5 Stars, Our Highest Recommendation
Best Indoor Soccer Book
An Exceptional Value
For All Coaches of Teams U-10 and Older

How We Rate Videos and Books: We have watched over 220 soccer coaching videos (DVD's and tapes) and read over 70 soccer coaching books. Unfortunately, most are not good, many are a complete waste of time and money, and some are actually counterproductive. We only sell videos and books that we truly believe are the best and worth buying, and that we can give 4 or 5 star ratings (on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best). Our ratings consider the quality, length and value of an item, how it compares to other similar DVD’s, and how well it meets the needs of the targeted audience. We reject about 90% of the videos we watch.

Category: Coaching indoor soccer, but also excellent for outdoor soccer.

Suitable For: All coaches of indoor and outdoor soccer.

Summary: We have reviewed over 70 books and this is one of the best. It is an excellent book about coaching indoor soccer that discusses attacking, defending, formations, styles of play, tactics, goalkeeping and skills. Very insightful and to the point with many good tips, and written in an easy-to-understand style. This is not just a great book about coaching indoor soccer, it also has much good advice about how to improve soccer skills. Much useful, practical advice for players and coaches. The sections on goalkeeping (p.49), Defense (p. 65) and Tactical Guidelines for Dribbling (p.10) alone are worth the price of this book. It contains more useful information in 100 pages than most books have in 300 pages. Written by a successful coach with a lot of experience. You will be glad you bought this book.

Review: The Summary contains most of our comments. In addition, the book contains some excellent indoor drills that could be run as games and has a great discussion of the principles of defense and attack (p. 65). It explains how to coach both Low Pressure and High Pressure methods of defense (there are many excellent tips here), and counter attacking/fast-breaking and slow/deliberate build-up styles of attacking. Line changes and substitutions, tactical use of the boards and set plays are among the other topics discussed. The author was Collegiate Coach of the Year, was a professional soccer player and coached professional indoor soccer. One of his tips: transitions from attack to defense and from defense to attack are very important in indoor soccer (p. 52). One of our tips: The SoccerHelp Practice Game "2 Team Keep Away" is an excellent way to practice these quick transitions and can be played indoors in a small area. Another of the authors tips: When your team is on defense, in the opponent's half of the field it is preferable to force the play inside (toward the center) so the ball can be intercepted by your teammate, but in your own half of the field the play should be forced to the outside (p. 67). The "Individual and Team Tactics" on pages 77 and 78 are excellent (examples: "Avoid making square passes in your own half of the field" and "Always shoot across the goal mouth to the far post").

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