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The Official Coaching Book of KNVB is excellent
http://www.amazon.com/Coaching-Soccer-Official-Dutch-Association/dp/1890946044/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395697636&sr=8-1&keywords=KNVB+book

As is both of these books from Horst Wein:
Developing Youth Footballers
http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Youth-Football-Players-Horst/dp/0736069488/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395697714&sr=8-1&keywords=developing+youth+football+players

Developing Game Intelligence in Soccer
http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Game-Intelligence-Soccer-Horst/dp/1591640717/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395697768&sr=8-1&keywords=developing+game+intelligence+in+soccer

All three offer a great set of coaching guidelines, a solid philosophy and plenty of drills and simplified games for all age levels. The "Developing Youth Footballers" is used by the Spanish football federation.

Might also find The Philosophies of Louis van Gaal and the Ajax Coaches worth a read, as someone else mentioned, Teambuilding by Michels is like reading the Bible.

Also check out zonalmarking.net he has a list of many, many great books on there, most of which I've read.

Guillem Balaque has a few good books that aren't coaching guideline type books but I found both to be worth reading, "A Season on the Brink" about Rafa's Champions League season with Liverpool and his more recent "Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning" is very inspiring, I could not put it down, really, fantastic book makes you want to quit your real job and coach 24/7.

Your best bet is to contact your local academies/ soccer schools to see if they have any trails taking place. From my experience most places are willing to offer a trial game at the very least to a kid, from their point of view its always worth checking someone out. Failing this, ask his coach if he knows anyway of getting him a trail at a more advanced academy. This doesn't have to be at a professional club as there (in England at least) are private academies that can provide great opportunities too.

A trial could range from being invited to a few training sessions to a couple of games in their academies age group, it is always worth trying to get your kid into these if he's serious about playing as even if the academy decided against selecting him, advise they can provide can be fantastic.

I'd recommend you read a book called Bounce by Mathew Syed (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bounce-Myth-Talent-Power-Practice/dp/0007350546) which focuses on athlete development and requirements to reach high ability level. If you feel like the weak link in your kids progression, the book should help give you some ideas on how you might be able to aid your son's improvement. The book may be a bit intimidating at first if you're not too clued up on sport but it's a really easy read, something I'd recommend to all parents/coaches as it provides a great insight.

We coached an U8 team last year and are now starting in our U9 season.

I would focus on basic techniques like dribbling, shooting, passing, change of direction and basic game intelligence.

Play many small simplified games in different variations which provoke what you want to teach. A good game form is the best coach.

We have this as our basic game in our training:
Mini Soccer

We play this and it's variations very often.

For example if we do a session about change of direction, we would start with drill like this: Lucassen. Then we would do a 1on1 game like here (i would do the one at 2:40): Multigoals. And then go to a suitable variation of Mini Soccer like this: Mini Soccer - diagonally

I allways recommend this book for this age group: Horst Wein-Developing Youth Footbll Players


And let them practice every technique with both feet equally, allways!

Not OP, but I'd just like to say that you're certainly not screwed. Like someone said above, psychologist Dan Abrahams wrote a book on psychology called Soccer Tough; I'd definitely recommend it. Some of the key points include visualization, focus, and specific things like match scripts and perfectionism. Anyway, my point is that you're definitely not without a way to work on the mental side of your game!

Yeah there are

I have a pair of these in green (they're pretty comfortable) and they protect pretty well. They have a pad on the bone in the ankle and it's pretty nice I got mine from Dick's for about 10 dollars

I agree the online tools are time consuming, although I find it useful to make my favorite sessions with Academy Soccer Coach online software. That is very rare though as I put all my sessions and games in a moleskine type notebook. I write each session/game in pencil and write down reflection notes in pen, which really helps me when looking back at sessions. I've gone through 2 notebooks in the last year and I actually ended up using my first book tonight to help plan my session for tomorrow. I was trying to remember a certain activity I did several months ago and remembered the month I did it in and found it easily in my older notebook.

This is a cheap version of what I use

I've posted this a couple times on this sub but here is a book that can help with your mental game.

Something from the book that applies: it's helpful to have a specific phrase you can think of whenever you have moments of doubt. Something short and simple that defines your game. I have a problem of getting distracted during games, thinking about other stuff in life instead of focusing. Whenever I catch myself doing that I think "be big and go get it." Be big meaning use my height, muscle people off the ball, etc. Go get it meaning be proactive, sprint hard, make it happen. You may never have a perfect 90 minutes but having a specific phrase will train your brain to instantly respond when you make a mistake, instead of dwelling on it. And try frame it in the positive; thinking "don't let him by you" is basically the same as thinking "let him by you." A more positive way to frame it would be "dictate his movement." Hope that helps

Read up on sports psychology. Being mentally prepared is just as important as being physically prepared. Professional athletes also go through this quite often and teams spend a lot of money on specialists in order to help them get through things such as anxiety. A good starting point is this book.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Inner-Game-Tennis-Performance/dp/0679778314/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1381225536&sr=8-18&keywords=sports+psychology

You can probably find it on a torrent somewhere also. It was written for tennis but is applicable across pretty much anything that requires focus and concentration. Its a deep subject, but if you can read up a bit (not even the whole book, its entire length is only about 75 pages anyways) you'd be surprised at how much you can learn and improve.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0001YX8HM/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1492082838&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=pugg+goals+6ft&dpPl=1&dpID=516YO8wU5VL&ref=plSrch

I have had these for a few years now mostly for recreational use with friends. They're the size you're looking for. The quality has been very good for my uses, mine are still in decent condition. Assembling it and packing it is super easy as well.

Football on a string is very counter-productive since the ball can't spin or move naturally. I would recommend going to your local park and practicing there. I'm sure there is local drop-in footy going on somewhere if you want to try that.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stiga-Sports-Prellwand-Football-Black/dp/B00UPXQ8GC/ref=pd_sim_200_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S2JFDG1R3GDPYYZMH655

^ something like this is very useful for solo training if you don't have a wall to pass against.

Hope Training goes well!

Not exactly what you are looking for in terms of formal training/courses but I liked "The Complete Guide to Coaching Soccer Systems and Tactics" by Jacob Daniel http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Coaching-Soccer-Systems-Tactics/dp/1591640687/ for less than £5 can't go wrong there.

Also "The Modern Soccer Coach 2014: A Four Dimensional Approach" by
Gary Curneen is fine, £6 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Soccer-Coach-2014-Dimensional-ebook/dp/B00GCEBBOM/

More formal: NSCAA Advanced National Diploma 2009 http://www.broomfieldsoccerclub.org/filebrowser/download/15397 (PDF)

Also freely available: U.S. Soccer Curriculum http://www.ossca.org/documents/ossca/coachingeducation/US_Soccer_Guide_to_Coaching.pdf

For playing on firm ground fields, the only boot i can play in and not get terrible shin splints is Asics with a multi-stud configuration (https://www.amazon.com/Asics-Mens-Lethal-Testimonial-Soccer/dp/B00GY6FXT2). I think that there are more studs making contact with the ground helps alleviate whatever it is that causes me shin splints- although it may be different for you. Another option is Mizuno.

These brands may look less aesthetically appealing than your Nike or Adidas, but they are superior quality wise.

I also went to a podiatrist and had insoles made. The only problem is finding a good podiatrist amongst the sea of bad..

Finally, as other people have said, ice your shins. It sucks but it helps.

I'd recommend Spenco thin ones with some better arch support like these: https://www.amazon.com/Spenco-Support-Length-Insoles-Minimalist/dp/B008CJO2LE/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1487605453&sr=8-1

or
https://www.amazon.com/Spenco-Ironman-Ultrathin-Insole-Large/dp/B00WSEIJWC/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1487605576&sr=8-2&keywords=spenco%2Bthin%2Bsport%2Binsole&th=1

I use an anti-friction bar, every time I play and my caluses are great and no blisters between the fingers.

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I apply it to the toes, specialy on the calluses and between the fingres. I also have a smaller local product that does the same thing but is thiner, like a stick glue.

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Also I use double socks, a cotton one first then the long soccer socks. I feel cotton sucks the moisture better than synthetic.

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https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Bond-Chafing-Anti-Friction-Unscented/dp/B01CI01NYG/ref=sr_1_sc_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1540149924&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=anto+friction+gold+bond

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

https://smile.amazon.com/Adidas-Shield-Protector-Soccer-Football/dp/B00S0LQ6Z4

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^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

What do you think of this?

https://www.amazon.com/SKLZ-Star-Kick-Hands-Soccer-Trainer/dp/B000A1FCNY/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=soccer&qid=1555223927&s=gateway&sr=8-6

Though back in India, you generally find it easy to find someone to kick the ball back to you but thought it might be useful.

I would use it but was wondering if it would be embarrassing for someone younger to use it?

https://www.smile.amazon.com/Ultra-Durable-One-World-Play-Project/dp/B017DUOG7C

This thing is a tank. It will never break and will never need to be inflated, even if it has a hole. It won't bounce the same as a real ball, but it cannot die.

There are ankle guards that they sell. Like these https://www.amazon.com/Adidas-Shield-Protector-Soccer-Football/dp/B00S0LQ6Z4

You just slip em on, though I'm not sure how it'll affect your movement and ball control.