Steve Silverman is an award-winning writer, covering sports since 1980. Silverman authored The Minnesota Vikings: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Who's Better, Who's Best in Football -- The Top 60 Players of All-Time, among others, and placed in the Pro Football Writers of America awards three times. Silverman holds a Master of Science in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism.
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Soccer FactsOverview
A director of player development in soccer is responsible for finding players to fill out the roster of his team and also designing programs to get the most out of those players. This means getting and keeping them in shape and drilling them in order to make them better players.
Step 1
Fill your roster with as much speed as you can. Speed is the great equalizer in the sport of soccer as long as the players have the requisite talent. You are far better off with the fastest strikers, halfbacks and fullbacks instead of the biggest, or the strongest. Most soccer fans realize this straightaway, but personnel directors often get taken with great athletic ability or strength. Speed, coordination and a sense of aggressiveness are the most important.
Step 2
Find veteran players for many of your key positions. You may discover a young striker with remarkable athletic talent. However, his experience level is limited and he won't know how to react when confronted with a veteran fullback. Make sure you can depend on your key players. Don't gamble with youth when it has not been tested.
Step 3
Keep your players in shape with running drills. Almost all players hate running before and after practice. But when you begin and end most of your practice sessions with sprints or distance runs, your players will get and stay in top shape and they will thank you for it later when you bring home the championship.
Step 4
Work on shooting drills toward the end of every practice. Nearly every top player can strike the ball sharply at the start of a practice session. However, once a player is fatigued she may have a more difficult time hitting an accurate shot. By making her a bit fatigued by the time she starts her shooting practice, her concentration level will be trained to be higher.
Step 5
Videotape all practice sessions. You can't see everything at once and you may think your star player is doing everything the correct way. By reviewing the practice tape you can find flaws and mistakes and correct him at the start of the next practice session.
