MISSION:
The New York Soccer Club is dedicated to bringing the highest levels of coaching and leadership training through team-building, as well as a life-long love of soccer, to student-athletes in Westchester and its surrounding counties. We employ the most current coaching techniques and methods while recognizing and emphasizing the traditional values of hard work, respect and fair play. We are thoroughly committed to our core values and will provide our student-athletes with one of the most complete, positive and competitive soccer experiences in North America.
CURRICULUM:
We have developed our own curriculum which all our coaches will follow. In regular school one year builds upon the prior year and it is important to cover all the material or the essential building blocks will not be in place. It is the same in soccer. Our coaches will be able to go about their work knowing that the preparatory work has already been done. Consistent with this, our coaches will not move year to year with a team but will stick with an age and become increasingly expert in dealing with the particular needs of that group.
The responsibility and goal of New York Soccer Club is to develop every player so that they may maximise their potential. Winning will be a by product of this player development strategy and not the primary goal in and of itself.
TRAINING:
Every training session will incorporate the 4 key areas:
Technical:
At a young age the most successful players are often those who are the most physically developed. Ultimately, however, technique is the most important factor in determining how much success a player enjoys.
Every one of our training sessions will incorporate technical training. Unless our players become technically more proficient than their opponents there will be a limit to what they can achieve.
Tactics:
Soccer is a game played with very few breaks. This means that the coach has a limited ability to influence the play when a game has started. It also means that it is crucial that players are able to solve problems by themselves in the heat of competition. The only way to achieve this is through progressive, age appropriate tactical training. At a younger age this is achieved through simplified games that replicate real match situations (e.g. 2v1 situations). These become more complex as the players get older. We have developed a full curriculum that seamlessly moves from year to year so we can ensure that the players are exposed to all of the relevant material.
This on field training will be enhanced by the use of information technology. Using an online system developed at insidesoccer we will employ animations to create a truly interactive program whereby players attempt to solve soccer problems with hints from the coach. Following the principles of guided discovery we believe that if players attempt to solve these questions by themselves it gives them a greater understanding of the material.
Fitness:
Every game or sport has its own specific physical demands. Usually these are most efficiently developed by playing the game itself. To prepare adequately for a game of soccer it is not enough to jog and lift a few weights. Fitness training must be:
Age appropriate:
- An example would be that it is inappropriate to use weight training for 10 year players but VITAL to train agility, balance and co-ordination.
- Every age group needs specialised training for maximum benefit while minimizing the risk of injury. This needs to be carefully planned and monitored.
- Our director of coaching is one of the few coaches in the world holding simultaneously a UEFA PRO licence and a PhD in exercise physiology. He will work closely with all our coaches and co-ordinate the fitness work.
- Every session will have fitness or physical objectives.
Specific:
To achieve the desired outcome, fitness training must be specific. Take for example aerobic conditioning. For a top soccer program the days of just running are gone. When we talk about endurance training do we mean:
a/ Aerobic low and mid intensity exercise (70-80% HRmax) to allow the body to recover from games and high load practices.
b/ Aerobic high intensity (aerobic capacity and aerobic power ~85-100% HRmax) which is essential to get the players ready to perform optimally throughout the game.
c/ Anaerobic intensity (lactic and alactic) to train our players to be able to dominate their opponents in key moments in the game, like 1v1 situations, shooting or dribbling.
All of the above physical aspects need to be trained and the intensity needs to be carefully monitored.
We do this by playing small sided games where we will employ heart rate monitors to control the intensity, and manipulate the parameters of the game (e.g. number of touches, etc) to achieve the desired outcome.
Psychological:
Many players are brilliant in training yet fail to perform in games. This is usually because they have not developed the psychological strength to allow them to take risks and accept the mistakes and setbacks that are inevitable part of soccer. By gradually increasing competition in training and, for older players, practising psychological techniques such us goal setting, visualisation and focusing on process and not outcomes players can come much closer to realising their full potential.