Soccer iQ - Vol. 2: More of What Smart Players Do: Volume 2

Perfect ... as advertised

Good

👍

Love it

It's a must read book for a soccer player.My son is only 11 years.I have gifted vol1 and 2 to him. I can see improvements in his game.Thanks Dan..

Elaborates on Soccer IQ book 1 and offers more insight. See my review of book 1. My only wish was the team should have provided a copy at the beginning of the season to all the players on the team. My son was struggling with the "strategy" and "positioning" of the game - no longer. The book validated much of what I was teaching him to do but he struggled with the fans and coaches rewarding the ball handling and fancy footwork players, by the way, whom consistently slow the attack to a crawl and eventually loose the ball. The cheers by fans and the coaches rewarding these players for their play contradicted what I was teaching him, to control the ball if needed, pause if needed, look before passing, one touch passes are better, spread the play on the field and longer passes if possible and to play smart. He is no longer confused with the contradiction between what I have been telling him and his coaches. The book has helped him understand he is and was not doing anything wrong and had skills beneficial to the team according to the book. Perhaps, when I go back to coaching, I will start by buying a book for the entire team as my gift to them before the start of the season. The book well worth the cost. Nice simple read with practical advice.

great tips

I have the paperback, which including a chapter from one of his other books is 116 pages. The book consists of 49 very short chapters each of which address a specific aspect of playing and coaching soccer. Each chapter is drafted from the standpoint of a coach explaining to the players why they should take a given action in a given circumstance. Each chapter ends with a note to coaches. The chapters express his approach clearly and in easy to understand language. The author recognizes that not all coaches will agree with some of his thoughts on how to approach specific parts of the game. In these cases he suggests that they “agree to disagree” and moves on from the topic..His topics range from the types of kicks to take and those to avoid to when the players should expend extreme energy and when they should not. The range of topics is very broad. My one quibble with the book reflects that the game is very dynamic and the pictures in the book are two dimensional, which to me didn’t always give me a complete idea of the author’s point. That’s more on me than it is on him. I think that if you are a soccer coach with some experience you’ll understand his points. If you’re interested in playing, coaching or just watching soccer, I recommend the book.

If you’ve read Soccer IQ Vol1 and enjoyed it—or even picked up a thing or two from it—you should definitely give this book a try. Personally, I think it’s very well thought-out. Dan put a lot more effort into this one, and he goes much deeper with his ideas. However, I would recommend this book for players who are at least 13 years old. For younger players, most of the concepts won’t really make sense in their day-to-day training or games, especially if they play recreational soccer. But as a soccer parent, almost everything in this book will make sense to you. Just be careful not to apply these ideas to your kids too early—let them focus on having fun and developing their skills at a young age.