Women's soccer - a Guide to coaching and training

Easter proved to be a momentous weekend for me this year. I managed to submit my completed manuscript and illustrations to the Crowood Press in time to meet my deadline and the book is now in full production. It's planned for distribution in the USA and Canada as well as the UK so watch this space for further updates. Exciting times.

I am indebted to the help and support from Linby Ladies who's players and coaches gave up their time to "pose" for me and I've placed a few of the phots in this blog as a taster of what is to come.

Behind every successful womens soccer club there is always a small number of extremely dedicated people who's life is totally dominated by their work behind the scenes. At Linby the driving force has been Andrew and Carol Eastwood who it has been my privelage to know since the club's early days back in 1997. I hope that the book, when it is published, will provide a nice platform to help them to promote the Club even more

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Finally through the medium of this blog I send my best wishes to the family and friends of John Betteridge, the Under 12's coach at Linby who sadly passed away on the 21st April 2010. He was a lovely guy who loved his coaching and had a brilliant rapport with his players.

On the road to Germany, via London!

I was able to take a trip back to England over Easter and whilst I was there caught up with the England women’s world cup campaign. They had two home games in the space of seven days and with only five European countries able to qualify for the finals this time around the pressure was well and truly on.

First up were Austria at Queens Park Rangers FC, a wet and soggy night but a performance which promised much for the future. Not only was it a young starting line up but the second half introduction of teenage debutants Ellen White and Claire Rafferty added a new dimension to England’s attacking play.

In the end a first half goal from Lianne Sanderson and two in the second half from Eni Aluko and Ellen White sealed a comfortable victory. One week later and the venue was Millwall FC for a much tougher game against the group leaders, Spain. Nothing less than a win would do for England if they were to remain as contenders to win the group.

With Kelly Smith declared fit to play and Rachel Brown in goal The England line up had a more settled feel to it. England started the stronger of the two teams with Jess Clarke's tricky flank play threatening to unlock the Spaniards whilst Katie Chapman dominated in the midfield with a powerful display. It came as no surprise when she latched on to a loose ball on the edge of the box and volleyed it home for what turned out to be the winning goal,

The second half saw a more determined Spanish performance as they pressed for an equaliser, but the England defence held firm refusing to be broken down. 

In the end it was another victory and maximum points from both games. This puts England level with Spain at the top of the table but with a game in hand. There are still four games to play, three of them away, but at this stage of the campaign Hope must be feeling very pleased with her team's efforts.

As a footnote:

I must admit I was choked when Ellen ran past me to celebrate her goal. I had the pleasure of working with her when she was an under 17. She was great to coach and deserves the success that she's having this season. I'm sure the photos show how pleased she was too!!