The Baffled Parent's Guide to Coaching Youth Soccer

I played soccer. I coached soccer at the youth rec levels for 16 seasons. I've been an avid fan of soccer for over 48 years and have attended professional matches on 4 continents. I've purchased probably 20-25 books on coaching soccer technique and half a dozen DVD's or videos on soccer coaching in addition to holding various USSF coaching licenses.This is the BEST book I've seen on an intro to coaching soccer for someone who is relatively new to the sport. If you're a parent who's been dragooned into assisting or coaching your kid's youth team, this book plus the USSF website resources for youth coaches are the best info you can get your hands on. Clark has an outstanding reputation as a coach (Stanford and Notre Dame in the US, National team programs in a couple of countries, played for Sir Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen in the Scottish League). So he knows his stuff. But more importantly, he knows how to coach kids and more important still, he knows what to say to a parent who didn't grow up playing soccer seriously and/or has never coached soccer. Just because you coached Little League Baseball or played basketball through middle and high school doesn't mean you're prepared to coach a youth soccer team. Lots of great tips on organizing practices, what skills to emphasize, how to teach those skills, how to deal with youngsters with various levels of motivation. I can't think of a better intro resource for a new coach or someone relatively new to the sport. GET THIS BOOK-- you won't regret it.

Long ago I was asked to be a assistant (based on playing ability). I quickly learned learned than knowing how to play is a small part of coaching. When my kids started playing, I did not volunteer because I realized that I was not particularly good at it, based on one year's experience as an assistant. However, after observing my oldest son's coach, I decided that I could do a better job. I had a couple of soccer book that were useful, but I really liked "The Baffled Parent's Guide to Coaching Youth" when it came out, which was a few years after I started coaching. It covers not only basic activities, but includes other coaching aspects. (See the Table of Contents for examples.) I recommended that our soccer association give a copy to every new volunteer. Our state required new coaches to attended a 2-3 hour introductory coaching course, but many did not attend and it was not really on option to disband a team because the coach did not attend. Hopefully having this book helped.

This book took me from being a total non-athlete, knowing nearly nothing about soccer and never having coached anything before, to being a coach with a plan. I am coaching my son's U8 soccer team, and even with this book it has been a challenge, but without the book, I would have been completely lost. Here's what the book did for me:(1) it taught me the rules of soccer. I did have a bit of trouble understanding the offside rule as stated in the book, so I had to ask a friend to clarify for me.(2) it taught me the most fundamental soccer skills: dribbling, passing, shooting.(3) it gave me sample practices and a general structure to use as templates for my own practices, and it gave me plenty of games and drills to choose from to fill them.(4) it told me what to do on game day.(5) it prepared me for the psychology of my wild and crazy boys. This is key. I am a female "intellectual type" who has never really played or enjoyed watching sports (and has never worked with this age group), so the whole mindset was completely foreign to me. It prepared me for the facts that they would listen to only the briefest of instructions, that they needed to be moving at almost all times, that for them no drill or game would be as exciting as JUST SOCCER, in its pure form.So why four stars? There's one thing that could really improve this book, and that is some kind of guide, for all the games and drills in the book, that would rate the maturity level and skill level needed for each one. Maybe also a minimum child-to-adult ratio required to run it successfully. (Unfortunately ours is 10 to 1.) As a U8 coach in a relatively casual city recreation league, I am at the very bottom end of the intended audience for this book. And because of my inexperience, it is very difficult for me to tell which of the drills are appropriate for my team, until I get onto the field with them to try it. By then it's too late, and the failed drill can make it hard to re-engage the kids for the next activity. For this reason I plan to order the guide for 6-and-under soccer even though my kids are over six. I need some tried-and-true tricks for engaging the youngest players when things aren't going the way I planned.Overall I am very grateful for this book and what it has done for our team.

I enjoyed this book and found it useful, particularly because of the author's philosophy. American kids often get bullied hard by "Little League" parents who try to live their previous sports lives through the vicarious experience of their children. This either ruins the kids' love of the game, turns them into bullies themselves, or simply makes them miserable. By teaching kids the joy of the game Coach Bobby Clark's approach has the effect of putting a "fire in the belly" and instills a desire to keep learning. The drills, the graduated approach to learning, the emphasis on relaxation of rules (until the rules become truly meaningful) help make this book a really useful tool for "baffled parents," or in my case, grandparents. Thanks to Coach Clark.... it's easy to understand why he has had such a successful career.