Team Training

If you have grown unhappy with other soccer clubs, try Episkyros. Read below the services we offer (at a lower level of cost) and compare them with those of your current club. If you have not played in any other club, do some research first and compare service vs. cost.

Providing all listed services is indeed expensive for us; however, profit-making is not our goal. Serving the best interest of the kids is our goal.

Practices

All   teams  above  12U of the academy will practice four times a week, 1.5 hours each time. Two practices will be outdoors, one practice will be indoors, and one in the gym using instruments. There will also be a theoretical session for video analysis and/or other theoretical lectures.

Teams 9U  12U  will practice three times a week, 1.5 hours long each time. Two practices will be outdoors, one practice will be indoors.

Teams 8U and under  will practice three times a week, 1 hour long each time. Two practices will be outdoors, one practice will be indoors.

Practices will be purposeful and eventually deliberate, not naive as is often the case with coaches lacking thorough soccer knowledge.

Soccer and futsal will be taught.

Practices will run on a continuous basis from August 1 to May 31, with no breaks. During holidays, you can take your time off  but we will continue the practices for those who will not be out of town.

There will be no lost practices. In case the weather conditions force pitch closures, we will either reschedule  or do an indoor practice.

The first task is to get to know the players really well-watching them as individuals in training and in match play    to see what is good in their natural game. Then, and only then, can we begin to outline the general tactics.

      Helenio Herrera

Many Teams, One Formation

All   teams 13U and above of the academy learn to play soccer with a 4-4-2 formation. No matter who the coach is, he/she has to adhere to this principle of the academy.  The 4-4-2 formation is one of the most commonly used formations among soccer teams today.

Players are taught to play in their positions in the most effective way using meaningful and relevant drills. When a team has mastered this system, it  is then taught to transition to another formation, such as 4-3-3 or 4-5-1, depending on the needs of the game.

Teams 9U  12U learn to play the 3-3-2 formation from which they can easily move to 4-4-2 or 4-3-3.

Focus on younger teams, 8U and under, will be on the fundamentals of soccer and not on a formation so they build a strong foundation.

I let all youth teams play the same way, like the first team. I always put the emphasis on learning. Sometimes I had the suspicion the youth coaches were more concerned with winning. They cared more about their own reputation. I cared only about the interest of the club. When a player with talent couldn’t defend I put him in defence so he could learn, but that could cost a point. But I didn’t care, I was busy developing the player.

    Johan Cruyff

Video Analysis

Episkyros uses video analysis to improve the skills of the players. A good fraction of the games of the 13U and above teams are recorded and  discussed by the coach such thatthe players understand the mistakes they committed or the great insight they demonstrated during a particular play.  Teams and players are given the option to request an upgrade of this video analysis to soccer analytics    that is, the analysis can include video editing and extraction of various performance parameters on a par with professional clubs.

You need both quality and results. Results without quality is boring; quality without results is meaningless.

    Johan Cruyff

Other

Soccer is passion for us. We will change your expections for soccer clubs.  Here is a short list of additional ideas that we will implemment:

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  All 13U and above teams will practice free and corner kicks with FIFA QUALITY balls (not cheap replica balls) so the players get used to the aerodynamics of the ball and learn to bend the ball correctly. During games original FIFA QUALITY PRO balls will be  used.

• Some practices may include swimming too.
• Have you noticed that other clubs never wash the pinnies used during practices? Ours are washed after each use with natural laundry detergents. They will always be clean when they are given to your child.