Spartac International Soccer School

1052 Croton Road, Pittstown, NJ 08867
tel: (908) 806-7080 fax: (908) 806-3978
e-mail: spartac-soccer@worldnet.att.net

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Concept and Aim of Soccer Training

When we talk about training, we mean practicing a given art or sport to become better and more skillful at it. Practice or training must include all our mental and physical strength and determination. It must include planning and a high amount of patience. It is especially important in the game of Soccer. We must always perform under varying circumstances. The game always changes; there are very few predictable situations. It takes an immediate decision to react to the game’s situation. The player must always be in a high state of concentration and must be able to apply himself to all situations as they arise. So, he must have the physical (power and technique) and mental (tactic) tools to resolve the problem that faces him. To be able to do so he must think ass fast as a test pilot, he must possess the speed of a sprinter, the endurance of a marathon runner, the common sense of a mathematician, and the flair and imagination of an artist. So it is important for coaches to have a high understanding as to what we want to achieve when we train and develop our young players.

We must first look at the age and quality of the person we train. We must understand that in each team we have fifteen different personalities, physical structures and mental capacities. Their home-life and environment6 are different, their ability and desire to learn and to perform mental and physical tasks is sometimes miles apart.

The aim of training and the final result is always stipulated by how well we can transfer all the Soccer knowledge we possess to the players. There is the technical skill, the tactical application and the physical ability to develop in each player. There is also the knowledge of how to combine all those different skills into a team unit. It is also important that the coach has the know-how to use his players in the most favorable positions where they can do the most for the team. One of the most important aspects of training is to develop the players slowly to his or her physical and mental ability. The development must be thorough and systematic.

We have the habit of bringing our young players up too fast to higher skills and competition, and so take away the growth and natural development of the player. I believe we must learn to systematically instill the technical, tactical and physical knowledge slowly so not to overburden the player and let him develop at his own speed.

We must learn and understand that developing players to a high level is a very slow and painful process, but the results for the coach when he succeeds are everlasting and worthwhile.