Throughout my 25+ years of coaching, I’ve always looked for a way to give my players an advantage,  a way to accelerate their learning and increase their confidence as quickly as possible.  One of the biggest struggles is combating all the distractions that kids have that prevent training, or at least limit the time they spend training outside of practice.

After reading a few books by author Timothy Ferriss, I became fascinated with his application of the 80/20 principle to accelerate the learning process of most anything.  The 80/20 principle as applied to soccer training, is: 80% of the actions in a game are a result of 20% of the techniques.

Instead of practicing every single thing that a player can do on a soccer field, let’s narrow it down to the 20% that will help them 80% of the time.   If they can master that 20%, their success will increase dramatically and their confidence will follow.

I had to figure out what my players most common issues were that prevent success when interacting with the ball.

• Consistent, accurate ball striking

• What to do with the ball under pressure

• Protecting the ball

• Proper receiving of the ball

• Dealing with a ball out of the air

Based on these five issues I then narrowed them down to the 20% of techniques and situations that if focused on, would provide success and increased confidence in the shortest amount of time.  These are the Five Pillars that provide the foundation of the Smithway Soccer Training Answer. Click Here for the Five Pillars.