The Coaching Puzzle

My guess today is Todd Beane, founder of the TOVO Institute. Todd's organization has worked with professional academies in Spain, the Netherlands and a number of other countries, including the United States. In this episode, you'll hear Todd share his experience, talk about "redefining the fundamentals", and address why we should drop the dominant technical-centric approach and aim instead to create dynamic and realistic sessions and environments that would be more beneficial to the development of our players. This would also ensure that our players have fun in the process!

My guest today is Andreu Enrich. Andreu is the Head Coach of Mannheim Hockey Club, a club based in Germany, and author of a wonderful book called "Hockey: 50 tips from Intelligent Players". As it's been the case with past guests, I heard of Andreu on Stuart's Armstrong the Talent Equation podcast, where he made an appearance and talked about the book, along with several other topics, and I decided to invite him on the Coaching Puzzle to continue to dive deeper into youth sports. "Technical training", warm-ups, and players "making the right mistakes" are just a few of the interesting topics that we discussed. Enjoy!

My guest on today's episode is Dan Abrahams. Dan is a registered Sport psychologist for elite and developing elite sports individuals, teams, clubs, organizations and governing bodies globally. He is also the host of the Sport Psych Show, one of the world's most listened to sport psychology podcasts We talked about the evolution of the field, some specific terms and concepts that coaches should be aware of, and some practical ideas that even the least experiences coaches can use with the athletes they are in charge of! You DO NOT want to miss this episode!  

Casey is the Strength and conditioning Coach at Pacific Ridge School, and independent co-educational school in San Diego for students in grades 6-12. Casey has an extensive experience working with Athletes at the youth and HS level . You'll hear him talk about agility and developing playmakers, pre-season, and strength and conditioning among many other topics!

Our guest today is Dr. Jean Cote. Dr. Cote is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in Canada. His research interests is in the areas of youth sport, coaching, positive youth development and sport expertise. In this episode, he talks about key concepts such as early sport specialization vs sampling, deliberate practice, deliberate play , and transformational coaching. 

Coach Mark Krikorian is our guest today. He is the Head Women's Soccer Coach at Florida State University for the last 16 years, has won 2 NCAA National Championships there in 2014 and 2018, has made 5 appearances in the National Title game, and also led the US U19 Women's National Team to a 3rd place finish at the 2004 FIFA U20 Women's World Cup. Coach Mark is one of the most experienced and best coaches in the nation, and you will enjoy hearing him talk about how he started coaching, being honest with players, selecting his captains, and many other topics around the game 

In this episode, Coach Menzies talks about the work that went into the Jamaican Women's team qualifying for the Women's World Cup in 2019 in France, and discusses several topics in the youth game. Enjoy this episode! 

In this episode, you'll hear Doug talk about several topics that came up in his newest book, The Coach's Guide to Teaching, including the importance of having shared vocabulary, asking players "what do you see?" when pausing play to correct, and why the way you give feedback is 100% part of the culture that you create

Welcome to the Coaching Podcast. My guest today is Becky Burleigh, Head Coach of the Women's Soccer Team at the University of Florida.   In this episode, you will hear Becky talk about some intangibles outside of the technical skills that she believes are crucial for young girls to have, how she keeps her substitutes ready and hungry, and her respect for travel and grassroots coaches.

This episode is Part 2 of the previous episode, in which I discussed why I am not a big fan of the A Team-B Team-C Team model that is prevalent in youth travel soccer and some of the flaws that issues that that particular model creates. In today's episode, I talk about some of the avenues that we should explore as we look for alternatives, or at the very least supplements that can help address the many issues that the traditional A Team-B Team-C Team model seems to create. 

The next 2 episodes are going to be released as Part 1 and Part 2. In today's episode, Part 1, you will hear me talk about why I'm not a big fan of the A Team- B Team - C Team model that exists in youth travel soccer clubs  in the US.  I understand that this could be a controversial take and that many may disagree with my views, but as I stated when I started this podcast, my views are not the be-all and end-all. At the end of the day, it's crucial to have these conversations about different ideas to make sure that we are considering every approach and looking to adopt the best methods to successfully serve young athletes.  

In today's episode, I'm excited to release a conversation with Stuart Armstrong. Stuart is the head of coaching at Sport England, and the founder of the Talent Equation podcast, which is a phenomenal resource that he created to give advice to coaches, parents, and talent developers on the best approaches and ideas to develop talent in various sports.  You will hear Stuart talk about "the war against drills", which is a fascinating expression and concept that he came up with, and he also discusses why coaches should move away from traditional drills that involve a lot of repetition but no thinking and problem -solving, and provides an alternative option

In this episode, Coach Dorrance talks about the competitive cauldron, which is a fantastic tool that he uses to make his players and teams more competitive. We also talk about the importance of 1v1s, which was a topic in Episode 6, things that youth coaches can improve in youth soccer players, and the importance of team chemistry, and focusing on the process versus the end goal

In this episode, John talks about the changing the game project and his motivation behind starting it, gives his best advice to coaches and parents raising young athletes, shares his opinion on early sport specialization, early sport engagement, boys and girls playing multiple sports at a young age, and shares some practical advice for coaches and parents in terms of how to co-exist to give youth players the best chance to develop. 

In today's episode, I talk about the importance of creating training sessions that involve a lot of different forms of 1v1s when coaching young boys and girls. The more we put young players in those situations at a very early age, the more likely they are to develop the skills, confidence and bravery in those situations as they get older. I also share a couple of ideas for 1v1s activities that are simple for every coach to incorporate. Alphonso Davies' assist vs FC Barcelona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-nOOk-bacs

In this conversation, you will hear Mamadou Jallow, former college soccer player, talk about what it was like to grow up in a soccer environment that was very unstructured, and how growing up in such an environment made him a more well-rounded and versatile player once he moved from his native Gambia to the United States

In today's episode, Morgan Lewis is our special guest. Morgan has a wealth of experience in sport, both as a participant at a very high level, and a coach. In this interview, Morgan talks about the importance of developing mental skills, some specific mental skills that are crucial for young athletes, shares a mental framework called DARE that he uses with the athletes that he is working with, and talks about several other important concepts that aim to make players psychologically strong and that are also important for coaches  

In this conversation, Alan and I talk about the coach-centered approach and the athlete-centered approach, what made him adapt and change his approach, the importance of watching yourself coach, and developing players to be problem solvers using a specific practice idea that Alan previously used with his teams

In today's episode, I have the honor to share an interview with Gary Curneen, experienced coach at the collegiate and women's professional level, founder of the Modern Soccer Coach, and author of several books about the game. 

In Episode 1, I talk about the role and responsibilities that come with being a youth soccer/sports coach. I also talk about 5 elements that every coach must look to incorporate into their sessions

WELCOME TO THE COACHING PUZZLE!!!!!!