11B Black Soccer with Coach Ian

Video upload link if you want to securely upload a soccer video for me to see. You can upload a video there and contact me to show me your moves, or ask questions about what you are doing, etc. Please also reach out to let me know about your upload and let me know what it's for.

Practice Schedule

Our final 4 practices on 5/5, 5/8, 5/12, and 5/15 will be on the Silliman center grass field near the train tracks from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Players are expected to arrive and be warming up by 15 minutes before practice start.

Our end of season party will be on 5/18 at 2pm at the Newark Community Center Park.

May tryouts will be 5/19, 5/21, 5/26, and 5/28 from 6:30-8:00 pm.

Here is our turf field map so you know where to find fields for practices and home games: Turf Field Map

Soccer Activity

Parents, this should be fun! Do not force your players to do this. Kind reminders are helpful to get them out of the house. Parents are encouraged to participate with their kids. With consistency, this will be a magical time with mom and/or dad your child will remember for the rest of their lives.

With the development intentions of the players on this team, it is expected that every player is self-motivated to do the following daily activity for 15 minutes at a minimum up to as much as you want to develop your skills faster. Your teammates are relying on you to do your part.

Ball touches, fakes, and moves: Sole, inside, and outside touches. If you want, try doing some to music so you can focus on the rhythm and see if you have the technique down without thinking about it. Here is a list of all the fakes and moves we are learning:
- Fakes and Moves
Passes: This can be done as wall work or with a partner. Can do inside touches, lace touches, and outside touches, on the ground with one or two touches.
- Two touch practice should focus on a quick controled receive touch to where you will do your second touch to release. It's great to work against a wall with a cone. Pass up one side and then your receive touch on that side goes to the other side of the cone to release touch with your other foot.
- One touch practice should focus on accuracy and speed.
- Closer to wall gives more touch practice. Farther from the wall improves passing accuracy.
- When you can, get a partner and have them throw the ball to you, high, low, harder, softer. Practice receiving the ball under control and release back to the thrower who picks up and repeat.
Kicks: You can also work on kicks if you have the space. See my kicks page for how to do different kinds of kicks.
Juggles: You should have a daily minimum number of consecutive juggles. It should be a little challenging but not so much as to be discouraging. Keep juggling until you hit at least that number. Keep increasing your daily minimum as you improve.
Visualization: At least once during the day or best while falling asleep, take a few minutes of quiet time, close your eyes and visualize perfect performance on the field by you and your teammates in all 4 phases of play in the different parts of the field as we are learning to do. Get excited about your visualized play! Watch this video for an example of visualization.

Endurance workouts can be any combination of activity that keeps you breathing harder and sweating. You should exercise to an intensity where you can say one to two full sentences at a time but if you can keep talking more without having to pause for breath, you aren't exercising hard enough. Activity can be pure endurance like running, biking, elliptical, treadmills, swimming, exercise video games (these only count if it meets the guidelines of the rest of this description), etc., or soccer circuits where you design a course of soccer skills you keep running through for the duration, or combinations of anything that keeps your heart rate up. Find something that you think is fun!

Soccer activity between practices, endurance workouts of at least 40 straight minutes. At 8:00, 16:00, 24:00, and 32:00, increase intensity for 60 seconds. Make sure return to your endurance intensity to recover. Not less intense. Schedule:

1 endurance workout/circuit of any kind Tuesday or Wednesday.
2 endurance workouts/circuits of any kind Friday through Sunday. Any day we have a game counts as one endurance workout. Best not to do this the day before a game.

Strength/Core workout. I recommend getting in the habit of doing some strength and core work 6 days a week alternating days between strength and core or on a schedule you find works for you. This should involve things like push-ups, crunches, pull-ups, bar dips, leg raises, scissors, planks, etc. You are at a point in your life when you are going to start getting stronger and faster so it's a good time to start some regular strength conditioning. It doesn't have to be a lot. Even a few exercises a day will do wonders for your strength. I recommend mixing this in with your homework. Do some homework, get up and do a set of something. Go back to homework. Keep going until you've finished both.

Meetings

2025-02-28 11B Black team meeting

Standings

Fall

NorCal Premier Male U14 Bronze Region 4 standings

NorCal State Cup Male U 14 Boys Silver/Bronze standings

Spring

NorCal Premier Male U14 Bronze Region 4 standings

Games

Spring

2024-09-21 11B Black home vs Alameda SC: Camera and veo

2024-09-28 11B Black home vs San Pablo

2024-10-06 11B Black home vs Mt. Diablo Mustang State Cup

2024-10-12 11B Black away vs FC Alliance

2024-10-13 11B Black home vs West Coast Soccer State Cup

2024-11-02 11B Black away vs Fremont Rush

2024-11-03 11B Black home vs Oakland Genesis (no video)

2024-11-10 11B Black home vs FYSC

Soccer Theory

Everyone needs to have attended or watch the link to our classroom session on 2025-01-11 where we went over the terminology we use to talk about the game and the different roles on the field.

Here are the FIFA_11__Flash_Cards.pdf that show the execises we are using to warm up with before all our practices and games. Keep looking at this until you've memorized it. Make sure you warm up before soccer each day! You are all at an age where getting up from being idle and going to any level of soccer activity might cause an injury without proper warm up.

Here are the soccer position numbers to be familiar with:

Here are the Channels and Zones on the field:

Here are the seams on the field:

Key Qualities of a soccer player

Game Understanding and Decision Making (reading and understanding the game)
Take Initiative (pre-proactive)
Demonstrate focus (bravery)
Optimal Technical
Optimal Physical
Responsible (honest self-reflection, accountability for own development and performance)

4 Phases of Play

Attacking (build-up, score goals)
Losing the ball
Defending (prevent build-up, prevent scoring)
Winning the ball

Attacking

Building up in our half, move the ball forward
Building up in opponent's half, creating chances
Scoring goals

Defending

Preventing the opponent from building up in their half, prevent opponent from moving ball forward, regain the ball
Preventing the opponent from building up in our half, prevent opponent from moving ball forward, deny chances, regain the ball
Preventing the opponent from scoring

Attacking actions:

Shoot
Pass or dribble forward
Spread out
Create passing options
Support the attack
Create a 2v1 or 1v1
Change the point of attack
Change the pace/rhythm
Switch positions

Defending actions

Protect the goal
Steal the ball
Make it compact
Keep it compact
Pressure, cover, balance
Outnumber the opponent
Stay involved
Mark the player/mark the area

Pressure, Cover, Balance

Pressure must close the gap quickly, turn sideways, and jockey between the ball and the goal. We close quickly to minimize the free field space they get. The first priority is blocking the shot. Next is to slow down the attack and push it to the side while our defense forms up. Pressuring forces the opponent to look down at the ball taking their eyes off the tactical situation. We turn sideways so we are facing the direction we need to run as the attacker tries to move by. We steal the ball usually with the lead foot when we are sure we can get it while staying between the ball and the goal, closer or farther depending on which direction the opponent is facing and how fast they are moving. The two biggest mistakes a pressure does is to commit to the ball allowing them to be beat, or to turn to face the opponent allowing a fake around them requiring turning around and then trying to catch up with attacker.
Cover is in position to become the new pressure if the pressure is beat. Cover also moves quickly to intercept poor passes due to the pressure or to become the new pressure if a pass goes to the opponent they are nearest. Cover must move into position as fast as the pressure does. If an opponent makes a quick move to open space for a shot, the cover will move to block it. The biggest mistake a cover does is look to cut off a pass and not be ready to become the new pressure. The cover being farther back from the attacker has more time to react to an attacker's fake than the pressure so they can block the shot if it gets by the pressure.
Balance is usually 1-4 other defenders (some being midfielders as needed) to keep a compact formation in front of the goal. Balance has to work to stay compact as the opponent changes the point of attack. Any delay allows the attackers to exploit a hole in the defense for a shot. Balance is ready to intercept a bad pass due to the pressure or to become the new pressure or cover as the point of attack changes. Balance reads the game and makes decisions between marking the area and marking the player. The big mistake balance makes is when the ball is coming down one side and the opposite backs stay wide to cover players on the other side of the field. The defense can shift as fast as a cross. Leave the wide players on the opposite side and stay compact. Another mistake balance often makes is not staying compact when the opponent changes the point of attack. Balance has to move as fast as pressure and cover.

11B Black Soccer with Coach Ian

Practice Schedule

Soccer Activity

Meetings

Standings

Fall

Spring

Games

Spring

Scrimmages

Games

Fall

Soccer Theory