Customer Reviews

Training Soccer Champions

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've only coached men's college teams, but I'm convinced Anson's principles represent a foundation for the future of coaching -- for athletes of either sex. Competition is fun and practices need to be fun. The days of drill sergeant as coaching model are over.

Kids from most countries now have hundreds of choices in terms of different sports and entertainment. Every minute of practice needs to be fun or they'll do something else. And it's only going to get worse.

Obviously the "competitive caldron" can create women's US college soccer champions (UNC won the title again in 2000), but it may also be our best chance to lure the upcoming Sega generation into team sports.

This book is an excellent guide for ways to develop your soccer team and take them to a new level. This is more for advanced coaches, but I think beginning coaches can utilize these techniques also. Covers great program building techniques for youth boys and women of all levels. Great resource for all soccer coaches.

I am not a soccer coach. This book was recommended to me by a volleyball coaching mentor. He recommended it and said it was the best coaching book he had ever read.... I agree.

There is not doubt why Anson Dorrance is one of the best soccer coaches in the world. His insights into success with female athletes is extremely helpful and I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be a better coach, period.

this is an insightful no nonsense guide to coaching advanced players, high school age and above, female and male. Although Dorrance is best known for coaching the outrageously successful womens team at University of North Carolina, his experience with mens teams allows this book to relate to both sexes. I found his approach to quantifying all aspects of practice, which the book explains in great detail, most innovative. The chapters on fitness, off-season training, competitiveness, and team chemistry are particularly helpful to the coach looking to produce an edge for his or her team. The chapter on field organization, I thought, was a most concise and insightful approach to this subject. Dorrance does a better job of putting into words the mystique and creative force of soccer than any other coach and/or author that I have read.

I have always been interested in the mental side of sports. This book is excellent for bridging the gap that exists between the physical and mental sides of the game. A must read.

Anson delves deeply into the psychology of competition which is applicable to all athletes and all forms of competition in life. He is able to clearly and concisely describe these theorums which I always knew were true but was never able to properly describe. The beauty of this book is that the reader not only develops a new appreciation for the competitions we all must participate in during our lifetimes, but the aspiring soccer coach learns a great deal about his chosen sport. Two for the price of one

The book contains a valid assessment of differences in coaching female and male athletes. This system of coaching centers its approach on teaching competiveness using quantitative measurements. It is worth considering for both male and female systems.

Great book, excellent if you are coaching any women's sports !
This book will help you if you are coaching at any level--grade school ,junior ,high school or on the university level. I highly recommmend it !

Arlon G. Beadles
Head Women's Basketball Coach
Southwestern A/G University

I can only echo the other reviews and state that this is one of the best books for coaches out there. This is the one book I'd keep if I had to toss out all of the other soccer books on my shelf. You don't have to pay the thirty bucks or more charged here. It's still available from Reedswain for much less.

I think that this book is the finest book (to date) on coaching the female athlete at the highest levels. In my time as a NCAA Div. II women's soccer coach, a girls high school coach, and premier level girls soccer coach, I have found Dorance's theories and models to be highly useful. This is NOT a book for the recreational coach. The focus of the book is the philosophy and foundation of creating soccer champions.

Anson's insight into the mind of the female athlete is not only clear and concise but, it is uncanny as well. I have found the ideas in his book have led me to a better understanding of my own players. This understanding has helped me form a consistant winning program where ever I have coached.

I would highly recommend this book to any individual who is looking for more theory and philosophy to coaching. This book is not a daily practice guide with drills and games, rather it is an excellent source for building a successful women's soccer program.