Really Bend It Like Beckham

We have many soccer training tapes and this one is the best by far. We coach both U12 girls and U17 boys soccer. This has been a great tool to use for the wide range of players that we have. We always can find helpful tips and many, many new drills to do with the kids. The tape has grown with us and our skills. Some are simple enough for the U12 and yet there are many others to challenge the older and more advanced players. We have used the tape many times and have not gotten through DISC1 yet, let alone even touched DISC2. If it's ball skills and control your looking for then this is the tape for you.

This is probably the worst soccer instructional DVD that I've ever seen (and I've watched quite a few). More time is spent on David talking about David than on instruction. Content is light and production is glitzy and distracting.

Beckham is one of the great soccer players of today and I was really looking forward to his hints on how to do things, especially since this is a 2 DVD package.

I was most interested in the "banana kick" which is how most people call the kick that bends the ball around say an opposing "wall." Not here. Almost nothing is here except a lot of special effects, and "extras" like some shots of the face of the Great One looking worried as he gets ready to do a penalty kick. There is a little 20 minutes or so of a game of the Great One vs a bunch of young kids but nothing to learn there.

The only saving grace of this is the points on "first touch" which are pretty good.

There are a very few pointers for beginners on how to get past an opponent but nothing any 9 year old can't figure out for him/herself.

So much sizzle, so little steak!

This is a skills tape designed primarily for children under the age of 14. It is advertized as something it is not. It does not show where he strikes the ball to bend it the way he does. In fact there is only one short segment on the taking of free kicks and how he does it. His personality and genuine interest in passing on his knowledge to a new generation is something the DVD accomplishes.

This is a very good DVD for entry level players and coaches. It is simple to follow and has come simple drills...I gave it a 4 because I was hoping for some more advanced features that this is lacking...as a former D1 college player and now coaching I did not take away anything new from the DVD that I did not already know or see.