This essay is taken from the UC Premier curriculum courses (all levels).
The foundation of our player development model is IC3:
- Intelligence
- Competence
- Courage
- Character
Although soccer is a team sport, our model is ”Team development through player development”.
Soccer is a player’s game. We want our training environment to be player-centered (not coach-centered).
We are presenting a learning environment for the players:
- Coach as “teacher”, players as “students”, field as “classroom”
- Coach develops and executes lessons (practices) based on curriculum
- Games provide an opportunity to “test” players
No laps, no lines, no lectures
- Do not send players off to do laps as a means of punishment
- If the group of players is “not listening”, it is likely that they are bored
- Deal with individual problems individually
- Make sure you have enough soccer balls to keep everyone engaged in activities
- Avoid lines of players during an activity to the greatest extent possible
- Be very efficient in communication – players have limited attention span and simply want to play