Nebraska Soccer Hosts Over 300 at Coaches Clinic

Lincoln - More than 300 soccer coaches from across the country were in Lincoln over the weekend for the 2011 Nebraska Soccer Coaches Clinic. Joining forces with World Class Coaching, the Husker soccer staff annually puts on one of the best seminars in the country.

This year's event featured Jan Pruijn as one of the clinicians, an assistant coach for AJAX Cape Town in South Africa. Pruijn is a former international youth development manager for AJAX Amsterdam and was primarily responsible for the uprising of Steven Pienaar, who has since gone on to play in the English Premier League for Everton and Tottenham. Pruijn was joined by Jimmy Gilligan, an England U-21 National Team Scout and former English Premier League assistant coach for Watford. Gilligan is the currently head of youth at Stevenage Football Club, which plays in League 2 of the English Championship.

Other clinicians included Sean Holmes, men's head coach at Drake University, and Nebraska head coach John Walker. Husker assistant coach Dan Bassett and NU soccer players were also heavily involved in demonstrations and skill instruction. Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne served as a keynote speaker, addressing the attendees on coaching principles as well as how to coach and relate to their athletes away from the field.

The clinic was held inside the Hawks Championship Center, beginning Friday evening and continuing all day Saturday. The clinicians spoke and taught both tactical and technical instructions, giving participants an opportunity to learn and build on their own coaching schemes. In addition to the Nebraska soccer team, youth teams from Omaha and Lincoln also assisted in demonstrations, as well as the Bellevue University men's team.

The Nebraska soccer program will host its annual summer camps this June and July.