NSCAA Convention January 11 - 15 2012.
                         
                       Win a Donovan, Bocanegra or Howard signed shirt at booth 735 

If you are attending the NSCAA Convention please stop by our booth - number 735. Purchase my new book, "Drills and Exercises to Develop the Elite American Player" and you will be eligible for a drawing for a signed shirt from an English, or Scottish, "American" Premier League player.

Following my departure from the NSCAA last year I produced a book and two dvd's. After forty years of training American players and coaches I thought my ideas on ways to improve American players might be interesting. I am not so sure that the European and South American system will work here and this is discussed in the book

We will have drawings for the book and the dvd's - at noon and 5pm on Friday and noon and 3pm Saturday.

As noted above the book is titled "Drills and Exercises to Develop the Elite American Player"
Decided to put the word "Drills" back into my lexicon after a conversation this summer with a coach who was tired of entertaining the players all the time by playing "tag games". Having so many players with poor technical skill we both agreed that repetition is what our players need and no word better represents the word repetition like the word "Drill"...so I used it for my book.  

The dvd's are titled " Brazilian Passing and Receiving Exercises." and "Six versus six - A Great Player Developmental Model." I think they both deal with important issues for player and coach development.
If you are interested in receiving a copy of the book or a dvd's please contact Chrissie at chrisjte@yahoo.com

Strategy of Counter Attacking.

One of the considerations in developing a counter attack strategy is what to do with the forwards once the ball goes past them. This is important and needs careful reflection. I saw the Danish team in Euro 1988 playing with one forward high and the other in a low “mirror” position when the Danes were defending.

They, therefore, had a short pass available when the intercepting player was under pressure and a long pass to a high CF when pressure was broken. As you will see in the diagram the forwards for the red team have shifted to “mirror” the position of the ball in case it is won. This is the kind of strategic thinking coaches must consider when putting together a counter attacking strategy.

Landon Donovan explains his thought processes in a video interview which encourages all of us, to think, as coaches about this important issue.

More notes and observations about counter attacking on the next blog.

Coaching Education Events

"Learning From the Legends"

February 24 - 26

US Soccer CEU Event

Palm Beach, Florida

We shall be hosting a coaching education event in conjunction with Palm Beach Socccer Academy in southern Florida in February. PBSA have arranged for accomodation at the fantastic PGA National Resort Hotel. USSoccer have approved this event for two CEU's. Nigel Best, Performance Director of the Irish FA,  Dr. Bill Steffen, On Line Faculty Director of the Ohio University Coaches BA Program and NSCAA Staff Coach, and I will be the insructors. Interested in earning CEU's, finding out about online coaching education, enlisting on a UEFA course in Ireland, or just want to get more helpful oaching information you may want to visit my website at http://www.jefftipping.com/ and access "coaching events."

English and Scottish Premier League

Coach Study Tour

March 16 - 25th, 2012

On this nine day tour we will study three Premier League Academies, Everton, Liverpool and Glasgow Rangers and will include the Everton "Master Class" Coaching Award. We will watch three professional games including the famous Glasgow Rangers - Glasgow Celtic " Old firm Derby" on March 24th. For more information please visit website at http:// http://www.jefftipping.com/ and access Tours