Coaching Soccer the Progressive Way [Paperback]

Michael Ditchfield (Author), Walter Bahr (Author), Mike Ditchfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1988

Former professional soccer coach Mike Ditchfield and one-time college Coach-of-the-Year Walter Bahr now team up to bring you all the ready-to-use help you need to build a winning soccer program from the ground up. You can use this sequentially arranged coaching system to teach the most advanced and powerful plays and patterns even to inexperienced players... increase each player's ball-control skills, accuracy, reaction time, and confidence... and keep practice sessions both enjoyable and productive while laying the groundwork for a successful, winning program!

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (June 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131392883
• ISBN-13: 978-0131392885
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,274,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for a beginning or intermediate coach, May 16, 2000

By 

Peter C. Byrne (Hiawassee, ga United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coaching Soccer the Progressive Way (Paperback)

This book is a great stepping stone for a beginning coach to advance to next level. It explains soccer tactics in a succinct logical fashion and demonstrates how the coach can teach these tactics to his/her players through drills that graduate in difficulty. There are also excellent sections on soccer technique which are taught in the same fashion as tactics. This book will enhance the coach and his players' enyoyment of the sport by focusing in on what's important. Other books that I highly recommend include Coaching Soccer Successfully (this book is more advanced) and Soccer Skills and Strategies (more basic). These three books tend to complement each other very well and should make worthy additions to any soccer coach's library.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for Beginners, April 23, 2007

By 

W. COX "Bill" (Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coaching Soccer the Progressive Way (Paperback)

This was a good book, especially in that it organizes all of soccer around the concept of where the ball is, with 1st attacker, 1st defender, 2nd attacker, and so on radiating out. Gives the coach an overall unifying concept for his coaching, instead of bouncing between dribbling, passing, receiving, and shooting as separate skills with nothing connecting them.
The weakness in this book is not the theory but the execution. Many of the drills in this book are way too advanced, at least for U12s (which I coach). Trying to explain to them the intricate rules they have to follow to work through each drill quickly became a waste of time. I still use the concepts and the terminology from this book, but I try to apply it during SSGs and scrimmages when I introduce some coaching points.
Overall, good for intermediate coaches as an interesting system of coaching soccer, not good for beginners or coaches of young kids. And if you're looking for good drills/exercises, you'll need to go elsewhere.