soccer

Mental Health

Three Pillars that are Key to Unleashing Your Performance Potential

This article was written by Michelle Weimer, Rush Soccer’s Certified High Performance Coach.

As a high-performance coach, I have witnessed countless athletes with incredible physical abilities fall short of reaching their true potential. What sets apart the champions from the rest is not just their physical prowess, but their unwavering mental toughness. The ability to master mindset, manage emotions, and maintain empowering behaviors and habits is the key that propels athletes to new heights, both on and off the field. It’s these three pillars that I focus on when working with athletes, to help them amplify their potential.

So, let’s explore the significance of these three pillars and how they can optimize and level up your performance potential.

Mastering Mindset: The mind is a powerful tool, capable of shaping your reality. Your mindset determines whether you perceive challenges as obstacles or opportunities for growth. Cultivating your confidence with a growth mindset and a belief in your ability to learn and improve is essential. Being able to embrace challenges, view setbacks or failures as learning experiences, and maintain an unyielding belief in your potential, will benefit you greatly when you experience these obstacles. When you approach every practice, every game, everything – with a positive and resilient mindset, you create a foundation for success.
Managing Emotions: Emotions are a natural part of the human experience, and athletes are no exception. However, the key lies in how you manage and channel those emotions. Emotions can be powerful allies or formidable foes, depending on how you harness them. Developing positive emotional intelligence allows you to recognize and understand your emotions, enabling you to respond rather than react. Whether it’s handling pressure, overcoming fear, or staying focused amidst distractions, mastering your emotions grants you the mental composure needed to perform at your best.
Maintaining Behaviors and Habits: Consistency is the core of excellence. Your behaviors and habits directly impact your performance and overall success. Maintaining positive behaviors by establishing empowering habits and routines will help you create a structured and disciplined approach to training and competing. For example, prioritizing proper nutrition, quality sleep, and regular training will support your physical and mental well-being. Additionally, practicing deliberate focus and visualization techniques can enhance your concentration and mental clarity. By consciously and consistently maintaining behaviors and habits that support your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing, you pave the way for long-term success.

Optimizing your performance on and off the field requires an approach that goes beyond just physical training alone. You must strengthen your mental fitness as well. Mastering mindset, managing emotions, and maintaining empowering behaviors and habits are the pillars upon which elite athletes are built. By nurturing a strong growth mindset, embracing challenges, and maintaining a positive outlook, you set the stage for success. Through increased emotional intelligence, you gain control over your reactions and utilize your emotions to your advantage. And of course, by consistently adhering to empowering behaviors and habits to support your overall well-being, you provide yourself with the foundation needed to level up your performance and achieve your highest potential.

***Want to hear what others have to say about how working with Coach Michelle has improved their performance? Check this out!

“Our son’s competitive drive and performance expectations were leading to some negative behaviors on the soccer field. Michelle recommended us to try to help our son work through these negative emotions. Within a couple of months, we began to see some positive behavior changes on the field. He was already working on his positive mental state as well as holding himself accountable for his actions. While it was a slow process, we have been extremely happy with the way he has been able to use the tools she taught him to focus more on the things he can control, like his own attitude. Michelle has always been a bright spot for our son and her positive outlook easily helps reassure all of us. She is very flexible to work with and understands the busy life of a family and athlete. Her session communications help keep us informed on how we can best support our son as well. He went from getting a yellow card most games to not receiving any in a season. We are very proud of his dedication to working on his mental game and can’t thank Michelle enough for her help!“

***Are you ready to build your mental toughness and rise to your highest potential? Check out the trainings in the Rush Soccer Development site or schedule a Discovery Call with Certified High-Performance Coach, Michelle Weimer today.

Connect With Michelle Weimer

June 28, 2023

Parents

Are You Helping or Hindering Your Child’s Performance on the Soccer Field? The Dos and Don’ts to Empower Your Athlete to Thrive

This article was written by Michelle Weimer, Rush Soccer’s Certified High Performance Coach.

As a parent, you play a vital role in your athlete’s soccer journey. And I have no doubt you want your son or daughter to succeed. But what you might not realize is that your behaviors and actions can greatly impact their performance on the field. So, let’s take a look at a few essential dos and don’ts when it comes to being a positive influence on your athlete’s soccer success. Then be honest and ask yourself… Are my behaviors and actions empowering or hindering their performance?

DO:

Be a Supportive Fan: Cheer enthusiastically for players during games. Show them you’re their number one supporter. Celebrate accomplishments and efforts, regardless of the outcome. Your encouragement will boost their confidence and enjoyment of the game.
Promote a Growth Mindset: Help your child develop a growth mindset by emphasizing effort, practice, and learning from mistakes. Encourage them to see challenges as opportunities for growth. Celebrate their progress and remind them that improvement comes with time and dedication.
Provide a Safe and Nurturing Environment: Create a safe and nurturing environment where your child feels comfortable expressing themselves on and off the field. Avoid excessive pressure or criticism. Instead, focus on constructive feedback and positive reinforcement. Let them know that mistakes are a part of learning and that you are there to support their development.
Encourage Healthy Competition: Promote healthy competition by teaching your child to respect opponents, play by the rules, and exhibit good sportsmanship. Emphasize the importance of fair play, integrity, and teamwork. Reinforce the Rush Way and teach them to appreciate the value of competition, but not at the expense of respect for others.
Support Their Soccer Journey: Support your child’s soccer journey by providing them with the necessary resources and opportunities to succeed – from making sure they regularly attend trainings so they can utilize the knowledge and expertise of their coach, to being certain they are participating in additional Rush programs such as the Rush Soccer Development Train @ Home Program. Attend their games regularly and engage in conversations about their experiences. Show genuine interest and ask open-ended questions to understand their perspectives and feelings.

DON’T:

Behave Overly Critical: Avoid being overly critical or focusing solely on the mistakes your child makes on or off the field. Negative criticism can damage their confidence and hinder their performance. Instead, provide constructive feedback that focuses on improvement and highlights their strengths.
Live Vicariously Through Your Child: Resist the urge to live vicariously through your child’s soccer achievements. Remember, it’s their journey, not yours. Encourage them to pursue their own goals and dreams, rather than fulfilling your own unfulfilled ambitions.
Use Excessive Pressure: Avoid placing excessive pressure on your child to perform at a certain level or achieve specific outcomes. This can lead to anxiety, stress, and a loss of enjoyment in the game. Let them set their own goals and support them in their personal growth and development.
Interfere During Games: Avoid interfering or coaching your child during games. It can distract them and disrupt their focus. Trust their coach and the training they have received. Instead, be a supportive spectator and save the coaching for practice sessions or discussions outside of the game. Just don’t forget all the above points when you do have those discussions.
Compare to Others: Comparing your athlete’s performance to that of their teammates or other players can be demoralizing. Everyone has their own unique strengths and areas for improvement. Focus on their individual progress and provide encouragement based on their personal growth.

Remember, your role as a parent is to provide support, encouragement, and a nurturing environment for your child’s soccer journey. By following these do’s and avoiding the don’ts, you can be a positive influence and help your athlete improve their performance and thrive in soccer and beyond.

***Want to know more about how you can support your athlete’s performance and success? Schedule a Discovery Call for you and your athlete with Certified High-Performance Coach, Michelle Weimer today***

Connect With Michelle Weimer

June 6, 2023

Parents

Parenting Tips For Before, During, And After Tryouts

Pablo Toledo -Rush Soccer’s Sporting Project Director- was joined by Asia Mape, Founder & CEO of ‘I Love To Watch You Play’, and discussed Dos and Don’ts for parents to help and encourage their children throughout this process.

Tryouts are stressful for everybody, dah, so we wanted to help. That’s why Sporting Project Director Pablo Toledo got together with Asia Mape, founder & CEO of ‘I Love To Watch You Play’, to discuss the topic. How can we help our children before, during, and after tryouts?

Simple question, important answer.

“Once I had my own kids, I started to go through the youth sports cycle, and I realised not only did I need a lot of help and guidance, but a lot of parents out there too. And they felt the same kind of ‘out of control feelings’ that I had”, commented Asia.

You can also find the full interview on The Rush Podcast Network! Check below:

Was there something that triggered ‘I Love To Watch You Play’? “I like to laugh about this. I was not a good sports parent. I still grow and learn everyday. I still make so many mistakes, it’s really hard. I thought I had everything figured out. My mindset was ‘oh, how to be the best’, I was basically going at it from this approach, which is completely counterproductive in the end, so we started ‘I Love To Watch You Play’ in 2015. We are basically a platform to help parents raise happy, healthy, successful athletes. I do it by researching, writing, interviewing, all the topics experts, athletes, newsmakers. Then, I bring all that information and share it with parents, coaches, and administrators”.

Through this introductory question, the first tip arised:

“Kids should not be treated as mini adults. And I think that a lot of us parents, with good intentions (I never try to make parents feel bad about it because I’ve been there), want to help our kids but we end up doing the opposite”, she added.

“If I can add one little thing that I do a lot in my coaching. We always say ‘you reach a point in your sporting career that you have to GET serious, but that doesn’t mean that you have to BE serious. Just take what you do seriously’”, Pablo explained.

What advice would you give for parents throughout this stressful period? “Kids are already feeling stressed, so the last thing you want to do is add stress -Asia pointed out-. You want them to feel happy, confident and prepared, not at all worrying. There’s no point in saying ‘don’t forget to X‘. You really just need to prepare them, get them there early, make sure they sleep well. Why stress them out? Why make this huge thing in the house?
If there’s any, what is the homework for parents prior to tryouts? As said above, it is key not to stress your child out. As Asia explained, “you want to create an atmosphere that is not stressful, talk to them only about things they can control: attitude, effort, making eye contact. You just want them to be at their best”.
What do we do if we notice that our child is having a negative experience during tryouts? “During tryouts, if your child is having negative experiences, or if he/she is feeling bad, because sometimes children are very hard on themselves, so parents throughout the process need to help them reframe these thoughts. You need to be continually giving them positive feedback, not holding onto bad moments, and even if they mess up during a game or tryout, let it go”.
What do we do if things don’t go well and our child doesn’t make the team? “What happens a lot of times, if a child doesn’t make the team and a parent starts criticizing the process, criticizing the coach, is that all you are really doing is minimizing their ability and their chance to grow and learn to have accountability. The main thing after the tryout is to not minimize the process, what your child just went through, and make excuses of why they didn’t make it. Failure is the greatest teacher. This was a learning process, ‘what did you learn? What do you have to do next?’. That initial hurt feeling because you just wanna solve it for their kids: ‘They didn’t know what they were doing’. That’s really counterproductive for them.

It is also important for parents not to downplay it either. This is a big deal for your children. So, if they didn’t make the team and they are not going to be with their friends, let them express their feelings and get it out. Ask them questions, encourage them, ‘What do you think happened? Let’s reflect on it’. Sometimes it can be hard, not every kid wants to talk about those situations, but we should recognize it as a hard moment and honour their feelings”.

And what if it’s the other way around, your child succeeds and his/her teammates don’t? “There is a tricky situation if your child does make the team and their friends don’t. Just be thoughtful about what the others are feeling, and remember what it feels like for all those kids who didn’t make it”.
Why is it so important for parents to encourage these aspects and respect the children’s sensations and emotions? “These tools we are talking about are not just ‘sport tools’, they are life tools. That’s not just when you are on the soccer field, but also when you have your first job interview or on your wedding day. That’s why sports are so amazing, we can practice so many different situations and scenarios in sports that are really going to be so important throughout their entire lives”.
From the parents standpoint, what are the main concerns during this stressful period? “I think almost all parents can relate to: Most of us want our kids to make the top team, so the stress is ‘are they going to make the team? Are they going to get the coach they want? Are they going to be on the same team with their friends?’, and I think a lot of times there is an aspect that relates to the child but there’s also an aspect that relates to the social life of the parent. You really create this sort of wonderful relationship with other parents and if we have kids who don’t make that team again, you can feel that you’ve been cut off. Some other times, there’s also this thinking of ‘if my kid didn’t make the top team at 9, he/she won’t make it at 10’, so you have the terrible feeling that your child is going to get left behind” and it’s not like that, development is not so linear, sometimes the best player at 9 is average at 15 or the other way around.

Thank you for a fantastic interview, Asia! Visit I Love To Watch You Play to learn more about raising Happy, Healthy, Successful Athletes. Thank you for reading!

May 9, 2023

News

Can I Coach To Win The Game While Still Focusing On Development?

This article was written by Pablo Toledo, Rush Soccer’s Sporting Project Director.

I normally tell our Head of Content that it is not necessary to add my name on fragments that I’ve written. I do that for two basic reasons: The first one is that I don’t want people to think that the Rush Way is ultimately ‘Pablo’s way’. I didn’t come up with it, I learnt it. The second reason is that I really don’t care about the credit. I’m pretty good at managing my own ego, and among many flaws I do think that’s one of the best qualities I have as a coach.

I break my own rule in this post because the opposite happens: This is Pablo’s Way, not the Rush Way, and I mean to be honest about that because there is absolutely no science behind what I’m about to say, I did not learn it from anybody but simply came from self reflection, and I’m pretty sure there are better ways to do it, but this is mine and maybe by sharing it I can trigger some good thoughts on you.

The role of the coach in youth soccer is to facilitate environments that accelerate learning. That’s a statement. That’s why we talk about development in coaching and not so much about performance. That’s why we have a 6-3-1 philosophy, and that’s why another two million things.

Now, what I frequently see and I also experienced as a novice coach, was a conflict between the idea of developing and the idea of winning (or trying to win, because it’s not really a choice). When I first started, even if this embarrasses me now, I just wanted to win and all of my decisions were secretly based on that. I’d say appropriate things in terms of development but my actions were not always congruent with them.

When I realized that I felt hypocritical and that I was really missing the ball, so I evolved into a sort of Himalayan coaching monk, and all I was focusing on was learning aspects, not caring about results, whether positive or negative.

There were some good improvements over that period, in which I learned to be more methodical in my observation, less reactive in my coaching, more rational, more thoughtful and purposeful, but over the years I realized that was also wrong. I was still missing the ball.

When I observe others coach, a large percentage of the time I think they are also going through one of those two phases.

What I realized over the years (it is important to put in the following context: I’ve been primarily coaching U16+ boys for years now), is that I needed to care about winning, because my players cared about it. I need to honor their desire to win the game and they need to feel that I care about it to sustain a top coach-player relationship. I needed to bring my emotions back, but control them, use them wisely. As you get close to performance stages, players will love you for the human aspects of the relationship but those relationships are firstly built on knowledge. Your players build the relationship with you over the foundation that they feel that they can learn from you and you can help them win, otherwise you would just be a great guy/gal to them but they would probably prefer somebody else to coach them.

Once again, this might be very different for younger age groups as we get further from performance stages. I’m saying this in the context of my current U17 Boys MLS Reserve team, so the reference is specific.

All of this said and this personal journey covered, I started wondering how I could coach a game in a methodical way and balancing both aspects instead of constantly battling them and placing them as opposites when they’re not. That way, I came up with this very, very simple approach that has been very effective to me.

The approach is simple and it organizes my coaching during the game to remain focused, purposeful, and avoid randomness and constant reactive behavior.

The game starts and I observe our performance for at least 10 minutes. If I feel like the competition is even or we are better than the opponent and there are no major problems, I immediately switch my attention to favoring learning. What I mean by that is that I place my focus on aspects that we’ve been training and trying to improve. Let’s say it’s been playing out of the back. There we go then, all I focus on is how we are doing there, reinforce concepts, praise when we do it right, etc. If we make a mistake on the attacking third, I don’t care, that’s not the topic today. If see it repeatedly, I’ll just write it down to work on it in the future, but I don’t allow myself to get wrapped up on it, avoiding randomness. This sounds basic (and it is) but can be very useful, because in most games you will see fifty million mistakes (and virtues).

On the contrary, if within those 10 minutes of assessing performance I conclude we are having problems, it is my job to fix it. I can’t focus straight on learning unless it’s directly correlated. Imagine that learning today refers to bouncing the ball on the striker to attack the goal and we are having major issues defending on the flanks or with our pressing approach. The players would look at me like saying “coach, what are you talking about? Do you not see that?”. Again, I can’t focus on learning without first honoring their desire to win the game and putting them in a good spot to do so. And trust me, as you start training good older players, they know football and what they’re talking about. If you say something stupid twice or you miss a couple big problems that are obvious to them, you lose the group because that initial foundation breaks. So the approach is simple in that way, focus on fixing the problem, take some actions, observe again and then question yourself the same initial question: “Are we better than them?”. If the answer is yes, you know what to do, and if the answer is no, keep your focus on fixing the problem.

I’ll wrap this up with an initial comment. This is not scientifically proven but purely an approach I’ve developed through experience. Far from rocket science (does it need to be anyway?), but if you ask me that question: “Can you try to win the game while focusing on developing players?” I’d say absolutely yes, and this is how, at least I, do it.

April 25, 2023

Goalkeeping · News

Coaching The Individual Goalkeeper

This article was written by Sean Connors, Rush Soccer’s Global Goalkeeping Director.

“T.E.A.M. – Together Everyone Achieves More!”.

“There is no I in Team!”.

However, there is only one player on the field for each team that can use their hands.

Everyone can recognize that the goalkeeper position is unique to the game of soccer. The uniform is different. The equipment is different. Clearly the rules are different, and what it takes to be successful in the position is different to that of every other player on the field.

To be the best goalkeeper coach you have to balance the individual needs of each goalkeeper on a team, or the individual needs within a training group. There is no “one size fits all” approach that will give you as much success as being aware that each goalkeeper is different and needs to be treated as such.

Recently I had the chance to speak with Goalkeeping Director Mike Kappas from Virginia Rush, and Goalkeeping Director Matt Stueckle from Washington Rush where we spoke about this exact situation.

“Making an individual connection starts when the GKs arrive at training. Taking time to greet each GK, handshake/fist bump, and checking in to see how they are doing. How is school? How is your family? How were your games this weekend?”.
Mike Kappas – GK Director at Virginia Rush.

These individual meetings allow Mike to get a read on how they are doing at that exact moment and gaige what they need from the training session. Learning the needs of the player encompasses both emotional and physical needs. Maybe the GK did poorly at school, or took a bit of an injury from the weekend.

Coaches must make these types of connections to best know how to meet the needs of their players.

“Within a training session the coach must be aware of individual struggles. It might be with a certain technique, or making a save from a particular position on the field. What if during the session the GK is in the same position over and over again trying to get reps to improve but the ball keeps going in the net? The risk is it can reach a point where mentally it is crushing the player making them think they are terrible and can’t stop the ball”.
Matt Stueckle – GK Director at Washington Rush.

In these cases what can a coach do?

Coach to the individual! Try to change how you are teaching them. Can you demonstrate the technique differently? Can you change the language used? Have a fellow GK try to explain it to them. In some cases the GK needs to be pushed further and can handle being challenged. Other GKs will need to move on from the situation and come back to it at another time.

Get to know the Goalkeepers and work to teach them at their level! The better you can address each individual the more success they will have.

March 29, 2023

News · Rush Way

Rush Way: Player First, Team Second

This article was written by Pablo Toledo, Rush Soccer’s Sporting Project Director.

We have spoken about this before, clubs almost always declare that their goal is to develop players. Now, in my experience, that doesn’t normally make it far from beautiful words and sentences full of coaching education cliches. Maybe I’m pessimistic and/or overcritical. Moreover, I think most of the time clubs and coaches can’t even express in pragmatic terms and actions how a club would specifically behave and operate in certain areas if that is the true objective pursued (I must be pessimistic…).

We, the Rush, do know, and that’s a statement we can stand behind. Our Rush Way Player First, Team Second philosophy is one of those areas that specifically guides the way we operate towards prioritizing in player development. Read below:

PLAYER FIRST, TEAM SECOND

Similar to the European youth club structure, Rush encourages the player to be first before his or her individual team. For example, we encourage:

The player to play with the adult team before his own team’s game.
The player to train with older, experienced teams in place of his own teams.
The player to guest play with an older team in place of their own game.
The player to attend national team events, college showcases, international tours, select events.

This enables players to be comfortable playing on teams that are in line with their ability regardless of age but based on performance in training and game days. Players are encouraged to train with higher level teams to accelerate their development.

– “But Pablo, don’t take away my best player, we are fighting for the league”.

– I don’t care.

Have you ever self reflected on how you and your club would operate in the following areas if the objective and the priority is truly to develop players? I think you’ll find the following graph interesting. Enjoy.

March 14, 2023

News

USC 2023 – Design & Development Of A Club’s Sporting Project.

This article was written by Pablo Toledo, Rush’s Sporting Project Director.

When I was proudly invited to present at the USC Convention 2022, the first thing I told the audience was that I had no formula as far as how to design and develop a successful sporting project for their clubs, and that all I was going to do was share what I did and what I’m still doing for my club, Rush Soccer, which has very particular characteristics, given our size, geographical distribution, and type of club that integrates our network. Solutions are always tailored to the specific problem that you face. There are concepts and methods but hardly ever we get to apply any of these exactly by the book. No secret sauces in life, nor in coaching, I guess.

One year later, framed by the 2023 United Soccer Coaches Convention, I’m meeting with the leaders of over 50 Rush clubs and I can tell you that my feelings are of pride and enthusiasm as I insinuate to the audience that ‘today, you won’t hear anything from me that you haven’t heard before, this is more of an update about the progress that we’ve made in our project and the progress that we’ll make in 2023‘

The objective of my department and the sporting project we lead can be simply summarized as ‘unite and improve’. Unite our clubs under the same culture and methodological approach, and improve the way we develop players, and to do that the first step, as obvious as it sounds, is to be really sure of who you are and what you want. You need to find the essence of your club, the non negotiables, and then do the very hard exercise of not only formalizing it in a fancy document or a statement on a website, but to ensure these instrumental aspects of your culture and approach are present in everything that you do, and that implies the way we behave, the way we play, what we teach, how we teach it, etc.

Let me give you an example: In our club, we consider competitiveness a key characteristic of our organization. We like to compete, we want to compete, and we want to nurture that competitiveness in our players. Therefore, when we designed our curriculum and/or we run coaching education courses, we mandate our coaches to make every single training activity a competition in which (per definition) has to be a way of winning and a way of losing.

This might look like a simple detail, but a culture is actually not a lot more than the sum of hundreds of little details that are shared, valued, and respected by a group of people, so it matters to us.

Defining and sharing these layers in our culture and our player development approach is what I’ve been calling ‘Stage 1‘ of the project. Stage 2 was about finding ways to implement them in the 100+ Rush clubs in the world. This is an equally challenging stage that resulted in the creation of several services that we are providing our clubs (Mental Health, Video Analysis, among others) and the development of tools to learn and implement this culture and player development approach locally.

Among these last, we managed to develop a tool that we call Rush Coaching Manual (a white label product of The Coaching Manual) in which we designed every session and activity of our curriculum in detail, gave access to every Rush coach in the world, and developed a feature that allows coaches and clubs to create fully Rush customized season plans for their teams.

Another tool was our Train @ Home Program, which supplements on the field training with follow along video sessions in ball skills, passing, receiving, and fitness, among others, in pursuance of increasing our players weekly hours on the ball.

Now here is where you could think “easy, I get Coaching Manual for everybody in my club and a Techne subscription for my players and problem solved, I caught up already” but you haven’t. All you did was provide a service, but where’s the imprint from your club? Techne teaches Techne Way, not The Rush Way. We care about integrating each of these programs with our culture and approach in specific ways, so for example when including in Train @ Home a certain skill for any age group / ability level, we explained it and demonstrated it in the same way we added it to the training session that coaches are reading and delivering to those groups, so it’s aligned not only in topics but also in language.

A third tool that is of vital importance for our organization is what we call RSD University This is an online learning platform in which, apart from other courses we provide for players, parents, and coaches, we developed our own coaching education certification pathway, which we made mandatory for our coaching staff globally.

This was a foundational step for our club as it related to what we consider Stage 3 of the project, that is about finding ways to Assess and Develop Our Clubs & Coaches. In other words, knowing what you want and developing the layers of it and even the tools to implement it loses it’s purpose if you don’t have a system with checks and balances, in which you can assess what’s done right and wrong by your clubs and assist towards progressing, as well as highlighting the top performers. This might sound obvious but when we stated the objective of the project we phrased Unite and Improve, not do and use whatever you want and hopefully improve.

This is the stage where we are now, Assessing & Developing, in which as I mentioned before the RSD University marks the first step of progress as we have the capacity and are already tracking the percentages of Rush Way certifications in each of our clubs, with the goal and requisite of reaching 75% of Rush Way LII certifications and sustaining that minimal in each club at all times.

The statuses of this request are currently tracked and soon to be publicly posted to our network, ranking the clubs per its performance and giving awards and penalties based on it. This is the path for progress for us and the type of setting and indicators we defined for other areas that affect player development and cultural representation, as well as facilitate the long term measurement of player production.

Several of our current projects relate to this development of mechanisms to assess and develop our clubs, including the formation of a pool of ‘Club Technical Directors’, the figure that we use to refer to a team of highly experienced professionals with the capacity to conduct purposeful visits to our clubs, run assessments, and correlate these last with developmental periods.

To build a global, real-time dashboard in which we transparently reflect the performances of our clubs in these areas is the pinnacle of the project.

This, at Rush Soccer, is the engine for progress.

Give me one more year coach, and I’ll give you another update. Thanks for reading.

Watch full presentation!

February 10, 2023

Goalkeeping

GK TRAINING: Moving 360 to Get Set

This article was written by Sean Connors, Rush Soccer’s Global Goalkeeping Director.

In order to teach Goalkeepers how to move, they need to be put in realistic situations based on the game. Too often GKs are asked to move to a specific spot, or go through a set of cones, and then make a predetermined save.

“Touch the post then get set centrally for a low save.”

“Jump over the cone then dive to the right.”

“Be ready, I’m going to throw the ball back post for a cross.”

This sort of training creates a false sense of success and does not transfer to performance on game day. As mentioned previously the RUSH BLUE THREAD guides our Player Centered approach to development. In soccer, as in life, most things are not back or white, and common sense can’t be replaced. Exceptions aside, this will facilitate the goal of improving the technical ability of all Rush players and teach them how to utilize those skills in games.

Utilization of skills IN GAME is essential to understand. Using predetermined, or scripted training, will not give players the tools to be successful on game day.

This drill is a basic shot stopping exercise forcing the Goalkeeper to react to the shooter’s passes, touches, etc to get set and make a save. This forces the Goalkeeper to “Read – Plan – Do” and adjust with each player action to get in the best position possible to make a save. In this case the GK may have to make multiple movements (Right, left, forward, backward) based on what they see as the ball travels.

How can you create game-like situations for your Goalkeepers to learn from?

(Check out The Rush Coaching Manual Set Up Below)

November 7, 2022

Futsal

Game Decisions Making

This article was written by Chris Rue, Futsal Manager

I am constantly bombarded with parent and player questions about attaining goals of “making it” in soccer. Whether the goal is Professionalism, College, or making the All-Star team, decision-making more often than not hamstrings most players. Players can spend countless hours honing their touch, becoming a physical specimen, and developing ball-striking techniques, but how do we create better decision makers?

In order to make better decision makers, we need to place players in environments at an early age where they are constantly asked to solve problems. This does not occur with private training or repetitive pattern drills that are far too common in youth soccer. Most coaches that I speak with all agree that players need to play the game more often. Unfortunately, they lack the conviction to practice what they preach mainly due to parental influence. Parents enjoy the compartmentalized training that we see a lot of. Kids working unopposed with a ball performing certain tasks is easy for them to understand. A small sided game or a possession session looks like chaos to them.

The 4v4 game forces all players to be involved and will guarantee plenty of repetition and decision making. Defensively players will no be able to “hide”, it will alow a team to press immediately and allow the players to understand the basi defensive principles and will repeatedly allow teams to deal with frustration.

What may look like chaos is actually what players need massive doses of while their brains are developing. This is the type of equation that the player can wrap their head around. Before long, the visual cues repeat, and the player begins to anticipate the next action. For instance, those of us who have been involved either watching or playing the game at a high level, know the cues to recycle around the back. We see the right fullback with the ball. The player pulls the ball back to play a deeper right center back. Almost immediately, the left fullback anticipates the ball being recycled and creates space to receive the ball, before it is played to the left center back. These small instances occur all the time in the game and force players to make decisions based on the information that they are acknowledging. The quicker they can see the cues, the faster they can respond.

An easy way to give more time in this environment is to set up small sided, 4v4 games as players arrive. I like to have the fields set up a half hour before practice. As players arrive, we simply start dividing the players into teams. Starting with 1v1 until we reach 4v4 on a field. When that field is set, we start with the next, 1v1 to 4v4. In my experience, this ticks two boxes. Firstly, we get the players to train making decisions. Secondly, and almost more importantly, we see players arriving half hour earlier to training and running from the car to the field with excitement to play. We typically allow these small sided games to continue for 20-30 minutes. In our club, where we train 4 times a week, a player can get up to 160 hours in this stimulating, decision making environment which will pay dividends in the future.

“There are so many players in soccer with great talent, but their actual understanding of the game is poor, and that’s the difference between good and great. It’s getting the decision right, which changes it all”

October 20, 2022

Futsal

Futsal – Daisy Cutter

This article was written by Chris Rue, Futsal Manager

Almost a forgotten technique in youth soccer is the instep driven pass, or daisy cutter. I am not talking about the inside of foot but the instep. As a youth player, I had the great experience of training at Ajax, where the instructors were adamant about teaching this technique. We would spend the first 20 minutes of each session standing 20 yards from a partner and smacking the ball back and forth. We had two touches, the first was to control the pass and the second was to play the pass. During the first few sessions, the ball would miss the intended target or the first touch was poor, but as we spent more time working on the technique, the passing and receiving became second nature.

For years, I have held the belief that young players develop best by introducing different playing surfaces and using different balls. Learning to adapt to these changes opens a player’s mind, which is still the most important part of a player’s development. Recently, I read an article about Walker Zimmerman and how his youth coach introduced a futsal ball for building out of the back sessions. The coach felt that this ball would prohibit the tendency to simply clear the ball out of danger and force the players to pass the ball out of pressure. A futsal ball has less bounce than a regular ball so it stays on the surface more, promoting passing without having to introduce limitations. Based on Zimmerman’s rise to become USMNT starting CB, I would say the coach was on to something.

Passing drills can improve the team’s communication skills, attentiveness, first touch, and even their connection on and off the field. Being able to pass the ball accurately and precisely can affect the team’s performance and quality during practice and games.

Watching the Premiere League games this weekend, I saw countless instep driven passes, De Bruyne is a master of the technique. As developing players progress through the youth levels and venture into college or professional, the passing alleys become very narrow. Weak passes rarely find their intended target. Learning to hit the daisy cutter in a game opens more passing options and increases speed of play tremendously.

Over the past few years, I have introduced futsal balls in our activation passing pattern drills in U12-U14 ages, especially the up-back-through where the initial entry pass is critical. The futsal ball is fantastic for this. It allows the player to perfect the technique with minimal chasing of errant touches. After 10 minutes or so, we introduce the soccer ball and continue for another 5-10 minutes. In the following drill, you can see the instep driven technique used for the longer penetrating pass.

Finding solutions by using different training methods is our job as coaches. Accomplishing this without players realizing it is what makes coaches special.