Koach Karl,
It's kind of interesting. I have read the various reviews across the web about your series of books, and as you undoubtedly know, the consensus is that they are great books for teaching very young children, but less so for older kids. I kind of understand what they mean, but I don't agree.
As a youth soccer coach that is going through the series, I can't possibly see those books becoming obsolete until I get through U12 or U14 at the absolute earliest. Even at that point, it will only be portions of your books (such as FUN games) that become less useful.
As I've said before, I'm overwhelmed in U10 trying to figure out how to teach even a fraction of the material you present. Still, because I may be there someday, I did become a member of the NSCAA and get "Soccer Journal" during the year. I had some recommendations that this journal had the best tips for advanced coaches and it was a "must read".
Well, two articles caught my eye this month that showed that even the "experts" don't necessarily think everything through carefully. The first article was by Tim Schum and how he taught his granddaughter's team.
In general, I think he ran a decent youth soccer practice much like you recommend. He started with a theme, had some decent small sided games promoting competition, asked for feedback from the kids like you recommend, etc.
For being the editor of this magazine, there was nothing I picked up from this article any different from what you present. I actually didn't like his ending small-sided game because too many players were standing around.
I also didn't understand his derogatory remark at the end of the article about scrimmaging. I love small sided games as well, but they aren't the same as free scrimmaging, so I really think it's important to end with them.
Similarly, there was an article by Mark Nicole: Techniques and tactics. His article's theme was "For young players, practices must be match-related to be effective".
He spends 3 pages talking about this obvious point, and then points out that 1v1 is important for developing dribbling skills! His sample drill was actually a modified version of 1v1 with no obvious advantages over the simpler 1v1.
Again, for being in a journal of this standing it was surprising that there was nothing new for me in this article Bottom line: I think your material is underrated by people who don't read it carefully.
Maybe it's the cartoon style that makes people associate it with young children. You should publish the same books but with photos of adults instead and then you'll probably get reviews that say the books are great for older kids but less so for young children!
