Camp Chronicles: Attack of the Hamstrings

ROLL CALL Four receivers will sit out Saturday's scrimmage with injuries: tight end Eric Waters (hamstring) and wideouts Gahn McGaffie (hamstring), Jaleel Clark (shoulder) and starter Jerrell Jackson , who came up limping after catching a pass in the end zone midway through Friday's practice. Trainer Rex Sharp worked on Jackson's right hamstring on the sideline and the senior sat out the rest of the practice. "Those things happen," Pinkel said. "With those hamstrings, you’ve got to be very, very careful in bringing those guys back. If you bring them back too soon, then you’ve got another two weeks." … Former Missouri running back Brock Olivo watched practice from the sideline and visited with Pinkel and several coaches, including former teammate Pat Ivey , MU's strength coach. Olivo's in his first season coaching running backs and special teams for the UFL's Omaha Nighthawks. After running the Italian national team the last couple years Olivo is committed to making a career of coaching. He's taken an unconventional path to the UFL job — remember that failed run at Congress a few years ago? — but I think Olivo, 35, could make an outstanding addition to MU's staff one day. No one would outwork him when it comes to preparation and recruiting, and several peers have told me he became an exceptional teacher of the game during his experience in Italy. "There are a lot of guys who do a pretty good job explaining things to other coaches on a blackboard,” Nighthawks Coach Joe Moglia told me for a story earlier this summer. “He’s able to explain to the player in a way that the player understands.”

FOUR AND OUT 1. No cause for alarm for the receiver injuries, but the 2010 trio of Marcus Lucas, Jimmie Hunt and Bud Sasser can't ask for a better opportunity to make a push for roles in the receiver rotation.

How to Find the Best Football Coaching Method | FM Dallas

How to Find the Best Football Coaching Method

If you’ve always fancied yourself as the next Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho, maybe you’re already involved in playing or coaching football. Maybe you’re considering football as a good way of keeping fit, and want to know more about tactics and techniques. Perhaps coaching your child’s school team isn’t as easy as you thought, or maybe you just want to improve your own playing skills. Whatever the reason, there are many ways of learning how to play soccer, and becoming a better player or coach.

Summer soccer coaching courses in the UK are usually intensive and over a week or longer, and are often run by football clubs. Sometimes the course is staffed by former players, or players coming through the ranks and current players may make a guest appearance. Skills covered range from goalkeeping to shooting, and utilise soccer drills and other coaching methods. Soccer coaching courses can be expensive especially for a family with more than one football playing child and the best ones may not always be local.

Watching a lot of football, and hopefully picking up some skills from favourite players is useful, but not the same as learning how to play soccer from a professional qualified soccer coach. Imagine thinking you could learn to drive by watching a Grand Prix, or that you could learn to be a doctor by watching a TV medical drama.

Learning from books written by players or managers is another way of learning the necessary skills and techniques, but are not always practical on a soccer pitch. Books can be invaluable for the management side of football, and what better way for a new manager or coach to learn than from some of the most successful managers ever. It is difficult, however, for a team to sit round a book to learn a technique for example. Providing a book for each player could prove to be expensive, and may not be the best use of resources.

Using videos can be very effective to analyse all aspects of a match, including evaluating previous performances, identifying potential transfer targets, working out the best tactics and which techniques to work on. Videos can also be used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of opposing teams, and can even be more valuable that a scout’s report. Videos can be shown in a classroom environment so that the whole team can watch and learn. Being able to watch the video again and again, and watch it in slow motion can also be beneficial. The coach or individual players can watch the video independently, and see which areas could be improved.

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