In order to effectively stop the four verticals concept, without sacrificing stopping the running game, the answer is to teach the alley players to play through the number two vertical on their way to the flat. As the spread offense continues to move across the country and create an impact at all levels defensive coordinators […]

The challenges of game-like activities and the problem-solving situations they present are not only fun, but they help players develop to a higher level of soccer.  Last month, a Responsible Sports Parent wrote to our panel of experts to ask: “I coach a soccer team made up of 13 and 14 year old girls. I have a couple […]

Patience may be a virtue, but it’s one that can be tough to come by. Especially in today’s world where everyone wants results now. I know I’ve talked about this many times before but one of the problems fastpitch softball players face in our “instant-everything” world is an expectation that they can fix major issues, or go […]

A slight modification to this drill allows the defense to shoot it from the point with the other player going to the net for a screen, tip and rebound. A hockey practice that focuses on the power play is not to be confused with a practice where you play power play versus penalty kill for […]

Choosing what exercises to do is hard for a swimmer. Not everything obviously translates from the weight room to the pool. As a sprinter you need to train the same way in the weight room as you would in the pool. A big misconception that sprinters have is that they have to lift heavy weights […]

You now have a couple of statistical methods for rating your blockers. I suggest you try one or the other during a team scrimmage. For me, blocking is one of the most difficult skills to teach and assess. We all know about “penetration” and how important that is to successful blocking. However, I would contend […]

Goal Getting is based on what a young athlete can achieve through effort. Goal Setting is based on win/loss types of outcomes. While it makes intuitive sense that effective goals for fourth graders differ from those made by juniors in high school, it’s important for parents and coaches to understand how to help youth athletes […]

In the off-season, Daly recommends a full-body routine like this one three to four days a week, while reducing overall swimming volume. Swimming is a full-body cardio workout. But it’s still a smart idea to take your training out of the water to build power, speed and muscular balance, says Dan Daly of Equinox. “A dry-land, resistance training program is important for […]

By becoming aware of what we are giving our attention to we can start to become attuned to whether it is healthy or unhealthy for us. Resilience is the quality of recovering quickly from failure and setback and not only returning to whatever level you have already achieved but actually using the adversity as an opportunity to […]

We play the games because anything can happen once the game starts. All the athletes are people, which means we can never predict how they will perform. The environment impacts performance. Agility is probably one of the most difficult things to coach, and it’s one of the things most susceptible to hype and guruisms. At […]