The Soapbox: Soccer Coaching Blog & Podcast
Heads and Volleys is a grassroots Soccer game that reflects the youth soccer environment.
The game was played as everyone VS the GK and you could only score with a header or a volley. Simple, right? Wrong. It was complex and fraught with arguments that resulted in 'taking my ball home' or some kind of one-off shot to determine if it was a goal or not. Much like those arguments, this podcast will embrace discussions, trends, and ideas to grow the game, and will not let anyone take their ball home early.
Heads and Volleys Podcast.
Welcome to my soapbox. This is where I think out loud about coaching.
You'll find long-form writing on coaching methodology, session design, game models and player development — plus every episode of the Heads and Volleys podcast. It's written for youth and club soccer coaches, directors of coaching, and anyone building a curriculum they want their whole staff to speak.
Most of what's here comes back to a few ideas: that soccer is 1v1s with help, that a Common Language across your club beats a clever drill, that the rule you add is the game you get, and that you can't coach what you haven't defined.
New posts most weeks. Start anywhere below, or grab the monthly newsletter.Popular Reads
The Common Language
- The Power of a Common Language
- The Common Language Methodology: The Game is Already in Your Practice
The 1v1 Series
Session & Practice Design
- Can You Recreate the Game in Practice?
- The Rule You Add Is the Game You Get
- From 1,000 Touches to 1,000 Decisions
- Optimize Your Training Environment
- The First Pancake Is Always Awful
Game Day
Player Development
Why the Best Coaches Should Stay at the Grassroots, with Michael Carroll
Most coaches treat the little ones as a stepping stone. Michael Carroll chose to stay. His reason: it's where a coach can make the biggest difference.
Honest. Kind. Helpful. Feedback That Actually Helps Players
Feedback isn't a compliment or a telling-off. It's a plan. If it isn't honest, kind and helpful, it isn't really feedback at all.
From 1,000 Touches to 1,000 Decisions
Youth soccer got very good at manufacturing reps. It got very quiet about the solving. If we're counting anything, let's count decisions — and there's only one environment that produces them at volume.
Power Shot. Fake. Cut. Don’t Skip Acquisition.
The fake shot isn’t something you teach in a line. It’s something kids steal from the game. Your job is to give them the space to steal it.
You're the Oldest Kid on the Playground
Making practice fun isn’t the goal. Making it a game everyone wants to keep playing is. At practice, coach, you’re the oldest kid on the playground. Use it.
The Most Common Question in Coaching Education Isn't About Soccer
Every time I run a coaching course, the same word comes up again and again in the questions coaches ask. It's not tactics. It's not training design. It's parents. So let's actually talk about it.
The Cost of Youth Sports Is a Real Problem. But We're Looking in the Wrong Place for the Fix.
"The criticism is constant and it's fair — youth sports costs too much and it's pricing families out. I agree. But I think the conversation usually stops before it gets to the part that's actually fixable."
Tactical Periodization: What It Is and Why Coaches Should Know About It
"Mourinho called it his best-kept secret. It was developed in Portugal, refined at the top of European football, and it changes how you think about every training session you run."
The Intentions Are Good. The Industry Makes Them Hard to Keep.
"97% of youth sports club owners say developing kids is their number one value. 52% are losing sleep over parent complaints. These are the same people. That gap tells you everything."
The Reason Your Sessions Lack Intensity? Look at the Coach.
"Intensity doesn't come from telling players to try harder. It comes from how you organize the session. Most coaches are draining it before a ball is kicked."
1v1s 7/7: Five Things I Want You to Walk Away With
"You can have all the sessions in the world. But if your players don't feel safe, they'll never truly play."
1v1s 6/7: Take the 1v1 Outside the Box
"A 3v3 has every type of 1v1 in it. So does a 4v4. So does a 5v5. The game is already there."
1v1s 5/7: Put Them 1v1 and Watch What You Learn
"Before you decide what to train, go watch a half. Count the 1v1's. What you find might surprise you."
1v1s 4/7: The Game You Set Up Is the Game You Get
"Every constraint you add to a practice has consequences. Most coaches never think about what those consequences are."
1v1s 3/7: Mastery Comes From Asking Why
"If your player only ever does what you tell them, what happens when you're not there?"
1v1s 2/7: You Can't Coach What You Haven't Defined1v1s 1/7:
"If you don't know how you want your team to play, your players definitely don't know either."
1v1s 1/7: Soccer Is 1v1's With Help
"Every single moment in a soccer game comes down to a 1v1. We just don't coach it that way."
The Common Language Methodology: The Game is Already in Your Practice
SCAN, SHAPE, SUPPORT, BUILD, and BREAK aren't drill categories — you won't find them on Google. They're moments that already exist in any practice you run. Here's how to find them, name them, and connect even isolated skill work back to the game.
Coach Scanning
As a lifeguard, you never just stare at one spot in the water. You scan — head counts, hazards, kids drifting too far out. Coaching is exactly the same. And most of us aren't doing it.
The First Pancake Is Always Awful
Adam Clery said it on the Football Ramble this week and I haven't stopped thinking about it. The first pancake is always awful. They get better. That's a coaching philosophy in one sentence.