Review of Skill Factor: Premier League Soccer (2008)

Customer Ratings:
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I bought this DVD at a recent soccer convention.

I have lots of soccer coaching DVDs but I asked the salesman for a DVD that would teach the players skills, but the kids would also enjoy watching. He recommended Skill Factor to me.

General Idea:

The idea is EXCELLENT! The DVD combines computer animations of the skills with narrators instructing how each skill is done and in a fun, bullet-point way, rather than a bland step by step format; that is then topped-off by video clips of the skills actually being put to use in the English Premier League.

Pros:

Excellent general idea. I've found that kids today relate very well to computer animations in general, and the video clips show them how the skills are used in games.

Huge list of skills covered. Lots of dribbling moves, but also tackling, juggling, receiving, etc.

Entertaining narration. Most instructional soccer DVDs consist of someone demonstrating a skill and explaining it. This video does that, but there is less focus on the finer aspects, and more on the general principle, instead, the narrators often explain WHEN to use it: for example "the 'double tap' is best used when the attacker and defender are square"; and also with a little humor: for example, while covering (I believe) the "back door" dribbling move, a clip is shown of it being used unsuccessfully against Patrick Vieira. The announcer then says something to the effect of, "Remember, don't ever try to use the move against Vieira." Despite how it may sound, the delivery of it is not at all lame or cheesy.

Good clips

Each move and skill is broken into a separate chapter, so it's easy to navigate. You can easily find specific skills from the menu, and can skip ones while playing it.

Cons:

The only major con is in the computer animations.

-First, some of them are hard to follow. You may need to play in slow motion if you really want to try to learn the skills.

-Second, and most importantly, while their goal is no doubt to make the animations easier to follow, they inevitably begin to spin the screen during most of the animations. I have watched this DVD 3 times, and every time I have gotten dizzy from this after about 10 skills (and there are over 50). To be sure it wasn't just me, I watched it with other adults once and they both complained of dizziness from those scenes as well. I can imagine that it would be worse for children.

Also, because so many skills are covered (and perhaps because of the dizziness factor as well), the DVD drags. Sure it's great to get so much packed into 1 DVD (they definitely give you your money's worth), but it is difficult to finish in 1 sitting or even 2.

Bottom line:

The dizzying effect is a MAJOR drawback. This would easily be a 5 star choice if it didn't give viewers a headache.

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My kids and coaches enjoyed this entertaining and instructional video. It's great to see ball control skills broken down, but then also to see them from actual Premier League matches. This DVD will keep the attention of younger viewers.

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Caught 10 minutes of this film on the Fox Soccer Channel and as my daughter was learning some of Rinaldo's moves and footwork thought the animations would help her fully understand them. Having sat through the entire video with her we can both say this is well worth the money.

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Honest reviews on Skill Factor: Premier League Soccer (2008)

Great DVD. Shows you all the beats to beat opponents in a real game replay, slows them up, and breaks them down with a computer-generated replay. Emphasizes attacking the space and not the opponent, and situations for which the beats are useful. Brilliant!!!!

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The format of this DVD is very conducive to learning moves that will improve your soccer skills. It shows a move broken down in animated form and then shows a pro player putting it to use in an actual game. It also tells when to use a particular move and when not to use the move. It has really helped me as a coach to show young players how to improve.

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Customer Ratings:

There's a lot of good information to be sure, but the way the various blurbs are woven together into a cohesive journey leaves a bit to be desired. I'll have to try watching this a third time to see if I can get through it...

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Once in a lifetime opportunity take it! Some one liners that sum up so much that could take years to discover if ever at all!! highly recomended.

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Waaaaay back in the prehistoric, primordial soup of

the early INTERNET, in an out of the way electromagnetic

watering hole called USENET, Schwann Cybershaman entered

a previous millennium's virtual nexus of survival-of-

the-weirdest -where only the wisest could safely

navigate the inverted, natural selection process inherent

to myriad, multidimensional NEWS GROUPS -to somehow

survive, grow, and flourish like an evolved, cybernetic

avatar mutated from the Corpus Callosum of Marshall

McLuhan's THE MEDIUM IS THE 'MASSAGE.' Fast forward to

the current Millennium, and Mahatma 'Michael Kawitzky'

breaks out of his 'Schwann Cybershaman' persona to

digitally orchestrate a nice fusion of Left Cerebral

Hemisphere articulate verbal language and structured

sequential logical hypothesis, married to Right Cerebral

Hemisphere visual fractal synthesis trippy organic

pixelated expanding NOW synaesthesia. This intellectual

orchestra is composed of twenty unique individuals who

are assembled to consider the following five questions:

1.) Evolution Or Extinction?

2.) What Is Consciousness?

3.) Is God A Myth?

4.) The Fusion Of Science & Spirit?

5.) What Happens When You Die?

Rather than list these extraordinary 'talking head'

personages simultaneously alive, dead, and permanently

transitioned to a hyper-dimensional realm of

chrysanthemum wielding machine tykes, it might be

interesting to check out a brief synopsis of

'Cognition Factor' by Propaganda Anonymous, over at

Daniel Pinchbeck's Reality Sandwich...

And/or a visit to the site: [ COGNITIONFACTOR.NET ]

of Mike Kawitzky, (aka Schwann Cybershaman), himself.

Better yet, just buy the damn thing and enjoy it!

On a more personal note, I'll just add that it was

wonderful to see/hear the late, great, Terence McKenna,

looking like he was speaking from inside Plato's Cave,

and his brother Dennis, sounding like an inter-

dimensional, parallel universe genetic clone.

I'm looking forward to Mike Kawitzky's future projects,

hopefully including a 3D, HD, surround sound immersive

virtual reality feelie! Or, as penned by me to

no-one-in-particular, circa late 1990's:

"I once had a phone conversation with Mr. Terence

McKenna about 'True Hallucinations.' Several years

ago when I was just leaping into multimedia and

digital graphics, my matriculated hope then was to

create a real-time animated VR simulation of what I

referred to as the 'Hollow Knots,' i.e. the imagery

behind the optic nerves elicited by the mushroom.

(Incidentally, I can count my life-experiences of

the 'Hollow Knots' on one hand). My contention based

on my 'HK' experience was that the psychedelic imagery,

when it is perceived directly without the filter of

human interpretation and the ordering into recognizable

objects, themes and patterns, will stand out as being

identified most accurately as neuro-biochemical

phenomena within the nerves themselves, which says more

about the structure of the brain/body matrix than it

does about any parallel, objective, external reality.

He replied that that may well be true, but there was a

great deal more going on with the psychedelic experience

than just 'visual,' optic nerve feedback. He stressed

the magnitude of internal awareness and insight gathered

in such biochemical states.

I, of course, sensibly, conceded this latter observation.

The triune nature of the brain must have some bearing on

all this, thought I. Perhaps an effective enough VR

simulation in it's own right, without psychedelics,

could elicit such inner states of awareness? The notion

of psychotronics, digital imagery and animation seemed

like a reasonable course. Maybe my natural, aesthetic

interest in such things though as one who looks

'inward' for visual mysteries precludes my ever seeing

anything 'outward,' such as an unusual craft piloted by

unusual entities hovering over my house in the twilight

hours? Hmmmm.... Time will tell. In the meantime, I'm

putting off the DMT experience in-a-possible-future,

indefinitely, pending future developments; although,

I do enjoy hearing about other's psychonautic journeys."

In closing, I applaud Mahatma Kawitzky's fine achievment;

and make no mistake, 'COGNITION FACTOR' is not some

retro-aging Hippy's pseudoscientific, psychedelic video

extravaganza, but, rather, an enormously fun, inventive,

and beautifully stimulating contemporary analysis of the

aforementioned five timeless questions, intelligently

pondered by a wide ranging, eclectic mix of 20 human

nervous systems on the evolutionary verge of something

deeply profound and moving. Required viewing for all

'Ultraterrestrials-in-training' everywhere. --MT07JUL09