The Sports Path Newsletter
Number 8
 August 2013 

 

  

Welcome to our Eighth FREE monthly newsletter 

 

 

We now have over 2,000 subscribers from soccer coaches who want to find out how the web can support the development of soccer players and coaches 

 

There is an awful  lot of material for soccer coaches available on the web - the purpose of this newsletter is to signpost this material more clearly and simply for you,the coach. We have a lot for you this month: we hope you will forward this newsletter onto your friends and colleagues and encourage them to register here to receive future issues 

 

If you missed the January, February or March  Issues and wish to view this click here for January , click here for February   


  

Presentation on Tactical Periodization-is this Mourinho's Best Kept Secret? 

An interesting Presentation from the Sports Scientists at the Aspire Academy in Qatar: Tactical Periodization - is this Mourinho's Best Kept Secret ?

  

Research-what are the Swiss doing right? 

 

In previous newsletters we have highlighted the success of youth development programs in Iceland and Belgium. But what have Switzerland been doing?

As recently as 1998, Switzerland languished 83rd in the FIFA rankings and since then their Under 17 team won the FIFA World Cup in 2009, their Under 21 team were runners up in the 2011 UEFA Under 21 Championship, the Senior team beat Brazil in a friendly in August and they are top of their World Cup Qualifying Group by 4 points not having lost a game as well as only conceding one goal in 6 matches! In 2009,with the assistance of Craig Simmons of the English FA, we analysed the winning squad. Our Research is here

                                      

So what's been happening in this country of 8 million people -about the size of London?

  • Youth Development Plan:Since 1998 a Youth Development Plan has been initiated with Centres of Excellence run by the Swiss FA dedicated to developing techniques at an early age. Details here and click here .
  • Identifying 'early' and 'late birth dates: Our research showed that it is clear the Swiss FA looked to maximize their small population by not excluding ' late' birth dates.
  • Embracing the sons of immigrants: Similarly the document highlighted above shows that the Swiss FA have become very proactive in scouting the sons of immigrants.More information here http://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/sep/05/switzerland-youthful-blend

     


ONLINE COURSE ON STREET SOCCER  
 
 
 
 

We are very keen to encourage coaches to develop their own blogs and websites. Similarly it is becoming increasingly easy to develop your own online learning courses for the coaches in your Club or Association.

There a number of really simple free and inexpensive tools to help you develop an online course.

One of the most popular tools used is www.Udemy.com and an experienced coach in the USA, Larry Paul, and last month launched a very simple course for grassroots coaches using Udemy.Details of Larry's experience, the link to the course and endorsements from coaches who have taken the course are here

 

There are 9 modules to the course. The cost is $29 and Larry has generously offered a $10 discount to readers of our newsletter. To take advantage of this offer on the course page click onto the section ' Redeem a Coupon ' and enter the code 'Sportspath-1' and the first 100 students will get a $10 discount until  September 30.So for a cost of $19 

( about �11 or 13 Euros) have a look what Larry has done by using Udemy..

You can post your comments on his page and we would also be very interested in coaches who have similarly decided to develop simple online courses for coaches

 

If you have developed an online Soccer Course for coaches or players- please email details  us ( to RRussell@sportspath.com )  and we will feature them in subsequent newsletters


Web Skills
Number 6: Content Monitoring and Notification 

Our section on ' Turning' using ' Scoop.it '  has attracted quite a few readers 

 Please  see how we have used it here and please feel free to add comments and content specifically with regard to 'Turning '. Anyone can start 'curating' with Scoop it .You can have unlimited 'Scoops' but only 5 free categories. 

You do not need an account to view and we think it's a great tool for coaches to share video with their players or other coaches 

   The new Scoop.it group is now here  

See Also 

 

Apps 
 
We have had quite a few responses to our questionnaire on ' Apps ' .We would like to find out if and how you use ' Apps ' to support  the coaching of your players.
As you may have been on hoilday in August we have carried over the survey.
We would be really grateful if you could complete this short 3 question survey. We will publish the results in next month's newsletter
To access the survey please click onto this link
If you don't currently use apps then please take the survey anyway as we would like to know what you would like from an app
Also you may like to have a look at our 'curated ' page of available Soccer Coaching Apps on our Scoop.it page here

  

August  2013 Recommendations


Book of the  Month:  'The False 9'
  

Our good friend and expert contributor, James Lambert from Australia, has published his latest book on 'The False 9'

Definitely worth a read- details here

   
Website of the month  
  

A whole range of Research papers have become available at no cost. They are results of Academic Research but well worth going to this page now

And then scroll down to the articles on 'Talent Identification' under 'Science and Coaching' 

 

 

  

I hope you have found something useful in this month's newsletter.If so please pass on this email to your colleagues and ask them to sign up for future newsletters
We can promise you more material in the September newsletter to help you use the web to support coach and player development
 
Yours Sincerely,
 
Robin Russell 
RRussell@sportspath.com
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