’s (and their parents) choose a club solely based on attendance and success in certain tournaments. Today, the main focus for teams, clubs, parents and players is - Tournaments!!

The weekly league game (or two) is secondary to the Tournaments! And maybe even eliminated from the busy tournament schedule. In Central Ohio club teams must participate in a sanctioned league to be allowed to play in tournaments, some clubs have a team for the weekly league (usually a weaker team) so the A team can compete in tournaments all over the country. And, if you don’t get into the tournaments of your choice??? Change clubs or create your own tournament! It works! Try it!

These tournaments allow our soccer playing youth to play a variety of teams in a variety of states all year long. But, they are expensive. It costs the average family a weekend, car milage, hotel expense, entertainment for between games, food and video game money to play in these weekend extravagances. Why? Because everyone plays in tournaments! The kids will become better players. The college coaches can see them play! Everyone plays in tournaments. Everyone that is except youth teams in other soccer playing countries.

The weekly game is the most important game for most other countries. The teams have one week of training. One week of learning. One week to prepare for the game on Saturday or Sunday. The most important aspect of learning the game happens in well founded training programs. The habits necessary to become a complete player are developed in training.

Training is important. Training is critical to the success of these soccer playing nations.

Why is training important? Training allows a supervised and progressive means to learn the game, if done properly! Training allows the player, coach and team to focus on the areas of the game that will influence performance. What are those areas?

• Fitness
• Constant technical improvement
• Improvement of tactical understanding based on problems in the previous game
• Improvement of the mental aspects of the game by applying stress in the training situation in a variety of situations
• Team building

Do any of these things happen during a tournament? Not very likely. The very nature of tournaments prevents this from happening. Maybe in America, we are uncomfortable with training. It is still a fact that some of our youth soccer coaches still do not have the background in the game as a player to feel comfortable in training. The obvious solution is play games. So, we play games and don’t train.

Soccer teams in Germany, England, Holland etc. do play in tournaments. But those tournaments are usually during a holiday break or serve as an excuse to go to Madrid for a week. During the soccer season league games count! The entire focus is on the league game. Promotion, relegation, rivalries all depend on the weekly game. Only in America do the players play in tournaments to collect patches for their bag or to spend Memorial Day in Lexington, Kentucky. Play. Play. Play. What happened to training?

These tournaments are killing soccer in this country. Young players can not learn how to play in these types of situations. Everything about these tournaments is bad for the development of American soccer players!!

Tournaments allow players and teams with slow pace or no pace to succeed. Teams play three games in a twenty four hour period and if they are lucky play two more and win a trophy. Assuming we accept the fact that minimum recovery takes twenty four hours, it is physically impossible to play that many games in a short time. In a recent tournament in Central Ohio, for example, a U18 team played at 4:45pm and 6:00pm Saturday night and at 7:30am Sunday morning! What can a coach expect to get from the players in these games? Nothing! It is not possible to play soccer in these situations.

These tournaments breed Underwater Soccer. Nice and slow-no change of pace-no defending. Soccer is not meant to be played this way. Soccer is a game that is played when the player is uncomfortable -when the player closes in on fatigue-when the player runs, works and defends for ninety minutes. The very early laws of the game of soccer stressed a physical component by not allowing a lot of substitutions. Fitness is a part of the game. Ah, so you think there is a fitness component when playing in a tournament? No, there is not. There is an energy conservation component-not fitness? American youth players stop running when they are uncomfortable. And since they are playing so many games in a short weekend, they just don’t run at all. When the players try to move on to the next level (college), they are shocked to realize they can not make the team. They don’t know how to play! They don’t know how to run and they don’t know how to work. They don’t know how to defend. They don’t know what the physical aspect of soccer is all about. They have never been taught what it takes to play this game at a high level.

Technical development in a tournaments situation?? No chance. The games do offer a variety of opportunities to cultivate technical improvement. But, because the games are so slow and there is very little defending, the time and space available for players is not realistic for a real soccer game. In fact, it is counterproductive. When a player does get into a real game where time and space are limited he/she can not play!

Tactical improvements? Don’t look here. There is no time between games to either discuss any tactical problems or work on them before the next game. If your team faces a formation or a tactic you haven’t seen before, what do you do?? Hope you don’t see it again. As a rule, there is very little teaching going on in regards to tactics in many clubs. The prevailing mentality is simply-find the best players and let em play! Not a bad strategy. But as players move on in their soccer career, an understanding of tactics is very important. Even a constant teaching/review of 1v1; 2v1; 3v2 etc is essential to complete maturation of a soccer player. This tournament mentality does not allow this teaching to take place. A player who relies only on athletic ability without learning the game will hit a soccer plateau and not get any better. This happens far too often in the United States. There is too much emphasis on the athletic ability of a player at the expense of soccer ability. In addition, tactics are important in the development of the whole team. If you agree with Alan Wade that the most difficult aspect of coaching a soccer team is getting all the players on the same page@ then you will agree that teaching tactics is very important.. To accomplish that, the team must have time to train together and learn about tactics after each game!


And the problems do not end there. The mental aspect of the game is lost. Soccer is a game where the mental aspect is so very important. In fact we delight in selling the game as a players game and as a mental game. But, we do nothing about it. No less an authority than former German international Jurgen Klinnsman feels that working on the mental side of the game is lacking right now in soccer all over the world. There is no mental preparation during tournaments at all. If’s 2:00 it must be Vardar or Dallas Texans. Let’s go play. The young players do not learn that a warm up prepares you to play physically and mentally! Rather they show up, perform some cursory warm up(or no warm up at all) and play. As a result they simply go through the motions of the game and never get any better.

Preparation is important. Preparation is important for the individual and for the team. The game of soccer is both physically and mentally demanding. It is the responsibility of the coach to prepare for both. In tournaments preparation does not happen.

Fields? Are you kidding. So many teams want to attend tournaments that most tournaments don’t have the space necessary to supply good fields. Fields are created on any space possible. The grass is too long, the holes are too big, the field is too narrow and very bumpy. The fields create problems with injuries and bad soccer. Narrow, bumpy, heavy fields are not the surface to learn how to play. These field’s contribute to a very direct style of play and don’t allow for any creativity or any positive dribbling. The fields at most tournaments are simply unplayable.

Officials? There is a shortage of officials all over this country. Any fall weekend will see many officials working a high school game in the morning and a college game or two in the afternoon and evening! As the hours on the job increase, the quality goes down. This is exactly what happens with tournaments. Officials will do four, five or six games each day. Officials have been known to eat lunch while working a line. And, how about that six o’clock game. What can anyone expect from an official who has been on the field for six or eight hours!! These long hours for officials can cause real problems in tournaments!

Some parents and coaches argue that they Acan not get better@ playing the same old teams and tournaments allow better competition. Every other league in every other country plays the same teams each year. The concern for these teams is to make themselves better. There is very little concern about who they play. The teams train hard all week to put what they learned on the field on the weekend. They learn how to play the game systematically and with a sound progression. Our tournaments kids miss out on a lot of necessary soccer information. Traveling eight hours to play three games in eighteen hours does not make a team better. Quality of competition is important, but the quality of each team’s effort each game is what counts in the end. The time spent traveling would be better spent training at an intense level and preparing for the GAME on Saturday!!

Some tournaments have addressed some of these problems. The Cinncinati Blue Chip Classic each April allows each team to play only once each day. The teams play three games in three days. Not great, but better than the usual five games in two or three days!

Recently adidas began an Elite Soccer Program (ESP) which brings in some of the best male and female soccer players to a site for five days of training and games. Each of these programs allows the players to Abe seen@ by college coaches and play only one game a day. The players have a chance to play the game at a higher level than the weekend tournaments. The college coach can see if the kid has a game.

A tournament now and then is fine. It can be fun for the club, the players and the parents. Maybe they can travel to some cities that are fun. A tournament can bring a team together and build some morale. But too many tournaments will prevent the natural progression of learning that will take place in well organized and thoughtful training sessions. Training sessions that use the last game as a learning situation to build on and training sessions that prepare the team for the next opponent. The old coaching expression that A-the game is the best teacher@ is not true. Games used as a laboratory and supplemented by systematic and progressive training sessions-is the best teacher!

Stop the tournaments!

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Importance of winter practices

Until human growth ceases at physical maturity the body is constantly laying down new muscle and nerve tissue. From the average onset of puberty at approximately 12.5 years boys add about 50% of their mature physical weight.

On second hand, kids are stopping playing sports at age 13! Players who neglect their deceptive dribbling and shooting skill training at any stage during the growth cycle will get rapidly clumsier than when they first cease practicing.

A young dribbler and goal scorer will gain self-confidence. This should surprise no one because players who have the ability to make the plays that can win the game for their team will automatically become highly motivated team members and eventually leaders.

Kids need to emphasize that during winter, they will benefit because all the live situations that are used to develop great dribbling. Keep them motivated.

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Mindset

Yesterday was a strange game.

The history of soccer is littered with examples of teen-age prodigies who failed to fulfill their potential, while others who once shared the same hype went on to become global superstars.

Players with a fixed mindset rely almost exclusively on their natural talent to deal with setbacks in their careers. They believe that talent on its own will help them through setbacks. We can say that yesterday was an example of that. Their mindset was in trick or treat… Rush team was fighting without talents. Rush team was winning their duals on 1v1. Players born with talent have a little experience facing obstacles or challenges. As a result, they often view these roadblocks as threats. When things get tough, they quit very easily and avoid hard work.

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First Season

After our first season in Premier league, Les Bleus are Champion for their League. For our first tournament, we went to Topeka and finished second.

It was an incredible season!

Thank you all.

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Comments during a game

By primarily coaching the team game coaches are teaching the predictable. It is a disciplined rote approach to developing players. Players who use only one and two touches have to be programmed to get and give the ball very quickly. There is much to admired in a quick incisive passing game but ball sharing and player interaction should no come before, or at the expense of, developing individual creativity and deception. In life the complete individual goes from dependent to independent to interdependent, to self-centered leadership and finally to mentor ship. As we can see independence clearly comes before interdependence. Yet most soccer coaches put the interdependent stage, team game, above the independent stage, development of a great individual dribblers and finisher. It should be obvious that the greatest players in team sport history developed the independent skills, dribbling and shooting, before the interdependent skills, receiving and passing.

So "by yourself" means that the player can beat an opponent or create space with a fake will penetrate more often. Critics of this method claim that creativity is developed at the expense of the team.

I believe that until the kid doesn't have a confidence on his/her skills to beat an opponent on 1 V 1 that doesn't make sense to make a pass.

"A team needs to be a solid unit, but like most Brazilian players, my instinct are to express myself, to get forward adn play with panache. That is my blood. For me, technique and intelligence are more vital than physical strength"
Robinho

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Weekly Les Bleus News

Philosophy and Commitment
As independent coach, I am trying to establish my own culture free from local club politics. Families involved in youth soccer are being asked to pay a lot of money, travel a lot and we don’t even sure that the coach will develop the player.

MOTIVATION

As today, our kids are young and need to get the proper techniques in soccer. We are still developing a player. Players must love the game and want to play for themselves not their parents or siblings. Players and parents should appreciate that to fulfill individual and team potential it will require a willingness to learn, a commitment to practice, and a desire to work harder than our opponents. Players should acquire the right technique before the age of 12-14 years old. After it is too late to correct it. It is almost like golf!

MEASURING PROGRESS
Short term success will not be measured by winning games, or scoring goals. Individual skills, proper technique used at the right time, effort and combativity will create a complete athlete. The team will learn a style of passing, movement and team possession play that will require a great deal of thought and patience and that will create complete all round players.

Finally
Have fun practicing and playing together
Help each player reach their full potential
Develop individuals who respect each other, rules, officials and opponents
Create well balance players who understand the game
Develop a positive and supportive parental group who have fun together

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Relax

Relax...
Sam’s Blog will be a weekly addition to the US Youth Soccer Blog. Sam Snow is the Director of Coaching Education for US Youth Soccer.
While observing youth matches over the weekend I was reminded of the over-coaching that so many youth coaches do during a match. Micromanaging a soccer game is very difficult to do as the action changes so fast that by the time a coach finishes a sentence of instruction the situation has changed. The ball has moved and so have all of the players, so the information is likely now useless. A coach yelling out general reminders, such as move up to support or recover to defend, is fine. It is the step-by-step instruction coming from coaches and many spectators does that is in fact harming the players.

With young players, 12-years-old or younger, the comments made are actually a mental distraction. This means the player no longer is focusing on the match but instead is trying to hear and act upon what is being yelled by the adults. Move this to the teenage level of play and now the tactical reaction by the players is too slow.

If they have come to rely on instructions from the touchline then they must be able to hear the instructions, filter out the extraneous parental comments from the coach’s comments, process the information, make a decision and then act upon it.Odds are very high that this process is too slow for that player to now make an impact on the match.

Players must be able to think for themselves in order to act fast enough in a match. The player who is hindered by the coach to rely upon the coach during a match is doomed to never be more than a reaction player. A reaction player is the one who just reacts to what just happened.

We want the American player to be an anticipation player. This is a player who can read the game and can then anticipate what may happen next. This is the player who can think one or two moves ahead of the action. This is a player who is now more likely to become an impact player!When a coach yells frequently during a match the coach then doesn’t know if the players are communicating among themselves. That intra-team communication is crucial to success. Players that do not talk to one another will always be one step behind the opposition. A coach who is quiet during the majority of the match is one who can hear

IF the players are talking.Then the coach can asses what the players are saying. Is the talk positive and tactically useful? If not then the coach can address that to a small extent at half-time or the end of the match and then more thoroughly in the next training session. Some coaches who make the change from over-coaching to a match appropriate level of coaching will find initially that the players do not talk because they are not accustomed to doing so. The coach had been doing all of the talking and the players were largely silent.Now that the coach is saying less, the players need to fill in the blanks and most will not be in the habit. Here the coach must show patience and allow the confidence to speak up during a match to grow with the players. This begins with the coach saying little during the scrimmage at practice so that players may take the lead in communication. Too many of our players do not speak up during a match, but many have not been able to get a word in edgewise over the monologue from the coach.

So here’s the bottom line… I don't think being quiet is good neither. But I realized that it is impossible to resolve everything during a game. That is my job to encourage them, motivated them and push them during a game but to try to coach during a game, it is too late in my eyes.

What do you think?

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For the kids

www.nikesoccer.com

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Article in the Star

There were an article on Wed. July 30 in the Kansas City Star Newspaper, talking about soccer. I thought I will comment a little....
(title)
Soccer players driven by dreams

The American market is huge for soccer. There are 4 millions registered male players. While these kids are often clumsily trained and lack creativity by Europeans standards, there are nearly as many of them as there are people in Ireland.

In their view, the U.S. system of developing players is broken. It is oriented around affluent, suburban teams supported by parents and organized clubs. They are puzzled by the emphasis on winning trophies and make money.

The system is based on who can afford to pay for their kids. We have some organizations that make a huge profit and don’t give anything to the kids. FC Porto is club at Johnson County, who believe in teaching core skills above all else and give scholarship to some of its players.

Why can Wizards sponsor scholarship? Why do we have to travel? With 4 millions of players, do we have enough talents? And it is not at 16 years old that you are going to develop a player but when they are 10. But until we get a sponsoring system that profit is not involve, clubs or organized programs will still emphasis on winning.

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Wizards against Columbus

The Kansas City Wizards stretched their unbeaten streak to five games Thursday with a thrilling 3-3 tie against the Columbus Crew in front of a national television audience on ESPN. Kansas City and Columbus combined for five first-half goals, the most in MLS this season. Newly signed forward Josh Wolff then converted a late game-tying goal in his first match back with Kansas City.

That was the highlight of the game. Finally we were glad to see Josh Wolff replacing Sealy who went to San Rose and scored for his first game.

Now we still have a big issue! How do we lose a lead in 12 minutes? How is it possible? If I was Cerner I will start to ask the coach what is going on!!!!

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Wizards beats Red Bulls

Jimmy Conrad scored his career-high and team-high fourth goal of the season and Davy Arnaud tacked on his first goal of the season as the Kansas City Wizards edged the New York Red Bulls, 2-1, Thursday in Major League Soccer play from Kansas City's Community America Ballpark.

That is the highlight of the night!

Hartman: he was one of his good day but I don't know if he lost his voice or what...there is no communication between his defenders.
Harrington: the best blue for me! He controls the left back and plays very well with Lopez
Sealy: I am going to try to stay calm... but he can't pass, he can't jump and he can't run. Why do we bother?
Morsink: one thing we can say, he is better than Savagnin! Did not create much but he was there when we need him.
Conrad: always doing his part! Good thing we have him!
Trujillo: I think he is still looking for his marks but he is working a little harder than mr Sealy.
Lopez: he is interested to watch. He seems that his back hurts because when he is running, he makes small steps but when he explodes, wow he is fast. Without him there is no team.
Espinoza: came at the 63rd minutes - exchange with Lopez and Lopez went to take Sealy spot. As soon as he was on the field, Reb Bulls came on the left side... I don't understand!
Well I will stop here because it is very pathetic to watch this team or maybe I should not call it team because we can see there is some tensions between the players, some frustrations. I don't see Wizards going too far if the coach don't start to think differently!

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Juggling

Ball control is an essential component of soccer. Players with good ball control carve up the field with exciting dribbles and cuts, while those without it often lose the ball to their opponents. Although it's simple, juggling is one of the best ways to improve ball control. It only takes a few minutes of training a day, but it produces noticeable results.
Step1 Pick the ball up and hold it out in front of you.
Step2 Drop the ball to your feet or thigh and kick it back up into the air. Use the base of your big toe to make contact with the ball.
Step3 Catch the ball with your hands after kicking it once. This is the basic movement behind juggling.
Step4 Drop the ball to your feet again and kick it twice before catching it. You can use the same foot for both kicks or you can alternate feet. Alternating is a good idea during training, because it strengthens your weak foot.
Step5 Count the number of times you kick the ball up before it hits the ground. Practice juggling until you can beat your record.
Step6 Master the basic juggling technique before trying more advanced moves. There are dozens of freestyle soccer moves that build on this basic technique, but you need a solid training foundation to do them well.

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Watch TV

I know that sounds crazy but during the month on June, there is the EURO 2008! You can find the schedule at http://www.livesoccertv.com/euro-2008/

I will recommend that you watch some games! We can try to get together if you are interested!

Group C is the most difficult group! Even during the world cup they never had a group like this one! Watch them! Spain, Portugal and Germany are also very good team.

My pronostic: France wins against Germany! 2-1

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Street Smarts

Well well! Last week I asked everyone to help me in order to make your kids to play more soccer at home! And I said that the environment here is different than where I am coming from.

Most top youth soccer clubs in the United States seek to win. In doing so, they often sacrifice individual player development.

The absence of street soccer leads to a key difference between American youth soccer and other nation’s program. Around the world, young soccer players come from all socio-economic backgrounds and play all the time. The defining characteristic of street soccer is that it is not organized and they can develop their creative tendencies and become more clever with the ball.

Here, most of the boys are playing so many different sports that soccer is not their priorities. As a consequence, the mantra of playing for the team and achieving results is imposed much earlier in American youth soccer than it is around the world. Teamwork and results are important aspects of the team sports and of American culture in general, but these elements should be secondary to individual player development at the youth level of any sport, including soccer.

The street soccer environment or playing with your kids is crucial for developing youth soccer players. It enables them to try new things and be clever with the ball while having fun. So I have been teaching more technical and tactical formula but that works effectively for us because we are playing with good athletes. That is why, I am trying to encourage everyone to play with creativity, effort and good technique at home or on the field.

If we are here this summer, let’s play together for fun! Parents & kids together. Just for fun.

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Mental Toughness

Another weekend - Another good performance from all players! My U6 girls had a great game too! Do all my players have mental toughness: some have it. Some don't.

Can we teach toughness?

There are practical and simple ways for coaches to enhance the mental touhgness of their players.

One of the first challenges is getting the athletes to learn from themselves as they progress self awareness in the foundation of learning and development. Athletes need to develop self confidence by using their skills.

The work that I am doing with skills helps your child's self confidence on the field, giving them the ability to hold the ball under pressure until the point where they either pass or shoot. Through my program, players learn to take risks, challenge and develpop foot skills.

Well, that is what I am trying to do!

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Games

I am very happy and proud for our boys to be able to play like that. As you are aware, these kids are starting to put everything together!

They are starting to use their skills, even Jack! Did you see his scissor? Fantastic!

Junior played incredibly well! Charlie also. And it is important for the players to have fun, and they do!

As you see, we are working more on the formation. I used to say "find the space..." today I am saying "can we fix the mess!"

But their confidence are strong. They tried to beat their opponents! Fantastic! Using their skills!

Hopefully they will continue to improve! Ok, I depends of me! Thanks!!!!

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BECKHAM

David Beckham has no intention of waving farewell to England after reaching 100 appearances.
The Los Angeles Galaxy star, who reached the milestone Wednesday night, maintains the wave he gave when he walked off during England's 1-0 loss to France was just an acknowledgment of the standing ovation that even the French fans gave him.

What do I think about it? Well, you may not follow it!

Beckham is 33 years old! Yes, he is working hard! Yes, he is the best in the world of what he is doing, controling the game and giving the best passes but he is still 33!

"The most important thing for me was to prove my fitness and I felt that I did that. I felt very fresh and a lot better than I thought I would," he said after playing 62 minutes at the Stade de France.

He is not running as much as he used too, he is not as fast as he was, and he is not playing in a league as strong as European league. So can he play in 2010?

I am saying: Let it go! Come on! Can you realize that you are 33? Yes! You are a good player and you are the best of what you are doing! But there are younger kids who need their chances!

Thank Beckham for your game and passion... But Zidane stopped and others...Now can you imagine if Zidane was coming back?

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Spring Season

Spring Season is starting!

Your kids are participating in sports for multiple reasons, the most prominent among them being developing physical competence (learning and improving skills), attaining social acceptance and approval (be with their friends) and enjoying one's experiences (having fun, doing something interesting).

Parents also influence children's perceived competence or beliefs about their ability in sport. Therefore, I will ask you to help your kids to do their homework!

Juggling! Juggling! Juggling!

Please motivate them! Challenge them! We bought a kick ball and they never used it! My son doesn't! Neither his sister! But I am re enforcing juggling. Julien has an average of 15 and he did once 30. Camille has an average 25.

So please, insist to motivate them!

Thank you!

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My goals

Wenger's philosophy of the game

Arsenal uses a 4-4-2 system. Wenger is constantly working to refine this system on the levels of both group and team tactics.
The team's defence is very attack-oriented. They attack their opponents early with a midfield press that alternates between a diamond formation and a back four. This tactic represents a calculated risk that the coach and his players are willing to accept (since most of the players are English and French, they have been playing without a sweeper since they were children).
· Wenger demands aggressive, ball-oriented defence from his players and cultivates it with lots of practice games in tight spaces. When Arsenal gets the ball, its attack is very forward-focused. Square passes and runs parallel to the endline are to be avoided.
However, contrary to the "typical English" playing style, Arsenal relies mainly on short passes in the opposition's half - until they get close to the goal, where every player is encouraged to take risks and go for the goal with confidence and determination. Errors are allowed, but playing carelessly and losing the ball is forbidden.

· Wenger places special emphasis on communication within the team. Every exercise is accompanied by shouts and commands that are loud and clear - aggressively so, if the situation requires it - and successful plays are greeted with cheers and applause. Players are expected to be actively engaged with one another and to cooperate in building team spirit, morale and enthusiasm for the Arsenal style.


The reserve team: Training methods and objectives

The reserve team coach's main responsibility is to prepare players for the professional team, and he works closely with the head coach to do so. Before every session, they discuss which reserve players should practice with the professional team. This, combined with the players' academic responsibilities, means that sometimes there is no practice session for the reserve team. On these days, their coach assists with the A-team's session, which keeps him up to date on their exercises and training concepts.
The reserve team plays in a round robin against the other Premier League youth teams. Since the idea is to give all youth players maximum exposure to match play, this tournament does not include scoring, advancement or relegation. In spite of this, all the teams try hard and keep up a fast pace, because these matches have a high prestige value for them.
Wenger always observes these matches, which helps motivate the players even more.
Training methods and concepts for the reserve and youth teams are almost identical to those of the professional team:
· positional play without opponents
· group and team defence tactics
· coordination training
· games in tight spaces
· games on one goal.


Summary

Whether this club scores a major international victory or not, their coaches are definitely on the right track with their current approach. Wenger has provided Arsenal with a solid soccer philosophy. And instead of just talking about the importance of a close connection between the pros and the youth team, Arsenal has created one.
At Arsenal, like any other big professional club, the pressure to succeed is great. Fortunately, this is one club that seems to have infinite patience and confidence in the work of its head coach and his team.

Coaching philosophy

During the week leading up to the match with Valencia, Arsenal had only four practice sessions. Moreover, some of the foreign players were required to play for their national teams, and a number of players participated in a match with the reserve team.
Wenger always gives his players the first day off after matches. He believes that mental
regeneration with family and/or friends is more important for his players than the customary regeneration run, which functions more as physical regeneration and has no proven training benefits.
The team normally does not meet until the second day after the match. Practice sessions always start at 11:00 am. A relaxed practice atmosphere is very important to Wenger, which is why he requires his players to arrive at the training camp one hour early, so they can mentally prepare themselves for the 90-minute session ahead, at leisure and without stress.
Two days before a match, practice lasts only 60 minutes and typically focuses on set plays and short-term exertions (like sprints and shooting) that require lots of takeoff power.


Team-building
During practice, Wenger demonstrates the same excitement and engagement he requires of his players. The mood is positive and light, even though all the players are intensely focused. Since practice sessions are frequently closed to the public (including journalists), everyone involved can play "naturally." When asked about the potential difficulty of working with so many so-called "stars," Wenger replied:
"It isn't difficult at all! Without cameras, journalists and kibitzers, every player can be natural, and no one has to put on an act. So everyone interacts normally. Problems only arise when the media is constantly present."
Arsenal holds only one press conference per week (every Friday).
The team gathers together for lunch and the break (massage, etc.) that follows. Afterwards, players are allowed to leave the training camp. Altogether, they spend four to five hours "on campus" every day.






Practice schedule and exercises
Every practice session is informed and shaped by observations from the previous match. However, we can sketch an outline of a typical session:
· Warm-up takes place indoors and consists of cycling, soccer tennis and strength exercises. Strength training exercises are determined at the beginning of each warm-up and led by a fitness coach.
To help determine the direction of individual fitness training, endurance and speed tests take place throughout the season as necessary.
· The main session starts with small games focusing on attack tactics: short pass combinations, moving up from the backfield, and 1 v. 1 situations on the goal. Alternatively, this part of the session may also focus on technique, coordination or speed.
· Players then move on to practice positional play and finishing, as well as individual and group tactics such as the back four, defensive play for midfielders and attackers, offsides situations and defending in 1 v. 1 situations.
· The session concludes with endurance training: primarily practice games, occasionally running without the ball.
According to Wenger's training concept, these methods are essential for successful tactical play (compact defence, forward passes, short pass combinations).
For exercises focusing on attacking play, Wenger uses fields designed according to his specifications. This allows players to approximate the tactics they expect to use in the next match and the required techniques more closely. Since a smaller field speeds up the game, players are forced to deal with intense time and opposition pressure.
Training with practice games

While Wenger delegates plenty of work to his two assistant coaches, he still takes on the majority of the responsibility for training himself. He discusses the schedule with his assistants before each practice session. This structured planning and the division of labour it requires makes a difference that shows.
· Whether it is a complex tactics exercise or a simple speed exercise without the ball, Wenger pays close attention, analyses results and makes corrections as needed. In this way he shares with players his optimism and confidence that the same mistake will not happen again on the next try. Though the pace is intense and concentration is essential, players are still supposed to have fun at practice. Wenger yells out encouragement and gives each player clear commands and instructions during the exercises.
Typical games and exercises to teach individual, group and team tactical play are introduced during the practice sessions. Coordination and technique exercises also show up on a regular basis.
· Players practice the flat four with 4 v. 4 or 5 v. 5 games on one goal.
Note: Sometimes the players themselves request this exercise at the end of a week, to help solidify their defence tactics.
· 8 v. 8 exercises on one goal focus on cooperation between the back four and the midfield.
· 9 v. 0 positional games on one goal (without opponents) help players reinforce and solidify passing and running patterns.
· 8 v. 8 exercises on two goals (in a half or two-thirds of a field, always extending across the entire width of the field) let players practice moving the attack forward.
· Coordination training and technique combined with speed round out the program.

Youth training
Coaching philosophy
In England, every professional team thinks of itself as an "Academy" or training centre, so 17- to 19-year-olds are already practicing in a professional context.
Classrooms are available in the administrative section of the complex for academic instruction, which takes place twice a week, supervised by part-time teachers. Team eligibility is based on individual performance more than age, so a 17-year-old could easily be playing on the 19-year-old team.
Every year during the professional championships, the 18-year-old team competes for the FA Cup, which is one of the highest awards in English youth soccer. The reserve team provides "backup" for all the other teams. The best players from the younger teams are integrated into this team in practice sessions and during the reserve season.
While the coaches are not required to follow a strictly defined training concept, they are expected to use systems and tactics compatible with Wenger's conception as described above.

The coaching team

To promote communication between the head coach and the youth coaches, all coaches are asked to arrive at the training camp early in the morning. Wenger's position is "first among equals:" He has the final word on any decision, but he is always available for dialogue and mutual exchange of ideas with the youth coaches. He is also responsible for signing promising new talents, and he maintains close contact with the head of talent scouting. The younger teams are not included in this system. Instead, they answer to a youth coordinator, who oversees scouting and signing new talents in cooperation with the relevant coaches

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