Description
Soccer Training: 160 Drills to Develop Skills and Tactics for Players Ages 10-18 provides coaches and players with a wide variety of drills designed to improve skill and tactical awareness. Each of the 160 drills focuses on a specific skill or set of skills and keeps participating players active and involved. Field players will improve their ability to pass, receive, dribble, shoot, and head the ball as well as learn how to best apply those skills in game situations. A series of fundamental drills are also offered for goalkeepers, the one true specialist on the soccer team. The goalkeeper drills are designed to introduce aspiring netminders to the unique skills and demands associated with the position.
The drills are generally appropriate for youth through high school level competition and can be adapted to accommodate players of various ages and ability levels. Each drill is illustrated and provides specific instructions for setting up and performing the activity. The drills are organized into sections, focusing on warm-up activities, dribbling and tackling skills, passing and receiving skills, shooting and finishing, and more. Soccer Training provides an effective and enjoyable pathway to learn, improve, and ultimately excel at the world’s most popular game.
About the Author
Joseph A. Luxbacher has more than three decades of experience in highly competitive athletics. He holds a PhD in Health, Physical and Recreation Education from the University of Pittsburgh. A former professional player in the North American Soccer League (NASL) and Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), he still holds the University of Pittsburgh men’s soccer scoring records for most career goals, most career points, most hat tricks, and most goals scored in one game. Upon his graduation from university, Luxbacher was recipient of the prestigious Panther Award given to the senior athlete who most promotes and sponsors the best interests of Pitt athletics.
Luxbacher has earned the “A” Coaching License of US Soccer and is a member of the United Soccer Coaches Association. He served as head men’s soccer coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 1985 to 2015 when he retired from collegiate coaching. Under his charge, his Pitt teams won more than 200 games in Division I soccer. Coach Luxbacher was twice selected as Big East Athletic Conference Soccer Coach of the Year. He has authored more than a dozen books and numerous articles on the topics of soccer and peak athletic performance. His various soccer books have sold more than 250,000 copies and have been translated into several languages. He has contributed to several other books, including the college text Introduction to Kinesiology (5th edition), and the Men’s Health Guide to Peak Conditioning (Rodale Press). Luxbacher has also written and produced a DVD coaching series titled “Winning Soccer” for sportvideos.com.
Luxbacher is an inductee into the Beadling Sports Club Soccer Hall of Fame, the Upper St. Clair High School Athletic Hall of Fame, the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, and, most recently, the University of Pittsburgh Athletic Hall of Fame (2023). He has also been honored as a Letterman of Distinction by the University of Pittsburgh. He lives in southwest Pennsylvania with wife Gail, daughter Eliza, son Travis, and dog Winston.
