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Partnership Announcement: Ohio North ODP
Ohio Youth Soccer Association North and iSoccer Partner to offer Technical Player Development Technology
San Francisco, CA and Richfield, OH February 25, 2010 – Ohio Youth Soccer Association North (OYSAN) and iSoccer LLC are excited to announce a partnership to help raise the technical level of youth soccer players throughout Ohio.
Starting in March, OYSAN will begin using iSoccer’s award winning technical assessment and online video training platform to improve and track the technical development of players in the state’s Olympic Development Program. Starting with members of the boys and girls ’97 and ’98 age groups, players will complete the assessment at home, or with their clubs, and report their results online.
OYSAN coaches will use the assessment results to build targeted technical sessions to supplement team training. This additional resource will provide players and parents guided video training instruction, carefully designed by State Director of Coaching Tom Turner, which can be downloaded to an iPod and performed at home.
Tom Turner PhD, OYSAN Director of Coaching
According to Turner, “A soccer schedule consisting of limited practice time and multiple games does not provide enough ball contacts to develop elite or even above average players. Players who aspire to higher levels need to train on their own and iSoccer provides our ODP players with a great individual program that is accessible wherever and whenever the kids can find time to kick a ball.”
iSoccer will be included free of charge for the roughly 1000 ODP participants. Assessment results will be used as benchmarks for setting goals and encouraging individual technical improvement, not for player selection. Players and their parents will receive emails notifying them of how to download their training sessions.
“iSoccer found a way to turn our players’ iPods into a personalized extension of our coaching staff, so it’s a great tool for improving the scope of our program,” added Turner.
Players will also be able to create their own customized training sessions from over 500 training exercises, build a four week individual training program, set improvement goals, and view their own assessment analysis online. iSoccer is an innovative, hi-tech supplement to coaching that OYSAN will utilize to help motivated players maximize their potential.
“We are thrilled to be working with OYSAN. Tom Turner and the rest of the OYSAN staff are leaders in youth soccer and we look forward to working with them to raise the level of soccer in Ohio North” said iSoccer Founder and CEO Scott Leber.
For more information about OYSAN, visit www.oysan.org
For more information about iSoccer, visit www.iSoccer.org
Parent Coaches: learning, teaching, organizing
Over the past couple of months we have spoken with hundreds of coaches across the country and around the world. Many of them have been advanced level professional coaches who are extremely knowledgeable about the game and have been teaching it for years. We have also spoken with coaches who are new to soccer and are, in many cases, learning it along with their children. Hear what this parent/coach in Tucson Arizona has to say about how iSoccer has helped him learn and teach the game to his budding soccer players.
To learn more about iSoccer visit www.iSoccer.org
Snow Outside? Don’t let that stop you
This article and accompanying video were contributed by coach and parent Rebecca Thatcher Murcia and her two sons. Thanks for sharing Thatcher Murcia family!
A few days after seeing iSocccer.org win a prize at the Topdrawersoccer.com, I pulled out the flyer I had picked up at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America conference and showed it to my 12-year-old son, Mario.
“We could do most of these tests in our basement,” I said. “Do you want to try it and see if it would be good for the team?”
He was interested but right away I hit an obstacle. I looked in my meager tool drawer and there was no sting or rope to measure out 2.5 meters. I wasn’t going to let this stop me. I’ve always thought the most important thing we can do with young players is help them develop good technique, especially the ability to use both feet. A fun and easy way to measure this seemed like a Godsend. I kept looking and finally settled on a piece of electric cord. With Mario’s help, I measure out 2.5 meters and marked a blue spot on the electric cord.
We started going through the tests for the first time and we found the directions well written and fairly easy to follow, except for the scissor test. The writing and the diagram are clear but since the routine is so unfamiliar, I had to read it several times before it made sense.
Mario has never been very two-footed. Like most kids, he prefers his right foot in soccer and his forehand in tennis. I’ve worked hard to become more two-footed, especially after a nagging right hip injury in 2001 forced me to use my left foot to kick the ball until a doctor finally made me rest it completely. Slight digression: I was trying to explain the importance of being two-footed to kids in Colombia, where I lived in 2007 and 2008. But I got confused between the Spanish word for left and pig, which sound a lot alike. “I’ve scored many goals with my pig!” I told the poor baffled children.
Mario was taken aback by how poorly he did at first when he tried the left-footed first touch test. He kept finding that his left footed touch wasn’t good enough to get off a quick pass. After struggling with it for a little while, he managed to do 9 passes in the 20 allotted seconds.
He was also mortified by the trouble he had juggling with just his non-dominant foot. It’s funny, because I’ve been saying that it’s important to be two-footed for years, but nothing hit home like having to put a 3 down in a little box on the computer screen.
We printed out the results and Mario was purple. But the second column of numbers, the scores he needed to get to move up a level, where what he found interesting. “I’m going to work on my left-footed juggling,” he said. “I know I can do better.”
He was inspired and quickly improved his left-footed juggling to 12. Within about a week he had moved up to green. The one test that was not easy to improve was the change of direction test. One day I stood with him in the basement for close to an hour as he went back and forth, trying to figure out if Cruyffing the ball on the right-footed turn is faster than just pulling it back with the bottom of the right foot. He went faster and faster but he could not break the 20. It would seem as if he was about to do it, then a little mistake would keep his score at 20 or even give him only an 18 or 19.
Finally we stopped. I wondered if he was discouraged, he didn’t seem disheartened. “I know I have to go all out to get to 20,” he said.
“I really want to get up to blue.”
By Rebecca Thatcher Murcia
To learn more about iSoccer visit www.iSoccer.org
Illinois Fusion uses iSoccer for Technical Player Development
We’re very excited to be working with the Illinois Fusion Soccer Club. Their commitment to player development is clearly stated in their Club Principles:
We believe player development to be our first priority in accordance with USSF, AYSO, and NSCAA guidelines, and will be age and skill appropriate. We will not sacrifice player development for a team victory: Winning an athletic contest is at best a secondary goal of youth sports.
We look forward to helping them support their player development initiatives! Here are a few excerpts from the announcement on the Illinois Fusion website.
“Starting on February 13, Illinois Fusion will be using the iSoccer technical assessment and video training online platform to help improve and track the technical development of our players! The club would like to invite ALL Fusion players to the indoor training session on February 13 for the initial assessment.”
“The iSoccer Assessment will be taken throughout the year to measure individual and team development. Fusion coaches will also use the assessment results to build targeted technical sessions to supplement team training. This additional resource will provide players and parents guided video training instruction, carefully designed by our knowledgeable coaching staff, which can be downloaded to an iPod and performed at home.”
Read the full story on the Fusion website>>
About the Illinois Fusion Soccer Association
Established in 2007, the Illinois Fusion Soccer Association works to benefit the youth of Central Illinois by providing quality instruction in the game of soccer.
We focus on the development of each player, striving to find appropriate challenges so each individual is surrounded with players who can provide the proper setting and nationally licensed coaches who can create the proper environment to improve. We research the latest information on youth development from across the globe to insure we give our players the proper focus and tools to succeed. At the youngest ages, we look for incremental ways for players to measure success so they always feel they are improving. A player who feels he/she is improving is excited to train and has fun developing the skills necessary to become a competitive player as they grow older.
Learn more about iSoccer at www.iSoccer.org
iSoccer interview on Football Partnerships
iSoccer was just featured on Football Partnerships, the leading B2B networking group for football (soccer) industry professionals. During the 25 minute interview, Football Partnerships founder Alex Kotler asks Scott about the ins and outs of iSoccer, what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, how we’re doing it, etc… If you’re interested in hearing what Scott has to say we encourage you to check out their conversation.
Interview with iSoccer’s Scott Leber
You can also listen to the interview in a few other ways.
1) Play it stright from the iSoccer facebook page
2) Visit Football Partnerships to play or download from there
3) Download it on iTunes by searching the podcast directory for ‘Football Partnerships’
We recommend subscribing to the Football Partnerships podcast series. They feature some great interviews with soccer industry leaders.
Thanks to Alex and Football Partnerships for having us on the show!
Learn more about iSoccer at www.iSoccer.org
What coaches are saying about iSoccer
We just received this letter from Gary Buyagawan, a coach in Washington who has recently started incorporating the iSoccer Assessment and training tools into his curriculum. It’s so exciting to hear positive experiences like these taking place across the country! Thanks for sharing Gary.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for providing such a great tool like iSoccer for the soccer community. While we, as a club, are admittedly still getting up and running with the iSoccer program I have taken the opportunity to run my own GU-17 team through some of the assessment drills and they absolutely love them. From a players viewpoint there are a number of great things about iSoccer.
- The players love the competitive nature of the drills. Not only against their teammates but also against themselves to see improvement each time.
- The players have found the drills fun and exciting and are anxiously awaiting to have full membership access to the website.
- Videos that the players can download onto their iPods are a huge plus. This makes their individual training portable and convenient. Players like the ability to clearly see what is being executed before trying to replicate it on their own.
From a coaching standpoint I could not ask for a better online program than iSoccer. Here are a list of benefits that I’ve seen (and remember, this is only with very limited usage thus far).
- New tools to help player development. The iSoccer program has been a great help in keeping the players and coaches focused on technical development.
- As we all know, keeping the older age group girls focused on their training rather than boys, work and/or other things is hard. This was the right tool at the perfect time to get my players focused back towards soccer in a competitive, yet fun fashion. Getting GU-17 players to actually focus on technical development is a huge challenge that can be easily corrected by using iSoccer.
- Immediate and truly measurable results. You can clearly see improvement or regression via the assessment process. There is no gray area for players to hide in. Either they are moving forward and improving or they are not as the assessments tell the full truth of player strengths and weaknesses.
- The drills and assessments emphasize balanced development with both feet and don’t allow players to favor one foot heavily.
- Players are excited and have repeatedly asked when the next assessment is going to take place. This means they are mentally engaged in their own development. Which, to be honest, is absolutely huge for players of the age group I’m currently coaching (GU-17).
As we had discussed on the phone I have been looking for an online program to support our club operations for a long time. I was looking for a program that would truly help the coaches develop their players as well as keep the individual player involved in their own progression. Something that I felt the coaches and players would both buy into because not only did it help foster improvement in their technical skill level but was fun for everyone involved. After a very long search, and regretfully a lot of misspent money, I found out that this type of program did not exist in the form the club needed… That is, it didn’t exist until iSoccer came along.
Even with the limited exposure to the program that we’ve provided out players, I cannot say enough about the positive impact iSoccer has already had on our club. I have spoken with all of the Velocity coaches and they have in turn contacted their players/parents regarding the iSoccer program. Further, rumors have already been floating from our club players, parents and teams to other local clubs and associations about this “new training program” that Velocity will be using. Needless to say, everyone is very excited and is looking forward to the upcoming year with iSoccer and Velocity Futbol Club.
Thank you,
Gary Buyagawan
Head Coach – Velocity FC ’92 Green (Washington State League, GU-17)
Program Director – Velocity FC (Girls Competitive Program with Cascade Soccer Club)
Learn more about iSoccer at www.iSoccer.org
Importance of Wall Training
The importance of Wall Training
A wall is to a developing soccer player what a pencil is to paper. They go together. Wall training could be the single best training tool available. Why?
The Wall Never Lies
The wall never lies and it provides immediate feed back. When you hit a nice driven ball into the wall, the ball comes right back to you. When you miss-kick it, the ball does not come right back to you. How many balls came right back to you out of 10, out of 100 out of 1000? The more you knock the ball into the wall, the higher your success rate will be.
Loyal and Consistent Training Partner
The wall is always ready to play. Rain, snow or sunshine, the wall is willing to knock the ball around. You do not need to call in advance, schedule a time to train, it is always ready. Not only is it ready, it gives 100% effort at all times. There are no good days or poor days for the wall, it is nothing if not consistent.
Endless Games
With a bit of imagination, the wall provides an endless selection of games. For example, the Two Touch Game. From either 2 yards, 5 yards of 10 yards, you have two touches to control the ball and volley it back into the wall. Every time you control and volley the ball you get a point. If you use more than two touches or the ball does not come back to you from your volley, you start over at zero. How many points can you score? Can you beat your previous score?
Quotes from Claudio Renya’s book, “More than Goals”
“I’d also hit the ball against the side of the house…. Hitting the ball with both feet, seeing how long I could return the wall’s passes without losing control. I found out later that so many pros spend lots of their childhood doing that.”
“Dennis Bergkamp, the great Dutch striker who scored and set up hundreds of goals for Ajax Amsterdam, Arsenal and the Dutch National Team, said that when he was a young player at Ajax, they had little three foot high walls. He would knock the ball against it for hours. Every time he hit the ball, he’d know whether it was a good touch or a bad touch. He’d do it over and over, trying to establish a rhythm.”
“Knocking the ball a wall from close distance takes timing and coordination. Hit the ball faster, and you’ve got to react faster and get a rhythm going. Its almost feels like you are dancing.”
Conclusion: The more you train with the wall, the better you will become.
Learn more about iSoccer at www.iSoccer.org
More places to follow iSoccer
