The Soccer Bookshelf


       The books, videos and DVDs reviewed below are considered to be among the best books for soccer coaches.  Click on a title listed below to read a review of that book.  Most of these books are available at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble or Reedswain or SoccerBooks.com or GotSoccer.com.  The reviews below are from Chris Mohr, Eric Blommer and Ken Gamble.  If you have opinions or reviews on a soccer coaching book or video that you think would be helpful to other coaches please e-mail it to Ken Gamble at dsports@hiwaay.net

These are the Books, Videos and DVDs I consider as "Must Haves" for youth coaches:
    There are two great Soccer Bibles:  One is "Soccer, How to Play the Game: The Official Playing and Coaching Manual of the United States Soccer Federation".
    The other is the NSCAA book edited by Tim Schum called "Coaching Soccer".  It is comparable in size and price to the USSF coaching manual.  It provides hundreds of articles, diagrams and practice plans by the brightest and biggest names in US soccer.
     An added bonus is that many of the practices are set out in the same manner that the USSF courses require for their coaching test sessions - Warm-up, Fundamental, Match Related, Match Conditions - progressions. So you can see exactly what your instructor is looking for.  The terms and what I call the "USSF coach speak" language are the same because many of the articles are by USSF course developers. If you're fortunate enough to be given a topic for your practice session that is covered in the book (and most topics are) then you can adjust it to fit the time frame given - usually 20 minutes.
    There are great articles on all techniques, tactics (beginning and advanced), psychology, team management, organization, (even very young players), theory, fitness, coaching women, coaching indoor soccer, restarts, developing a coaching philosophy, nutrition, etc. Its the one book that is always in my soccer bag.  Its 426 pages and paperback.  My copy is so dog-eared and worn out that I am going to have to replace it. The good news is that its cheap at $22.95 and there's a newer revised edition out now. Just my opinion. I get no commission :). But with it and the "Soccer, how to Play the Game: The Official Playing and Coaching Manual of the United States Soccer Federation" you should be covered for most of the situations you will ever run into as a soccer coach.
     For a complete list of soccer books and reviews click here.

Ken Gamble

The coaching manuals are located at
http://www.decatursports.com/Soccer_Coach_Manuals.htm
 
Here are some other Books, DVDs and Videos for youth coaches:

 

Soccer Tactics - Defending to Win
   and
Soccer Tactics - On the Attack

These are two GREAT new DVD videos from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.  Both are two DVD sets and are about $29.95 per set.
These are as close as you will get to a USSF or NSCAA coaching clinic without attending one.  They get my vote as a "must have" for youth coaches.  Ken Gamble

One of my favorite things about these two sets is that the coaches are coaching groups of mid level talent (unlike many videos where 7 and 8 year old players perform moves Pele would have trouble doing with  almost robot-like precision. 

To read a complete overview of what is included in each dvd click here.
Street Soccer - An Introduction to Small Sided Games
 

Street Soccer, An Introduction To Small Sided Games DVD - A comprehensive guide for creating and managing small sided games.

Street Soccer, An Introduction To Small Sided Games takes an in depth look at the hottest topic in youth coaching today and how it applies to training.

This 90 minute program is divided into four, easy to follow chapters, and includes a six page foldout.

  • Chapter 1 shows how the idea for using small sided games for training can be found in the street soccer games of the past. Next, a comparison between street and real soccer reveals several key elements common to both. Finally, the biggest difference between street and real soccer is examined in the role of the coach.
     
  • Chapter 2 takes an in depth look at the elements of soccer and how to modify them to meet your needs.
     
  • Chapter 3 contains over 25 practical games and an almost limitless number of variations.
     
  • Chapter 4 shows you a proven method for reading the game and diagnosing soccer problems. It also includes a number of valuable tips for effective coaching and how to put on your own Soccer Festival with an individual winner.
     
  • Check out the Chris Nedelcovych Soccer Foundation Website
Catch Them Being Good
From Amazon.com Booklist
DiCicco coached the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team to victory in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Hacker is a psychology consultant for the team. They join their expertise in this accessible, useful guide for coaches at all levels. Primarily written in DiCicco's enthusiastic voice that's straight off the sports field, the book's practical advice includes insight on coaching girls and women (forget the outdated intimidation tactics used by many famous coaches for men); forming a team, making cuts and nurturing exceptional players; criticizing and motivating effectively; working with parents; and evaluating one's own coaching performance. Throughout, Hacker offers clear, helpful ideas for team-building exercises, while DiCicco follows with companion training workouts. Most of the examples focus on soccer, but coaches of all sports will learn a great deal from this straightforward guide based on impressive experience.
For the Good of the Game
Book Description
In this book the authors share their insight into refereeing soccer. Modern techniques of soccer officiating are exposed through the eyes of these seasoned professionals. Referees at all levels will benefit from this practical resource. Here are some of the helpful topics:
- The Art of Refereeing
- Preparing for the Game
- Setting the Tone for the Game
- Recognition of Fouls and Misconduct
- The Mysteries of Offside Revealed
- Use and Misuse of Advantage
- Free-Kicks
- Control of the Game
- Movement of the Referee
- Preventive Refereeing
- Fitness
- The Mental Factors

Feeding the Young Athlete
Sports Nutrition Made Easy for Players and Parents

Book by Cynthia Lair with Scott Murdoch

Pages 4 - 37 explain what the nutrition needs are for the young athlete whiles the remainder of the book is recipes for dishes to feed your young athlete.  Available at Amazon.com.

      This is a smart, concise and useful book for the parent, manager or coach who wants to know what and when to feed their players.  The advice to stay away from sugars and low-fat and no-fat foods and how to hydrate properly is good. Also there's good advice on how to get the whole team to accept eating and drinking properly.  There's good information about pre-game, between game, and after game foods and what is best for particular age groups.
      I would have liked to have seen the first part of the book expanded to provide more detailed information on nutrition cause-and-effect and less of the many pages of recipes that the author included.  But that probably appeals more to team moms and managers who are involved in restaurant selection and meal preparation and less to coaches who want to know the whys and hows of nutrition.

Review by Ken Gamble 7-24-2003

 

 

The Flippin' Soccer Guide

      Flippin' Books has recently released an exciting new book called "The Flippin' Soccer Guide". Take a look at the company's website at www.flippinbooks.com  I think you will agree it's truly something to get excited about, definitely not your run-of-the-mill Soccer rule book!
      The focus of The Flippin' Soccer Guide is new coaches, 6 to 14 year old players, soccer parents, and anyone else interested in getting more out of the game.  It can be purchased in bulk by leagues and clubs and is perfectly suitable as a very applicable fund-raiser (as opposed to the usual fundraisers like candy, advertisements, etc.). 
       "The Flippin' Soccer Guide" is a concise pocket size book (which can be carried to games) that demystifies the laws of soccer by using simple language and detailed color graphics. The pages are tabbed which allows for easy and quick access to any particular soccer rule in the book.
       If you are looking for answers to complicated questions about the "Laws of the Game" or soccer tactics this is not the book for you.  But the target audience of this book is neophyte coaches and parents who didn't grow up playing soccer. They've done an excellent job of simplifying soccer so that even grandparents can understand what's going on.  Take a look at the sample pages from the book and I think you'll like what you see. http://www.flippinbooks.com/sample_pages.htm
        If you want to know more contact Terry H. Williams at Flippin' Books LLC, (636) 456-6224 www.flippinbooks.com

 

Mia Hamm, "Go for the Goal"

If you've come across this modest-size work in bookstores this past summer, conveniently timed in its publication to take advantage of the wave of WWC & USWNT publicity and interest, you might assume this is just another lightweight flatteringly friendly, inspirationally feel-good ghost written bio catering to admiring teen girls. Yes, there's some of that bio stuff mixed in, but to a surprisingly predominate extent, it's actually a very knowledgeable, well-written instruction book on technique, tactics, and game savvy that is usefully readable both by pre-and early to mid-teen girls and by their adult coaches and parents. This book is clearly intended by Hamm not just to inspire, but to actually teach girls in that age range useful specifics on how to become fundamentally sound, creative soccer players capable of playing at competitive levels. Even if doubtlessly Hamm got some ghostwriting help from "with Aaron Heifetz", it's clearly more in providing polished editing than in providing the content and descriptions, which obviously come from Hamm herself firsthand.  ISBN: 0060199425
By Chris Mohr cmohr@VNET.NET

 

Jonathan Littman "The Beautiful Game": 


 This is a biographical portrait of a year in the birth and life of a Division 1 U-14 select soccer team (The Thunder) in Santa Rosa, California. I found this portrait of the interpersonal dynamics among players and coaches on this rather serious and intense girls' youth soccer team to be fascinating. Doubtless for some of you who coach on that level, many of the details may variously seem too uncomfortably (or delightfully) close to home, or else you may think he didn't capture certain things quite accurately in your experience if you've coached girl's select teams, I don't know...but Littman is (in addition to being a journalist) himself a former college soccer player at Berkeley, and knows his stuff about soccer. BTW, the actual team photo is on the back of the book, so this isn't a work fiction merely adopting the style of a real-life documentary. This is another book that is just as absorbingly readable by my 10-year old daughter as it is for me as an adult, but will clearly be more interesting if you've been involved on the girls side of soccer than if your background is solely working with boys.
By Chris Mohr cmohr@VNET.NET

 

Pete Carril "The Smart Take from the Strong"


          All about how to teach, motivate, and to recognize and get the most out of whatever particular talents and mentality players have and turn them into a great team, even if it's Princeton and you can't offer athletic scholarships. It also contains a lot of sharp insights about how to effectively teach various techniques to players. Pete's an amazingly sharp guy, and we should all have such great human insights into our players and life, and how to harness that into getting the most out of them in our chosen sport. This is a great read for anyone involved in any kind of coaching, even the substantial portions that don't really have much transferable relevance to coaching a youth (or any other kind of) soccer team. You don't even have to much be a fan of basketball to get a lot out of this. Pete's the sort of guy you'd love to go to a bar and have a few beers with.
ISBN 0-684-83510-X
By Chris Mohr cmohr@VNET.NET

 

Phil Jackson "Sacred Hoops"


       Just as interesting in its own way, with analogous kinds of insights on coaching as found in Pete Carrill's book with a more Zen flavor, except Phil had Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls instead of a bunch of mostly white-guys on academic scholarship at Princeton who were smart but couldn't jump ;=) This book contains a lot of insights on how to take a bunch of potential (?) selfish big talented egos typical of higher-level sports teams and channel them toward serving a higher, more selfless team effort. OK, you have to work a bit harder to make any useful transference to coaching youth soccer, but it's in there somewhere, and besides the descriptions are priceless of how he got the team on track after the disruption caused by Michael Jordan abruptly re-joining the team after his brief diversion into baseball. ISBN 0-7868-8200-X
By Chris Mohr cmohr@VNET.NET

 

Weil Coerver (with Alfred Galustian), "Score!" 
 

      This is a glossy, color volume whose value is in all the clear, color pictures of 9 or 10-year old kids executing various Coerver exercises, 1v1 moves, and small-sided exercises (instead of the old grainy B&W ones from Coerver's old book in similar vein showing Weil himself). Most, but not all of the exercises and moves are shown with an adequate sequence of several pictures, though sometimes you are still left wishing you had an accompanying videotape to clear up some ambiguities (which I am told does exist, under the name "Coerver Coaching: Play Like a Soccer Legend"). I like this better than Weil's old book (even if it is Galustian who really wrote most or all of this and put Coerver's stamp on it; I dunno). I hesitated numerous other times on stumbling across it in bookstores, unable to decide whether this one was worth buying, but I finally bit; at $16.95 it's worth risking a few bucks (anyone know if the "Play Like a Soccer Legend" tape is worthwhile?)
 
Chris Mohr - Head Coach, U-11G CASL Ravens (Challenge comp)
NCYSA 'D' License and USSF Grade 8 Referee

 

20 Easy to Follow Practices and Games for Coaching 8,9,10 & 11 Year Olds

AUTHOR: Gordon Miller
PUBLISHER: Sports Development Publications
PUBLISHED: 1995
PAGES: 56
COST: $10
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Philosophy * Fair Play Code for the Coach * Small Sided Soccer * Fun Games * Control I * Passing I * Shoot & Finish I * Dribbling I * Heading I * Goal Keeping I * Defending I * Control II * Passing II * Shoot & Finish II * Dribbling II * Heading II * Goal Keeping II * Defending II * 2v1, 2v2, 3v2, 3v3, 4v3, 4v4

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

The title of this work is also its best summary. It starts out with a listing of 20 fun games that cover the topics of Dribbling, Passing and Shooting. This is the sort of stuff you find in most coaching books. The games can be useful, but all too often the beginning coach has no idea how to organize the games into a coherent practice. That is what separates this book from so many of the others. The remainder of this book lays out 20 complete practices on the topics listed in the Table of Contents above. The practices flow from one to the other and get harder towards the end of the book. All of the practices start with a warm-up activity, include 2 or 3 skill related exercises and end with a small sided game. Each plan includes an explanation of the organization, the key coaching points to look for and a suggested amount of time to spend on the activity.

This would be an excellent book for a beginning coach who has just "volunteered" to coach any team of 8-11 year olds. You could simply follow the practices one after the other straight from the book and look like a genius. Or you could combine these exercises with ones from other sources while maintaining the basic structure of the practices. Either way, the book is a very good buy and leagues might considering buying a copy for each of their recreation coaches. Gordon also has a similar book for coaching 5, 6 & 7 year olds.

 

Dutch Soccer Drills: Individual Skills
 

AUTHOR: Richard Kentwell
PUBLISHER: Masters Press
PUBLISHED: 1996
ISBN: 1-57028-106-8
PAGES: 223
COST: $13
LEVEL: Intermediate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Dribbling * Passing * Shooting * Heading * Restart Plays * Goalkeeping * Conditioning

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
     This work contains 180 drills for teaching the various aspects of soccer. It lists the drills one per page arranged by topic. Each drill has a Title, Objective, Number of Players, Area, Time, Equipment, Diagram, Organization, Instructions, Coaching Points and Variations. Since the drills are presented by topic it is easy to decide on the theme for your practice and then pick a selection of drills to work that theme.
      The drills are well presented although plagued by numerous typographical errors. The drills are more elaborate than what you find in a lot of coaching books. They are really geared towards teaching patterns of play in addition to the basic skills that the chapter is emphasizing. I feel this is an excellent approach since the only reason to teach a specific technique is if it is useful for some tactical purpose. I would recommend this book mostly for coaches of players 12
and older.

 

Dutch Soccer Drills: Game Action Drills

AUTHOR: Richard Kentwell
PUBLISHER: Masters Press
PUBLISHED: 1997
ISBN: 1-57028-116-5
PAGES: 260
COST: $13
LEVEL: Intermediate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Combination Plays
Small Sided Games

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
      This work contains 180 drills for teaching tactical concepts. It lists the drills one per page arranged by either combination plays or small sided games. Each drill has a Title, Objective, Number of Players, Area, Time, Equipment, Diagram, Organization, Instructions, Coaching Points and Variations. Since the drills are presented in only two rather broad categories it is difficult to decide on the theme for your practice and then pick a selection of drills to work that theme. However, the drills are well presented although plagued by numerous typographical errors.
     This is the second book in a two book series. The other book is on individual skills. The drills are more elaborate than what you find in a lot of coaching books. They are really geared towards teaching patterns of play. I would recommend this book mostly for coaches of players 12 and older. It is a very good book for finding drills that can be used to teach tactics.

 

Fun Games for Soccer Training

AUTHOR: Joseph A. Luxbacher
PUBLISHER: Leisure Press
PUBLISHED: 1987
ISBN: 0-88011-283-2
PAGES: 128
COST: $10
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
76 Games for Field Player Training * 6 Games for Goalkeeper Training

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
      This work contains 82 games for teaching some aspect of soccer. It simply lists the games one after the other without much thought to page breaks. Each game has a Title, Objectives, Equipment, Organization, Directions and Coaching Points. This is the sort of stuff you find in most coaching books. The games can be useful, and are certainly fun, but all too often the beginning coach has no idea how to organize the games into a coherent practice. This book does not help in the organizing department at all. The games seem to be included in a purely random order. I would rather see the games grouped by the technique, tactic or fitness component they emphasize. Or, at least, provide a cross referencing index with this information. 
      Having said all that, however, I do like this book. The games are very well presented and the many I have used over the years have certainly been well liked by the youngsters. I feel that if a coach is uncertain about their coaching ability they should conduct their practices as a sequence of games and let the game be the teacher. It would be best, though, if all the games in one practice related to the same topic. There are enough games in this book that this objective could be easily met with a little effort from the coach. The bottom line is that I recommend this book as a second book for new coaches and for any coach looking for some fun ideas to liven up their practices. Even High School age players have enjoyed some of these games.

 

Fundamental Soccer Practice

AUTHOR: Karl Dewazien
PUBLISHER: Fun Soccer Enterprises
PUBLISHED: 1992
ISBN: 0-9619139-0-8
PAGES: 131
COST: $10
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Know Your Players * Eight Steps of Learning * Ten Steps of Teaching * Planning Considerations * Organizing the Practice * Dribbling * Using the Instep for Shooting * Ground Passing * Wall Pass * Controlling Ground Ball * Controlling Flighted Balls * Throw-In * Small Sided Games

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
       This book is written in comic book format which can drive you crazy but seems to be comforting to new coaches. It is probably the best book I know for a brand new "volunteer" to use to get started. It covers all the basics of starting and running a team. Background information and complete practices are included. My old league used to get this book for all its new coaches. This is the first book in a series of four, the others cover tactics, goalkeeping and parents. There is also a companion video that I think is still available.

 

Coaching Soccer

AUTHOR: Tim Schum, Editor
PUBLISHER: Masters Press
PUBLISHED: 1996
ISBN: 1-57028-094-0
PAGES: 427
COST: $23
LEVEL: Advanced

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Our Beginnings: a Brief History of Soccer and the NSCAA * The Theory of Soccer * Developing a Soccer Coaching Philosophy * Teaching Soccer Technique: The Building Blocks of the Game * Goalkeeping * Developing Individual and Team Tactics: An Action Plan for the Game * Restarts * Preparing Players for the Physical Demands of Soccer * Sports Psychology * Coaching Women's Soccer * Getting Organized to Coach Youth Soccer * Coaching Indoor Soccer * Team Management

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
      If you are an advanced coach, or want to be one, or want to know what they think, or if you are going to take a national level license; you must have this book. This book is a collection of articles from "Soccer Journal" which is the magazine of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). It touches on almost every aspect of soccer coaching. The list of contributors reads like a who's who in American soccer.
      The downside of the book is that it is a collection of stand-alone articles. This means that the style and quality vary quite a bit. There was apparently no effort made to clean up the original errors and typos in the articles. But the depth of knowledge is so great that the mistakes can easily be forgiven. This is really the first place I turn whenever there is a question about soccer coaching.
I recommend this book very highly to anyone beyond the beginning stage of coaching. It will be a resource that you will turn to year after year.

The Soccer Games Book

AUTHOR: J. Malcolm Simon and John A. Reeves
PUBLISHER: Leisure Press
PUBLISHED: 1982
ISBN: 0-88011-064-3
PAGES: 176
COST: $15
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Index of Games * Index of Primary Emphases * Index of Primary and Secondary Emphases * Index of Contributing Authors * Games #1-160


REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
      This work contains 160 games for teaching some aspect of soccer. It lists the games one per page in alphabetical order. Each game has a Title, Area of Primary and Secondary Emphasis, Number of Players, Equipment, Formation and Procedure along with a diagram. This is the sort of stuff you find in most coaching books, but all too often the beginning coach has no idea how to organize the games into a coherent practice. This book tries to help in the organizing department by providing a cross referencing index with information about the primary and secondary focus of the game at hand.
      The games are well presented although I would like to see a section listing the coaching points to look for. Most of the games are drills that have been recast as games. This is a very important quality. Even though drills are not especially motivating, the numerous repetitions are important for solidifying a skill. Thus, if one can take a drill and turn it into a game you can create a situation that is productive but also self motivating. Furthermore, I feel that if a coach is uncertain about their coaching ability they should conduct their practices as a  sequence of games and let the game be the teacher. 
      It would be best, though, if all the games in one practice related to the same topic. There are enough games in this book that this objective could be easily met by using the cross referencing index. I would recommend this book mostly for coaches of players 12 and up although younger teams could use most of the games without harm. Basically it is a good book for any coach looking for some fun ideas to liven up their routine drills.

 

 

Umbro Conditioning for Football

AUTHOR: Staff from John Moores University
PUBLISHER: TSL Publishing Limited
PUBLISHED: 1997
ISBN: 0-09-185405-9
PAGES: 127
COST: $40
LEVEL: Intermediate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Aerobic and Anaerobic Conditioning * Strength Conditioning * Flexibility Conditioning * Goal Setting and Conditioning * Planning Your Conditioning Programme * Diet and Nutrition * Mental Preparation for Performance

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
     One of my frustrations with the USSF licensing program is that they never really deal with the subject of conditioning in an adequate way. Furthermore, they don't even touch on the mental aspects of the game. I thought surely at the B level they would, but they didn't in the course I took. Thus I have been looking for books to help me. This one, from a British University that specializes in studying soccer, is pretty good at the intermediate coaching level.
      From the Table of Contents you can see that they cover all the basic material. They give a moderate amount of detail and the whys and wherefores for each facet of conditioning. They give enough tables, facts and figures that you could put together a serviceable conditioning program with this book alone. Then they tie it all together into goal setting and defining a year round training program. I was particularly pleased to see the last chapter on mental preparation since that is really what separates the players at the highest levels.
       My main complaint about the book is the cost. The publishers
filled the book with zillions of color photographs that really don't
contribute much to your knowledge but certainly drive the cost upwards.
       Overall, though, the book is a good introduction to an important aspect of the game for coaches of post-pubescent players. It would also be appropriate for reading by older players who might even enjoy the photographs.

 

The Winning Formula

AUTHOR: Charles Hughes
PUBLISHER: William Collins Sons & Co Limited
PUBLISHED: 1990
ISBN: 0-00-191160-0
PAGES: 192
COST: $27
LEVEL: Advanced

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Passing and Support Play * Forward Runs * Dribbling * Crosses * Heading for Goal * Shooting * Creating Space * Winning the Ball in the Attacking Third * Attacking from Set Plays * Key Factors in Defending * Defending at Set Plays * Goalkeeping * The Winning Formula * Direct Play - the Analysis

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
      You either love this book or hate it, I have done both. The main source of contention is the philosophies of the author. Charles Hughes was the F.A. Director of Coaching and Education. He did a video study of 109 international matches to determine how the 240 goals were scored. From the study he developed a game strategy he calls "Direct Play." His detractors claim he simply advocates "Kick and Run," although he specifically denies this in the book.
       His primary statistical conclusion was that most goals (87%) came after five consecutive passes or less. From this he developed a strategy he calls "The Winning Formula." This formula spells out the best strategies to adopt on attack and defense as follows: "In attack this means going forward as quickly as possible - direct play - and in defense it means attempting to win back the ball as soon as possible and as near as possible to the opponents' goal."
       The book takes this formula as its guiding principle and then works out the tactical implications. Hughes looks at each tactic needed to support direct play and then discusses the techniques needed to support the tactic. The result is a book that covers all aspects of teaching the game in a very unified fashion. Techniques and tactics are not taught as isolated circus acts but become part of the bigger picture of winning games. I feel that this is the strongest part of the book. You will not find specific practices, which is why I said the book is for advanced coaches. However, the book will help you understand the teaching of the game as a coherent whole. You don't have to subscribe to his total philosophy to find the book helpful and even enjoyable. 

 

Coaching 6, 7 and 8 Year Olds

AUTHOR: Tony Waiters and Bobby Howe
PUBLISHER: World of Soccer
PUBLISHED: 1989
ISBN: ?
PAGES: 64
COST: $12
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction * The Waiters way * Roles of Participants * The Tactics * The Howe Way * Appendix

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
      This is the book that defined Micro Soccer (3v3). The first of
the book justifies the use of 3v3 by describing the characteristics of 6, 7 and 8 year olds. Then the actual rules of 3v3 are presented. The meat of the book's first half is a detailed description of 10 practice activities for teaching Micro Soccer. There is even an eight week practice schedule laid out using the 10 activities. The first half finishes with a discussion of the roles of the three players on the field and a general discussion of basic team tactics. The second half of the book contains 10 fun games that can be used with this age group even if you are not playing Micro Soccer.
      This is a good book if you are coaching the targeted age group.
Many leagues give it to all their coaches as their basic coaching
manual. If you are a new "volunteer" and have no idea what to do, this is an excellent place to start.

 

Coaching 9, 10 and 11 Year Olds
 

AUTHOR: Bobby Howe and Tony Waiters
PUBLISHER: World of Soccer
PUBLISHED: 1989
ISBN: 0-920417-03-5
PAGES: 64
COST: $12
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction * The Howe Way * Mastering Techniques * The Waiters Way * The Age of Skill * Simple Defending * Appendix

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
      This book is a continuation of the first book in the series that defined Micro Soccer (3v3). The first half of the book illustrates Howe's concept that "the game is the teacher." After discussing methods of coaching and the rationale for playing 3v3, he fully describes 10 fun games for learning basic technical and tactical concepts. The second half of the book describes some games by Waiters that also teach basic techniques and tactics.
      This is a good book if you are a beginning coach in the targeted age group. I think it may be too simplistic if you are coaching a competition team, although you can certainly use the activities to good effect. However, if you are a new "volunteer" and have no idea what to do, this is an excellent place to start.

 

Training Soccer Champions

AUTHOR: Anson Dorrance
PUBLISHER: JTC Sports Inc.
PUBLISHED: 1996
ISBN: 1-887791-01-9
PAGES: 159
COST: $33
LEVEL: Advanced

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Team Organization * Greater Expectations * The Balancing Act * The Competitive Cauldron * Understanding How and Why * Respecting Opponents * Having An Effect * Training * It's Okay to Compete * The Off-Season * Fit For Life * Player Management * Leading Women Athletes * Your Role With The Reserves * Organizing Team Chemistry * Protecting the Take-On Artist * Tactics * The Value of the Three Front * Field Organization * Appendix * Manager's Stat Pack * Computer Analysis * Recommended Reading List

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
       This book is not full of drills and games, but it is an excellent source for advice on coaching philosophy for any soccer coach and essential reading if you are coaching women's soccer. This book relates Dorrance's philosophy on how to create great teams. He talks about how women play differently from men and how this effects your coaching. We very rarely see discussions of the psychological side of the game (for either men or women) and I think that is one of our biggest weaknesses in our training programs. This book goes a long ways towards curing that deficiency. The other nice thing about this book is that each chapter is written almost as a stand alone article so the book is very easy to read in bits and pieces such as at a tournament. But once you get started you will probably find, as I did, that you can't put the book down.

 

The Art of Soccer

AUTHOR: Mark G. Catlin, MD
PUBLISHER: Soccer Books
PUBLISHED: 1990
ISBN: 0-9626834-6-9
PAGES: 207
COST: $16
LEVEL: Advanced

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Space: The Central Concept * Organizing the Attack * The Individual Attacker * Team Tactics * Defending at the Ball * Organizing the Defense * Defensive Team Tactics * Introduction to Set Plays * Goalkeeping Basics * Basic Soccer Skills

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
       This is a coaching book different from any other coaching book you have read. There are no practice plans full of Xs and Os. Instead the book tries to present the theory of soccer. Catlin's contention is that Space is the central concept for understanding the game. Attackers  try to create and use space, while defenders try to deny space. From this basis the book develops offensive and defensive tactics. The result is a system that does not involve playing players in fixed positions. Rather, everyone must be aware of the principles of the game and adjust their positions continuously. This could lead to a beautiful flowing game that epitomizes the Dutch concept of Total Soccer. This is a book I try to review about every two months just to remind me of where I am trying to take my team. One thing not in the book that you might like to see is a series of practices that would implement the system.
     The author has written a book of drills and games called "Good 'N Fun Soccer Stuff" that is helpful for translating the concepts into practice. An even better choice would be the book by Ditchfield and Bahr call "Progressive Soccer". A bonus feature in the Art of Soccer book is that it is interspersed with quotes from the ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu taken from his book "The Art of War." Such gems as "Defend when you are weak and attack when you are strong" liven up the book and spur numerous discussions of soccer strategies. If your faded and jaded from too many years of coaching, try this book for getting the creative juices flowing again.

 

Coaching the Goalkeeper

AUTHOR: Tony Waiters
PUBLISHER: World of Soccer
PUBLISHED: 1992
ISBN: 0-920417-07-8
PAGES: 104
COST: $12
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction * The Key Considerations * The Practices * Putting it all Together * Some Finer Points

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
      If you have a goalkeeper on your team, you need this book. This is one of the most straight forward books I have seen on goalkeeping. Most of us really aren't sure what to do with our keepers. This book first discusses the age specific characteristics of keepers. Then it presents the 12 key considerations for keeping. Having covered the theory in a very easy to understand manner, Waiters then presents a series of practices. He starts with basic skills then moves to combined skills and finally decision making situations. Yes, there are books with a lot more detail, but this one hits all the essential points in a simple manner that gives us coaches enough confidence to actually go out and work with out keepers instead of just throwing them in goal to be shot at.

 

Fundamental Soccer Goalkeeping

AUTHOR: Karl Dewazien
PUBLISHER: Fred Feathers Publishing Co.
PUBLISHED: 1986
ISBN: ?
PAGES: 127
COST: $10
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
General Goalkeeping Information * Organizing the Practice - Seven Steps * Necessities for a Good Practice Session * Goalkeeping - Seven Step Approach * Ready Position * Semi-Kneel Save * Standing Save * Below Waist Save * Above Waist Save * Securing * Distribution * Modern Training Ideas * Bonus: Modified Laws of the Game

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
         This book is written in comic book format which can drive you crazy but seems to be comforting to new coaches. It is the third of a four book series on FUNdamental soccer. It is probably the best series I know for a brand new "volunteer" to use to get started. It covers all the basic concepts for goalkeeping. Complete practices are included for each of the goalkeeping techniques. The book is targeted at young children but if you know nothing about training keepers it is useful even if you coach an older team.

 

Fundamental Soccer Parents

AUTHOR: Karl Dewazien
PUBLISHER: Fred Feathers Publishing Co.
PUBLISHED: 1989
ISBN: 0-9619139-3-2
PAGES: 128
COST: $10
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Your Child and Soccer * You, Your Child and the League/Club
How Safe is Soccer * The Parents Role * The Leagues' (Clubs') Role * The Coach * The Manager * The Referee * Understanding the Game
Learning Soccer Together * Playing the Game * Before, During and After...The Game * Modified Laws

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
       This book is written in comic book format which can drive you crazy but seems to be comforting to new coaches. It is the fourth of a four book series on FUNdamental soccer. It is probably the best series I know for a brand new "volunteer" to use to get started. This book is a little different than the others in this series in that it is addressed to the parents of young soccer players. It assumes they know nothing about the game and tries to teach the basics. I found it useful for preparing information for my first meeting with parents at the beginning of a new team. You might wish that all parents had to read this book in order to sign their kid up, but it ain't gonna happen. So, you read the book and pass the information on at parents meetings and in newsletters. You might carry the book with you to games to lend to some of the more "helpful" parents. I should note that I think this book has been reprinted with the title "Fundamental Soccer Guide."

Fundamental Soccer Tactics

AUTHOR: Karl Dewazien
PUBLISHER: Fred Feathers Publishing Co.
PUBLISHED: 1987
ISBN: ?
PAGES: 128
COST: $10
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
General Tactics * Action Plan for Attack * Action Plan for Defense * Bonus: Modified Laws of the Game

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
     This book is written in comic book format which can drive you  crazy but seems to be comforting to new coaches. It is the second of a four book series on FUNdamental soccer. It is probably the best series I know for a brand new "volunteer" to use to get started. It covers very basic tactical ideas for both individual and team play. No complete practices are included but critical concepts are well described so that you can pass them on to your team with confidence. It is best used by beginning coaches with young teams. More experienced coaches and teams will need something more advanced. I especially recommend this book to coaches who have never played the game themselves.

Teaching Offside

AUTHOR: Tony Waiters and Bob Evans
PUBLISHER: World of Soccer
PUBLISHED: 1989
ISBN: ?
PAGES: 24
COST: $5
LEVEL: Intermediate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
The Offside Law * Do We Need Offside? * Teaching Offside * Tactical Use of Offside * Conduct * Linesmen

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:
     If this is the first year your team has to play with the offside law then this book will get you started fast. The book explains the offside law and then shows you how to teach it to your players in a progression from 2v2 to 11v11. The book also discusses some of the tactical considerations of the offside law.

 

Coaching Soccer The Progressive Way

AUTHOR: Mike Ditchfield and Walter Bahr
PUBLISHER: Prentice Hall
PUBLISHED: 1988
ISBN: 0-13-139288-3
PAGES: 238
COST: $16
LEVEL: Intermediate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Elements of Effective Coaching * Progressive Coaching * 1st Man Offense Player with the Ball: Control * 1st Man Offense Player with the Ball: Passing * 1st Man Offense Player with the Ball: Shooting * 1st Man Offense Player with the Ball: Dribbling * 1st Man Offense Player with the Ball: Heading * 1st Man Defense Player Delaying the Ball: Denying the Point of Attack * 2nd Man Offense: Player Supporting the 1st Man Offense * 2nd Man Defense: Player Supporting the 1st Man Defense * 3rd Man Offense: Players Creating and Utilizing Space * 3rd Man Defense: Players Denying Space * Goalkeeping: The Specialist Position * Set Plays

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

      This book is different from your run of the mill coaching book. This book tries to present the coaching of soccer in a unified framework. The authors call it the ripple system because it radiates out from the ball. The player on the ball is the first attacker and all ball skills are taught relative to this position. The Closest player helping out is the second attacker. He is usually behind and to the side of the first attacker. His job is called support. All the other players on the attacking team are called third attackers and their role is to create and use space. On the defensive side of the ball, the player closest to the ball is the first defender. His job is to pressure the ball handler. The defender backing him up is the second defender and his job is to provide support. All the other defenders are third defenders. Their job is to deny space to the attacking.

      For each of these positions the authors provide a training progression. The progression goes from: No Opposition, Passive Opposition, Positive Opposition, Small-Sided Game to Team Tactics. For each exercise key coaching points are given. I found this book to be an excellent aid not only for developing practices but also for understanding how the game should be played. The beauty of this system is that it teaches technique within the context of tactics so that both make a lot more sense. While I think this book may be a little too deep for beginning coaches, the concepts in it are essential if you are going to advance to the next level.

 

Skills and Strategies for Coaching Soccer

AUTHOR: Alan Hargreaves
PUBLISHER: Leisure Press
PUBLISHED: 1990
ISBN: 0-88011-328-6
PAGES: 365
COST: $20
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preparing to Coach * Ethics and Coaching Philosophy * Individual Coaching Strategies * Group Coaching Strategies * Skills and Techniques * Coaching Collecting and Controlling * Coaching Passing * Passing Games * Coaching Dribbling * Coaching Tackling and Defensive Skills * Coaching Kicking * Coaching Shooting * Coaching Heading * Coaching Goalkeeping * Coaching the Throw-In * Tactics and Teamwork * Understanding Team Play * Team Formations and Systems of Play * Tactics at Corners and Free Kicks * Coaching Tactics and Teamwork - Methods * Coaching Tactics and Teamwork - Practice Situations * Team Management * Physical and Mental Preparation for Games * Handling Problem Players * Fitness for Soccer

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

      If your serious about coaching, and are at the beginning or intermediate level, then this is the book for you. This book covers the whole range of coaching challenges from developing a coaching philosophy to dealing with problem players. But it is not just theory. Along with the big picture Hargreaves presents complete practices for each of the basic techniques. The neat thing about the practices is that he gives examples for beginning, intermediate and advanced players. This is a nice change from the one size fits all approach of most coaching books. This book, combined with a book of drills, could get you through your entire youth coaching career. However, the book is so well written that after you are done you want to keep learning. Highly recommended.

 

Coaching Soccer Successfully
 

AUTHOR: Roy Rees and Cor Van Der Meer
PUBLISHER: Human Kinetics
PUBLISHED: 1997
ISBN: 0-87322-444-2
PAGES: 227
COST: $20
LEVEL: Advanced

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Coaching Foundation * Coaching Plans * Coaching Defense * Coaching Offense * Coaching Matches * Coaching Evaluation

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

       If you coach High School age or older teams, you need this book. This is one of the best new coaching books to come out recently. It covers everything involved in building a complete soccer program that will remain in the community for a long time. Yes, it has its share of Xs and Os but everything is presented at a higher level than most books. The chapters on offensive and defensive tactics were especially helpful to me when I was taking my B license. Highly recommended.

 

Coaching the Team Player
 

AUTHOR: Bobby Howe
PUBLISHER: World of Soccer
PUBLISHED: 1992
ISBN: 0-920417-11-6
PAGES: 64
COST: $12
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction * Roles of the Team Player * The Coach and the Methodology * The Practices * Additional Games * Appendix

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

      This book is geared towards teams that play 11 a side but it is still good reading for other coaches that want to understand the duties of different positions. Rereading this book for the review I was struck by how close this book follows the instruction given in the USSF B license. The difference is that this book makes the concepts really easy to understand.

      The book starts by discussing the general qualities of a good player. Then it takes each position and discusses the offensive and defensive duties in each third of the field. This is great information for helping your players understand their role in the team. It also makes it a lot more fun to watch games when you can focus on a certain position and see how they react to different situations. Once you understand the roles of the players the book shows you how to set up practices to improve the needed skills. I think this is one of the better books for a coach making the transition from recreation to competitive soccer.

 

The Complete Book of Coaching Youth Soccer

AUTHOR: Simon Whitehead
PUBLISHER: Contemporary Books
PUBLISHED: 1991
ISBN: 0-8092-4072-6
PAGES: 136
COST: $13
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Aims, Objectives and Teaching Hints * Organizational Tips * Juggling and Warm-Ups * Passing and Control * Ball Handling: Dribbling * Heading * Shooting and Volleying * Goalkeeping * Ball Winning and Defense * Throw-Ins, Goal Kicks, Corners, and Free Kicks * Game Drills and Positional Play * Team Formations * Summing Up * Appendix I: Basic Laws of Soccer * Appendix II: Successful Soccer * Appendix III: Ten-Week Season Plans

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

      OK, your kid really wanted to play soccer; sure they didn't have a coach; but why, oh why did you say you would coach? You and hundreds of "volunteers" across the country are now asking themselves what are they going to do. Start by getting this book. This book contains the essence of everything you need to know to have a successful season. If you are truly desperate, the final appendix contains 10 week practice plans for the age groups: 7-10, 11-14 and 15-19. Pick the right one and go for it. Hopefully, though, the book will get you excited enough and confident enough to want to really learn all the material in the book. You too, can and should, get on the field and try the exercises in this book. They really are simple enough that a fat, forty year old can learn them and have fun in the process. I sure did. This book is not as deep as Hargreaves' book philosophically, but it contains all the practical material you need.

 

Zonal Defending

AUTHOR: Jack Detchon
PUBLISHER: World of Soccer
PUBLISHED: 1996
ISBN: 1-896466-11-7
PAGES: 48
COST: $10
LEVEL: Intermediate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction * Man to Man or Zone * Defining the Zones * Defender's Responsibilities - Marking * Defender's Responsibilities - Marking and Covering * Defender's Responsibilities - Marking, Covering and Balancing * The Complete Back Four * The Flat Back Four - Or Is It?
Appendix

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

      In the US coaching ranks zonal defending has become a hot topic. This book is an attempt to give a simple explanation of the concept, at least as it applies to the back defenders. With a lot of illustrations and a bit of text, Detchon explains the zonal concept and builds it up from 1v1 through 3v3 and finally to a flat back four zonal system. If you have never seen these ideas before this is a good introduction. If you want more detail, including the role of the midfield and forwards, you should try the book "Coaching The Italian 4:4:2." 

 

Playing Our Of Your Mind

AUTHOR: Alan Goldberg
PUBLISHER: Reedswain Inc.
PUBLISHED: 1997
ISBN: 1-890946-01-X
PAGES: 75
COST: $10
LEVEL: Advanced

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction
The Mind Body Connection
Five Steps to Becoming a Champion
Handling the Pressure of Competition
Developing Championship Concentration
Thinking Like a Winner Developing a Positive Attitude
Developing Self-Confidence
Big Game Preparation: Using Mental Rehearsal for Peak Performance
The Principles of Peak Performance
Conclusion

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

     One of my pet peeves with the USSF licensing program is that they pay almost no attention to the psychological side of the game. Yes, they always list it as one of the four pillars of soccer, but then they ignore it altogether. Even at the B level, I was very surprised to see that nothing was really said about training mental toughness. This book will tell you what they don't. Furthermore, this is one of the first books I have found on mental toughness that directly addresses soccer. I have others that are very similar but all their examples are from tennis or they try to be generic. With its focus on soccer, this book is much easier for us and our players to relate to.

       So what does the book do? First the book convinces you that the psychological side of the game is just as important as the physical side. Then it convinces you that mental toughness can be learned and developed. Finally it lays out step by step procedures for developing "the mind of a champion." I know it sounds like a bunch of puffery. In fact, while reading the book there were times I just wanted to gag as the sugar was poured on so deep. But that is the nature of the psych business. The trick seems to be to get the nay-sayer out of your head and start acting like a winner even before you are one. Listen to your inner voices while you coach or play and I think you will be surprised how hard you are on yourself. Certainly developing a positive inner voice will make you feel better even if you don't win more games.

       I have yet to try the methods in the book with a whole team. What I have done is give copies to individual players and let them decide how much they want to use. Those who have actually started practicing the methods seem to be improving their mental toughness noticeably. With my next team I may try to get everybody doing the exercises. I should mention that there are also some audio tapes available that cover the same material, but I prefer the book.

 

Good 'N Fun Soccer Stuff

AUTHOR: Mark G. Catlin, MD
PUBLISHER: Soccer Books
PUBLISHED: 1990
ISBN: 0-9626834-8-5
PAGES: 91
COST: $12
LEVEL: Beginning

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Rules
Running a Preseason Meeting
Helpful Tips for the First Time Coach
Coach's Tough Task: Medical Emergencies
Common Soccer Injuries
Introduction to Soccer Tactics
Approach to Practices
Soccer Stretches
Basic Soccer Skills
General Purpose Games
Games to Teach Trapping
Games to Teach Headers and Throw-ins
Games to Teach Shooting
Games to Teach Passing
Dribbling Skills
Games to Teach Individual Tactics
Games to Teach Position Play
Goalkeeping Basics
Goalkeeping Games and Drills
Set Plays
Development Stages and Coaching
Game Analysis
Roster

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

       Catlin wrote another book called "The Art of Soccer" that I really like. That book is a theoretical treatment of soccer without any practices in it. This book is full of games and drills, although I think they are at a simpler level than the theory in the other book. The exercises are grouped by topic. For each one Catlin lists: recommended age, purpose, number of players, playing area, duration, procedure and variations. The book also contains supplemental information as detailed in the table of contents.

      I like this book as a handout for a league to give its coaches. In fact, judging by the tag line at the bottom of each page I think the Minnesota Soccer Association uses it for exactly that purpose. Used in conjunction with a basic coaches clinic this would satisfy any league's requirement to provide training to their coaches. The only thing that could be improved would be to provide at least a few complete practices so that new coaches could see how a practice progresses from warm-up to scrimmage while staying focused on one theme.

 

Jumping Into Plyometrics

AUTHOR: Donald A. Chu
PUBLISHER: Leisure Press
PUBLISHED: 1992
ISBN: 0-88011-443-6
PAGES: 80
COST: $14
LEVEL: Advanced

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Understanding Plyometrics
The Basics of Plyometric Training
Designing a Plyometric Training Program
Plyometric Exercises
Sport-Specific Drills

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

      Plyometrics are exercises aimed at linking strength with speed of movement to produce power. It became very big in the track and field sports and is now spreading to other sports at their highest levels. At its simplest, it is a series of jumping exercises. This book explains the physiology of the method then describes numerous specific exercises.
      Finally it lists a program for specific sports including soccer. I have never used this as a complete program but I have incorporated some of the jumps into my normal conditioning program. If you have heard about the method and are curious this is supposed to be one of the best introductory books on the subject. Please read it carefully before proceeding, especially the section dealing with the necessary prior strength training. For highly competitive, older teams, this may be the physical edge you have been looking for.

 

Soccer Tactics and Teamwork

AUTHOR: Charles Hughes
PUBLISHER: EP Publishing Limited
PUBLISHED: 1973
ISBN: 0-7158-0174-0
PAGES: 160
COST: $10
LEVEL: Advanced

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Systems of Play
Why Goals are Scored
Pressurising
Key Factors in Defensive Play
Creating Space
Support in Attack
Attacking Opponents With and Without the Ball
The Do's and Don'ts of Passing
Shooting
Defending at Set Plays
Attacking at Set Plays
Goalkeeping
Fitness for Association Football

REVIEW BY Eric Blommer:

This is the first book I have by the colorful but controversial British author Charles Hughes. At the time of writing this book he had been coaching the England Amateur Team for nine years. This book tries to sum up what he learned during this period about the proper coaching of soccer. The nice part about this book is that it is organized around what he identifies as the five reasons for goals being scored: 

1) Lack of pressure on the man with the ball.
2) Lack of support for the challenging player.
3) Failure to track players down.
4) Giving the ball away.
5) Set Plays.

      Hughes develops the rest of the book based on the implications of these five primal causes. It turns out to be a good organizing principle. This book is very good at helping you understand soccer tactics both on offense and defense. No it is probably not the very best book on soccer tactics but it is clearly written and has merit even as an historical document. I like it. If you read it in a sequence with his other two books, "Soccer Tactics and Skills" and "The Winning Formula", you can see how his thinking evolved over a twenty year span. Maybe I'm just weird for finding this interesting. 

 

The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro

       I really enjoyed Joe McGinniss' book about minor league soccer in Italy.  A non-fiction acount of a year in a team's move up to Series B (second level to Series A in Italy).  The author provides a vivid account of a team from Castel di Sangro, a tiny town in Italy's poorest region, that against all expectations made it to the national competition. The problems are just beginning for a team with corrupt management.  Its a side of sport that most in America will never see.  McGinniss provides lots of laughs and tears along the way with his colorful account of "his" team. Its a read well worth while for soccer lovers worldwide.

 

 

Coaching - Winning Strategies for Every Level of Play

Author: Dave Chambers
This is a book recommended by David Graham on the Soccer-Coach-L e-mail list.  Its not a soccer book but rather a very complete book about coaching which covers all aspects of coaching not specific to any sport.  It covers all the self and team management aspects of coaching.  The author explains different philosophies and styles of coaching and how to manage both time and stress.  He gets into specific training systems for strength, agility, flexibility and speed training.  He devotes some of the book to psychological and motivational coaching. The list of motivational quotations in the book is worth the price of the book. Whether you coach, baseball, football, soccer or bowling this book belongs in the library of any coach at any level who is serious about doing his best.     

 

OTHER  REVIEWS

 

  • The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro - From the Publisher
    In the summer of 1996, Joe McGinniss, the author of such nonfiction bestsellers as The Selling of the President, Fatal Vision, Blind Faith, and The Last Brother, set out for the remote Italian village of Castel di Sangro, located deep within the forbidding and isolated region of the Abruzzo. His goal was to spend a season with the village soccer team, which only weeks before had accomplished the feat - hailed throughout Italy as a "miracle" - of winning promotion to the second-highest professional league in the land. Though Castel di Sangro had only five thousand inhabitants, its team would now compete against those from such cities as Genoa, Turin, Padua, and Venice in a fight to keep its miracle alive. Almost immediately Joe McGinniss was embroiled in a small-town drama that had less to do with a game played by men kicking a ball than with hope, fear, love, loss, and almost unbearable suspense.
  • The Beautiful Game - A real life book about the Santa Rosa's Thunder girls soccer team and their hard nosed coach, Emiria Salzmann, (a top player herself).  Anyone who coaches girls in any sport should read this book.  I give this book FIVE STARS.
  • Youth League Soccer: coaching and playing
    This is a Spalding sports library book. This same series covers baseball, basketball and football. It is a good, inexpensive primer. The soft back book retails for $9.95
  • The Art of Soccer
         by Mark Catlin, M.D. - An excellent intermediate soccer book about the use of space and movement.  A top ten soccer book.
  • Coaching Kids to Play Soccer
    by Jim San Marco and Kurt Aschermann - This book is subtitled "Everything you need to know to coach kids from 6 to 16. It is a very good book for a first time coach at any age. For seasoned coaches it is more likely to help if you are coaching kids in the 6 to 8 year old brackets. (1987)
  • Soccer Techniques, Tactics & Teamwork
    This is probably my favorite book on coaching soccer. I refer to it over and over during the season. It is a good book for background information on the evolution & history of soccer. The tactics are designed mainly for kids ten years old and up.
  • Soccer - The Complete Player
    by Dan Herbst - This is a Sports Illustrated book and one of the best soccer books I have found.
  • Winning Soccer Skills & Strategies
    by Jerry Yeagley. This is a Spalding book.  - Excellent!
  • Coaching The Player
    The Team Player - Practice Methods for Positional Play by Bobby Howe - One of a series of Bobby Howe coaching books - This book describes the different positions on a soccer team and the skills and roles required to play each position. It includes practice drills and games used to enhance those skills.
  • Coaching The Team
    by Tony Waiters - 11-a-side practice methods for players - This book is written for al the soccer coaches of the world who have the daunting task of helping bring together a collection of individuals into a single unit - The team.
  • Coaching The Goalkeeper
    by Tony Waiters - Incorporating the 12 key considerations - I am a firm believer that you don't teach a child just to play one position until they are 15 or 16 years old. That said - this is a very good primer for coaching keepers. It has lots of exercises and games designed specifically for goalkeepers. This book is now available on-line free.  Click here.
  • Coaching The Team
    by Tony Waiters - This book is now available on-line free.  Click here.
  • Coaching 9, 10 and 11 Year Olds
    by Bobby Howe and Tony Waiters - It has lots of exercises and games designed specifically for the intermediate skill levels of 9, 10 and 11 year olds. This book is now available on-line free.  Click here.
  • Coaching 6, 7 and 8 Year Olds
    by Bobby Howe and Tony Waiters - It has lots of exercises and games designed specifically for the beginning skill levels of 6, 7 and 8 year olds. This book uses Micro Soccer (Three on a side) to teach beginning players how to play the game. The 3-a-side method is the same teaching method used by the U-7 ASYA leagues. This book is now available on-line free.  Click here.
  • Soccer Rules in Pictures
    by Michael Brown
  • Coaching Modern Soccer Attack
         by Eric G. Batty - A book about socer and offense and attacks (1980)
  • Soccer Restart Plays
    by J. Malcolm Simon and John A. Reeves - This book contains plays from four categories: free kicks, corner kicks, and throw-ins and kick-offs. Each play has a detailed diagram with a complete description of the procedure.
  • Soccer: A Guide for Parents and Coaches
    This is a book from the USOC Sports Education Series - A complete guide to the basics of soccer. 150 pages (1996)
  • Principles of Team Play
    by Allen Wade - This is an excellent book by a very respected author - for coaches who are interested in improving the quality of their attacking, defending, and midfield play. 42 pages (1996) $8.95
  • Systems of Play
    by Allen Wade - This excellent book breaks down and analyzes in detail the strengths and weaknesses of each system, where space is created, and the defensive weaknesses of each system that can be exploited. Also examines sliding defenses. (1996) 32 pages $8.95
  • Modern Tactical Development
    by Allen Wade - This is another excellent book by Allen Wade for coaches looking to enhance their tactical knowledge. (1996) 47 pages $8.95
  • Soccer Strategies: How to Develop Successful Team Play
    by Allen Wade (1988) - Allen was the director of coaching for English F.A. from 1963 to 1983 and this book is considered one of the best on soccer tactics.
  • The Complete Book of Coaching Youth Soccer
    by Simon Whitehead - The authoritative guide to successful team tactics and competitive individual skills. 136 pages $12.95 (1991)
  • Coaching Soccer
    by Tim Schum - This is a 427 page volume which discusses every conceivable aspect of the game. This is the official coaching handbook from the National Soccer Coaches of America. It is a indispensable reference guide for all soccer coaches. (1996) $22.95
  • Skills and Strategies for Coaching Soccer
    by Alan Hargreaves - A basic manual recommended for any youth soccer coach. $22.95
  • Soccer Drills for Individual and Team Play
    by James McGettigan - For technical and tactical training. Best for mid-teens. $12.95
  • Score! Soccer Tactics & Techniques for a Better Offense
    by Wiel Coerver. Coerver brings his teaching methods, made famous from his very popular video training series, to this book using photographs to illustrate techniques. $16.95
  • Soccer Fundamentals for Players and Coaches
    by Wiel Coerver - A book by one of the most respected soccer coaches (Dutch) in the world. 
  • Soccer Practice Games/120 Games for Technique, Training, and Tactics
    by Joe Luxbacher - An easy to follow, practical review of games that you can use with your team that will teach new skills -- and they keep the players interest. It's suggested that you copy these drills and store in plastic sheets for use in planning practices.
  • Select Soccer Drills
    by John A. Reeves, J. Malcolm Simon and
     The Coaches Collection of Soccer Drills
    by John A. Reeves - For the more skilled player, these books are two guilds published two years apart to help coaches instruct and provide them with some new ideas for drills. $13.95
  • The Winning Formula
         by Charles Hughes - Lots of statistics and information about how to score, set plays, etc.  (1990) - One of my favorites.
  • Soccer Drills and Games Techniques Strategies and Physical Preparation
    by Gunnter Lammich - Going beyond simple drills, Lammich provides advise and help for coaching at the upper youth ages that includes preparing physically and recognizing game situations. $14.95
  • Soccer : Steps to Success (Steps to Success Activity Series)
    by Joe Luxbacher, Joseph A. Luxbacher - A book from the Luxbacher's that works on team building and player development - $14.95
  • The Soccer Goalkeeper
    by Joseph A. Luxbacher and Gene Klein - Focuses on developing a keeper from drils and positioning to teaching them to be a team leader. $14.95
  • Twenty-Two Foreigners in Funny Shorts
         by Pete Davies (1994) - An introduction to the foreign (for most in the US) football (soccer) for the 1994 World Cup.
  • Soccer Winning Techniques
    by Joe Luxbacher - Luxbbacher goes in alone on this book to help the coach and the player understand what it takes to get the most out oftheir talent. $13.95
  • Coaching Soccer Successfully (Coaching Successfully Series)
    by Roy Rees, Cor Van Der Meer - Suggested for new coaches and as a reference guide for experienced coaches to check themselves against. $18.95
  • Youth Soccer Drills : 77 Drills for Beginning to Intermediate Players
    by James Garland - Another good reference book to use when planning practices $14.95
  • Soccer Tactics and Teamwork
    by Charles Hughes (1973) - concise book about teamwork.
  • High-Performance Soccer : Techniques & Tactics for Advanced Play
    by Paul Caligiuri and Dan Herbst - U.S. National veteran Caligiuri provides instruction for coaches and players looking to move to more advanced levels $14.95
  • Coaching and Motivation: A Practical Guide to Maximum Athletic Performance - by William Warren. For sports in general, this book explains how to be a coach rather than a friend/player. This is good for someone making the transition to the coaching ranks from being a player. Problem players, achieving set goals and working with a new team are some of the topics. $9.95
  • The New Toughness Training for Sports : Mental, Emotional, and Physical Conditioning from One of the World's Premier Sports Psychologists
    by James E. Loehr - Though not soccer specific, its concepts can be applied across many sports for both individuals and teams. $11.95
  • Rules of Soccer Simplified By Soccer Learning Systems
    This is a simplified look at the game. Coaches recommend that if your players are old enough to read then a copy should be given to each. This booklet can be ordered for $2.00 by calling 800-762-2376.
  • Beyond Winning : Memoir of a Women's Soccer Coach
    by S. S. Hanna; $22.46
  • Coaching Soccer the Progressive Way
    by Mike Ditchfield andWalter Bahr; $13.45
  • The Complete Book of Coaching Youth Soccer : The Authoritative Guide to Successful Team Tactics and Competitive Individual Skills
    by Simon Whitehead; $11.65
  • A Parent's Guide to Coaching Soccer
    by John P. McCarthy; $11.69
  • Complete Soccer Handbook
         by Allen E. Maher (1983)  - good book about the Dutch methods of coaching football.
  • The Complete Handbook of Conditioning for Soccer - sold by Reedswain dedicated solely to soccer conditioning that breaks down exercises and skills according to what you are trying to train for at a particular time.  The major emphasis of this and most of the other books/articles I have read is all the energy systems overlap and this usually is reflected in the exercises in that they also work all the systems, with an emphasis on one or the other

  Web Administrator    Ken Gamble