Beautiful Soccer

Overview

Exploring the role of coaches and parents, this book emphasizes the importance of team identity and a team mindset and presents the necessary foot skills and tactics to help young soccer players both perform better and have more fun. As youth soccer becomes increasingly popular, coaches often gloss over individual improvement in order to win, relying on rigid systems and a few elite players to carry a team. This impairs player development and kills the joy of the game—so how can adults make competitive soccer better for kids? Addressing that very problem, this book outlines basic patterns of play that young players can use to advance the ball and illustrates innovative techniques that will help improve any team. Moreover, this book advocates a soccer culture free from the fear of failure; instead, players, coaches, and parents are encouraged to foster confidence, passion, creativity, and the desire to try and keep trying.

Author Biography

Ryan Marquez is the head soccer coach for Bonita Vista High School and the Crusaders Soccer Club of San Diego. He played competitively since the age of nine and is a fully certified and licensed soccer coach with more than a decade of coaching experience. He lives in Chula Vista, California. Doug Werner is the author or coauthor of all 11 books in the Start-Up Sports® series, including Skateboarding: Legendary Tricks. He lives in San Diego.