The Soccer Bookshelf

       The books 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

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

      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

CHRIS MOHR'S REVIEWS

By Chris Mohr cmohr@VNET.NET

Hi all:

     Here's some assorted coaching and/or soccer-related books I've acquired recently that I think are worthwhile, some of which many of you have probably heard of, some of which not:

     The first two are books I got for my soccer-fanatic 10-year old daughter, but dad has found them very interesting too:

• 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
  
  

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• 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.
   

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• These next two books aren't soccer books at all but are by basketball coaches, but many of the insights (particularly those in Pete Carrill's book) are easily translatable to coaching soccer if you have even minimal imagination.
  

• 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 harnass 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 transferrable 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
   

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• 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
   
   

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  This last one is back to as pure a soccer coaching book as one can get:
  

• 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

Eric Blommer's Reviews

       Here are my book reviews for the coaching web site.  All books are available at Soccer Learning Systems www.soccerbooks.com or  1-800-soccer6 or from Reedswain www.reedswain.com 1-800-331-5191.
by Eric Blommer

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.

Note from Ken Gamble: This book is now available on-line at:
Coaching 6, 7 and 8 Year Olds

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.

Note from Ken Gamble: This book is now available on-line at:
Coaching 9, 10 and 11 Year Olds

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.

Note from Ken Gamble: This book is now available on-line at:
Coaching the Goalkeeper

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.

Note from Ken Gamble: This book is now available on-line at:
Coaching the Team

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