r/SoccerCoaching

I’m currently a junior in high school and a coach from one of the top girls soccer programs in Virginia (they’ve won states 3 times) came up to me in person and asked if I’d want to come to their school next year and play for them. She told me I’m talented and that if I work hard I could really become something there.
The thing is, this has literally always been my dream. I want to win a state title so bad and I’m fully willing to put in the work. The school also has a JROTC/ROTC program and I’d have to do that too, but honestly I don’t even care if it’s hard. I’m down for the challenge.
My problem is that I’m absolutely terrified 😭
I’d be transferring for senior year, leaving my current school, leaving people I know, joining a super competitive environment, and basically starting over socially. My best friend is supportive and told me I should go, but she’s sad about it and that makes this harder too.
Also at my current school people make assumptions about me and there’s a lot of gossip/drama that I’m tired of, so part of me feels like this could be a fresh start where I’m just known as an athlete and myself.
Another thing is that right now I already split my schedule between schools. On B days I go to a magnet program, and on A days I’m at my home high school and only have 2 classes there. So I’m already somewhat used to being between different school environments, but fully transferring still feels scary.
I keep going back and forth between:
“This is my dream and I’ll regret not trying”
and
“What if I’m making a huge mistake?”
Has anyone else transferred schools for sports senior year? Was it worth it?”

Hi coaches, I’m new to coaching job and am trying to learn step by step, so sorry am asking this question.

I recently started helping with a small youth team (around U10), and I’m trying to improve our sessions little by little. Right now we just use cones, bibs, and a few balls. It works, but I keep seeing people talk about other soccer products like agility ladders, mini hurdles, rebound nets and things like that.

My question is, do these actually make a big difference in training, or is it more like “nice to have”?

I don’t want to just buy things because they look good online. I’ve seen some sets that look very complete, even checked different sites out of curiosity. I saw some set of football gears on Alibaba and the price was really attractive, but then I started wondering about durability and if they will last longer during my coaching sessions.

And also, for kids am coaching, is it better to keep things simple and focus on ball work and small-sided games instead of adding more.

I’m just trying to avoid wasting money and also not overcomplicating sessions.

Would really appreciate hearing what you all actually use regularly and what ended up just sitting unused.

Thank you so much for any advice 🙏

My U13 son is leaving his current club almost certainly. He has 3 teams he wants to tryout for. Our state has dumb rules so basically every club is holding tryouts the same 2 - 3 days. Luckily the tryouts don't overlap but they are same day.

Day 1 and 2 its 2-4 at club a, 4-6 at club b, and 730 - 9 for club c.

Day 3 clubs a and b are both 4 - 530

Obviously that is an ungodly amount of soccer even for a 12 year old. Luckily his 3rd favorite option is the last one of the day.

So my question is, is it better to try and hit all 3 tryouts the first 2 days, and then pick 1 on day 3? This is not ideal because obviously you wont play your best on your 6th hour of soccer that day, and don't want him to get hurt.

Or smarter to hit 1 each day so hes not physically overextended?

Or something in the middle?

He's fairly familiar with his top 2 choices, attending practices for about a month with 1 and 3 practices with team 2, but he played there previously so they know about him already. These are all very good teams, would be a step up for him, and making them is not 100% guaranteed although we are pretty confident on his top 2.

I’m head coach of a u11 and assistant on u12 boys travel teams. These are lower travel teams (I’m not sure what the actual distinction is). We are a small town of under 10k forced to play in a conference with teams from cities with 50-75k people. So, we take our lumps but the idea is this core will still be together in HS whereas the clubs we play break up and go to multiple schools at that time (for context, last years HS team was one goal from a state final and the last public school left in the state tournament - that team lost its first 22 games starting about where we are. So the model works even if it involves a lot of early losses).

A recurring them I’m seeing is us losing a ton of games because we either wait too long to grow into the game early and it’s over before we do, or we start fine and look good and after half we start horrible.

A good example was last night, down 0-1 (we could have easily been up 2-1) at half against a team that typically hammers us. After half we came out horrid, and within 5 minutes it was 0-4.

Or we’ll start games flat, concede dumb free kicks/corners and it’s 0-2 before we blink.

Understand these are young kids, but how so we keep them focused/locked in. I’ve tried hyping them up, keeping them loose, rondo at half or right before start, etc.

I’d love to hear what you all do to gets youngsters to stay focused. Lapses are fine given their age, but I hate we get buried because of a single 5 minute bad spell.

I have twin daughters (u15) who are looking to switch clubs. After their first practice with the club they’re interested in, they were invited back to more practices. Tonight, will be their 3rd practice. This clubs try outs are next week, but they cannot attend (there is a school event that they must go to). We made sure the coach knew immediately and reminded him again last week. Our current club is rolling out offers this week, so we are expecting one soon. How do I handle getting an offer from this new club if we cant attend their tryouts? Can I email the coach after practice tonight (he has another practice immediately after, so I do not want to bother him then) and just remind him that we cant attend try outs and ask if they will be receiving an offer for his team? I dont want to seem pushy, but because we cant attend try outs and may be receiving another offer, I want to make sure we have all our ducks lined up to make a decision.

Not sure how to coach this up. Since it’s U10, no heading. When ball is in the heading his way, he will get to a relatively good spot to receive the ball. He isn’t charging it and taking a chest, but a spot where he can get a foot up to get a touch. Since he gets their first, another player gets there at the last second and gets their touch and wins the ball. If my son comes in much more he will be nearing a header height.

It almost seems like it’s an advantage to get to that spot second and simply step in.

Any tips I can share with him?