Keep an eye out for a forthcoming article in Soccer Journal based on our research. Peter Broadley, who is the Executive Director of Cape Fear Soccer Association and former head coach at High Point University, wrote a really interesting article on the different soccer drills you might want to use depending on your players mental strengths or skills. The data that Peter used is based on our work with the top prospects from the Major League Soccer (MLS) Combine and the United Soccer League (USL) Combine in 2007. We sliced the data for him to see if there are substantive differences between players based on the positions they play.
What I think is very helpful about the article is that Peter used EXACT’s behavioral data to create specialized soccer drills by position. Soccer coaches, take note. If you want a copy of the article, please send me a note. I think it’s very important for coaches to understand that behavioral attributes are attributes that they can change. Indeed, there are drills and exercises that you can implement that is custom-tailored to each player’s unique profile.