1. Accounting for Individual Differences
 One day a week for the entire practice session, players will be split up into groups to
work on a skill that they believe is their weakest (i.e. shooting, tackling, dribbling, short
passing, long passing, etc.).
Testing and Trials
 Skills tests
o There will be a day designated for analyzing skill ability. It will be orchestrated
on the training field on 3 different occasions at equal increments of time along the
season to record growth and note areas that need development. Areas that appear
to show the most need for growth and development will be targeted on the
aforementioned once a week practice session. An example of how these
weaknesses will be taught in a progressive manner will be illustrated later in the
document.
Jose Perez

2.  This test will be composed of trapping drills, passing drills, shooting drills,
tackling drills, ball control drills, etc., and will be evaluated on a 1-10 (10
being excellent) scale in terms of performance in a chart like the one
below.
Early-season Mid-season Late-season
Trapping 5 5 7
Shooting 4 7 7
Tackling 2 4 5
 Speed tests
o These tests will be conducted on the track and will also be conducted on 3
different occasions at equal time increments along the season to record growth
and ensure adequate physical fitness. The following distances will be timed early
in the season, mid-season, and late season:
40 meter dash
100 meter dash
200 meter dash
400 meter dash
1600 meter run
Team Contract

3.  To ensure that everyone is on the same page with the team rules and to avoid
future conflicts, this document will serve not only as an informative script of
expectations of the program, but also as a contract to be signed by the athlete as
an agreement that he acknowledges what is demanded of him.
o Athletes who do not agree with the theory, philosophy, vision, or core
values of this program are not encouraged to sign simply because they
possess the skill level or desire to play.
Nutrition, Supplements, Recovery
 Nutrition/Recovery
o It is better to under train than to over train and risk injury and continued
poor performance. For this reason, recovery will be a strong focus for this
program. Nutrition is one of the most significant components of not only
recovery, but also of growth and development. A crash course will be
given on the first week of practice over the 6 macronutrients listed below
(recommended intakes, food sources, functions, etc.). Recommendations
and reminders will be constantly reviewed throughout the season and in
individual meetings to ensure understanding.
Proteins
Carbohydrates
Lipids (fats)
Vitamins
Minerals

4. Water
 Supplements
o During the same first week of practice, there will also be a review of
performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) that will address the question of
what is considered a PED and how to avoid them.
o Creatine monohydrate, protein, and pre-workout supplements will also be
discussed with focus on their pros, cons, and recommended doses. Any
other supplements of question can also be discussed.
Strong Mind, Strong Body
 I am a strong advocate of the mind-muscle connection belief system. This
ideology is alternatively simplified in the statement “mind over matter.”
Essentially, if a person’s mind is not in the right place, they will produce sub-par
performances. I want every player on the team, even those who do not start to
feel an overwhelming sense of belonging. In order to encourage social,
emotional, and overall psychological growth, as well as to strength the athlete-
coach relationship, the team will routinely participate in the activities listed in the
following table:
Number of Teammates Activity
5 + Coach Humanitarian Volunteering
Entire Team + Coach Post-Game Dinner
Groups of 5 Public Fundraiser (i.e. Carwash)
1 + Coach Individual Meetings

5. 3 + Coach (one defender, midfielder,
and forward)
Small Group Meetings
Leadership Opportunities
Leadership Opportunity Number of Players Afforded
Captain during a game 1 Defender | 1 Midfielder
Leading a Warm-Up 2 Players
Leading a Cool Down 2 Players
Orchestrating Certain Drills 1 Player (per drill)
 For each game, the team will have one athlete managing the midfield and
attacking positions and one athlete managing the defense positions. These 2
captain positions may appear relatively stagnant over the season but in the event
of an injury or substitution, they are subject to change.
 Each practice will have 2 different players leading the warm up and then 2
different players leading the cool down.
Communication
 Trust is one of the core values of this program. All communication should be conducted
on this foundation of honesty. This honesty should be used constructively, if used for
criticism. Negative statements, despite their origin in honesty, could potentially harm the
emotional or psychological state of a teammate, whether visible or not, and negatively
impact performance.

6.  As previously mentioned several times above, there will be a handful of individual as
well as group meetings. These meetings have one objective and that is to communicate
with the athletes. These meetings are used to maintain motivation and discipline, to
discuss academic concerns, nutritional concerns, performance/fitness concerns, potential
early signs of over training and injury, and finally, to communicate athlete goals and
coach goals.
o In these meetings, I will produce a file for each player and we will add to this file
as the season progresses. Players who play for consecutive years will keep the
same file. The file will include the following information.
Descriptive data (name, birth date,
height etc.)
Positions able to play, positions played,
and position currently played
History of concerns Fitness test trial times and skills test
performance scores
Long term goals vs short term goals
(academic/performance)
Personal things I should know about
the player (Personality/temperament
type, previous injuries, etc.)
Notice that there is a long term goals vs short term goals section. These goals
will be developed and written down early on in the season and will be revisited in
subsequent meetings to monitor achievements individually.
Appropriate Behavior
 There is a time and place for everything. Practice time is focus time. Players must take
into consideration that some teammates have other obligations after practice. With that in
mind, it is important to maximize the efficiency of our practices in the allotted time.

7. Water breaks are a good opportunity to joke around, but warm-ups, drills, etc., should run
like clockwork. Players in charge of leading certain sections of the practice should arrive
ready to perform their duty.
Progressive Teaching
 The flow-chart below describes an example of how progressive teaching can/will be used
to improve a deficient skill. The skill considered here is trapping the ball from a pass.
The player will begin by tossing the ball against a
hard wall surface and trapping it with either leg on
its way back.
Next, the player will step further away and kick
the ball at the wall and trap it on its way back.
After, the factor of predictablity that comes with
playing the ball off the wall is removed and the
player will have someone else toss the ball at
them and the player will trap it.
Next, the player will have somone kick the ball at
them and they will trap it.
Finally, the player will turn away from the their
partner, at the sound of a whistle the partner will
kick the ball (high or low, fast or soft) and
simultaneously, the player will quicly turn around
and trap it.

8. Relevant Scholarly Article
E., W., Moore, G. G., Hickey, M. S., & Reiser II, R. F. (2005). Comparison of two twelve week
off-season combined training programs on entry level collegiate soccer player’s
performance. Journal Of Strength & Conditioning Research (Allen Press Publishing
Services Inc.), 19(4), 791-798.
This study was conducted on a group of collegiate club soccer players from Colorado
State University in the spring of 2005. There were 10 females and 5 males total each roughly 20
years of age with about 12 and a half years of soccer experience. These athletes volunteered to
participate in this study where they understood that they would be split up evenly between 2
different training programs. Both programs were 12 weeks in duration and consisted of 33
training sessions, with 3 completed each week. One program combined traditional resistance
training with plyometric exercise, while the other program combined the former with Olympic-
style lifting. The purpose of the study was to decipher which of the above combinations yielded
the best performance improvements.
Performance development and growth was observed by using 4 different tests at 3
different times over the 12-week training period. These tests have all been determined to be
reliable in previous studies. The 4 tests conducted were the vertical jump test, a 4 repetition
maximum squat, a 25 meter sprint and a foot speed test. The results of the study concluded that
neither combination seemed to provide an advantage over the other but both programs
synergistically improved both groups of athletes to a significant extent.
This article was very well written and included several supporting details. For example,
the article pointed out the occurrence of practice trials for the testing protocols whenever they

9. were present. The article then provided reasoning for the practice trials (i.e. to ensure proper
technique). Additionally, the article was very descriptive of the chronological order of events
when it came to training days. For example, first it would list how many practice or arbitrary
warm-up sets and reps for a specific test. Next, it would detail how long the recovery was in
between each of these sets. Then, it would state the recovery time before the final set that was to
be recorded and finally, how much recovery time succeeded its respected completion before the
beginning of another test. I understand how this much detail can be helpful, but it became
tedious to read through at times when I was searching for the main points. On a more positive
note, the article was also very helpful in providing insight on what previous publications proved
the reliability of the tests that were used for the present study. Finally, the graphs and diagrams
were very easy to read, interpret and learn from. In fact, just by looking at figure 3, I derived one
of the most astonishing facts from the article.
The study presented some interesting novel information to me. Aside from learning that
neither combination of training styles had an advantage over the other, I also learned that
traditional resistance training alone is not very effective at all in increasing power-related
performance with respect to already trained athletes. In other words, resistance training will not
be very effective if power development is the objective when it comes to trained athletes.
Another fact that I personally found particularly interesting, was the fact that plyometric training,
compared to Olympic-style lifting training, is much more effective in increasing neuromuscular
adaptations. The most eye-opening discovery to me from this article was the amount of strength
gains in the 4 repetition maximum squat test. Both training programs, over the course of 12
weeks were able to increase the amount lifted by almost 300%, well over 100 kilograms.

10. Although I learned a great deal from the study, it also highlighted a few concepts that I
already understood. The article mentioned the significance of sport-specific training. I have
read a great deal about specificity in my coursework as well as on behalf of my own incentive.
Also, at the beginning of the 25 meter sprint test, the researchers gave both an auditory (verbal)
and visual cue. I very recently reviewed this information in my motor control and performance
class with emphasis on how minimizing the reaction time in the beginning of a sprint by giving
different cues can maximize performance. Lastly, I understood that the figure-8 drill on the 5-
dot mat actually tests foot speed and not agility, which is a common misconception that the
researchers actually pointed out in the “methods” section.