Players | New Heights Soccer Academy

Player Training

General

There are several factors that affect the type of environment a coach creates for players. This environment is the difference between a positive or negative experience for every participant. My education, background and skill as an instructor allow me to create developmentally appropriate practices and enable me to deliver dynamic sessions.

By dedicating myself to understanding human development and mastering the application of sound educational practices I am able to consistently create fun learning environments for a wide variety of players. Being a life long student of soccer lets me teach skills and concepts that are relevant to an ever evolving game. Although every group of players is unique, the lists below give some insight into my philosophy and teaching approach.

Philosophy

Create fun and challenging environments in order to promote learning and develop a love of the game.
Use a variety of instructional techniques to ensure every player receives applicable information and feedback.
Develop personal and group dynamics such as problem solving and risk taking in order to accelerate learning.
Incorporate and promote a long term player development vision / model.
Monitor interactions with others in order to help develop healthy and productive interpersonal skills.
Conduct sessions that address the cognitive, physical, and psycho-social areas of human development in order to help participants grow in ways that apply to soccer but also reach beyond the soccer field.
Encouragement and critical instruction are used to promote enjoyment and rapid learning.

Methodology

Sessions combine technical repetition, conditional games and even sided play.
Simple to Complex and Whole / Part / Whole teaching strategies are used.
Activities reinforce good soccer technique and / or create soccer problems for players to learn how to solve.
Sessions and activities have learning objectives that enhance focussed instruction.
Informal assessments are continuously conducted in order to recognize when adjustments to activities are needed and to ensure appropriate instruction is given to each participant.
Activities incorporate the Technical, Tactical, Physical and Psychological pillars of the game.
Activities always have implications to the "real game" to allow for transference as skills are developed.
Player centered teaching methods develop independent, thoughtful and creative players.
The amount and level of instruction is adjusted based on the interest and skill of each participant.
Player centered (experimentation) and Teacher Centered (Direct Instruction) are combined to accelerate learning and guide players to a higher level of game understanding.
Individual and group instruction is delivered through a variety of methods and techniques..