How to look for the right drill with YouCoachApp
How to look for the right drill with YouCoachApp |
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This article explains how to improve the search of drills in YouCoachApp's database |
Many of the coaches who consult our website often ask the same question: “Which qualities and skills does a good soccer coach need to have?”
In order to answer to this question we'll need to host a convention!
However, among many qualities, we selected two that in our opinion are fundamental: analytical skills and creativity.
Being able to analyze and observe the game and players' choices is important to take the best decisions; a fair amount of inventive spirit is very useful to choose, create, adapt the right drills for the team and the age group you are training.
In fact, one of the most fascinating aspects of being a soccer coach is this: being able to transform your ideas into funny, effective, inspiring drills.
Isn't that the real talent of a coach?
This activity isn't always easy, but it's stimulating and the coach should devote time doing it every week with passion.
Setting up a training session requires space and time for reflection in order to find the perfect drill for that particular practice, that time of the year, that group of players… In other words, a moment to make the right choice at the right time.
Unfortunately, it's not always possible to dedicate a lot of time to this activity: thinking and creating new exercises is fulfilling and exciting, but it requires concentration and time, which is sometimes difficult to find.
When you lack of inspiration, looking at other drills from which to take inspiration can be useful; then other times the right idea comes only after seeing a few ready-to-use exercises.
Hands up who used in their training session a drill seen during a clinic, or taken from a specialist magazine, a book or a website.
Every coach's watchword should be to be able to adapt… So looking for new ideas to inspire you is perfectly acceptable.
However, watch out for the information overload: behind the abundance of information hides the risk of losing your focus and choosing drills that are not aligned with your goals.
Let's make a list of all the elements a soccer coach should take into consideration when setting up a new training session. The drills' choice could be influenced by:
The number of drills available online is infinite, and that's where YouCoach plays a crucial role.
In this article you will learn where and how to look for the right drills for your training sessions on YouCoachApp.
Maybe not everyone knows that all the drills shared everyday by YouCoach are not the only one available on our website: YouCoachApp, the web app for soccer coaches developed by YouCoach and included in our membership plan, has an online database with more than 1000 drills for all age groups. A collection from which to draw and take inspiration quickly and easily.
Well, assuming a book contains an average of 20 drills, how many books do you need to create a collection of 1000 exercises?
Right, 50! Try to imagine the difficulty of flipping through 50 different books, looking for the perfect drill for that specific practice… Sure enough you'll need some time.
Now, let's think about the convenience of using a web app that gives you acces to a 1000-drill database in a few clicks, and with the possibility of searching using filters.
This is exactly what you can do with YouCoachApp! Our digital archive represents a source of ideas and ready-to-use exercises from which you can easily pick!
With YouCoachApp you can look for and choose drills with filters like:
- training sessions cycle at the moment (for example, pre-season, first half of the season...)
- objectives you want to train (like tactics, physical training...)
- other parameters of your interest (difficulty level, regular goals...)
- direct search by keywords (like ball possession).
Let's see how our training session creation page works and how to use it.
Search features are on the left; the buttons to start or cancel the search are on the right.
Use the button: apply filters to start a search with the chosen criteria.
To start a new search, remember to click on “Clear filters”, then choose new parameters and click on “Apply filters”.
Use this procedure for each search.
Search for and choose the right drills for your training cycle
Are you wondering which could be the most suitable drills for the goals you set for the next training cycle? Set the date of the practice you are creating (remember to save!) and YouCoachApp will suggest drills that are consistent with the goals you chose.
The database will automatically update, showing in the first positions the drills that suit your objectives the most.
But remember: the automatic filter works better if you set up your season's objectives correctly. For a recap, go to this article were we explain how to set the season's settings.
Search for and choose the right drills for your training objectives
Are you looking for a drill to train individual technique? or maybe an exercise to improve group tactics?
The list of objectives on YouCoachApp is complete, organized and ideal to filter our database searching through:
- drills about technical skills;
- drills about tactic;
- athletic training drills;
- specific exercises for goalkeepers.
By clicking on each main objective, it is possible to choose secondary goals from a drop-down menu, making the search even more specific.
Remember to click on “Apply filters” to look for the drills and on “Clear filters” for each new search.
Search for and choose the right drills with other parameters
The search for drills on YouCoachApp can take place even choosing other filters, such as:
- difficulty of the drill (1 easy, 5 hard);
- number of players (minimum and maximum number of players, from 1 to 24);
- drills requiring regular goals;
- type of activity (physical circuit, positional game and so on).
It is possible to filter your search using your past decisions, so you can:
- Hide drills used in past sessions;
- Show only drills used in past sessions;
- Show only self designed exercises (the ones you created from the menu “Custom drills”);
- Show drills designed and shared by staff members;
- Show only the drills added to favorites (to learn how to add a drill from the website to your favorites, click here).
Lastly, the “Package” feature collects groups of drills about a specific theme, such as drills progressions for 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, and much more.
Drills packages include all the drills of the eBooks you bought from our store.
Search for and choose the right drills with a direct search
If you have a clear idea of what you are looking for, a direct search by keyword is the best.
For example, would you like a drill about ball possession? Type "ball possession" in the search bar, click on "Apply filters" and the system will show all the drills of the database that train ball possession.
Did you tag one of your custom drills with a keyword? Follow the same procedure and you will find it without wasting your time.
As you may have noticed, there is no age group searching option.
As we stated before, adapting is fundamental: subdivide drills based on age groups means creating a strict classification that takes away the coach's freedom to interpret and adapt a drill.