The keys to my sessions are that I deal with the mental aspects of scoring rather than the skill / technical aspects of scoring. If coaches were expecting a steady stream of information on how to teach the skill of shooting or to jot down another bunch of X’ s and O’ s to show a new drill, then they would have been disappointed. But judging by the feedback that I receive each time I run a session, some do understand what I am conveying.
The first point I make about teaching strikers to score more goals is how to make them believe in the material. The only way to approach this topic is to ensure the striker knows that some of the specific information they receive from the coach truly is secret. They must“ make it their own” to be effective and the coach must work one-on-one to coach this aspect of scoring. You cannot give out secrets to a whole group. And the coach must tell their players to keep the information secret. This is no different than the unwritten rule that magicians have. They never reveal how a trick is done.
When I was doing research for my book and lecture series to complement my own philosophies and methods on teaching players to score more goals, I found some interesting things that the best goal scorers in the world had in common. Simon Kuper, reporter for the Financial Times, wrote an article titled“ How to Score Goals” in his column“ On the Game.” He interviewed the top English Premier League strikers and found out that,“ Most of the best strikers in the world know how they do it! Fearful of revealing their secrets, they seldom talk about it.”
Top strikers know that the mental skills they possess can be easily learned by any intelligent player, so they don’ t want to let anyone in on their personal secrets. They do not want to lose their position on the team. It’ s a competitive world out there and they do not want to jeopardize their advantage. When I lecture on the secrets of goal scoring, I always draw the best reactions from players who are good at scoring. One of my friends, John Williams, who played college soccer at Alderson Broaddus in West Virginia and in the top leagues in Canada during the’ 80s and early’ 90s, was always one of the top goal scorers in whichever league he played. I was discussing one of my secrets to teaching power shooting with him. His first reaction to this secret was amazement, then shock that I said it, laughter that he couldn’ t believe what I said, and finally one of those“ how did you know?” responses.
“ Hey,” I said,“ I used to play keeper, you know!”
Williams plays in the over-40 old-timers league and is still among the league’ s top goal scorers every year. He said to me,“ No, man. John, do not go around telling everyone that. You’ re going to make me look bad! It’ s my secret.”
A few summers ago I was hired by a coach of a U16 girls’ team that was struggling to score goals. Early in their season they dominated most games but tied or lost close games because they couldn’ t finish. The coach heard about my goal-scoring course and brought his attacking players. After three intense days and 16-20 hours in the classroom and on the field, they were done with the course. In their first game after the course, they scored six goals. Their top striker, Analisa Romano, scored four goals in that game, more than she had scored all season up to that point. She went on to win the league scoring title. The team went on to win their league, an academy tournament in Barcelona, and 13 of their players were offered soccer scholarships.
But after the course, I was hoping for some word-of-mouth referrals for my course. Well, that didn’ t come until after their successful season. I received this email from Coach Gerry Gentile of Vaughan Azzurri.“ Sorry for taking so long but I didn’ t want to give away our secret in case our opponents requested your services, but I will write an article about how your course turned our fortunes around.”
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