Growing Pains of a Men's Team

[metro1026]

Here's the deal guys....

I'm a Sports Management major from a non-soccer town here in the shadow of NYC. My age-group were pretty much the first generation of soccer players in our little town. We were started at 8 years of age in the first town rec soccer program, and progressed into high school where we were on the first ever JV and then Varsity soccer teams in school history. Now the majority of us getting out of college.

I decided to rally the troops and form a men's soccer team in town about a year ago. My first step was getting a coach. After that, I secured fields, financing, etc. We had a try-out in June and selected a squad of 21 out of 50 players at tryouts. We played every thursday, saturday, and sunday through June, July, and August. The coach and I had a falling out in early August because he acted improperly when one of our players were complaining of chest pains, forcing the player to keep running, and because he was not a good coach.

There was a German semi-pro player who made the team who used to be player-manager of his team in Germany, so he took over. Our season started in September. We trained Wedensdays and Saturdays and played our games Sunday mornings.

Things seemed to be going well, except for our results on the field. As we started to lose more games, players interest started to diminish. Pretty soon, we started going from 18+ players at practice to 8 or 9, yet when it was game time, nobody had any problems finding the field. Our German Semi-Pro stepped down from coaching due to the frustration (he was putting in a lot of time and saw the players taking it for granted), but remained on the team, and I was left to take over. I'm not really a coach, and don't play anymore. The last four weeks of the Fall half of the season, I ran practice, but not well.

I've been looking for a coach, but not too many people seem interested in coaching a group of men. I will probably have to stay coach for the Spring half of the season (9 games) and then make a decision in the Summer about our coaching situation and whether to run the team again.

I lack a lot. I have an understanding of the game, but I lack the ability of planning out practices. I always struggle to think of drills.

Do you guys have any ideas on where I can find drills for men who lack in the fundamentals of the game? How I can turn the season around? How I can plan a practice properly? Or does anyone know anyone in the Meadowlands are who wants to coach a men's team? Any help would be great....thanks

Here is our website: www.SecaucusFC.com (http://www.secaucusfc.com)

[Ray Luca]

Here is our website: www.SecaucusFC.com (http://www.secaucusfc.com)[/QUOTE]

You have 8 or 9 semi serious players out of your 21. Start the 8 or 9 let them see a lot of playing time and divide the rest of the time among the other 12 that are not serious. Then hope they quit and don't let them back in.

You might even consider playing short to make a statement to the rest of the team. In the adult game there is a 3 substitution rule. Don't play the people who don't bother to show up at practice.

Those who show up and work hard on the practice field play, and the rest don't worry about playing time for them.

You probably need a skill trainer a youth team skill trainer would be fine for you guys can get one relatively relatively cheap apx 50/60 dollars per hour. I presume your from Jersey call your league maybe they can recommend some people to you. Call your youth league and have them recommend someone to you. They can run practice and you can learn from them.

Don't bother trying to coach in a real game you can only adjust in real games after you put the work on the practice field.

[GROVESHSCOACH]

Here's the deal guys....

I'm a Sports Management major from a non-soccer town here in the shadow of NYC. My age-group were pretty much the first generation of soccer players in our little town. We were started at 8 years of age in the first town rec soccer program, and progressed into high school where we were on the first ever JV and then Varsity soccer teams in school history. Now the majority of us getting out of college.

I decided to rally the troops and form a men's soccer team in town about a year ago. My first step was getting a coach. After that, I secured fields, financing, etc. We had a try-out in June and selected a squad of 21 out of 50 players at tryouts. We played every thursday, saturday, and sunday through June, July, and August. The coach and I had a falling out in early August because he acted improperly when one of our players were complaining of chest pains, forcing the player to keep running, and because he was not a good coach.

There was a German semi-pro player who made the team who used to be player-manager of his team in Germany, so he took over. Our season started in September. We trained Wedensdays and Saturdays and played our games Sunday mornings.

Things seemed to be going well, except for our results on the field. As we started to lose more games, players interest started to diminish. Pretty soon, we started going from 18+ players at practice to 8 or 9, yet when it was game time, nobody had any problems finding the field. Our German Semi-Pro stepped down from coaching due to the frustration (he was putting in a lot of time and saw the players taking it for granted), but remained on the team, and I was left to take over. I'm not really a coach, and don't play anymore. The last four weeks of the Fall half of the season, I ran practice, but not well.

I've been looking for a coach, but not too many people seem interested in coaching a group of men. I will probably have to stay coach for the Spring half of the season (9 games) and then make a decision in the Summer about our coaching situation and whether to run the team again.

I lack a lot. I have an understanding of the game, but I lack the ability of planning out practices. I always struggle to think of drills.

Do you guys have any ideas on where I can find drills for men who lack in the fundamentals of the game? How I can turn the season around? How I can plan a practice properly? Or does anyone know anyone in the Meadowlands are who wants to coach a men's team? Any help would be great....thanks

Here is our website: www.SecaucusFC.com (http://www.secaucusfc.com)


Well, first I would need to know more about the squad and its dynamics. How much does each player pay? If everyone is paying the same amout of money, it is hard to screw someone on playing time. What kind of league is it? If you are only playing for beer, good luck getting pouty grown men to show up when you are losing or they are not playing.

If, however, this is a sponsored league where the players do not have to pay, then run a tight ship. You said you had tryouts, right? Tell these players they made a committment to the team and they need to get their butts to practice. If they do not show up, fire them and get new players.

They are actiong like children , so treat them like children. As the other responder said reward those who practice with the playing time.

[metro1026]

We play in the Garden State Soccer League, www.gssl.com. There are unlimited subs, one or two players end up playing the entire match, the 4 or 5 are subbed for short stints, the rest rotate.

Everyone paid the same amount, $100, to be on the team.

It is the official state amatuer league, we started at the lowest division.

The only thing we play for is pride, no beer, no money...our players ages range from 17-35. Most of the guys are in the 20-24 age range.

We just had a management meeting, we're putting into place fines for lateness and no-call/no shows. $5 for a late, and $15 for a no-call/no-show. Players pay $6 for a yellow and $30 for a red card (the league charges $3/$15, so we doubled the fines....)

The penalty for not paying a fine will be not being able to play in any game until balance owed is paid in full.

Hopefully this will get the guys to take things more seriously. And the ones that don't, well, it will be nice to get rid of them and replace them.

We've also decided to try to attract a coach by offering a bonus style of compensation. $X amount for a win, $X amount for making the playoffs, $X amount for division championship/promotion. X will equal between 50 and 100 for a win, between 100 and 250 for making the playoffs, and between 300 and 500 for the division title/promotion.

[GROVESHSCOACH]

We play in the Garden State Soccer League, www.gssl.com. There are unlimited subs, one or two players end up playing the entire match, the 4 or 5 are subbed for short stints, the rest rotate.

Everyone paid the same amount, $100, to be on the team.

It is the official state amatuer league, we started at the lowest division.

The only thing we play for is pride, no beer, no money...our players ages range from 17-35. Most of the guys are in the 20-24 age range.

We just had a management meeting, we're putting into place fines for lateness and no-call/no shows. $5 for a late, and $15 for a no-call/no-show. Players pay $6 for a yellow and $30 for a red card (the league charges $3/$15, so we doubled the fines....)

The penalty for not paying a fine will be not being able to play in any game until balance owed is paid in full.

Hopefully this will get the guys to take things more seriously. And the ones that don't, well, it will be nice to get rid of them and replace them.

We've also decided to try to attract a coach by offering a bonus style of compensation. $X amount for a win, $X amount for making the playoffs, $X amount for division championship/promotion. X will equal between 50 and 100 for a win, between 100 and 250 for making the playoffs, and between 300 and 500 for the division title/promotion.


Sounds like you are on the right track.

[Turk from Pigs Eye]

One way to learn about coaching is to read books about it. Check out Amazon.com, the best-selling soccer books. If you can't afford them you can probably get copies through your library. If the library doesn't have them get them through inter-library loan.

Another way to learn about coaching is through a mentor. Find somebody who you think is good and is willing to talk with you on an ongoing basis, perhaps 10 minutes at a time. I have found that you can't learn everything through books and a mentor really helps.