Oscar G.

My experience with training so far has been doing various private sessions with younger kids. I got into this field through a previous coach I had who gave me one of his younger clients as he became more and more booked. He ran me through the ins and outs of what it takes to be a good coach for the youth. He told me that, while kids are younger, it is crucial for them to master the technical aspects of the game. If their technique isn't good, it is impossible to progress as the player physically can't keep up with the opponents. I took note of the drills he ran and created some of my own and then began to train the kid. I trained the player for a few weeks and then his father put me in contact with some of his friends who wanted private training for their sons and my client base grew to 3 after that. I currently work with kids 14 and younger and, again, focus on working on their technical skills.

I began my club soccer career in New Jersey where I played for 2 top 10 teams in the state - Ironbound Super Eagles (Ironbound has now turned into a USL team) and Future SC. As for high school, I played for MKA where I was the only freshman to make the varsity team. I then moved to California and played for the ECNL team LA Breakers. My California high school team, Crossroads, won league all 3 years I was there and made it to the semifinals of D1 CIF and the semifinals of D2 states. I received all-league second team and all CIF second team. Although my high school years are over I am lucky enough to continue my career at the collegiate level. Additionally, I play with the currently undefeated UPSL team LA 10 whenever I am not in season. Along the way, I also played for the Manchester City academy in England for 3 months, trained with former Man City star Stephen Ireland, and competed with various of his pro prospects.

A typical session would look something like this... I will always start the player with a warm-up to make sure that he/she is ready for the session and to prevent injury. After warm-ups, I like to do a passing technique drill with the player (I like to do these because I coach younger kids and I want to ensure that they are able to control and put the right weight on their passes). I make sure that they learn to receive and pass with all areas of their foot and body. After this have them do some ball mastery work. I make sure that they are constantly on their toes and go at their top speed to make sure they activate their fast twitch muscles. This will make them much more explosive and quicker on the ball, crucial for today's game. Then I will cater the session to the players specific position or things that I think he/she needs to work on more. This can include defending drills, more ball mastery, shooting, etc.