Soccer-Coach-L Compilations
This site was last updated on 08/10/04

January 28, 2003
Availability of Abridged Version of List Digest 1997 - 2002

Fellow list members,

      First, to make a long story short: I have compiled and edited an abridged version of the list digest for the period 1997 to 2002. In the form of a compressed zip file, it comes to 2.7 MB. If you would like a copy of this zip file, please email me *off list*. I will respond by sending all those who requested a copy an email this weekend with the file attached.
     Now, by way of explanation: I have been a member of this list for six, going on seven years. When I first joined, the number of Internet sites geared to the coaching of youth soccer players was but a fraction of what is available today. Back then, if you poked around, you could find web sites with excellent coaching advice and commentary from Bruce Brownlee, Ric Miller, Jeff Pill, and Gary Rue. Today, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of quality web sites containing instructional material for youth soccer coaches. And there is the Soccer Coaching Manual. The new coach in the year 2003 is faced with not a dearth of coaching content, but an overwhelming abundance of it. And the web content is no longer restricted to ASCII text and diagrams, today's practice plans incorporate color line graphics, animation, photos, movies, and audio, all of which help to make a particular topic easy (or easier) to comprehend and implement.
     However, back in 1997 I had no idea what would be available in 2003. So, like many list members of that time (and maybe even now), I copied and pasted posts and threads of interest to me and stuffed 'em in a shoebox. Well, perhaps not quite that haphazard. I did organize them into about two dozen categories - - - 1st and 2nd defender, team defense, flat back, offside, 1st and 2nd attacker, team attacking, receiving, dribbling, passing, shooting, goalkeeping, set pieces, formations, warm-ups, conditioning, injuries, nutrition, humor, parents, indoor soccer, tryouts, etc. Some posts fitted neatly into a single topic; others could have gone into any one of several different categories, and still others clearly overlapped multiple themes. In the beginning, not realizing how in depth and varied this compilation would become, I did not retain information about posting date and author, so I apologize if some list members’ earlier postings are included without being credited. I also edited posts for brevity, clarity, spelling, grammar, and formatting. If there is any question regarding the authorship or exact wording of a post, do a keyword search of the archives to locate the original source material. Finally I should point out that some of the very earlier material from 1997 came from one or two other web sites; I estimate this early material constitutes less than 0.5% of the total abridged digest.
     Some things I didn’t copy and paste, such as posts related specifically to coaching female players or to just high school players, small-sided vs 11 v 11 discussions, national team discussions, administrative software inquiries, U8 team formations, many officiating posts, posts about specific problem parents or problem players, and many of my own posts. I have included only a couple of Rob Kerby’s posts, not because they aren’t all interesting and topical but because I believe it’s more appropriate for Rob to issue his own collected works someday if he so chooses.
     Still, the total over these 6+ years of what I did retain comes to 8.7 MB distributed over 33 MS Word documents. This is roughly 2500 pages, which if you were to read a page a minute, is about 40 hours of reading.

Shelborne Fung
famfung.sr@worldnet.att.net

About Soccer-Coach-L

• Soccer-Coach-L Web Site - This is the main web page for the outstanding "Soccer-Coach-L" mailing list moderated by David Graham. The page contains a links to the mailing list archives and the Soccer Coach LOTG project (see below) as well as links to other excellent soccer web sites and mailing lists. If you'd rather go direct to the archives, which are searchable, use http://www.mun.ca/lists/soccer-coach-l By searchable, I mean that you can type in "shooting drills" or "instep drive" or whatever and get every post dealing with that subject for the last year or so at your fingertips.
• Soccer-Coach-L Mailing List   - Perhaps your best and most comprehensive resource on the net is the "Soccer-Coach-L" mailing list and the best part is you only need e-mail as opposed to full web-browsing access. The list is currently comprised of some 1,150 coaches from the youth, high school, college and professional ranks from over 20 countries. Questions ranging from "How do I deal with Osgood-Schlatters?" to "What kind of activities will help my U-14 boys work the ball out of the back third effectively?" to "How do I keep my U-8 Dark Avengers from swarming around the ball?" appear on a daily basis. All questions are answered, usually from multiple viewpoints, and advice on whatever YOUR particular problem is is cheerily dispensed by other list members. Be aware that the list is relatively high volume (30-40 messages a day) and that the current "collective thinking" of the group is along the lines that "the game is the greatest teacher".
  To subscribe, send an email with no subject; body reading "SUBSCRIBE SOCCER-COACH-L" (without the quotations, with the hyphens) followed by a blank space and then your own name (e.g. subscribe Soccer-Coach-L ron tremper) to listserv@morgan.ucs.mun.ca.
  After you're subscribed, you should probably send the listserv the "set Soccer-Coach-L digest" (no quotations) command which will gather up a day's worth of mail at a time and give it to you in a single, scrollable message once a day.