u/Ok-Communication706

Seems to be a good fit culturally and for the system. Actually thought she was younger and was hoping there was room to refine her technique a bit. I like her more than Carrabali at CB (JC at wingback is ok).

Can be a bit grabby. Works better with the very steady Elgin.

hat a treat it's been this season as a Revs/Legacy fan that never leaves early!

Emerson Elgin - what a find. Complete game changer. Banda's pace and ball control did give her a bit of trouble but she contained Banda enough for support to arrive.

Annie Karich - an incredible performance. Look like Keira Walsh with her one-touch and possession play. Hits passes at crazy angles. Completely dominated the midfield. Interplays perfectly with Elgin (you can see them cover each other).

Lais Araujo - From my seats (front row, defensive 3rd) in the second half, she could have easily been redcarded. Good pace but a bit too grabby and seems to have a bit of trouble with players who can turn quickly. Was wise of Filipa to sub her.

Carraballi - Bustling as a wingback and steady as CB after 2nd half subs. Best game I've seen from her.

Bianca - loads of space in the first half down the left and I like how aggressive she was in taking it. Final product lacks a bit but she also puts in a shift defensively.

Ella Stevens - Thought she looked lively, good touch and vision in limited time.

Hasbo/Cano - controlled the game nicely. Though Hasbo had the better game and seemed more energetic.

Aleigh Gambone - looks really good in the CAM/SS role. Speedy and energetic enough for the press. Clinical/calm finish.

Sammy Smith - energy and pace as a sub helped turn the game.

Barb - I enjoy her energy and combativeness. Drifted central and interchanged nicely with Bianca. Battled well vs Haillie Mace who is an excellent player. Also a bit short on touch in the final 3rd.

Aissata - Never really got in the flow but popped up and occasionally looked dangerous.

Amanda G - we should be banging high balls to her all day. She also has great touch and vision.

Murphy - solid game, commanding at the back, good positioning.

Good to see Nicki Hernandez back.

Hi, I'm Dan Abrahams, a sport and performance psychologist who has spent the last 20 years helping some of the world’s best athletes and teams perform under pressure.

Before becoming a sport psychologist, I was a professional golfer. Since then, I’ve worked with Premier League football clubs, England Rugby, England Golf, Aston Martin F1, and professional teams across the U.S. I’m currently consultant psychologist to Angel City FC, the world’s most valuable women’s sports team. I’ve also worked alongside coaches including Arne Slot, Eddie Howe, and Steve McClaren.

Some of you may know me from my books Soccer Tough, Soccer Brain, and Golf Tough, or from my podcast, The Sport Psych Show. Gareth Bale once said Soccer Tough changed his life — which remains one of the great honors of my career.

My new book, Compete, is about the mental skills that truly drive performance. It’s built around practical tools and techniques I use every day with elite competitors and teams. The book covers how to build confidence, manage pressure, focus attention effectively, handle negative thoughts during competition, create strong routines, lead teammates, and develop the mindset needed to consistently compete at your best.

I’m here to answer questions about performance psychology, confidence, coaching, pressure, focus, leadership, youth development, routines, mindset, elite sport environments, and anything else related to competing and performing under pressure.

Ask me anything!

A couple weeks ago I posted about a player with speed and good skill, but who got overwhelmed, partially because of her Dad as a co-coach who yells too much, and also with too many choices to think through.

https://www.reddit.com/r/youthsoccer/comments/1t0xfrk/helping_a_player_who_gets_overwhelmed/

We took the following actions:

-asking Dad just not to coach her
-telling her for the time being to not pass unless it's very obvious, but just be aggressive and use her jets
-goal kicks are fine, take shots
-press aggressively in the final 3rd and use speed to get back (100%, not 75%)

The change has been huge! Goals in her last two games and much improved confidence. Thanks to everyone for helping think it through.

Also trying some of the Dan Abrahams techniques with her long-term, and will report on that.

Although I have an opinion, I am posting this question as neutrally as possible.

I coach a small town rec girls team. Our town historically struggled for numbers and usually played in the lowest division. We do not split A and B and always field mixed teams. My team 1/3rd top club club players, 1/3rd excellent athletes are competitive, and 1/3rd learning.

Our U10 team this several very strong club players on the roster, so our rec team can actually compete with club, academy, and tryout-based teams.

The challenge is that the skill range is huge, from beginners still learning basic ball skills to elite club players.

We always start with small-sided. I’ve been splitting some small-sided games by ability so newer players get more touches and confidence while stronger players stay challenged.

One of my co-coaches worries that ability grouping sends social signals about who is “better” and prefers mixed groups. I want to be respectful of her knowledge of the social and emotional needs of young girls.

What have other coaches found works best with teams this mixed?

Dan Abrahams will be here for our AMA tomorrow at noon ET. I brought Dan here because his Soccer Tough books have been really useful resources as a parent and coach, and I wanted to share his work with this group.

Soccer Tough is a really useful book that I took away a number of tools/approaches from. Reading I thought, well, especially with some of the visualization exercises, affirmations, and sports psychology language that can feel almost overly neat or formulaic on the page. But at the same time, you can completely understand why it works and why the book has resonated with so many different types of athletes over the years.

What’s compelling is that it recognizes that athletes struggle in very different ways. Elite players often battle pressure, fear of failure, perfectionism, or the weight of expectations. Hypercompetitive kids can burn emotional energy getting angry at mistakes, referees, teammates, or themselves. Meanwhile, headcase athletes may have the talent but spiral mentally after one bad play or loss of confidence. The book gives each of those personalities practical mental frameworks and exercises to regain control and perform more consistently.

A lot of the advice is fundamentally about emotional regulation, confidence building, positive mindset, and resetting attention toward process instead of outcome. Even if some of the presentation feels dated or overly motivational, the underlying concepts are grounded in things coaches and sports psychologists still emphasize today: routines, self-talk, visualization, resilience, and learning how to compete without being consumed by emotion.

I recommend it, and I hope you will join for tomorrow's noon ET AMA.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX\_2cEPgcnP/?igsh=MXFmeDRiZmM1bDFhag==

Thought this was a really good passing technique video.

This is separate but related to a recent post about coaching your own kids, more about seeing what I can do to help the player along.

This is a U10 player, one year in club. Super fit, athletic, strong. Good ball skills. She should be absolutely dominating in our town travel league and more effective in club (B team).

This player gets overwhelmed in games and scrimmages and makes bad decisions and isn’t aggressive. My daughter plays club with her, so I have a pretty good sense of what they work which included scanning, receiving, etc. Maybe the veterans here can help me put the clues together and put together a few drills.

This player:

-Dribbles a little bit upright but with her head up, you'd think she was seeing the field well
-Covers a lot of ground playing in the midfield, never stops moving, wins a fair amount of duels
-Is very one gear which looks around 75% on both sides of the ball
-Doesn't seems to process the information from scanning
-Never turns on the jets even though she is very fast
-Doesn't use 1v1 moves outside of small-sided, but has decent ones in practice
-Tends to shy away from contact a little bit but not outrageously
-Really never makes the correct decision in the final third, but is especially shy on pulling the trigger to shoot
-Seems overwhelmed on the ball and doesn't seem to process any information, often dribbles directly into a defender

Anything you think I can do as a coach to help her along? I also get some time with her in small group with my daughter.

An interesting question came up today.

Well, I actually had to have a talk with one of my co-coaches. His coaching of his daughter is not productive. He coaches her differently and has pretty high expectations. The way he communicates to her makes her cry pretty frequently. So today, I said, “let me just coach her”.

That’s said I have one kid who doesn’t listen to me at all and doesn’t take any coaching. One kid who will basically do anything I say to the T, and loves being coached. And one kid in between but can’t handle any negative feedback.

Out of this, I was wondering the following: what percentage of the time do you think a parent coaching their own kid is productive?

Looking for advice on advice on how parents/coaches handle freshman players who are sublimely skilled, pass the fitness tests, and are clearly in the best 11 in practice.

I started running some sessions for 8th graders and it's intended as HS prep to help kids from our town. I'll also be a volunteer assistant at the HS starting later this summer.

Most of the kids I'm trying to get to the freshman team or JV, but there's two kids who come who are pretty good ECNL players. I think they are just there to hang out with their friends who they have played town travel with for many years.

One girl in particular is super skilled and super fast, scores regularly as a winger in ECNL, has gotten US ID camp invites, etc. But she's like 5'1", 100 pounds.

I've been to lots of our HS games over the year, and also seen the private school she may go to. The leagues are super physical and competitive.

How do coaches handles these types of players? Can you really play a kid like this for 60-70 minutes and have them stay healthy? How can I help her get ready?

BTW this question is more theoretical since she of course has a private training, personal trainer, parents who are knowledgeable, etc. I think will be a parent in this situation in a few years.