The key to successful coaching is getting your players to make successful decisions on the field. Skills and Strategies for Coaching Soccer gives you the tools to do just that. You'll have access to 120 drills for teaching skills and techniques; more importantly, you'll know how to develop these skills in realistic game situations with beginning, intermediate, and advanced players.

Essential skills are presented, including collecting and controlling, passing, dribbling, kicking, heading, goalkeeping, and the throw in. But the unique feature of this book is for each skill presented, you'll find drills for players at different levels of development.

And no one knows the importance of skill development better than Alan Hargreaves--one of England's top soccer coaches. He has coached 5-year-olds to pros, using the same skills and techniques presented in this book.

With Skills and Strategies for Coaching Soccer , you'll learn the what, how, and why of soccer through:

- offensive moves and countering defensive moves, - 120 drills for beginning, intermediate, and advanced players, - coaching points for each drill, - a fitness program for soccer, - sample game situations and how to coach in those situations, - 246 high-quality illustrations of field diagrams and skill execution, and - methods of coaching that are appropriate for individuals or groups.

You'll also find information on how the modern systems of soccer play have evolved since 1870 as well as how to be effective with your pre-game, half-time, and post-game talks.

Skills and Strategies for Coaching Soccer is essential for:

- Beginning coaches - will receive a comprehensive introduction to soccer and soccer coaching. - Team coaches - will have immediate access to new drills, new tactics, and fitness tests used with Olympic players, as well as advice on team management and systems of play.

This hands-on guide will also prove useful for:

- College and university students - will learn all the essentials of coaching soccer effectively. - Teachers and lecturers - will gain a detailed reference source for new skills and drills to use when preparing their lessons.

Skills and Strategies for Coaching Soccer presents all of this information in a style that combines the concern for the dignity of the individual with a love for the manner in which the game is played. Alan Hargreaves believes in this coaching philosophy--a philosophy that through experience has proven to be effective in producing winning teams.

It's all part of the time-tested formula that makes Skills and Strategies for Coaching Soccer an indispensable guide for soccer coaches in any setting.