Parenting is embracing a million tiny deaths, including your own — Hellos and Good-byes He was super excited. His first time walking to school on his own. This is the magical end of grade four. Like all magic, the alchemy comes with a cost, a tiny, beautiful slice of a fee, saying goodbye to my son who needed me for navigation, protection, and comfort…

This article is for anyone who wants (or needs) to elevate their conflict game — Conflict is not a bad thing. It is integral to any group creative process, and part of how people who disagree find alignment. Since it happens all the time, you are better off to embrace it, to get good at it rather than to be afraid. A friend of mine…

7 Ways to Help Coaches During Games — This article is an excerpt from a more comprehensive piece covering the core jobs of a coach, tips for practices , and managing games (this article). Coaching games can be chaotic. From figuring out lines, which players are late, which are not coming, what positions they want to be in…

For U6-U11 Soccer coaching these 4 steps apply equally across multiple age groups and sports. — This article is an excerpt from a more comprehensive piece covering the core jobs of a coach (this article), tips for practices , and managing games. A Coach’s Core Job Is To Build Individuals Into A Team If you are coaching kids the reality is that close to none of your players are going to play professional soccer, but all of…

U11 and under — This article is an excerpt from a comprehensive piece covering the core jobs of a coach, tips for practices (this article), and managing games. 7 Tips For Practices That Meet Your Coaching Goals #1 Dribbling Dribbling is the most important soccer skill. Your main job especially in the younger years (and one I sometimes missed) is to get your players comfortable…

Focusing on kids eleven and younger (U6 to U12) outside of private academies — This is a comprehensive peice (16 minutes). If you like shorter chunks you can check out the three main parts (4 steps to building a team, 7 tips for practices, and managing games) as it’s own article. There are more experienced coaches in the world than me, but after a…

When to have winners (and when not) in practice — Competition is built in to almost every part of the soccer experience. This often runs counter to our goals as coaches, but we do it anyway. A coach’s job vs competition in practice If you are coaching soccer for kids 12 and under, outside of an academy, then you have three jobs: Build a team (ie. teach…

And why you need to start doing this if you’re not already — Keep your players in the same role for three games, then rotate. This is probably an obvious thing to do, but so often I hear coaches not doing it I didn’t either. The first couple of years I coached, running shifts and lines was a stressful mess. It pulled me…

Losing all the time sucks, but at least it is good to build resilience, and highlights the skills your team needs to work on. Winning is fun, but doing it this way is terrible for your players. Play your best player at Striker or Center Mid for most of the…