Soccer Coach Weekly – Details, episodes & analysis

John Allpress is ex-assistant head of academy player and coach development at Tottenham Hotspur and a Former national coach at the English FA. He has decades of coaching experience, and a keen interest in how players learn and take on information.

Here, he shares his knowledge on how youngsters learn, and how we, as coaches, can use that information to help them get better. 

Find this in written form: https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/coaching-advice/how-youngsters-learn---and-how-you-can-help-them

Register for John's webinar on October 25: https://www.soccercoachweekly.net/coaching-events/how-to-help-your-players-get-better---cpd

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The Journey to Training is a series from Soccer Coach Weekly,  sharing advice, ideas, inspiration and opportunities for coaches to reflect as they head to their next training session. Or, as they head anywhere, really.

Ultimately, we want to help you become a better coach, and solve some of your coaching problems. Wherever and whenever you listen, we hope to do just that.

Find more from us: www.soccercoachweekly.net

Moritz Kossmann is DStv Diski Challenge coach and head of youth at Cape Town City in South Africa.

Here, he speaks to Soccer Coach Weekly about the skills of covering and recovering – how the approach to them differs depending on position, how we sell the skills as positive actions and the role leadership and communication plays...

Receiving is such a vital skill in soccer.

A good first touch can beat a player in an instant, get a team out of trouble or create a chance on goal.

But how can we support players to improve their receiving?

Moritz Kossmann is a coach at Ubuntu Football Academy in Cape Town. There, he coaches the U21s, who play in the third tier of South African football, and oversees the senior section, made up of U18s and U16s.

Moritz lent SCW his expertise on receiving – what it is, what good receiving looks like and how we can coach it…

As a player, Joanna Boyles Fennema performed at the highest level.

She spent her four college years with the North Carolina Tar Heels, represented the U17 US national team and played for the Orlando Pride in the NWSL.

Alongside success, Fennema’s playing days came with a lot of challenges – she was drafted by the Boston Breakers just before the team folded, suffered two ACL injuries while at college, discovered she has severely degenerative discs in her back.

This back injury, and subsequent hip labrum tears, led Fennema to retire at 24.

A chance encounter led her back into the game, and she is now thriving as an assistant coach at Columbus State University (CSU).

SCW caught up with Jo to talk about the transition from player to coach, and how coaches can best support players going through injuries...

Mark Jenkins is the U15s lead coach at Weston-super-Mare AFC, a semi-professional club based on the southwest coast of England.

Having been ready to keep working with his current crop of players for a few years, Mark was told that he would be given a new group for the 2023-24 season.

It spurred him to start early with his season planning, and give him the best chance of getting the most out of his players.

SCW caught up with the Uefa B-qualified coach to find out more about how he is going about preparing for next season...

Sarah Brady had aspirations of making it as a player.

She went through Everton’s academy before playing for her beloved Liverpool for a brief time, and then moving to Leeds United for a short spell.

When, she says, her "body didn’t really want to comply with the ambition", she took a step into coaching. It led her to the USA 14 years ago, where she has “done everything, from tying the shoelaces of three-year-olds all the way up to the collegiate game”.

Last season, she was head coach of AC Connecticut in the inaugural USL W League, a pre-professional women’s league. Now, she is the USL academy director for the women’s pathway.

SCW caught up with Sarah to find out more about the USL Academy structure, the Academy Cup, and what challenges coaches face working in the set up…

Matt Spear has had numerous different lives in soccer – as a player at NCAA Division I program Davidson College, a sports marketer, returning to his alma mater as a full-time coach for 18 years, and president and general manager for the third-tier US pro side Richmond Kickers.

During his time at the Kickers, a number of things collided, resulting in Matt experiencing what he calls a "dark depression" as the result of burnout.

It is what led him to his current role – a life coach and wellbeing advisor. He works with a number of clients, including the United Soccer Coaches' national office staff and various athletes and coaches.

SCW caught up with Matt at the United Soccer Coaches convention to chat about why coaches are so susceptible to burnout, what some of the signs might be, and how open coaches should be about their mental health in front of their players…

Katie Smith, based in Memphis, Tennessee, started coaching straight out of high school, alongside playing at community college.

Now, in a situation that might sound familiar to a lot of coaches trying to make their way, Katie juggles numerous roles.

She coaches at Collierville High School and Collierville Middle School, has two youth teams at Lobos Rush, is a volunteer assistant at Northwest Mississippi Community College and also works with USL 2 club Tri-Cities FC. Katie is also a full-time student and, this semester, a student teacher.

SCW caught up with Katie at the United Soccer Coaches convention in January to talk about what is similar and different across her roles, her person-over-player philosophy, and some of the challenges she has faced…

Kyle Martyn is senior girls’ academy director for the Ukrainian Nationals Soccer Club in Pennsylvania, the place where he grew up. Martyn played high school and college soccer in the state before going professional for a few years. 

Now, as a coach, he gets to give back to the game he says was such an integral part of his childhood.  

SCW caught up with Kyle at the United Soccer Coaches convention - coincidentally held in Pennsylvania, back in January - to talk about the importance of soccer for kids, how he creates a safe space at his club, and what it’s like coaching in your home state…

James Wagenschutz is an applied sports scientist and sports performance coach who has been in soccer for almost 25 years. 

He holds a USSF A license and has used it to coach in the college game, including notable stints as assistant men’s soccer coach at Colorado College and Regis University, and his daughter’s U5s team. 

He is now a coach educator for United Soccer Coaches and the USSF, and runs his own consultancy, W Sports Performance, working with MLS players and Olympians. 

SCW talked to James at the United Soccer Coaches’ convention about how players and coaches learn and develop…