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Why Do You Do It

Growing up in Elgin Illinois, I lived at the Elgin Sports Complex. I would hop on my bike and ride as fast as I could so I could to play a pickup game, watch a game, or do some training soccer myself. Soccer was and is my addiction! Fast forward to today and I wonder to myself what made me love the game as much as I do now? Where did it come from? Simple answer, my parents for signing me up in the first place. But no, it was way deeper than that. It was the energy that surrounded me which started from my coach. Coach Kari had this unique way of getting us fired up whether it was for games or practices. She created the atmosphere to fall in love with this beautiful game. READ MORE

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Fixing the problem – A Carpenter with no Hammer Skills?

We all have seen how a carpenter can use tools, like a hammer to drive nails binding two pieces of wood together to create structures. 

But what happens when a carpenter does not have the skill or know how to use the hammer to drive the nails into the wood to bind two pieces together?

Youth Soccer Players often face the same dilemma. 

Parents signup players, players then come to practice and with the new Play-Practice-Play training methodology from US Soccer without any knowledge of foot skills. US Soccer assumes that players will learn them by watching other players. That eventually does occur. But in the meantime, what happens to that player?  READ MORE

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MOTI Website Tip: Plan It, Schedule It, See It, Do It

“Plan It, Schedule It, See It, Do It”

You’re a DOC, Rec Director, Coach, Volunteer Parent Coach, or Player you all have a responsibility in making the practice time on the pitch PRODUCTIVE and FUN.

Plan It

While not all of you have a role in the specific of “Plan It” [Creating a Practice Plan], those that do are:

DOC or Recreational Director

Coach [Note some clubs have already done this work for the Coaches, if so, go to “Schedule It”]

Do this step via a Desktop or Laptop computer “NOT via a Mobile Device”

Create the Practice Plan for the Team to Use

Select a Practice Plan or create a new one with the “Theme” and sequence of training steps you want to follow by

  1. Go to the Plan Library on either your planning team or team
  2. Open the existing Practice Plan, Copy and existing plan to a new name or Create a new Practice Plan
  3. Pick a “Theme” or select an existing practice plan with the theme you desire, Dribbling, Passing, Attacking, Defending, Setup like Corner Kick, Throw-in, etc. This will be the focus of this training session.
  4. Create the or modify the Practice Plan Header information

Practice Plan Title – for a new plan or a copied plan you need to create a meaningful name.

Practice Plan Date – Select a date or do this when scheduling

Practice Plan Time – Select a time or do this when scheduling

Plan Location – Enter this or later when scheduling READ MORE