Description Table of Contents Author Quotes Soccer’s top practice games book returns bigger and better than ever! Engage your players and make each practice more challenging, productive, and fun with 175 games! Soccer Practice Games presents the best small-sided games for developing technique, skills, and soccer sense in players. In the third edition, you’ll find more games on every aspect of play: · Warm-up and conditioning · Dribbling, tackling, and shielding · Passing and receiving · Shooting and finishing · Heading · Goalkeeping Each game maximizes player involvement, activity, and learning and contains at least one major objective related to player or team development. A new chapter presents large-group games that are ideal for teaching team tactics while simulating match competition. Best of all, each game can be adapted to accommodate players of various ages and abilities. Designed for youth through high school competition, Soccer Practice Games provides you with the most effective and fun way to learn and teach the game. This is one book you’ll refer to again and again. Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Game Finder Introduction: Make Practice Games Work for You Chapter 1. Planning Practice Sessions Chapter 2. Warm-Up and Conditioning Games Chapter 3. Dribbling, Shielding, and Tackling Games Chapter 4. Passing and Receiving Games Chapter 5. Shooting and Finishing Games Chapter 6. Heading Games Chapter 7. Individual and Small Group Tactical Games Chapter 8. Large Group and Team Tactical Games Chapter 9. Goalkeeping Games About the Author Joe Luxbacher has more than 30 years of experience in the field of competitive athletics. A former professional soccer player for the North American Soccer League, American Soccer League, and Major Indoor Soccer League, he is currently at the helm of the University of Pittsburgh men’s soccer team, a position he has held since 1984. The twice-selected Big East Conference Soccer Coach of the Year holds a PhD in health, physical, and recreation education from the University of Pittsburgh and has earned the Level A coaching license from the United States Soccer Federation. Luxbacher has authored more than a dozen books and numerous articles on the sport of soccer. His soccer articles have appeared in national publications such as Scholastic Coach and Athletic Director and Soccer Journal. Inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2005 and designated a Letterman of Distinction by the University of Pittsburgh in 2003, Luxbacher is the founder and director of Shoot to Score Soccer Academy, an organization that offers educational camps, clinics, and tournaments to players aged 7 to 18. The camp Web site is www.shoot2score.net. Luxbacher resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Gail, and children, Eliza and Travis. “Your athletes will embrace practice, hone key skills, and be more likely to become passionate about soccer when you incorporate Soccer Practice Games into your weekly practice plans.” James Schmutz -- Executive Director, American Sport Education Program