The annual NJYS Coaches Workshop and Vendor Expo will convene on January 7, 2012, at the spacious NJ Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, NJ. This has been the site of several highly successful expositions attracting over 2000 people every year and hundreds of vendors!

This year’s topics and presentations reflect our ongoing mission of helping you develop and implement practical player-centered learning environments.  By this we mean the player should be the center of all your actions and decisions, regardless of the ability of your player.  The quality of the leadership, supervision and programming in youth soccer is much more important than the quantity.  The most important of all our responsibilities as coaches, administrators, referees and parents is to provide every child who participates in youth soccer a safe and enjoyable experience and the opportunity to reach their full soccer potential; how best to do that is where education comes into play—for the player as well as their support system.  As always we will feature the top youth, college and professional soccer minds from around the local area and country sharing the latest ideas, methods and concepts in the game and administration. 

Soccer for the Underserved
Presenter: Charlie Inverso

Soccer is one of the most popular team sports in the United States amongst children as old as 19 years of age. It has reached into communities from coast to coast and from north to south. Yet, many in the inner cities, rural communities, economic and ethnic groups are not be aware of the many options and programs that exist. In order to insure that every child has the opportunity to play our beautiful game, the US Soccer Foundation and US Youth Soccer, who founded the Soccer across America (formerly Soccer Start) program, have set up funding to reach out to children in underserved and socio-economically disadvantaged places in order to offer them an ongoing program of positive sports activities through soccer. This demonstration will address the goals of setting up such a program in your area as well as highlight a program that began back in April 2007 whose mission it has been to use soccer as a vehicle to mentor and provide positive life experiences for the underprivileged children in the city of Trenton.

Fun Activities for TOPSoccer
Presenter: Auke Wiersma, US Youth Soccer Region I TOPSoccer® Program Chair and NJYS Program Director for TOPSoccer

Part 1 of Coach Wiersma’s presentation will begin with this field session which will demonstrate how to develop and run some fun activities for athletes ages 4-19 with special needs and how to include the Soccer Buddy. Part 2 in the afternoon will discuss the resources that are available through US Youth Soccer and NJYS to organize and implement a program in your area. Everyone who is interested in organizing programs for these special athletes does not want to miss these!

Goalkeeping: Making a Clean Catch
Presenter: George Hobbins, NJYS ODP Boys Head Goalkeeper Coach and Coaching School Instructor

This goalkeeper session, designed for every level; the beginner U10 player who has never played the position or the advanced GK who needs to bone up on the fundamentals, this session will address Basic Handling Technique for Goalkeepers of any level. Goalkeepers at all levels must handle the ball on all routine shots and crosses successfully. But every game, we see Goalkeepers mishandle shot or crosses. Goalkeepers need to minimize mishandled balls by Training for Cleanliness. We recommend that teams U10 and younger should rotate their players into the goal, and this session is designed so that any player can participate and thrive.

Coaching the Female Soccer Player
Presenter: Sue Ryan, Head Coach Women’s Soccer Stony Brook University; US Youth Soccer Region 1 Head Coach Girls ODP Women’s Soccer; National
Soccer Coaches Association National Staff Instructor

This demonstration is designed for coaches who coach girls soccer players at all levels. Topics such as ball control and attacking 1v1 will be covered, as well as a variety of ideas to encourage competition in practice. Coach Ryan will honor all questions.

To Head or not to Head: Is it a Question?
Presenter: Sam Snow, Director of Coaching for US Youth Soccer

This question has been posed to dispel a myth that heading in soccer is dangerous. While it is true that youth players can be reluctant to use their head to contact the ball (heading) because of the fear of it hurting, your role as a youth soccer coach is to help alleviate and ideally remove this fear. Being unafraid to use the head is one of the most important skills to master because it has such a wide range of uses in the game from scoring goals, saving goals (for the GK), clearing the ball, controlling the ball, and at the highest level, passing the ball. Many players have vivid memories of their childhood experiences in youth soccer, unfortunately if one of those memories consisted of heading a ball incorrectly or heading a hard or heavy wet ball, this tends to affect them throughout the rest of their playing career! Ball surfaces today are much more “user friendly”. And if they were taught the correct way to head a soccer ball they would be more confident in doing so without fear. This demonstration will show coaches of all levels some of the basics of heading and some training activities that will help teach how to properly head a soccer ball and to dispel the rumors that heading is dangerous in soccer.

Footworks to Develop Ball Mastery
Presenter: Martin Punt, United Soccer Academy Associate Director and Director of Education; West Bromwich Albion Football Club coach and scout; UEFA B Coaching Qualification.

The session will introduce a range of exercises that can be used during a warm up, to help players of all ages and abilities develop their fundamental skills throughout the season. Coaches and players will be shown a series of exercises ranging in difficulty that promote the development of balanced, two footed players. All skills, although not exactly replicable during games, provide the motor skills to transfer these activities into live game scenarios. All activities are designed to be recordable so players and coaches can measure their progression in each skill. Focus is placed on the importance of using correct techniques, utilizing competition as a key motivator. All activities are simple to administer and can be completed at training or at home.

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