HIFK soccer the game book : - guidelines for junior coaching

Abstract

This thesis is based on the fact that HIFK (Idrottsförening Kamraterna i Helsingfors) Soccer has not had any guidelines or a manual on how the club wants to develop the players. The basic idea and aim of the game book is to collect all the important information about coaching and football in one book. Today there is a huge mass of information around football which makes it difficult for a football coach to find essential know-how from that flood of informa-tion. The game book is a practical tool for football coaches in HIFK. In 2002 HIFK football had economical issues and went bankrupt. Since 2003 the club has been working on to come back to the higher levels. In ten years time the club has been able to build up all the junior groups from three-year-old players to A-juniors. The professional side has also progressed forward: the number one team plays next year in the first division Miesten Ykkönen which is the second highest level in Finland. HIFK has currently about 300 players. The bases of the book are the technical, tactical, physical and mental aspects of football. In addition the book offers a small part of the history of football. At the end of the book the reader can find detailed information on how the club wants to develop the players in each age group. The game book (Spelbok 3) is the third and most comprehensive version of our written guide-lines. The new version has been published annually from the year 2008. The third book is the first edition, which offers a wide theoretical background to the philosophy the club believes.