The Soccer Specialist

Yep, that's right. We owe a lot to dirty teams. They can help take your performance to an entirely new level... IF you approach the experience the right way. Learn how inside and discover how it can happen for EVERY game you play, not just against the dirty teams.

Take a look at what it takes to become the best player you can possibly be, learn how one moment can change everything and how to use it to your advantage.

One day she was a keeper on a very low-level team.  The next she was the starting (and only) keeper on a much, much better team that has their sights set on a conference title.  How'd she do?  Come on in and learn about the triumphs and the tears and maybe take away a few powerful nuggets that can help you on your own soccer journey.

Your mental game plays an important role in your physical game on the pitch.  Have a listen as we discuss three different athletes and how their mental game had a huge impact, positive and negative, on their physical game.  Don't dismiss the mind.  If you want to achieve excellence on the pitch you need to train your mind just like you train your body and your skills.

Finally, we talk about the World Cup!  Why did the US lose to the Netherlands?  Take a listen and find out and you'll also discover how it can help you become a better soccer player!  What's so great about Messi? Did you know he might be a better X than he is goal scorer? Find out what, why and how it can help you and your development.  

From participation trophies to 'everyone makes the team' trends where a club creates as many teams in an age group as it can based on the number of players at tryouts, it seems all you players are special.  Is this true? And does that mentality really serve players best and help your development?  Let's examine who isn't special, who is, and how it can be you!

That's right! The Soccer Specialist Podcast has survived to it's 100th episode!  I wasn't sure we'd get to episode 10 but here we are! Have a listen.

I'm saddened and frustrated by how I often I come across the "my 8 year old is an attacking mid, my 9 year old is a keeper, my 7 year old is a striker..." stuff. 99.9% of "Elite" youth players in America can't control the ball at their feet or check their shoulder! Your 11 year old is NOT a position! Please don't worry so much about what position your young player plays (when they are young they s...

A player (that the coach selected for the team) asked what he could do better to get playing time.  The coach told him to gro.  WTH!?!!  Are you kidding me?  As you can imagine this nonsense fired me up!  Hopefully there's something useful in here for you, like all the things you can do to be a great player that have ZERO to do with your height!

Story time!  Discover how 10 days changed everything for a team, my view on development and how it can help you become a better player, too!  Listen!  Listen now!  Ha!

Conventional wisdom is to spend a lot of time working on your weaknesses. Is that really the best way to go about becoming a great soccer player?  Let's take a deep dive into the reality of that wisdom and see if we can come up with a better plan for your development.  Take a listen!

Have you ever seen (or been a part of) a team that is playing really well and then it completely collapses?  Or they are getting dominated and manage to turn it around?  It's like watching two very different games in one.  Come take a listen as I walk down memory lane to talk about two games just like that... and what you can take away from  the experience to make you a better...

Yes, the game should be fun.  It doesn't mean it will be fun every second.  What does that mean for your training?  What if you want to play in college? Do you need to be on some fancy national league team? All this and more.  Have a listen.

Could horse racing be the key to your development as a soccer player?  Sounds crazy, right?  Maybe not so crazy.  Take a listen and find out!

Can you believe it?  Sounds crazy but it's true.  What can you learn from it?  Guess you'll have to listen!

One of the most difficult things in youth soccer is understanding how to make off the ball runs successful.  Too many players don't want to commit to them unless they know they are going to get the ball. This dooms the run to failure before it even happens.  Take a listen and learn simple secrets to turning off the ball runs into a success that also make the passer a much better player w...

This is part 2 of last week's episode, focusing on 14 different ways to help build your confidence.  Last week we covered the first 6 and today we'll talk about tips seven through 14.  Have a listen!

If you want your performance to be the best it can be on the pitch, you need to play with a lot of confidence.  Sadly, this is a struggle for many players for many different reasons.  In this episode of The Soccer Specialist podcast we'll discuss 14 fantastic confidence boosting tips you can use right now to improve your confidence, including the #1 confidence builder there is.  Tak...

Had a crazy thing happen in a game that I've actually never seen before in my coaching career.  Or while playing.  Or while watching soccer! That's how rare it is.  Listen to how my player reacted.  It's all about your reaction when it comes to overcoming obstacles.  You'll also discover what music scales have to do with soccer and how you can re-frame your negative though...

Did I call Ada Hegerberg the world's best striker?  I did! I mean, she does hold the single season Champion's League record of 15 goals. That's a pretty good record to have.  In this episode of The Soccer Specialist Podcast Ada talks about her experience as a 17 year old player in Germany and what it takes to become a great player.  Have a listen!

We all have periods when everything is going great.  We're working hard, having great training sessions that we never miss. And we see the results, too!  But then, for whatever reason, we have to miss a session, or we have a bad one.  Then we miss again.  And again.  Next thing you know, we are way off track, far from our goals, and we feel overwhelmed and frustrated with...

Last episode we talked about the role of skills versus athleticism in soccer.  In this episode we take a dive into the world of how to go about improving your athleticism to help you become a better soccer player.  This means getting faster, becoming more explosive, and improving your agility and ability to change direction.  Have a listen!

Here we go!  There is always a lot of talk around this topic in America.  Many think we focus too much on athleticism and that's why we struggle to compete with the rest of the world (on the men's side and yes, increasingly on the women as their game grows around the world).  Is this really true, though?  Is our focus on athletic traits the problem?  Before Cruyff arrived,...

Following up on last week's episode of The Soccer Specialist podcast, we expand on the idea of failure being the road to success, how to apply it to your development and using it to become a better player.  Plus other stuff, too! Like Bella! Simple! Listen now!

Remember the Miracle on Ice when the US Olympic hockey team won gold with the greatest upset of all time?  Check in for some thoughts on the movie Miracle and the lessons you'll learn that can help make you a much better soccer player.  You'll also discover how some of the greatest players in sports are also the biggest failures.  Oh, and maybe a lesson on avoiding quicksand, too! &...