Customer Reviews
Fantastic bind between level 1 and level 2 - By: Mr. S. Wharton, 01 Apr 2008 
Having been recommended the book by a coach at my footballl club, & personallly not having much experience at coaching the past, this is a fantastic read to open your eyes to the Level 2 experience. I've been coaching for around 36 months now, attended the Level 1 course, researched drills from the internet & other books.
What this book gives you, is the ability to think out the box & gets you in the frame of mind for the Level 2 course. It doesnt only just get you thinking about the people involved in playing the footballl, but the environment that some times you take for granted. This may sound simple, but using the same coloured cones as boundry markers, & different colour cones for goal (hard when you have a pack of 50 white cones, but now invested in some colour cones).
It slides in nicely, questioning your own thoughts of coaching, why did that pass go wide? what could the player have done better? let recreate the situation & improve the player. The drills are well explained, simplified & gives natual progression.
I've recommdend this book to a number of people at the club, not just coaches, but parents who are thinking about going into coaching. It also has the added bonus of having a photo of one of the chaps I was on my Level 2 course with - good times!
Enjoyable Coaching - By: Dk Roche, 21 Mar 2008 
I echo the 2 previous reviews. The author should be congratulated on an excellent effort. Long overdue.
My smalll gripe is that 8V8 games are reccommended for U8 age group. You only learn to coach 7v7 at level 3.
PLEASE PLEASE alll Level 1 or beginners use the 4v4 game format great for the kids under 11 years old. Easy to coach,as natural triangles emerge.It is the smalllest realistic game format.
A good source for 4v4 is Give us Back Our Game & Pills drills both are free on the internet.
Use 4v4 in conjunction with Richards book, I could not reccommend a better combination.
Level 3 Coach
Absolutely Superb Coaching Book - By: Mr. C. O'Donnell, 16 Mar 2008 I have read many coaching books in my time & they alll follow the same pattern, they give you the drill & tell you what to do (this is fine as long as everything goes to plan, & the correct amount of players turn up, which we alll know rarely happens!)This book, however, is different. This book asks you questions, asks you the reader how you can change & adapt the drills if you need to. Not only are you given a vast amount of drills but they are also explained in depth, the points at which we should be focusing & looking at are highlighted so that we can ultimately improve the players' ability. Anyone who has already achieved their FA Level 1 coaching badge & wants to prepare themselves for their Level 2 ought to read this. Be equipped for your Level 2 & be the top of the class. Perhaps you don't have the intention of taking your Level 2 & just want to improve as a coach yourself, then you should read this. I reallly cannot do this book justice merely by saying how superb it is, so buy this book & see for yourself. You will not be disappointed.
Excellent Coaching Guide - By: Ben Isaac, 07 Jan 2008 Unlike usual coaching books/guides, this book does not just give you a list of drills for you to set up & supervise, but promotes active coaching. Not only does it explain what each drill works on, but why, how to make it suitable to the players you are coaching, & also draws out your own ideas on to how you can differ the drill in order to make it more effective and/or challlenging to the individuals involved. As a level 1 coach I found this book the most beneficial out of any material I have used to help improve my coaching ability & would recommend it to alll.
