Soccer in America has made colossal strides in the last 20 or so years.  And my forecast is they will make plenty more.

On the recent NSCAA course I was directing at Santa Clara University in California, I made the emphatic prediction that the United States will win the men's world cup in the not-so-distant future - hopefully in my time, but if not, in the next 20 years or so.

However, there are some areas that must be addressed if that is going to happen.  American players (include Canada in that) need to become more individually skilled.  And it has to start from the very Get-Go (4-, 5-, 6-years of age).

That means our least experienced coaches and our most experienced coaches have to play their part.

Before I came permanently to North America, I worked for the English FA for two years.  They sent me to Hungary for a month to study their training and coaching methods.

While I was there I saw their World Cup team at practice on a couple of occasions. At one session, they were working in pairs approximately 25-30 yards apart, just passing the ball backwards and forwards.  Their coach stood back and did not interfere.  He allowed them to practice on their own for 45 minutes.

The Hungarians were bending the ball with the inside and outside of their feet (left and right), chipping the ball and controlling with chest, thigh, feet and head.  They were totally focused and challenged. 

I'm not confident that is going to happen just by happenstance on this continent.  But if the game is to go forward we all have apart to play in making it happen.

Which brings me to King's Court.

A few years ago I was coaching at the North Vancouver Soccer Development Center and we had a group of young goalkeepers.  I was assisted by a high school 12th grader, Kevin Guidi, doing his CAP assignments (Community Access Program).

I asked him to set up the Pendulum Roll (see graphic below).  I had given him a diagramed session plan.

He said: "Let's play King's Court!"

"What's that?" was my reply.

So here is the principle of what Kevin set up.

King's or Queen's Court

Whatever the technique being practiced a challenge is thrown out for pairs to compete against each other in a fun way.

So with King's Court - Knighted (Previously the Pendulum Roll) the players kneel before each other - see graphic.  They compete against each other for 2/3 minutes.  After which a winner is declared or Rock/Paper/Scissors decides a tied game.

This is how the games proceeds:

• King's Court is identified (it could be 1 or 3).

• Play for two minutes or so.

• The winner from each pair moves up one.

• The second placed person from each group (sometimes known in certain societies as the "loser") stays in the same position.

• Except for the 2nd placed person at King's/Queen's Court (the "loser") who moves right down to the bottom court and into the Dungeon.

• The exception being if there is an odd number of players.  In the example shown we have 6 players (3 pairs).  If we had 7, one player would help "shag" the balls.  At the end of the round that player would move to the bottom court (in the Dungeon) and the "loser" at King's/Queen's Court would become the odd player who retrieves the balls before returning to the game for the next round in the Dungeon. That way only one player misses one round at any time.

• The winner at King's Court does not move up.  He or she is already up - the King or the Queen.

• With bigger numbers, e.g., 12, 13, 14, or more use 2 or 3 separate "courts" - maybe separating them by marker disks.

• The point of all of this is that both experienced or novice coaches can make it challenging, motivational and fun for all players when practicing what might be seen as rather mundane repetitions of the basic skills.  It is absolutely essential if we are to produce technically proficient and eventually creative players.  We must motivate them and make it challenging and fun.

• With older players (teenagers) the challenges need to be greater and appropriate to their age and stage of development.

For instance, using the King's Court/Queen's Court rules in a pairs practice, much as the one shown here where a player has to knock over the cone to score a point, other conditions can be applied to intensify the practice and to make it increasingly more difficult, e.g.,

• The ball must be moving when kicked.

• Alternate the feet - first with the right then the left.

• Make it two touch (a difficult condition).

• Even one-touch, but you will need additional rules for wayward passes/shots to restart the challenge (as you will with two touch).

Anyway, I hope you get the idea and collectively we move towards the men's World Cup championship and the continuing success of the women's program (as the rest of the world tries to catch up and overtake the American women).