Acknowledgements

No man is an island! It has taken a tremendous amount of hard work, sacrifice and input by many wonderful people who have contributed to this book, either by providing material and ideas, or by supporting me while I researched, analyzed, recorded, collated and wrote.

I would like to thank my wife Christie Barney who made an incredible contribution by covering me in many a family endeavor and by offering her unwavering support for what seemed like a never ending project. My mother Gladys Barney who instilled in me the love of the written and spoken word by reading to me every night as a child. My sister Angela Barney who was responsible for getting me to switch from a business career path to take a Phys’ Ed’ degree and Christie’s grandfather Richard Hammond, who has been my unofficial mentor in many things business and family related since I married. I would also like to thank my mother and father in law Carol and Richard Hammond Junior for freeing up my time to focus on this endeavor by doing many of the house and garden maintenance tasks and babysitting our children when soccer coaching and event management took me elsewhere.

The major contributor of material for this book over the years has been the co-founder of the K.C. Legends club and in so many ways a co-author of the book, Tom Mura. Tom was a Director of Coaching for the K.C. Legends club. His support in building Soccer Excellence and the K.C. Legends club, and his tremendous insight and ideas on how to improve the training process, have added so much to this effort. Without Tom this book would not have been possible. Having him as a great friend and confidante for nearly twenty years has been a priceless factor.

Probably the second most influential idea generator for this body of work has been Dean Brendel. Dean coached in the Legends club and during the club’s early years his two sons played for me. Dean brought his differing expertise and perspective from coaching weight lifting and American Football to the soccer environment and, over the course of the past 16 years, has offered many perceptive suggestions and numerous improvements to the philosophy.

I would like to thank Huw Williams for being the devils advocate and twenty-five years of great friendship plus Paul Teall and my cousin Duncan Barney for a lifetime of cameraderie and support.

Unbeknown to him one of the greatest influences on the direction the Legends Soccer Club and this book have taken has been Anson Dorrance, the head coach at the University of North Carolina and ex-women’s national team coach. I was fortunate enough to take a ‘B’ license under Anson in Tampa, Florida and later to work with him as a staff coach on the U19 National Camp in Marquette, Michigan. Over the course of that camp Anson shared with me many of his ideas about coaching and when I told him my plans to start the Legends club, encouraged me to focus very heavily on the creative dribbling and finishing skills of the players. I continued to research and study his methods from afar and have found his two excellent books, “Training Soccer Champions” and “The Vision of a Champion” to be the best coaching books I have yet read.

The other K.C. Legends team coaches have all been instrumental in adding to and refining the Training Soccer Legends philosophy. For editing help Karen High was invaluable.

Other positive influences have been my coach at British Leyland, Barry Symonds. My coach at Oxford City, Maurice Kyle & my coach at Bicester Town and Banbury United, Nigel Cassidy. Before finishing, I would like to acknowledge the fantastic dribblers and goal scorers who have provided me with so much joy and inspiration throughout the years. As a youth player I had the pleasure of playing with Clive Walker who later played for Chelsea and England. As an adult the best dribbler and goal scorer I played with was a Yugoslavian/Albanian, Edmund Rugova, who played for the New York Cosmos and Kansas City Comets.

From the professional and world game my influences have been as follows: Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Best, Matthews, Puskas, Garrincha, Kempes, Falcao, Jairzinho, Zico, Socrates, Junior, Roberto Carlos, Romario, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Robinho, Platini, Zidane, Cantona, Baggio, Eddie Gray, Hoddle, Gascoigne, Jimmy Johnstone, Rodney Marsh, Henry & Rooney. Millions of fans worldwide have been captivated by the sheer brilliance and artistry these players brought to the soccer field. As a team I never tire of watching Brazil. In all of their games there is creativity, individual brilliance, fast incisive teamwork and above all, entertainment.

Last but not least I would like to acknowledge my five great daughters, Brittany, Ashley, Bailey, Brooke and Holly Barney. Without the chance to coach and take input from the older three, plus the understanding of gender differences and the motivation to succeed that being a father of five girls has added to my life, this book would be much the poorer.

For further information on “Training Soccer Legends” opportunities i.e. camps, clinics, consultancy, advice and franchises. Please contact Andy Barney at andy@kclegendssoccer.com or 913-636-4073