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Coaches Blog



Video Anaylsis

Sam Snow

There are an increasing number of products on the market for video analysis. More soccer coaches are using this software and many coaches have been using video analysis for a number of years. So here are some facts on how to use video analysis in a productive manner.
Please keep in mind that the use of video to help players improve is best done with players who can conceptualize what they are viewing. That is they can watch themselves and self-analyze and they can mentally see themselves doing the skill or a tactical action in a match. This capacity of conceptualization begins to emerge once the player is capable of abstract thought. Generally that growth in the cognitive process occurs around age twelve. Prior to that age if kids want to watch themselves on video let them just watch the film without comment and to come and go from it as they please.
Video analysis of team and individual performance should be consistently used with this age group. The analysis should be developed around problem solving discussions. An exchange of questions and answers between you and the players and between the players themselves will be productive. In general video analysis should be used immediately following the activity when the player has a kinesthetic feeling for the action. Video feedback can have its best impact during training sessions where review followed by immediate repetition of the action can take place in a coach-controlled situation. The player should be encouraged to give an active response, be it verbal or physical, thus becoming involved in the learning process. Players should be allowed to work at their own pace. Do not force or rush their use of the media.
Initially, each viewing session should isolate small units, such as a specific skill or game play. Short viewing periods plus your analysis should be followed by an attempt to correct as well as improve upon performance. Correction should be positive, not negative. The player must receive rapid feedback regarding the correct action and technique. The correct movements must be over learned by repeated practice. Avoid getting in the way of the players' learning process and interaction with the material. Stop talking and listen. Do not fill the players' minds with details; let them think and analyze for themselves and guide them in reaching a conclusion only when they reach an impasse.
Beware the excessive use of slow motion or stop action. It has been found that speed of movement is also quite specific to individual performance, and too much viewing of complex movements performed at excessively slow speeds may upset the player's sense of timing and coordination- his or her internal 'model' of what he or she is doing.
A final word of advice: video analysis demands that you understand the mechanics of soccer. No longer will guesswork be allowed – the instant replay of video leaves each analysis open to question. Knowledge of key movement cues that contribute positively to the players' performance is now essential. Watch the US Youth Soccer DVD Skills School | Developing Essential Soccer Techniques for assistance in this area. Also use as a reference the Skills School Manual from US Youth Soccer.
Encourage your players to watch high level soccer regularly. As they watch these matches they should focus on the group play around their position. The US Youth Soccer Show on Fox Soccer Channel is a good opportunity to see players like themselves. Players should be able to mentally insert themselves into the position and think how they may benefit from what they are observing.

Save the Date

Susan Boyd







2009 US Youth Soccer National Championship Series Dates
Region I
Village of Barboursville, W.Va.
July 2-7, 2009

Region II
Sioux Falls, S.D.
June 20-24, 2009

Region III
Frisco and Plano, Texas
June 18-24, 2009

Region IV
Lancaster, Calif.
June 15-21, 2009

US Youth Soccer National Championships
Lancaster, Mass.
July 21-26, 2009

New League

Sam Snow



  1. The quality of your teammates
  2. The quality of your opponents
  3. The quality of your coaches



Socrates Didn't Invent Soccer

Susan Boyd

I'm an optimist when it comes to TV viewing. I record dozens of shows with the very real intent of watching them all, then spend fifteen minutes once a week deleting most of them. If people ask me if I've seen a program I cheerfully answer "No, but I recorded it!" Every once in a while I have the opportunity to actually see one of the shows I recorded, generally because I'm shirking some other responsibility like laundry or writing. Earlier this week I watched an episode of "Numb3rs" about an FBI agent and his genius math brother who solves crimes using brute force and clever number theory. It's a slight drama, but entertaining. During this particular episode there was a crawl across the screen with the teaser, "Test your own math skills by trying the puzzles at" I jumped at the opportunity to validate my intelligence (or scoff at the ridiculousness of the questions if I couldn't solve them). This week's puzzle concerned convergence using lines that bisected triangle sides and angles. While I enjoyed the questions, they led me to further consideration about convergence as it relates to soccer. Yes, I'm that obsessed with soccer!

Convergence in math means the same thing it does in English – a coming together from different directions at a single point (Encarta Dictionary). Soccer succeeds or fails because of convergence or the lack thereof. Yesterday, Robbie's team had a state championship play-off game that frustratingly demonstrated the elements of convergence. I should mention that convergence is either exhilarating or frustrating when it comes to soccer. Yesterday an opponent's foot converged twice with one of Robbie's teammate's faces. The second convergence resulted in thirteen stitches. The lightning and deluge converged with twilight to require an early game termination. The uneven new sod patches converged with an errant kick to insure an erratic bounce into the goal.   Players regularly converged for fouls or tackles or steals. We finally had an exhilarating convergence when a ball was struck from the corner by one forward while the other charged in, met it at the goal line and converged it right into the back of the net.

When you relate soccer anecdotes they usually involve convergence. So while you may not have stayed awake during your Geometry class, you still use the mathematical precepts to make your point. "I thought the ball was going in, but the keeper just managed to deflect it." "That defender came out of nowhere to steal the ball right off of my daughter's foot." "The ball caromed off the post and into the goal." "That dad got right in the official's face." Players converge at the end of the game in the traditional handshake. We even use convergence to get to the games when we set our GPS and it charts a course for us. It's creating a convergence between the spot we need to be and the route our vehicle travels even if it isn't a straight bisector.

My other favorite sport is baseball. I'm happy to spend a few hours at the ballpark absorbing the sights and sounds of a Brewers game.   On the face of it, baseball and soccer couldn't be more different in their production. Baseball is a game of fits and starts, especially in the eighth inning of a close game where pitching changes can make that one inning last nearly as long as the rest of the game. Players in the outfield might go long minutes before even moving, much less chasing a ball. But when they are needed, they are needed in a spectacular hurry. Soccer is nearly non-stop, everyone is needed all the time, and players have to be constantly on the move, readjusting their position depending upon the direction and speed of play. But I realized that what I love about baseball I also love about soccer. Both games require mathematical precision which is based on convergence.

That's why I don't like watching baseball on TV, because the camera dictates where I look. I want to survey the field, see where the outfielders are shifting, judge the wind, watch runners lead off, and get a good feel for the ball's direction both when hit and when thrown. Players make judgments about their position based on the angle they expect the ball to travel. In other words, they place themselves in the mostly likely spot for convergence or near enough to a range of convergence points. There are some intuitive calculations concerning trajectories, resistance, and velocity that dictate the point of convergence and the likelihood of success. Pitchers, hitters, infielders, outfielders, and coaches are all doing their own math in their heads to determine what will create the best outcome. Pitchers want to have their pitches converge with the catcher's mitt, hitters want their bats to converge with the ball, and fielders want their mitts to converge with any hit. Likewise a soccer player makes a decision about using left or right foot, inside or outside, force of the kick, and obstacles to pick the most likely point of convergence with the ball that will alter its route right into the goal or to another teammate's foot. These players do this all within a blink of the eye and they do it hundreds of times in a game. Even more amazingly, unlike math students who can do their calculations in relative calm and without immediate criticism, players resolve their mathematical equations in an instant with on the spot evaluations given at the top of someone's lungs. There's no time to recalculate, check the variables, ponder the choices. It's now or never and then on to the next problem.

While I don't advocate protractors and graphic calculators as part of an essential soccer kit, I do recognize the beauty of math in what is happening on the field. The next time you watch a ball leave a player's foot and land perfectly in front of another player, or see a player suddenly step in front of an opponent to triumphantly settle a goal kick, or witness that awesome bend it like Beckham moment, give pause to consider Euclid, Aristotle, and Pythagoras. Sure, these ancient Greeks didn't invent soccer, but their geometrical explorations resulted in tools for analyzing and improving soccer play. With their acute understanding of convergence, they probably would have made fantastic coaches. Maybe they were. "Go Polyhedrons!"