January 28, 2003
Availability of Abridged Version of List Digest 1997 - 2002
Fellow list members,
First, to make a long story short: I have
compiled and edited an abridged version of the list digest for the period
1997 to 2002. In the form of a compressed zip file, it comes to 2.7 MB. If
you would like a copy of this zip file, please email me *off list*. I will
respond by sending all those who requested a copy an email this weekend
with the file attached.
Now, by way of explanation: I have been a member of
this list for six, going on seven years. When I first joined, the number
of Internet sites geared to the coaching of youth soccer players was but a
fraction of what is available today. Back then, if you poked around, you
could find web sites with excellent coaching advice and commentary from
Bruce Brownlee, Ric Miller, Jeff Pill, and Gary Rue. Today, there are
dozens, if not hundreds, of quality web sites containing instructional
material for youth soccer coaches. And there is the Soccer Coaching
Manual. The new coach in the year 2003 is faced with not a dearth of
coaching content, but an overwhelming abundance of it. And the web content
is no longer restricted to ASCII text and diagrams, today's practice plans
incorporate color line graphics, animation, photos, movies, and audio, all
of which help to make a particular topic easy (or easier) to comprehend
and implement.
However, back in 1997 I had no idea what would be
available in 2003. So, like many list members of that time (and maybe even
now), I copied and pasted posts and threads of interest to me and stuffed
'em in a shoebox. Well, perhaps not quite that haphazard. I did organize
them into about two dozen categories - - - 1st and 2nd defender, team
defense, flat back, offside, 1st and 2nd attacker, team attacking,
receiving, dribbling, passing, shooting, goalkeeping, set pieces,
formations, warm-ups, conditioning, injuries, nutrition, humor, parents,
indoor soccer, tryouts, etc. Some posts fitted neatly into a single topic;
others could have gone into any one of several different categories, and
still others clearly overlapped multiple themes. In the beginning, not
realizing how in depth and varied this compilation would become, I did not
retain information about posting date and author, so I apologize if some
list members’ earlier postings are included without being credited. I also
edited posts for brevity, clarity, spelling, grammar, and formatting. If
there is any question regarding the authorship or exact wording of a post,
do a keyword search of the archives to locate the original source
material. Finally I should point out that some of the very earlier
material from 1997 came from one or two other web sites; I estimate this
early material constitutes less than 0.5% of the total abridged digest.
Some things I didn’t copy and paste, such as posts
related specifically to coaching female players or to just high school
players, small-sided vs 11 v 11 discussions, national team discussions,
administrative software inquiries, U8 team formations, many officiating
posts, posts about specific problem parents or problem players, and many
of my own posts. I have included only a couple of Rob Kerby’s posts, not
because they aren’t all interesting and topical but because I believe it’s
more appropriate for Rob to issue his own collected works someday if he so
chooses.
Still, the total over these 6+ years of what I did
retain comes to 8.7 MB distributed over 33 MS Word documents. This is
roughly 2500 pages, which if you were to read a page a minute, is about 40
hours of reading.
Shelborne Fung
famfung.sr@worldnet.att.net
