The Secret Behind Coach Chas Sumser’s Success: No Cuts Ever
There are only two kinds of coaches in this world: those who cut players and those who don’t. Chas Sumser doesn’t. Oh, we would all love a dream team. You know, one where you scan down your roster and find every name on it belongs to a star player. Imagine: Jordan, Pippen, Stockton, Malone, Magic […]
Early Sports Specialization: Safe, Sorry or Simply Unable to Say No?
“At what age should they specialize?” Shelby asked me at the book signing. She had her two boys in tow. Her daughter was away on a weekend retreat, so she found herself with a freer schedule than usual. The son in question was a second grader who had been offered a spot on the travel soccer team, but […]
US Soccer Has a Player Development Problem: Julie Foudy offers new/old perspective
What if the best way to get your kid on the U.S. National Team was to not attend their games? Or allow them to quit soccer for a season or two on a whim? Both of these techniques worked for Julie Foudy, one of the most capped U.S. players in history (271) and a leading […]
Videos for the Fit2Finish Book
Here are the video links for my new book Fit2Finish: Keeping Your Soccer Players in the Game. Find your age group. Find your fun. Try it out. All the Fit2Finish games are fueled by the science of healthy sports but designed to blend performance into your practice. (Just don’t tell them it’s good for them!) […]
Coaching is Like Parenting: your kids show you how to be better
Our kids need coaches. They need adults who will spend a couple hours a week on the fields with them and will root from the sidelines one day each weekend. It’s a lot to ask of people these days, what with families going every which way, jobs claiming more of our time, volunteer responsibilities clamoring […]
New book from Fit2Finish, competitive fitness without the injuries. Look inside…
Fit2Finish: Keeping Your Soccer Players in the Game Introduction: Fit for the Game Kids and Fitness: What Does the Game Require? Sport Anatomy and Physiology: What Makes the Body Work Fitness Prescription for Sports: Meeting the Demands Fitting Fitness into the Practice Plan Flexibility, Stretching and Recovery Fueling the Athlete for Performance Beating Injuries to Keep […]
Playing Up: Is developing their skills worth giving up our win?
Cat was her name; she was the ringer on my daughter’s U9 travel team. It was the spring season and they had been a miserable failure (in soccer terms) in the fall. When Cat joined the team mid-year, things had started looking up. This girl was small but fast. And was she ever good. She […]
How Young is Too Young to Recruit for College Soccer?
Does anyone really think that committing to college soccer as a middle schooler is a good idea? Yet, this is where we are, and it’s getting a lot of attention. The most recent announcement comes from Haley Berg, who verbally committed (as an eighth grader) to play for the University of Texas Longhorns in the fall of 2017, […]
What are you Buying When you Pay for a Coach?
This continues the conversation from Dr. LeBolt’s last post, “How much is a good coach worth?“ It’s more important than ever that team parents and administrators who are making the decision about finding and hiring a coach know what they’re getting. Your kid is a precious commodity; you want the best for him or her. […]
GotSoccer is Now Ranking U9 and U10 Teams, Got a Problem with That?
Many are taking aim at the recent decision by GotSoccer.com to rank U10 and U11 teams. Why not rank ’em? We’re a country that ranks and compares. We boast and brag. We compete. I’ll be happy to tell you that… I graduated ____ in my high school class, or with _____ honors from college. I […]