A Guest Post by Daniel Pena of the Art of Football Blog

As a soccer player, one of the best things you can do to develop during your free time is to read soccer books. Reading books about the beautiful game is a great way to learn new techniques, tactics, and strategies from experienced coaches and players. 

Soccer books allow you to gain insights into the mindset and approach of some of the greatest minds in the modern game. Recently, I had the pleasure of diving into “Scanning: How to Train it and Develop Game Awareness. See More Think Quicker Play Better” by Kevin McGreskin. It is one of the best books you will read on how to train scanning, arguably one of the most essential skills to have as a soccer player, regardless of what position you play.  

Kevin McGreskin is not only an accomplished author but also a leading practitioner in the field of scanning and decision-making. McGreskin has had a lot of experience training professional youth and senior team players and is the creator of the Soccer eyeQ methodology, a proven and successful coaching method. 

Whether you are a player, a coach, or a fan of the game, adding the innovative training practices of the soccer eyeQ methodology into your next training sessions will teach you about the importance of scanning and game awareness, as well as how to train these skills directly.  

What is “Scanning: How to Train it and Develop Game Awareness” all about? 

 “Scanning: How to Train it and Develop Game Awareness. See More Think Quicker Play Better” by Kevin McGreskin dives into the world of scanning and game awareness in soccer, offering a complete guide to improving these vital skills. McGreskin introduces readers to the Soccer eyeQ methodology, a proven coaching method designed to increase scanning frequency and enhance game awareness for players.

The book emphasizes the importance of training scanning and game awareness through innovative soccer eyeQ training practices. These practices allow players to absorb information quickly and make better decisions on the field.

By incorporating the Soccer eyeQ practices, which use simple constraints to force players to scan more frequently, coaches can help their players develop the essential habit of scanning and greatly enhance their decision-making skills. Too many players focus intently on the ball only, missing crucial information about their surroundings, such as where the opponents are and the rest of their team squad.

Through the Soccer eyeQ methods outlined in the book, players will learn to see more, think quicker, and play better, mirroring the scanning habits of top players like De Bruyne, Xavi, Iniesta, Gerrard, and Pep Guardiola, who is now arguably one of the best head coaches of all time. 

The book details why scanning and building game awareness will help you see more, think quicker, and play better. McGreskin explains how the average player will focus on the ball, control the ball, look around, decide, and then take action. 

This, however, is an ineffective way of playing, and the whole point of the book is to teach players how to see, think, and play faster. The best players in the world are those who can gather the most information through scanning and make the best decisions based on that information. 

Having a picture of what is happening around you and knowing your options are crucial for improving your decision-making skills, and the best players are those who scan the most and can also take in more information with fewer looks. 

What is included in “Scanning: How to Train it and Develop Game Awareness”?

“Scanning: How to Train it and Develop Game Awareness. See More Think Quicker Play Better” by Kevin McGreskin is packed with valuable insights, practical guidance, and innovative training practices. Here’s what you can expect to find in this comprehensive book:

Introduction to the Soccer eyeQ Method

McGreskin introduces readers to the Soccer eyeQ methodology, a proven coaching method designed to improve players’ game awareness and increase their scanning frequency. 

Innovative Training Practices

The book also provides detailed instructions on incorporating Soccer eyeQ training practices into your training sessions. Adding the soccer eyeQ methods can help turn regular coaching sessions into the best sessions involving lots of small-sided games with constant awareness, scanning, and dynamic variables. 

16 Tactical Examples 53 Practices 

The book also includes 16 tactical examples and 53 practices and progressions, meaning that readers will have a wealth of resources to effectively apply the Soccer eyeQ methodology in their training sessions. 

This is the perfect coaching method to increase a player’s scanning and awareness capabilities. All the drills and progression are outlined in an easy-to-read fashion, so you can begin trying them the next time you get on the field. Many of these methods to increase scanning and improve game awareness require different-colored wristbands, bibs, cones, and players holding hands up. 

Insights from Top Players and Coaches:

Finally, this book is also full of memorable quotes and insights from some of the best players and coaches in the world. Here are some of the most famous quotes and my favorite ones:

• “Think quickly, look for spaces. That’s what I do: Look for spaces. All day. I’m always looking. All day, all day.” – Xavi 
• “What is interesting is that very good players scan six to eight times in the 10 seconds before getting the ball and normal ones three to four times. That is a major step for improvement.” – Arsene Wenger 
• “Taking the right decision in the right moment. That is the most difficult thing in football”- Pep Guardiola 
• “Great players isolate from the ball, their head is like a radar” – Arsene Wenger 

Final Thoughts

“Scanning: How to Train it and Develop Game Awareness. See More Think Quicker Play Better” by Kevin McGreskin is a must read for any aspiring player looking to improve and train scanning and game awareness skills as well as for any head coach who wants to improve their training sessions with an excellent coaching style. 

Created by Kevin Mcgreskin, a former head coach who worked closely with professional clubs such as Dundee United, Bahamas national team, Burlington SC, and more recently Club America femenil in Mexico, the soccer eyeQ methodology is a UEFA coach education programme that offers an effective learning environment for players of all ages and abilities. 

The soccer eyeQ methodology is the most effective method to increase scanning abilities and the book outlines everything in great detail, from the importance of scanning, to drills and progressions of this coherent teaching style, and even insights from the best scanners in the world. 

I’ve read this book about three times and I plan to read it again because everytime I read it, there is something new that sticks with me. Although I have not personally tried the training sessions, because I don’t currently coach my own team, I absolutely love Kevin’s sessions because they provide a bit of everything that matters in soccer, from passing, to moving and understanding space, to scanning. 

I happily recommend Kevin Mcgreskin’s book to anybody who is a fan of the beautiful game, whether you are a current player, head coach or former manager, as this is one of the most effective existing practices. Comparing the soccer eyeQ methodology to existing practices is tough because I have not found another method as effective as this one when it comes to training perception, scanning, and game awareness. 

Written by The Art of Football

The Art of Football is a blog site and private training program designed to help footballers reach new levels of performance with training and lifestyle tips. The Art of Football was created by footballer and graduate of Kinesiology, Daniel Pena. 

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