Booking is now available for the 2014 Coerver® Coaching Youth Diploma course in England.

Following three hugely successful years since the course launched in 2011, the Youth Diploma will again be delivered by Coerver® Co-founder, Alf Galustian and will take place in Stoke, London & Birmingham between May-June 2014.

Coerver® UK Director, Scott Wright said of the course “Over the last three years, our Youth Diploma course really has evolved into the must attend course for coaches working with young players at all levels. Attendees have travelled from across the world to attend during this time. 2014 is a very special year for Coerver® Coaching as this is our 30th anniversary and we will be making sure that our Youth Diploma courses will be the best yet including some very special guest presenters to mark the occasion”.

Scott added “Due to the unprecedented interest we have had in the 2014 dates in England, we introduced a Priority Booking window which enabled coaches that registered an interest through our website to book before the dates were released generally which has happened today.

“This window was available between 09:00 a.m. on Friday 8th November and 09:00 a.m. this morning (11th November). At the time of writing we have sold over 65% of all available places which shows the level of interest in the course. The course dates are still over 6 months away so this uptake reflects the fact that during the pre-registration period, we have had three enquiries for every place we actually have available. I must stress that if you want to attend the Youth Diploma course in England during 2014, you need to book as soon as you can”.

Coerver® Youth Diploma 2014 Course Information

Stoke

Dates: Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th May 2014
Venue: Stoke City FC, The Britannia Stadium, Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 4EG

London

Dates: Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th June 2014
Venue: Fulham FC, Motspur Park, New Malden, Surrey, KT3 6PT

Birmingham

Dates: Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd June 2014
Venue: Birmingham City FC, 300 Redhill Road, Kings Norton, B38 9EJ

George Mells joined Coerver® Coaching at the age of six in 2004, where he first participated on a Holiday Clinic before progressing all the way through to the Performance Academy. He participated in his local Coerver® programme until 2007 after which he moved to New South Wales to attend Westfield High who offered George a scholarship largely based on the skills that he had developed during his time with Coerver® and playing regular Futsal.

George continued his football education with Coerver® until he moved to England to pursue his career in football where he was signed to the academy of Premier League giants Chelsea FC. George then moved to Southampton FC at the age of 14 and his hard work and determination paid off when he managed to secure a proffesional scholarship with the Saints as well as representing Australia at under 17 International level.

George’s Coerver® coach, Dieter Svoboda, said “When George first joined our programme it was with our Holiday Clinic programme which soon followed on to the Skills Clinics and finally the Academy program that same year. From a group consisting of U7, U8 and U9’s George was only 6 Year old but could match it with all the Coerver kids. As the months went on you could tell that he was working very hard at home with his practices as he showed remarkable improvement over the others. We at Coerver Victoria could see that George had the determination and character at this young age to take him a long way and progress into the highest levels of the game.”

George said “Coerver Coaching taught me skills like the Inside Cut, Outside Cut, Maradona Spin, Cruyff Turn, Step On, Shimmy and the ability to have good vision. I would watch the Coerver tapes and go and practice and practice. I could juggle the big ball 7651 times, tennis ball 2000, squash ball 1800 times”.

“I travelled to New South Wales and participated in the International camps where I made all the Coerver select squads from 2004 to 2007. I believe that the skills which Coerver taught me played a large part in me receiving the 2007 and 2008 Futsal National Championship Canberra MVP and Golden Boot Award”.

George Continued “Coerver taught me respect for my coaches, to have a good attitude, not to complain and to be a good person overall. The skills I learnt got me in a position to represent Australia via the Joeys (U17) 2011 and 2012, but most importantly it got me a contact at one of the biggest clubs in the world (Chelsea FC) and helped me with the placement I have now at Southampton FC, I would like to thank Coerver Coaching as it has been a big part of my development”.

George’s dad, George Senior said “Coerver gave George a structured, disciplined approach and a set of goals which he would practice every day without fail even until now”.

Coerver® Coaching would like to congratulate George for his hard work, dedication and being an excellent ambassador for our programme and someone future Coerver® kids can look up to.

We wish George all the very best with his future playing career.

Last week saw the first Ever Coerver® Youth Diploma to be delivered in South Africa and the first’s didn’t stop there, this was also the first time that Coerver® Coaching Co- Founders, Alf Galustian and Charlie Cooke have delivered the course together anywhere in the world (see below image).

This fantastic week in South Africa started with Alf and Charlie delivering a clinic for the South African Football Association (SAFA). The session was for participants of the CAF B License and attendees included former and current Women’s National Team players (see below image).

This was not only a great opportunity to introduce the Coerver® Coaching programme to SAFA but to also visit the FNB stadium which hosted the venue the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final as well as the SAFA headquarters in Johannesburg.

The Youth Diploma course was held at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre which provided an excellent venue for the 70 coaches who attended from across South Africa. Support also came in the shape of adidas® South Africa who showcased the latest football products on offer from the world’s leading football brand which proved to be an excellent addition to the course and and was a huge success (see below images).

Coerver® Coaching South Africa Director Cayl Coetsee is extremely pleased with the progress that Coerver® Coaching has already made in South Africa, and very excited about the future. “The Youth Diploma showed the history and solid academic principles that Coerver® was built on. This, coupled to a dedicated and passionate South African team, will ensure the continued growth and success of Coerver® Coaching in South Africa and eventually throughout Africa.”

Two-time FIFA World Cup™ champion and two-time Olympic Gold medallist, Kristine Lilly, presented Coerver® Coaching Co-Founders Charlie Cooke and Alf Galustian with a letter from FIFA at the NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia last week. The letter is an acknowledgement of Coerver® Coaching’s 30 year contribution to the global development of the game.

Charlie Cooke and Alf Galustian presented with FIFA letter by Kristine Lilly

The letter recognising this achievement says:

“FIFA recognises that it is the dedication and long term commitment of exceptional individuals to youth football development that is critical to the future health and vitality of the modern game. Alf Galustian and Charlie Cooke are two such exceptional individuals.

As Co-Founders of the Coerver Coaching organization, Alf Galustian and Charlie Cooke have brought a gift of skilful football to hundreds of thousands of young people in over 40 countries, and helped thousands of coaches improve their teaching of the core technical skills that form the foundation of the game.

On the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of Coerver Coaching we are happy to recognise the global contribution Alf Galustian and Charlie Cooke have made to the development of the beauiful game.”

Signed by Walter Gagg, FIFA

Coerver® Coaching is very proud to celebrate its 30th year anniversary in 2014. To kick off the anniversary, over 60 Coerver® Coaching Coaches from across America came together at the NSCAA convention. They were also joined by Shinji Ishibashi, President Coerver® Coaching Asia Pacific, Jason Lancsar, Vice President Coerver® Coaching Asia Pacific, Coerver® Japan Coach, Taki and Scott Wright, Coerver® Coaching UK Director. The event reinforced how Coerver® Coaching has become a truly global brand, now operating in 34 countries in 2014.

Coerver® Coach Education with Alf Galustian and Charlie Cooke, Philadelphia 2014

A major highlight of the weekend was having two-time FIFA World Cup™ champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist, Kristine Lilly with the Coerver® team. Kristine attended all of the Coerver® Coaching events, signing autographs at the exhibition booth and most importantly delivered an excellent Coerver® field session to hundreds of Coaches at the convention.

Fans line up to get Kristine Lilly’s autograph at the Coerver® Coaching booth

Kristine is a legend in the game and still holds the record for most capped men’s or women’s soccer player in the history of the sport. Coerver® Coaching continues to work with Kristine to raise awareness and improve the Women’s game all over the globe.

Kristine Lilly’s Coerver® Coaching Field Session attended by hundreds of Coaches

Coerver® Coaching co-founder Alfred Galustian said, “We are proud of many achievements at top clubs and Federations over the last 30 years, however we are particularly proud is that Coerver Coaching has changed the way Football is taught all round the World. I am also proud that we have provided so many grassroots players and coaches around the world, with a fun method of teaching that improves players, whatever level they may be”.

Coerver® Coaching co-founder Charlie Cooke said, “We would like to thank all of our coaches, players, customers and parents for all of their support since 1984. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our global partners, adidas, for their outstanding support for over 20 years”.

Coerver® Coaching looks forward to many more fantastic events to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Check out our website and Follow @coervercoaching / @CoerverUK on Twitter for info on the latest Coerver® events and great coaching tips from our 30 years.

Coerver® Coaching and Rudi Skacel are delighted to announce the launch of the Coerver® Coaching “Play Like The Stars” coaching programme, which will start during February 2014. The new programme will offer young players the chance to learn how to play like their hero and help educate coaches in the finer skills of the game.

Skacel had two spells with Hearts, signing on loan from Marseille in 2005 and scoring 16 goals in 35 appearances before returning on a permanent basis in 2010. During this period he kept up his impressive scoring record, netting 25 in 58 appearances including a starring role in Hearts’ 5-1 demolition of Edinburgh rivals Hibernian in the 2012 Scottish Cup final.

For 30 years Coerver® Coaching has used Star Players and Teams as teaching models to help develop the next generation of young players across the globe. “Play Like The Stars” will be open to young players aged 7-14 years offering monthly training based around the star qualities of the former Czech International focusing on developing skilful, confident, creative footballers.

Coerver® Coaching Director Gordon Craig said “Throughout our history we have worked with some of the game’s leading players, right back to players such as Rivelino, Matthews and Beckenbauer, using them as teaching models. We are looking forward to working with Rudi, allowing our coaches to analyse and break down some of the skills and outstanding attributes he brought to Scottish Football during his time at Hearts. He has been one of the exciting players in our game in modern years and we believe he is an outstanding role model to inspire young players”.

The program will offer a monthly development session lead by Coerver® Head Coaches with Rudi attending to pass on advice and guidance to the players. Each clinic will include video analysis, question and answer with Rudi as well as intensive “serious fun” training sessions, players will also receive home assignments to practice between clinics.

Coerver® Coaching have recently returned from Brazil following the delivery of the latest instalment of the FIFA™ Football For Hope project. Coerver® Coaching Directors Mike Smith (Coerver® EMEA), Manuel Ojalvo (Coerver® Spain), and Rick Moss (Coerver® Texas) conducted a Coerver® Coaching Introduction Course for 30 Brazilian coaches working with inner city/disadvantaged kids throughout Brazil (See below image).

The program was organized by Street Football World and their local affiliate AMC and was sponsored by adidas®. The aim of the course was certainly NOT to teach Brazilians how to play football!, but to focus on how to use the Coerver® approach to motivate young players and excite them about training and skill development.

One special event within the course was a presentation by the regional association for football for the blind, led by coach Gabriel Mayr. Urece Sport and Culture (www.urece.org.br) which is an non-profit organisation which specializes in ministering football sessions for people with visible impairments, gave course participants an opportunity to put on eye covers and find out first hand the challenges of playing without sight.

With great perseverance the participants learned that it can be done. As are result of the session, Coerver® Coaching has agreed to work with the Brazilian Blind Football Association to develop a training method based on modified Coerver® drills and games.

CCEMEA Director, Mike Smith, with Brazilian Blind Football Paralympian, Anderson Dias.

Activities for disadvantaged kids will be at the centre of the Coerver® Coaching development focus for Brazil and we hope to supplement this by officially establishing Coerver® Coaching Brazil in 2014.

Here are some of the comments from the Coerver® Coaching participants about the course:

“These Coerver training days in Porto Alegre will be key to our future projects and will certainly help us deliver quality programs; and that is what children need”. – Evandro Silveira

“I am greatly satisfied with the training received by Coerver, I think the theoretical and practical sessions were very interesting and I am convinced that we can now offer our children a better quality program for now and in the future”. – Thom Freitas

“We are already applying the training received by Coerver in our program and have gained wide acceptance by children, families and educators”. – Peppi Lopes

Coerver® Coaching England & Wales are pleased to announce that they will be competing at the first ever Global Coerver® Cup 5 v 5 tournament, in partnership with adidas®, to take place in Madrid, Spain between 13th-18th April 2014.

The tournament is being staged to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Coerver® Coaching and will bring Coerver® teams from all over the world to compete in one of the world’s most iconic football cities over six action packed days with players competing in the U11, U13 & U15 (girls) age groups.

Two squads have been selected from the Performance Academy programme in England & Wales and will compete in the U11 & U13 age groups. In addition to the various teams that will be traveling to represent their respective Coerver® country there will also be a number of Coerver® Partner clubs competing in addition to squads from La Liga clubs Real Madrid CF & Atletico Madrid.

In addition to the Coerver® Cup tournament it-self, attending players and spectators will have time to take in the cultural side of Madrid with a visit also planned to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of “Los Blancos”, Real Madrid CF (see below image).

Coerver® Coaching UK Director, Scott Wright commented “We are really excited to be taking two squads of players to compete in Madrid at the first ever global Coerver Cup. 2014 is a very important year for us with it being our 30th anniversary and this unique event will be bringing Coerver Players, Coaches, Parents and Partner Clubs together from all over the world”.

“There are teams coming from North America, South America & Europe as well as some local La Liga clubs including Real Madrid CF & Atletico Madrid which should prove to be an unbelievable development opportunity for our players”.

“The benefits on the football side of the event are clear to see but you also have the social and cultural side which for me is just an important for each players personal development. I have been lucky enough to work in Madrid three times in the last couple of years and it is definitely one of the world’s great cities for culture, food, shopping and certainly football, so I believe this will be a great event for everyone that is fortunate enough to be taking part”.

In the latest edition of the world’s leading football publication, FourFourTwo magazine, Liverpool & England striker, Daniel Sturridge (see below image), explains how the Coerver® Coaching programme helped him to develop his technical skills as a young player.

The twenty four year old Birmingham born forward, has had a fantastic season to date for Liverpool and England and is currently the second top goal scorer in the Barclays Premier League with 16 goals, which also makes him the highest scoring English player in the league.

The below extract is taken from an interview from the March 2014 edition of the magazine within the Performance section titled “Daniel Sturridge Masterclass – Run Rings Around The Opposition”.

Sturridge explains “My dad made me watch old Betamax video tapes that focused on skill and technique.
It involved a Dutch coach called Wiel Coerver. He was in charge of Feyenoord in the 1970’s and he created the Coerver Coaching technique”.

“In terms of dribbling, it focused on mis-direction, so the defender moved one way and you would go the other. its things like the Matthews move, the Rivelino move and the Maradona move, I used to practice it all the time in the front garden”.

Sturridge goes on to explain the importance that he places on working hard to continually develop his skills and said “If you want to be a great dribbler, or great at any aspect of the game, you have to work hard.
It doesn’t just happen overnight, you have to work at it and train hard. Even when I was six years old playing at Cadbury Athletic, the coach worked me on my skills”.

“I still do that to this day, I want to develop every part of my game. It’s important to realise you can always get better. You should never feel you are the finished article, because that is a backwards step”.

Liverpool manager, Brendan Rogers (see below image with Daniel Sturridge with the Barclays Premier League Manager/Player of the month awards for August 2013) has been delighted with the development made by Sturridge this season and said “Daniel’s form has been terrific, he has a natural instinct for the goal. I’ve seen that in him since he was a young player. He is outstanding in one v one situations, and he’s up there with Luis Suarez as the best finisher in the league”.

Coerver® UK Director Scott Wright said “It is fantastic to hear a current top player such as Daniel Sturridge talking so positively about how Coerver training helped him to develop as a young player. Having listened to Daniel’s comments about his early development and then observing him in action now, it is clear to see that he is very proficient in many of the technical skills that we focus on within the Coerver programme”.

“Although he seems to prefer his left foot, Daniel is very able on his right side too. Having the ability to use both feet is a key attribute in the modern game and gives you many more options in game play which has been highlighted by the many different types of goals he has scored this season”.

“This is certainly a problem area for English players and can only be achieved through thousands of hours of focused repetition, working your right and left foot equally. This is something that we are very focused on when working with young players, especially in the “golden” development years between U7-U12″.

“It is clear from Daniel’s own experience as a young player that he has gone through that development process and is now reaping the benefits of the technical foundation he has worked hard to develop since an early age”.

“He is also fantastic at manipulating the ball and his excellence in 1 v 1 situations was highlighted as a key attribute by Brendan Rogers. Both are fundamental development priorities within the Coerver programme and when you add his athletic ability and his finishing prowess, he has all of the attributes to get to the very top of the game”.

“He has many years of development and improvement ahead of him which bodes well for Liverpool and England and he is one of the few current English players that can perform these skills effectively in the game with both feet, at speed, under pressure and often in tight spaces. With teams being so organised now, having individual players that can create something for themselves out of nothing is vital”.

“Daniel definitely has that in his locker and I hope he gets the chance to showcase his obvious talent for England during this Summer’s World Cup in Brazil”.

“I also particularly like his comments on working hard with the ball and never being satisfied with your current level of ability. No matter the level you are at, you can always improve. That is the exact focus and mind-set that we try to instil in the young players that come to us at Coerver and added with hard work and dedication, the sky really is the limit, both on and off the pitch as Daniel has proved”.

“He is certainly a great role model for all young players to follow and I’m delighted that he feels Coerver training has been beneficial to his development”.

You can read the full Daniel Sturridge interview in the March 2014 edition of FourFourTwo magazine.

With the 2014 Coerver® Coaching Youth Diploma courses in England under three months away, a record breaking attendance is already being predicted for this latest instalment of the highly rated coach education course which will be delivered by Coerver® Co-founder, Alf Galustian.

Coerver® Coaching Youth Diploma Theory Session – Fulham FC

Following three hugely successful years since the course launched in 2011, the 2014 Youth Diploma, in association with global partner adidas® and presenting partner FourFourTwo magazine, will take place during May-June in Stoke (Stoke City FC), London (Fulham FC) & Birmingham (Birmingham City FC).

Coerver® UK Director, Scott Wright said of the course “Over the last three years, our Youth Diploma course really has evolved into the must attend course for coaches working with young players at all levels. Attendees have travelled from across the world to attend during this time. 2014 is a very special year for Coerver® Coaching as this is our 30th anniversary and we will be making sure that our Youth Diploma courses will be the best yet including some very special guest presenters to mark the occasion”.

Scott added “Due to the unprecedented interest from across the world that we have had in the 2014 dates in England, we now have limited places available for all three dates. We are advising anyone that wants to attend the course this year in England to book up as soon as they can as these are the only courses that will be available in the country this year”.

Coerver® Coaching Youth Diploma Practical Session – Manchester City FC

Coerver® Youth Diploma 2014 Course Information

Stoke
Dates: Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th May 2014
Venue: Stoke City FC, The Britannia Stadium, Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 4EG

London
Dates: Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th June 2014
Venue: Fulham FC, Motspur Park, New Malden, Surrey, KT3 6PT

Birmingham
Dates: Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd June 2014
Venue: Birmingham City FC, 300 Redhill Road, Kings Norton, B38 9EJ

During the last week, National newspaper of the year, The Times, has published a five part research into youth development in the UK. The research posed three main questions and formed the basis of the feature:

How we can best nurture our talent in this country?.
How we can best utilise our academies?.
How can we channel football’s wealth back into grassroots?.

The Times award winning team of journalists; Matt Dickinson, Oliver Kay, Matt Hughes and Rory Smith have travelled around the country to research the feature which is titled “For The Good Of The Game”.

Times sports journalist Rory Smith visited the Coerver® Coaching Performance Academy in West London which was featured as a case study in Part three of the published series on Saturday 1st March 2014.

The Times, Saturday 1st March 2014, “For The Good Of The Game Part 3” by Rory Smith

Ian Dyer’s voice booms out into the night. “It is raining goals,” he shouts, as another size four football thunders into a net on the 3G pitch at the Tiffin Boys’ School in Kingston, Surrey. The downpour is not only compromised of any old strike, though. It is raining a very specific type of goal: shots places across a theoretical goalkeeper, into the far corner, first with the right foot, then with the left.

Dyer’s charges are all aged between 8 and 11, and they are part of the Coerver Coaching Performance Academy. About 30 are taking part in this 90-minute session and another couple of dozen, slightly older, will follow them later in the evening. All told, there is something in the region of a thousand children in the United Kingdom learning football the Coerver way.

The core component, as laid down by Wiel Coerver, the movement’s founder, is on technique; what they call ball mastery. “Skill is the foundation for everything,” Amit Sohal, Coerver’s regional director in West London, says.

The system – briefly – works as a set curriculum. Each module – ball mastery, one against one, speed, finishing – lasts six or seven weeks. Each builds on what went before and each becomes more difficult, Everything is done with both feet, and almost everything with the ball.

Every week the children are given a new “move” to learn at home – a feint, or a ball technique – before refining it under the watchful eye of a coach. It is broken down into its constituent parts, practised in isolation and then in situations of increasing pressure.

At the end of every session, the children give feedback, explaining what they have just learnt. There are twice-yearly evaluations and half-term camps; parents and children alike can track their progress online.

If it all sounds new-fangled, it isn’t: Coerver is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Arjen Robben, is the most famous product of the system, but Peter Crouch and Daniel Sturridge both have some experience of it too.

Gerard Houllier attributed the growth of France’s golden generation to the adoption at Clairefontaine of some Coerver principles. In Japan, 18,000 children are enrolled and some 350 professional players owe their careers, in part, to it, after its wholesale introduction in the 1990.

“There is greater emphasis on precise technical ability here than in professional academies, I think,” Dyer says “Here, we think only about development”.

Coerver® Coaching UK Director, Scott Wright, added “It is great that such a respected publication as the Times wanted to feature our Performance Academy programme within their research into youth development in the UK”.

“The initial concept behind our Performance Academy programme was to provide professional grade support to all young players that want to learn. We wanted to bridge the gap between grassroots football and professional academy football with this programme and it has proved to be highly successful since it’s launch six years ago”.

“There are various levels within the programme that cater for the individual needs of the players that are with us. We have players that want to be better within their grassroots environment, we also have grassroots players that may have the potential to step up to academy football”.

“We also work with academy players that have been released and want to get back into that environment and we also have current academy players that want additional specialist technical training”.

“Although we have many individual needs to cater for within our Performance Academy, the focus of our development programme is the same for all players. We want to develop confident, skilful, creative players and we want to make the game fun to practice and play”.

“Over time with lots of hard work, dedication and expert teaching, our aim is to develop players who are are masters of the ball with both feet and have the ability to perform all of the skills that we work on effectively in the game at speed, under pressure and in tight spaces both individually and in small groups”.

Scott (below image with Matty H, Performance Academy player being signed by Aston Villa FC) added “Our focus is different to that of a team based environment, we don’t run teams, we are improving the individual for the team that they play for, like personal training for football”.

“This is the difference between our programme and other programmes out there, we are all about developing the individual and providing what they need at any given point in time to maximise their development potential”.

“As well as being responsible for developing each player’s skill on the pitch, we are equally committed and in our view responsible to assist in their development as people. Instilling a hard work ethic, confidence, self-responsibility, communication, team work, and respect are all areas that we look to encourage within our environment which are all applicable to football but also away from football”.

“This is delivered through “The Coerver Code” which provides a structure to our development programme both on and off the pitch and is something that Coerver Coaching founders, Alf Galustian & Charlie Cooke are very passionate about in terms of not only developing football skills but life skills as well”.

“So Performance Academy is not just football training, we view it as a football education programme that looks to develop the whole player/person and we believe that our programme can have a big impact on youth development here in the UK, now and in the future”.