Beestera Soccer Training

Congratulations to Kate Barcomb Seibert our raffle winner on Day 5! Yesterday's winner chose the Nike cleats, so your prize will be the 2021 clinics pass! That brings an end to the 2020 Beestera raffle. Thank you to everyone who participated, and have a wonderful Christmas from us at Beestera

Congratulations to our raffle winner on Day 4! You'll be contacted and asked which prize you would like. Yesterday's winner chose the $400 credit to the Beestera online store. 5th and final announcement coming tomorrow

Congratulations to our raffle winner on Day 3! You'll be contacted and asked which prize you would like. Yesterday's winner chose our 2021 Summer camps pass! Day 4 announcement coming tomorrow

Congratulations to our raffle winner on Day 2! You'll be contacted and asked which prize you would like. Yesterday's winner chose 20 private sessions! Day 3 announcement coming tomorrow

Coaches! Try to create an environment that simulates the game as much as possible. And if asked to jump in to play, make sure you compete even if Mike keeps making you look silly

PLEASE SHARE! Our first ever winter clinic *Limited to first 60 sign ups https://www.beesterasoccertraining.com//winter-holiday-cli

Congratulations to our raffle winner on Day 1 Bill Bevevino! You'll be contacted and asked which prize you would like! Day 2 announcement coming tomorrow!

Another one of the drills we’re using in the STATSports #ProLevels challenge of increasing our Distance per minute metric. The STATSports APEX Series are a fantastic way to make sure you keep track and understand different tangible metrics to help improve your game. We’re also utilizing the @BlazePod as a stimulus for 7mlctraining to react quickly

2 DAYS AWAY! https://rafflecreator.com//441/the-beestera-holiday-raffle

STATSports drill to help improve our distance per minute score to try and reach #prolevels. With every drill we’ve put on this far, we’ve tried to incorporate the ball as much as possible. For this activity, try to remain moving by stepping into the touches, passes and finish!

Delighted to announce our contribution in Doug Lemov’s new book ‘The Coach’s Guide to Teaching.’ Thanks so much to Doug for allowing us to be a part of the journey and congratulations on a fantastic book. Would recommend to coaches in ANY sport. Visit: www.coachsguidetoteaching.com for more info and to purchase

Great exercise that Coach Matt used to build into our ‘First touch’ session with @Michael Lewis Cunningham. Understanding how to move efficiently to help with your first touch is so important...

It’s the little details . Here, Mike works with Michael Lewis Cunningham on ‘thinking one step ahead’ by challenging him to take a touch that sets him up to play a pass with the most success based on the visual cue he sees as he is receiving the ball. Notice the timing of Michael’s scan which allows him to prepare the touch and then pass

Coaches - We’re intrigued to learn how you plan! Pen and paper? A certain app? Get to the field early and design the session there? While the setup and design of the drills may be great, it important for you to reflect on the coaching aspect too. Here is our ‘session scale’ which highlights some of them There may be some tangibles you can create with this, and it would be a great opportunity for you to video/mic up your session and reflect on your scale afterwards.... Have you ever literally sat down and evaluated your session in terms of minutes played vs minutes coached/stoppages? You’d be surprised how little playing there is. Check our our blog post ‘Don’t Let the Visual Mask the Coaching Point’ here: www.beesterasoccertraining.com//don-t-let-the-visual-mask-

Fantastic example of how communication can solve problems in the game. People associate communication with just ‘calling for the ball’, but this brilliant clip of Lucy Bronze shows a level far more superior than simply calling for it. 1. LB recognizes a problem in the game. 2. She instructs teammates to solve the problem. 3. Teammates solve the problem.... 4. Bronze gives quick positive feedback - perfect!, then when the ball goes out of play, reinforces it by having a longer discussion with the players involved. Number 4 may be overlooked but is one of the most important things when developing trust. Adjusting your tone, timing, and language used can be the difference between your message building trust or breaking it with your teammates. Full mic'd up footage can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=133620964993053

IT'S HERE! The Beestera Holiday Raffle! https://rafflecreator.com//441/the-beestera-holiday-raffle We have $6000.00 worth of Beestera prizes to be won!... 1. $400 credit for the Beestera Online Store 2. 20 x 1:1/small group sessions 3. Your choice of Nike cleats 4. 2021 Summer Camps Pass 5. 2021 Specialized Clinics Pass Part of the proceeds will be donated to the Salvation Army. The holidays bring more financial and emotional stress to families and individuals living in poverty, and the events of 2020 have added to that stress. We hope to provide gifts, meals, and support to those who would otherwise go without.

Coach James sits down with 'In the 11' host Brendan Griffith to talk about his background, the cut-throat academies in England, supplemental training, and building a business. Thank you to Brendan for inviting us on! Full Episode Here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0kx7ypcm0oTXfN5GyKtN0U

The beauty of having consecutive supplemental sessions over a couple of days is the ability to revisit discussions to help aid learning in long term memory. We spoke to Michael Lewis Cunningham the previous day about combining effective & efficient communication with his movement, and in this video James manipulates an exercise (messes up on purpose) the next day to allow a continued discussion that will build habits.

A trailer of Michael Lewis Cunningham recent visit to work with us over a three day period. Michael reached out to us to train for a few days as he had some opportunities coming up, and was such a pleasure to work with. More in depth footage to follow from the three days...

We genuinely care about everyone we have the pleasure of working with. Thanksgiving is a special day in the US, and we’re giving thanks to all of those we have been fortunate to cross paths with in their soccer journey -both players and coaches. We are so appreciative to be able to do what we do. Have a great day

FULL TUTORIAL. Please Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ-Vj0CXQaI&t=35s

PLEASE SHARE! www.beesterasoccertraining.com/eve/thanksgiving-2020-clinic

There’s more than one way to manipulate the intensity of a drill other than active defending... This activity has Michael Lewis Cunningham performing under the pressure of time with Matt and James trying to get as many passes as possible while Mike is completing the drill. If Mike misses the target, +2 passes are added onto his score. All 3 players are getting something out of the drill. Be creative when dictating the intensity!

Please join us in welcoming back Coach Matt to the Albany area! We are delighted to have him back on a permanent basis as he is such an integral part of us continuing to build and grow

Coaching Details! So many great bits in this 30 seconds ‘Why was that a great touch?’ - The immediate stoppage after the play was fresh in Brendan’s head, and he offered logical reasons why that was a good touch - it took him further away from the defender. Correct, but Matt probed with another question ‘Where else did it take you?’, Brendan answers with the direction he wanted to go. ... Again, correct, but Matt was looking for more detail. Offering to ‘show’ him rather than tell him, there is a great moment in this time frame when Brendan has a ‘lightbulb’ moment - Oh, like across body’. These details are so important and it’s our job to make sure the player understands the ‘why’ behind every facet.

We saw this exercise last year and decided to try it... Used as a coordination exercise to start the session, throw the ball up with one hand and catch with the other whilst approaching the ball to make a pass. Try to create rhythm by catching the ball as soon as you are about to make impact with the ball. Breakdown your passing mechanics without focusing your eyes directly on the ball on your approach - is your plant foot in a position that provides balance, are the hips facing in the direction you want to go etc.?

PLEASE SHARE for players to work on something different at home! Try these coordination activities to work on ball mastery, rhythm, and coordination. A great way to start the sessions as it's a fun, engaging, and challenging way to incorporate some footwork patterns. SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel and let us know what you think in the comments!... https://youtu.be/7AIT0Ey7ZmE

1v1 exercise that works on a number of things: - Initial combination between the two players - Ability for attacker to play pass into the wall with correct accuracy and weight - Footwork from the defender before putting pressure on the attacker... - Attackers ability to understand where the space is and score in either goal See more

Working with Joey and Jack and their ability to perform with the ball under pressure at maximum speed. Fun, adaptable exercises that can be done with and without the ball.

A few things this exercise works on: 1. Awareness of the player passing into the wall (first touch is away from the defender, before turning and playing a bounce pass). 2. Ability for the player receiving the ball to quickly get around the pole, assess where the space is and finish.... 3. Defender's timing between the push up and recovering back in, using their spacial awareness to protect both goals.

We’ve been challenged by STATSports and Raheem Sterling to reach #prolevels. With our own drills and with the help of the Apex Athlete Series we’ve tasked with increasing our High Metabolic Load Distance (HMLD) by 10%. For those who don’t know HMLD is a measure of intensity or how much ground you can cover at high speeds during a training session or game. Here’s the drill we’ve used as a pre-test to get our HMLD score. Over the next 6 weeks we’ll then des...ign a series of drills and exercises to try and improve this score before we test again. Follow us on Instagram www.instagram.com/beesterasoccertraining/ to see our progression.

Please join us in wishing Coach Matt a Happy Birthday. Thanks for everything you do!

The best way to answer a challenger in a penalty shootout...

We have some very exciting news. At Beestera, we believe that great coaching can make a big difference and we are continuously striving to develop the ‘person’ over the ‘player’. We don’t take our job as supplemental trainers for granted as we know the impact it has on the players we work with and we have been fortunate to have seen the influence firsthand. We therefore are delighted to announce the launch of Beestera Sports!... Beestera Sports aims to be a platform that offers coaches across all sports the resources and tools needed to coach and develop athletes and people through supplemental training. We are striving to build a network of coaches that can observe, discuss, and learn from each other regardless of the sport being taught. Great coaching transcends a single sport. With this we are very pleased to announce Beestera Football to the Capital Region and welcome Head Coach, Billy Pine to the Beestera family. Billy was the New York State Player of the Year as a Quarterback, before playing at Hartwick College where he led the NCAA in the categories of passing yards per completion and total offense touchdowns in his Junior year. Billy has vast playing and coaching experience and specializes in coaching both QB’s and Wide Receivers. Check out www.beesterasports.com for more information

ANNOUNCEMENT DAY - Our biggest one so far. Leave a comment on what you think it could be...

Improve your agility with and without the ball without having to change the setup. Increase the distances of the poles and cones for more aerobic endurance/change of speed, and shorten the distance for more anaerobic endurance/change of direction. Think about your resting time in between each one too. https://youtu.be/gM4mzNp-Zak

Challenge a teammate with this drill! https://youtu.be/TlnMFTVE6IQ

Rarely is it done on the first attempt. Players should enjoy the process of learning, and seek to understand why mistakes are happening as it provides something tangible to work towards! If at first you don't succeed...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16OyGEGg4h0 Please Subscribe! In this mic'd up activity, Coach James works with College player Mo Yehia in his double movement to receive the ball. Mo plays as a #6 and so his understanding of the double movement to create width and/or depth is importance for him to operate in tight areas. The mic'd up activities have limited editing in it, highlighting positives and areas for improvement both from Mo's perspective as a player, and James' perspective as a coach. It also gives viewers an understanding of the amount of reps, sets and timing between each one.

Check this out from our friends at Infinity Mental Performance

Caden demonstrating a fitness drill that can be done with and without the ball. The 5 cones can be any particular distance (5 yards a part in the video) given the physical load you are wanting to do.

We're going to be uploading more content to our YouTube Channel so be sure to subscribe. Michael Lewis Cunningham joins coach James Beeston for a session, with James mic'd up to highlight the coaching points. Michael is a well established player and so our coaching points were more fine-tuning to make sure he was maximizing his efficiency.... The emphasis from the session was understanding how angles both in his movement and first touch impact his efficiency in and around the box. 1. Creating space with width and/or depth that is good enough for a passing channel, and room for him to take a touch with. 2. How the weight of his first touch creates an angle to be more efficient in his hip rotation for the pass into the bench/rebounder. *Rotating his hips on contact with the ball adds disguise which could buy himself more time and space on the ball. Towards the end of the session, James adds some perceptive cues to progress on from the 'blocked' practice. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section. Be sure to check out Michael's page for some fantastic content too https://youtu.be/l9hWMX2bJ4I

A progression from the exercise we posted the other day. The attacker now earns additional points depending on the color gate they dribble through... Green = 1 point Yellow = 2 points Red = 3 points... This forces the defender to be quicker and engage the attacker at a higher point

Footage from our clinic in February before COVID hit. Simpler times!

Rules: Defender passes ball to attacker. Attacker has to take a touch between the two tall SKLZ and drive between any color gate to score in either goal. In the meantime, the defender has to pass another ball to a rebounder (or teammate), stop the ball in the box, before trying to block the attackers ball. Colored gates are going to be important for the next progression. Attacker CP - good positive first touch, take space quickly, accuracy of pass.... Defender CP - dictate tempo when passing into rebounder, check shoulder to see which goal the attacker is driving to See more

Coach James went 'mic'd up' and did a session with Michael Lewis Cunningham a couple of weeks ago. Check it out!

Combination drill working on scanning. Once the ball hits the bench, the server can move either side. Attacker has to scan quickly and make the correct decision to get it to back to the server. Be creative with the turns and experiment!

Fantastic Hunter

Love training with Coach Mike and Coach James Beestera Soccer Training! Just listen to Coach James’ celebration when Ashley hits the upper corner for the win.

Coaches often speak about the wall being a great teacher. Understanding the importance of a wall/rebounder allows focus on the angle of approach (hips), angle of foot on contact for the direction, and weight of the pass to keep the tempo going. Could the demonstration be cleaner? Yes but adapting to the ball is another thing that can be of focus too. Give the wall a good pass, and it’ll give a good pass back to you. The same can be said with a poor pass

What a week! Thank you if you were a part of it. Some r&r for us this weekend to make sure we’re ready for our biggest camp on Monday

The lads working on adjusting their body position based on the movement cue of the player behind. Weight of pass into the wall dictates the timing of the scan. A double movement from the player behind forces more than one scan from the worker. Using sight and hearing for awareness. Full session posted soon

Try this one. No wall? Use a partner instead

Third man Combination Drill Jackson, Caden, and Steven

Perception based ‘La Croqueta’ activity. Server plays into worker who must meet the ball and perform the ‘La Croqueta’ on the side the ball is played. Server then puts passive pressure on the worker by running to one side of the mannequin. Worker has to have the touches away from the defensive pressure. A great activity to work on shift in momentum, quick adjustment of the feet and perception

Another drill with Michael Lewis Cunningham that focuses on a shift in balance, the ability to pass the ball in motion, and a positive touch forward to create space to have a shot. Be sure to work both sides!

Take a look at some photos from last weeks camp! 80 players in attendance ranging from 5-14 years old. Health & safety the priority, while giving the players some social interaction, exercise, and FUN. If you were in attendance, please let us know about your experience here: https://docs.google.com//1wEzlUNfnDLi0gPeJl_WVQ51MQHN/edit Take a look at the rest of our summer schedule at https://www.beesterasoccertraining.com/day-camps

We are delighted to announce that we are one of the first supplemental training companies to have their own store on www.soccer.com! Kitted out in Nike apparel, players that train with us will now be able to purchase training kits, specifically for our sessions. The store has womens apparel, toddlers apparel, winter wear with the majority of it being customizable. Check it out and let us know what you think!... https://www.soccer.com/club/#/search/2002039984?r=4541201

Progression with Michael Lewis Cunningham heading towards goal Full video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmHmBHNnEbo&t=7s

Fun combination with @beesteragoalkeeping & @anthonyrouse. Tougher than it looks with the rebound board. Angles, weight of pass and timing of movement is

Partner and wall combination

Exercise working on decision making and receiving on the back foot to protect. The ‘worker’ dictates the tempo in their weight of pass into the wall. As soon as the ball hits the wall, one of the servers either stays where they are or puts pressure on the worker. If the server stays, the worker turns and passes to them. If the server pressures, the worker has to protect the ball and play back to the server they just received from.

Exercise to focus on the weight of the touch with the outside of the foot. Work around 1 cone, then 2, then 3 stepping into the touch each time. When you pull the ball back, kick the foot out to provide stability when stepping into the touch

That's a wrap for week one of our summer camps! Olympic themed event showing pictures of the gold, silver, and bronze medal winners. Thank you so much to Rotterdam United Soccer Club - RUSC for allowing us to host a camp there this year. It was a great turnout for a new venue, with some familiar faces, and plenty of new ones! Next week, we're at Afrim's Sports hosting week 2 of our Summer Camps. To check out our list of camps throughout the summer, visit www.beesterasoccertraining.com/day-camps/

Getting ‘Mic’d Up’ in a session is a great way for a coach to observe and critique the efficiency of their coaching points, tone, and feedback to the player working. In this activity, we were working on the rotation of the hips to add disguise, and a perceptive cue from James to dictate Michael’s second movement. Great efficiency in the touches and good decisions made by Michael Lewis Cunningham Full Video here: https://youtu.be/KmHmBHNnEbo

It feels good to be back! Great to be running sessions at Afrim's Sports today. If you’re interested in individual or small group sessions in New York’s Capital Region, email [email protected]

Last night we had another meeting with our camp counselors led by camp director Mike Matera. We discussed the logistics of each scenario that could be presented to us at camp, along with our unique curriculum containing newly designed activities to adhere to the requirements listed by the State and the ACA. We are well prepared and ready to go! Camps start this Monday! Sign up at www.beesterasoccertraining.com/day-camps

Attacker gets a certain number of points based on what color 'gate' they drive between: Green = 1 point Yellow = 2 points Red = 3 points... If the attacker then scores a goal, they get an extra 2 points. Attacker has to receieve the ball inside the blue 'arc', and they can also combine with the server to create space in a 2v1 situation. Server cannot score!