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suadmin
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Posted: Wed Dec 3rd, 2008 07:26 pm |
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Customer Reviews and Comments
If you have purchased and watch the SoccerU series you can email us your review and thoughts. Please send us info about yourself and a picture as well.
Send your review to: BlastTheBall@aol.com
We will resize your picture and post the info here.
PLEASE NOTE: We have added some of the emails we received earlier about Blast The Ball.
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suadmin
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Posted: Thu Dec 4th, 2008 11:58 pm |
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Dear Coach V,
We are the "95 AYSO Thunder", and they are a terrific group of kids and parents. My assistant coach is hard working and a tremendous asset to the team and me. I am very fortunate to be associated with all of them.
We just received Blast The Ball and have started to implement the techniques. It is amazing how valuable the changes have proven to be! We scrimmaged a boys team we who has beaten us every time we play them. This last weekend we finally beat them thanks in part to the techniques we picked up from your disk.
As far as our team, we are a girls U12 team based in Charlotte, NC. The kids play at a recreation level during the season. In November 2007, however, my assistant coach and I invited these players to form a more competitive team. We started playing in a U12 boys indoor soccer league that same month. We had to play the boys teams because there wasn't a girls division; we also thought it would be good competition for us. The first few games we got clobbered, but by the end we were only getting beaten by two goals. We continue to scrimmage one of the boys teams once a month and they kept beating us until the match I mentioned above.
We compete in tournaments with club teams at the next competitive level or higher. In North Carolina, they are called 'Challenge' and 'Classic' respectively. We have played in one tournament so far and finished in the championship game losing 0:1 on a corner kick. We have two more tournaments this season (NC and TN). I am sure the girls will be very successful now that we have your video as an additional teaching tool. It should be mandatory viewing for all coaches at the youngest levels on. I have been coaching soccer for more than 10 years and wish I had it when I started.
Thank you for helping me, help the kids.
Coach Chris, NC
Attachment: girlsoccer.gif (Downloaded 8 times)
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suadmin
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Posted: Fri Dec 5th, 2008 12:05 am |
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In Fall 2007, our boys played in the Northern California Youth Soccer Association Boys Under 9 Competitive Level 3 division. We had high hopes for the team because our boys are good athletes with solid soccer skills. The boys were hand picked from the previous year’s recreational league and were the standouts in the league. In addition, we hired a coach that is a former professional player and a recently retired head coach of the San Jose Frogs of the National Premier Soccer League.
After several severe beatings in our first games, we believed our main problem was defense. We gave our opponents too many break away opportunities, which put a huge burden on our under-sized Keeper. Moving one of our strongest players to Sweeper helped reduce our opponents scoring chances somewhat, but we still were not clearing the ball and most of the game was spent in our half of the field.
On Offense, when we were able to advance the ball, the boys were getting chances by either dribbling around our opponents or centering the ball to an open player. Unfortunately, we rarely put the ball into the back of the net. Most scoring opportunities were concluded with inaccurate and weak kicks that went wide or were easy to block. Many times, their Keeper would block or deflect the ball without securing it, giving us an opportunity for a follow up attempt at goal, but our Strikers had either fallen down or stopped after the initial kick.
We finished the season with a record of 0 Wins, 9 Losses, and 1 Tie. (GF-8 GA-38)
Later in the season we finally realized that we had an underlying problem that our boys were just not kicking the ball with any power. That’s why they had trouble clearing the ball out of their end or scoring when they had good opportunities.
We started doing some extra drills at practice that we thought would increase the power of their kicks, such as repetitively kicking the ball as hard as they could or doing exercises such as hopping on one foot to build up leg strength. But that didn’t help. We later learned that it was only reinforcing bad habits.
It wasn’t until late in the season that we realized that most of our boys had various problems with their basic kicking techniques. Several boys were putting their plant foot well behind the ball causing them to over extend and fall after the kick. Others had their plant foot too close or too far away (not hip width distance) or they were toe kicking the ball. And, almost all the boys were just pushing through the ball, not winding up, and therefore, not kicking with power.
We didn’t really know the best way to solve all of these problems and so I started doing Internet searches for any tips, tricks, or techniques that might help us. I soon discovered the Blast the Ball web site and after reading some of the success stories and watching the preview I thought it was exactly what we needed.
The coaches and I watched the video and decided to incorporate one or two of Coach V’s Blast the Ball lessons or drills into every one of our practices. We started at the very beginning and worked our way through most of the video. For example, for each boy we measured the distance between their hip bones and explained the theory behind using the natural swing path to get maximum power. We worked a lot on plant foot positioning and used a round ring to force the boys to step closer to the ball. And, of course, we practiced the soccer hop at the beginning of every practice.
Although parents and coaches of young boys will publicly state that the most important goal is for the kids to have fun and develop their skills, I strongly believe most parents (and kids) join a competitive soccer team to compete and win and failing to do so can cause low morale and anger in both the parents and kids.
After suffering through a season with no wins and several humiliating losses, we had about half of the parents bitterly complain about the coaching, the refereeing, and eventually pull their kids from the team. Even though the kids had developed quite a bit and had lots of fun at practices and most games.
On the other hand, in this recent spring season, I witnessed both parents and kids get energized and excited after winning their first few games. Parents were friendlier to each other, volunteered to help more, and wanted the get the team together outside of soccer. The boys were also nicer to each other and more forgiving of each others mistakes.
I am proud to say the Pacific Soccer Academy Boys U9 team took first place in the recent spring league scoring on average over 4 goals per game.
So winning may not be the only thing, but despite what many will say, winning is important.
I think the Blast the Ball video is a must-have tool for all coaches and parents interested in developing their kid’s soccer skills.
Even coaches with many years experience, like our own, may not realize that their players are not kicking with maximum efficiency or even if they do, they probably don’t know the right way to teach it. Most coaches would be wise to take advantage of the expertise and knowledge contained within the Blast the Ball video and use that information to improve the capabilities of their players.
And parents should not wait for coaches to teach proper kicking techniques to their children because it may or may not happen. I recently purchased my own copy of the video to have at home. I’m going to use it with my youngest son, who just turned 4 years old, to make sure he starts off kicking the ball properly.
I can’t give “Blast the Ball” 100% credit for our dramatic turn around because the boys worked really hard and received excellent coaching, but “Blast the Ball” certainly was a major factoring in helping the boys put the ball into the back of the net with greater accuracy and power.
Thank you very much Coach V for developing the “Blast the Ball” system!
Regards,
Victor Nemechek
PSA Boys U10 Team Manager
Attachment: team2008300.gif (Downloaded 8 times)
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suadmin
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Posted: Fri Dec 5th, 2008 12:10 am |
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Coach V,
I watched your video Blast The Ball and decided to breakdown my review and thoughts into three categories.
As a player : If this video would have been around ten years before I would of had an advantage over the other players, It teaches exactly what it takes to be a better kicker and the fundamentals displayed are a necessity to learn in order to be able to play the game of soccer.
As a parent: Being a parent to a five year old, who just started playing soccer, I can say this video was very easy to understand and fun to watch. My five year old was very hooked on the drills and couldn't wait to get out on the yard and practice what she had learned. I can truly recommend this video to parents who want their children to have fun and learn while practicing the game of the soccer.
As a coach: Watching this video will definitely make my coaching and teaching a lot easier. I would sometime struggle to explain the basics of kicking, your video has easy to follow instructions, great drills, and its is easy to teach. I will be watching the video with my kids at soccer camp and I know we will all benefit from viewing Blast The Ball over and over again.
All the best...
Dario
1995-1997 Newell's Old Boys (Argentina)
1997-1999 Club Atletico Tigre (Argentina)
1999-2001 Gimnasia y Esgrima de la Plata (Argentina)
2001-2002 Club Atletico Tecos (Mexico)
2002-2003 Petroleros de Salamanca (Mexican 2nd Division)
2003-2004 NY Metrostars (MLS)
Attachment: dariotecos.jpg (Downloaded 8 times)
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Deanmac
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Posted: Mon Dec 8th, 2008 08:17 pm |
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Thanks for the great reports,
I received my copy over the weekend and can't wait to start using the information.
We are starting a Middle School this Spring with Tryouts starting 2 Feb.
I am sure this information wll be very valuable to me and my players.
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suadmin
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Posted: Mon Dec 8th, 2008 09:02 pm |
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Deanmac wrote: Thanks for the great reports,
I received my copy over the weekend and can't wait to start using the information.
We are starting a Middle School this Spring with Tryouts starting 2 Feb.
I am sure this information wll be very valuable to me and my players.
Good luck Dean.
This is a hard age to Coach at the competitive level.
Don't get frustrated with the lack of time you feel.
Get the ball "on their feet" from the minute they arrive.
Dribble, ball handling, and basics.
Get them to play small side games, 4 v 4 with small goals, and small fields.
You will get to know them VERY well this way.
Sit back and watch.
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Deanmac
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Posted: Tue Dec 9th, 2008 04:23 pm |
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Thanks for the advice, Great tips,
What size of goal do you recommend for the 4 X 4 drills?
I plan to make up some of the Soccer hops to use in small group drills.
Dean
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Deanmac
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Posted: Tue Dec 9th, 2008 04:26 pm |
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suadmin wrote:
Good luck Dean.
This is a hard age to Coach at the competitive level.
Don't get frustrated with the lack of time you feel.
thanks,
I have coached baseball and basketball at this level,
but soccer will be a new challenge,
I have my first organizational meeting in prospect players tomorrow.
Dean
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Deanmac
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Posted: Tue Dec 16th, 2008 04:34 pm |
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I loved the DVD, it had a ton of great information.
I gave it to the other coach to review this weekend.
Thanks
Dean
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