Family I was talking above played their first tourney with new team this past weekend. I checked in to see how it went. "Not too good... she barely played. Looked very scared when she did get in. I think she just froze up with anxiety, and with coach's name , (coach) just pulled her right back out if she didn't like what she saw. Not very encouraging." So sad to hear. This poor girl just wants to play soccer. The local club didn't have space for her. Her team last year folded. And now this. If I had to bet, she'll be done with the sport after this year.
Been an interesting fall season so far. I lost 6 players from last spring to one of the local pay to play "premier" clubs. Replaced the girls I lost with four new players and we have been training for about a month. Last night was our first live action in a competitive scrimmage. The girls did well. Positives: - Lots of good runs being made into open space - Good defensive awareness - lots of covering for each other - switched the field well to find open space Negatives- - Still a lack of communication - Dwelling on the ball to long - not releasing the ball from pressure
One of the things I'm going to be working on through this fall and over the winter is putting together a club-wide policy with respect to how we play. It will cover things like style, system, formations, etc. Does anyone have this for their club that they'd be willing or able to share? @elessar78 posted his roadmap for building out of the back and into the attacking part of the field a while back so that was helpful, but I'd like to see what other coaches and clubs are using. The impetus for doing this now is two-fold. First, it's going to be part of one of my C course assignments, but more importantly, it doesn't look like my 12Us have been taught any system of play or anything like that so far. Given the way our club has been run, that's not surprising. Working with the younger kids this season has helped me realize how beneficial this could be to players and coaches as these kids move up through the club. If I'm coaching 19Us and inherit kids who have been playing in the same system since they were 10Us, that has to be a benefit.
She should join a rec team, even if she can't make it to all the games. better to play some games than no games.
thought I was done coaching for awhile. I'm the team admin for my older son's club team, which is pretty intense. but one of the perks was scheduling his games so that they mostly didn't conflict with younger son's rec games. younger son's rec coach started getting too busy to contact parents and coordinate activities, like informing them about rain-outs, the league director noticed, guess who's leading practices now. I'm also registered to assist with the club team, but mostly staying out of the way until they need me.
Would love to see this. I'm heading up player development for my club now and would love to see a blue print. My wish list these days: every player comfortable with the ball at their feet AND head up support the ball at good angles and distances react and move with speed when something happens proficient 1v1 can pass on the ground consistently 5-15 yards can control most balls decently It's a far cry from "style" but it'd be a lot based on positional play would be the eventual goal. But it goes to one of my main questions now that I'm in a club administrator role: how do we build a positive club culture, team culture?
We had a session on "Leading the Team" at my C course. They suggested culture comes from shared values, attitude, and goals. I'm going to try to get my travel program families - particularly my 19Us - together over the winter to work toward an expression of these. Even getting a few people in a room working on something like this should help establish an identity.
Yes, in the advanced coursework (C and above), team and club dynamics are a huge part. A lot of it has to do with said shared values. If there isn't common ground, it can be tough to align goals.
Unfortunately here many travel teams due out before u19. Proudly, a team I started at u9 became the first team in a probably over a decade to play until u19. But that’s mostly due to my former assistants that took it over and kept it going. There’s such a strong mindset that, at a certain age, unless you are playing pay to play you should try something else. After a while teams fold due to lack of players. One of the mindsets I want to change. #lifelongsport
One main reason I’ve found people leave our travel club for the P2P ranks is that some parents feel that professional coaching is better. I think I have thought of a good work around. Find a pro coach to coach the travel team instead of a volunteer dad. Around here pay to play is, conservatively, $3k/year. A travel team of 12 kids could pay a coach at $150 per family. That’s about $1800 PER TEAM per season for a coach, which is market rate here (maybe more). In total, $450 per family for fall and spring seasons. If they wanted winter training too, it’d be ~$500. $1K < $3K no 10 month commitment either
Here's a weird anecdote. Way back when, right out of college, I was able to make decent money coaching keepers on the side. It was where I had my original slate of coaching certifications and my playing position. I couldn't keep up with demand. The parents were so kind, and built me up via word of mouth. Now, a lifetime later and having my own family, I am very careful as to how my time is spent. I still work with keepers, but I don't charge anyone for services. I have found that telling folks I won't charge them has freed me up CONSIDERABLY. In youth soccer, folks like to pay.
Every age group now. A decade ago most age groups had enough for 2 teams or A/B. Not anymore. Not sure why yet. Not thinking this as a replacement for P2P, just an alternative. If families don't want the 10 month commitment or don't want to pay the $3K/year—this would be a good alternative, IMO. There may be a lot of good, qualified coaches out there that don't want to make this a ten-month commitment either. Trying to fill a gap in the "market" where we can't find a good, qualified volunteer coach and the higher-priced P2P system.
That's awesome analysis! My family expansion started in 2009 haha. Yeah, our numbers have been on the rise that last few years and that would coincide with your idea.
Where do your clubs source your uniforms? Really trying to stay away from soccer.com. We want to patronize a local business, but our local supplier doesn't meet our deadlines well enough.
We use a print shop close to the city, < 5.00/shirt for inhouse - basic Gildan cotton shirt, 2 color logo, we don't do numbers. We use soccer.com now for travel, everyone likes that the parents are on the hook for ordering, vs having to have a uniform coordinator. One of the travel admins tracks numbers so that we don't have 2 #10 as you move up the roster limits and combine teams but otherwise its on the parents.
Wow. Surprised. At last club we used soccer.com and underwhelmed. 2 other clubs use soccer.com and both are complaining of lots of stuff being late.
We do our rec program locally and use soccer.com for our travel program. I'm not totally satisfied with soccer.com, but it is easy from a club admin perspective. I will have to fight them to get our crest corrected before we pick our new uniforms for next fall though. That part has been perplexing.
I know HS soccer gets a bad rap. And for those with D1 and beyond aspirations, it's probably not the pinnacle of soccer. BUT- I'm pretty excited for the girls on the club team that I coach in So Cal. HS soccer here is a winter sport. Club is fall, spring and summer. HS games start after Thanksgiving and runs until mid-February. We play in the 2004 age group. With about half of the 15 player roster born in 2005 (we didn't change with the age group split). Of these 15, 10 of them all go the same high school. 7 freshman and 3 sophomores. 120 girls tried out for frosh/soph, JV and Varsity teams. They took about 75 girls fro the 3 teams. School has about 2,500 students total. All 10 of my girls made a team. They haven't announced which team yet, but a few will likely make JV. The rest on frosh/soph. The other 5 will all make their respective teams (3 in private school with no cuts. 2 are sophomores and they made their team last year)
It isn't coincidence; it is a message. Your daughter sounds wonderful. Don't underestimate children just because they are short. Even toddlers are aware of things happening around them before they have the language skills to express themselves.
We use Gazelle sports based out of Western MI. For us it works as they within about an hour of our club. I believe they work with teams nationally though. They provide uniforms from most major retailers. They set everything up on their website and parents are responsible for ordering and everything is delivered directly to the families. It is very easy on the coaches and the club. https://gazellesports.com/pages/team-gazelle
Excellent list. This is teaching fundamentals AND it is teaching positional play in an age appropriate way. I would explain positional play as using, what players learn in mastering SSGs, in 11 v 11. My view of "team tactics" is that it is teaching a general system of organization and a specific game plan. Most of player development is mastering fundamentals in progressively more intense play. Of course if a coach doesn't understand positional play, the list won't help him teach it. Here is a clip which IMO shows the results of a coach taking "building out of the back" too literally and then using passing pattern drills to train his players how to "properly" build out of the back. https://www.socceramerica.com/publi...crazy-goal-in-germany-thanks-to-new-rule.html