Coaching Newsletter #9: Why dodgeball is the best game for all ages

One of my favourite things to do as a program facilitator? Create activities based on the interests and desires of our kids. Typically, our kids go through phases. For the first half of the year, it was all about the playground. Working to make everyday different, I'd often create games and activities that centered around … Continue reading Coaching Newsletter #9: Why dodgeball is the best game for all ages

Coaching Newsletter #5 – The best way to increase athlete engagement

If you are going to take anything away from reading this article, I want it to be this: Learn more about your participants. Learn more about the people around you. Learn more about what they like, what makes them tick, and where they want to go.

Coaching Craft – Chapter 12 – Final Project

Chapter twelve takes all of your learnings in the course and puts them together in a final project. For more coaching education visit our Coach Education – Centre for Learning.

Coaching Craft – Chapter 11 – Reducing Barriers in Coaching

Chapter eleven is all about how to reduce barriers for your athletes and their families, and how to celebrate equity, diversity and inclusion in the environments you create. For more coaching education visit our Coach Education – Centre for Learning.

Tactical Coaching & Advanced Techniques for Youth & Semi-Pro – Online Course with Rhys Desmond

Calling all football fanatics, coaches, players, analysts and anyone who qualifies as "football obsessed", TheMastermindSite.com finally brings you our brand-new 'Introduction to Football Analysis' course! The course is self-paced and online via articles, videos, email correspondence, and a range of other online materials. Course attendees will get individualized attention from the instructor - Rhys Desmond - one of the industry leaders in website-based football tactics, coaching content, and analysis. The course is for anyone looking to work in football analysis, and/or improve their tactical and analytical understanding. This thorough introductory course will take a deep dive into all aspects of analysis, for the price of just $59.99 CAD - more bang for your buck than anywhere else. To take the course or gain more information, please see the below!

Games-based learning for optimal athlete development

This is one of my number one coaching philosophies, and want I always teach to other coaches: games-based learning is the best training design to support long-term athlete development.

Structuring session plans: GAG methodology vs. linear progression

Like many reading this, I grew up around some great player-centered coaches, but always around ones who prioritized technical skill development over game awareness and tactical IQ. Instead of playing game-realistic activities, we spent a significant amount of time developing isolated technical skills without any link to how those skills could apply to the game itself. Around the time that I started to coach the sport, the likes of the CSA and US Soccer began to make changes that would better facilitate skill development in the context of the game. One of those introductions included what Canada Soccer calls the 'GAG' methodology (game-activity-game), with the pretext of 'let the game be the teacher'.