Mickey J.

I was an assistant coach for the academies of two professional clubs I played for in Europe. I currently train players privately, working on developing their technical, tactical and physical attributes. I typically work with youth athletes, but have trained people in their 20’s and 30’s as well.

I played soccer my whole life, growing up in Northern Virginia. I tore my ACL when I was 16, and was unable to play for over a year. I decided after that to pursue playing professionally. At 17, I was playing for the reserves of a local semi-professional team. I played for a Division 1 NJCAA school and had a brief stint playing in Gibraltar, a small country in Europe.

Everything we work on in our training sessions, serves to help the player perform better on the pitch.

In the first half of the season, we focus on the fundamentals, getting lots of touches- passing, receiving, dribbling, change of direction, change of rhythm, shooting, etc.

In the second half, we create scenarios that are more game realistic. Receiving and passing in two touches, taking on players at speed, and finishing on the half turn are just some examples of things I’ve worked on with clients, based on their needs, position and level.