Welcome to the August Edition of the World of Soccer Newsletter.

Last chance to sign up for the discount for the English Managers Association online coaching and management course (August 31st). The course has already been declared a great success by the first group of graduating coaches. See what they have to say about it.  Click here to read more about the LMA Online Course.

The fall season is just around the corner so this month we look at two things related to our performance as coaches.

We have an article about the qualities desired in a coach and link you to a website called Simple Truths. Bob Gansler, the former US World Cup coach and a staff instructor of the NSCAA, suggests that “coaches are teachers in short pants.” I point out that it is unlikely Bob has coached in the Pacific Northwest in the middle of winter, but for sure, as coaches we are teachers.  Click here to read "Heart of the Teacher."

Marc Rizzardo gives up some strange sounding (medical) words that add up to a “Pain in the Groin” with a serious condition that can happen in soccer and that we as coaches must be very aware of.  Click here to read "A Pain in the Groin".

In the Boot Room I talk about the Good Old Days – which they really weren’t. Maybe we should have called the article “Those Funny Old Days” for some of the humorous, if not very enlightened, things that happened then.  Click here to read "The Good Old Days.  Or Were They?"

In our Byte Size Coaching segment we point out that there is plenty of stuff for coaches on the Internet if you know where look and have a spare three or four hours a day to do it in. I’m suggesting that clubs who merely direct their coaches to surf the Internet are not quite getting the point.  Click here to read "There's Plenty of Stuff of the Internet".

Having been through my first real blogging experience as a tutor on the LMA course and the interesting discourse that it brought, we plan to start our own Blog in the near future. We’ll let you know when we are up and running.

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Welcome to the June/July Edition of the World of Soccer Newsletter.

We've timed it to go out just after Canada Day and just before the 4th of July - a time of celebration for the United States and Canada.

We announced earlier this week that we were merging the World of Soccer Newsletter and the Byte Size Coaching Newsletter. As most of you are on both lists it seemed logical to do that.

The World of Soccer Newsletter will remain substantially the same, but we will add another section for the Byte Size Coaching updates.

With the South Africa World Cup approaching its final stages we take a look at how statistics now play a big part in the game.  Click here to read"Stats are Vital to the Modern Game".

We've put Marc Rizzardo's article in the Practice Section as among other things he is talking about ankle injuries. Everyone who has played soccer has had some kind of ankle injury. Marc identifies different types of ankle trauma and how quickly we can as coaches get players back into practice and play without further aggravating the injury.  Click here to read "Isn't a Sprained Ankle a Sprained Ankle, & What's the Big Deal?

Der Kaiser - Franz Beckenbauer - wasn't too complimentary about England's play in the World Cup. He wasn't the only one. In the Boot Room we go back in time to when Der Kaiser played in Empire Stadium, Vancouver, in his first year with the New York Cosmos.  Click here to read "Der Kaiser".

The new Byte Size Coaching section looks beyond the core part of the program - providing for the countless thousands of parent coaches who are the life blood of our game - to look at what can be done for the serious soccer coach of the elite players. We suggest that a new online course will be very beneficial.  Click here to read "Byte Size Coaching & the LMA Online Course".

Two Short Passes complete the line up. Wayne Goldsmith in Australia with his Sports Coaching Brain website (highly recommended) talks about how Sports Science is spoiling the fun for most players. And Joseph Benedictis re-launches his World Cup song.  Click here to read "Short Passes".

Welcome to the May Edition of the World of Soccer Newsletter.

The serious coach is always looking for "professional development" - so they can stay ahead of the game. 

Take a look at the powerful online coaching course with video presentations by Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger. Fabio Capello, Roy Hodgson, David Moyes and Howard Wilkinson.  Click here to read about the LMA

Marc Rizzardo takes a good look at the foot in football. For some players "the tools of the trade" need careful monitoring and often preventive measures. We all know if you can't pass you can't play and you can only pass properly if the foot is cooperating and pain free.  Click here to read "Orthotic: Do they Benefit Soccer Players?"

Andy Donahue, Our Man in Singapore, sends us some 50 quotes from manager/coaches in the UK. Definitely good for a laugh.And Wayne Goldsmith, based in Australia, give us another 50 this time with 50 ways to enhance your coaching performance.  Click here to read the article. 

Welcome to the April Edition of the World of Soccer Newsletter.

This month in the "Practice Section" Brian Halliday gives us what he believes goes into the make up of a good coach. If you don't think Brian talks from experience have a look at his bio at the end of the article.  Click here to read "The Essential Attributes of a Good/ Great/Exceptional Coach "

"Prevention not cure" is this month's theme of Marc Rizzardo's continuing series surrounding soccer injuries. He is also looking at the "off season" and what, if anything, a soccer player should be doing to stay in shape while laying the foundation for the next season.  Click here to read "Strategies for the Off-Season Training".

The contentious area of soccer evaluations and the tiering of players continue to be an area of club and grassroots soccer aggravation. It will always be controversial and there will never be a foolproof system, but we can and should make the system better.  Click here to read "The Most Contentious Area in Soccer! Evals Continued."

In the Boot Room is the legendary Bill Shankly of Liverpool fame and a member of the very first "Boot Room" - along with Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan who were to succeed him. Brian Halliday points out in his article that a good coach must have a sense of humor. Shanks was a very funny man, but while you were laughing there was usually another message within his outrageous humor.  Click here to read "Shankly - Liverpool & Everton".

Here we are with the April Edition of Byte Size Coaching Newsletter............... 

Spring is here and all of soccer in the United States and Canada is out on the green fields.

The Green Field that “Yours Truly” was on this weekend stays permanently green as it is Field Turf – a full-sized 11 vs. 11 field built on the top of a parkade. Read about it in the article on the Calgary Minor Soccer symposium held last weekend.

The South Africa World Cup is just around the corner and Joseph De Benedictis is dedicating his “Feel the Game” song to the World Cup and hoping to make some money for children’s charities at the same time. The article will link you to You Tube where you can see and hear Joseph for yourself. 

What is a coach? Or should it be: What is a manager? Personally I prefer the title Manager/Coach as it gets rid of any misunderstanding. But how much is management and how much is coaching? We haven’t got the definitive answers, but we’ve got a pretty good idea.

Spring is in the air. And white fields turn to green. Before long it could be soccer under a scorching sun.

So that's part of our theme in the March Edition of the World of Soccer Newsletter.

First of all we celebrate the start of the so-important MLS season. For long enough there was a question of whether there would be a season. As we publish the Seattle Sounders started the season last night with a 2 - 0 victory against the expansion Philadelphia Union.  Click here to read "Let the Games Begin."

A few weeks ago in the depths of winter we asked the question, "Is it too Cold, Coach??" Marc Rizzardo answered. Now with summer not so far away, in this edition Marc both asks and answers, "Is it too HOT, Coach?"

What makes a good coach? And then what makes a good coach, Great? We attempt to find some answers in the Practice Section.  Click here to read the article...... 

Who's in the Boot Room? We have Brian Clough, Don Revie, Peter Taylor, Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles and a cast of hundreds - if not thousands.  Click here to read ..... "The Damned United." 

Hope you enjoy and if you don't agree with some of the things in here we'd love to hear from you. As my good friend and wise mentor, Verdi Godwin, often said, "Soccer is a game of opinions." Isn't that so?