To put it perspective--my son is out in Arizona because his JuCo made it to the NJCAA national championship tournament. His team dropped both games in pool play and now they're out. Last night I sent him a text letting him know I was sorry his season (and his "career" at this two-year school) was over but that I was happy for him that his team made it as far as they did. Then I followed that by letting him know his mother and I are looking forward to seeing him next week for the holiday, and asking him to let us know when his last class is so one of us knows when to drive down and pick him up. Didn't ask any questions about the games, the other teams, or anything else. I figure if he has anything to say he'll bring it up when he's home for Thanksgiving. He's a sophomore in college, but some things never change...
I have had my 2001 age group from 6/7 year olds to now u17. We went without a win from u10 to about half way through u12, so about 45 games. Part of this was because we lost some of our best players to clubs in a higher division, but it was also due to the fact our players were later to develop physically and were often bullied off the ball. As coaches we identified where the issue was (physical size) what we could do about it (get them to play around the opposition). We worked on this for all of that time knowing it would make them better in the long run when physically they started to catch up. However, we had to keep the players happy. For us, This was about developing a team spirit, a them and us. We told them what they did well and what they didn’t. We told them we didn’t care whether they won or lost, just how they tried to put what we taught them into to practice and that, no matter how bad things got, they played/won as a team and lost as a team. It became a regular pattern for opposition coaches to comment that we never gave up and they took pride from that. We ignored the league table. Ours was not published at that age and, if the lads asked, I would tell them I didn’t know or care what position the opposing side were in (we were always bottom), they had to come here and work like everyone else. I always knew though and always checked the tables and results available to coaches. They were a happy bunch of lads and still are. We have two teams at u17 now and both are top 4 in the league as of today and we hope to have 2 of the top 3 spots in may come the end of the season. Both teams get regular compliments about the quality of football they play (they have always played good football, you just didn’t notice it as much when your players were twice their size) We have so many more players because their mates could see how much they enjoyed it and want to ply here too. The girls will be fine. Their parents need to let them develop and their coaches need to treat it as an opportunity to prepare for 2019/2020/2021 and build the foundations for the team they will become. All need to enjoy the journey. At u12 the destination is years away.
Thanks for sharing! I like to read those stories, and this thread has a few, where a team just keeps plugging away regardless of the results. I see some of that potential with our team, but there are a few unknowns or things I'd like to see more of: 1) There hasn't been that great bonding time for the girls yet. They see each other at practice and games, but they are mostly made up of girls from different schools. I'd like to see them a little closer as a team. 2) I'm not certain the longevity of this team. Without rehashing too much, this is a select team that comes from a rec league. The rec league is U7 through U14. It could be that after 7th or 8th grade, there wouldn't be a team, but I don't know that for sure. 3) My daughter is an 07 (U11) on an 06 (U12) team. While she deserves to be on the team, they don't have enough for a U11, U12, and U13 team -- so they have a U12 team (06 and 07 girls) and a U13 team (05 and the other 06 girls). Eventually the team will get broken up I imagine. How many teams do coach now?
There are a couple of ways to do this that I would look at if they were my team. 1. The sessions need to include a bonding element. i.e. the drills/SSGs should all have an objective they have to work towards, one that is measurable and could see them teamed up with someone they don't normally pair up with. The coaches should always mix up the teams for this reason. 2. We (coaches and players) still talk about a paint balling day we took them to when they were 11. It was early January, snow on the ground and very cold. We had a blast. I think the fact I wore a headscarf I picked up in the Gulf making me very easy to pick out and target helped too!!! We tried to do something at least a couple of times a year. Karting got very competitive in the summer. Team spirit is fought for and comes best from adversity. Humans need a common foe. Today that was me "If you are on the bench and think I'm wrong. Good. Prove me wrong. If your mate is on the bench and I'm wrong. Good. Help him prove me wrong." The coach has a responsibility to build that common identity in my opinion but parents can help by referring to "Us" and avoiding looking at individual performances where possible. If someone has done poorly the answer is "how could she be helped, have better support from the rest of the team so it does not happen again" My measure of success from the start has never been about how long the team lasts for or how much it wins (just as well ) My first mentor/DOC said to me "You'll only know how good a coach you are when you know how many of them are still playing football after age 18" That has been my aim. To make sure as many as possible are playing as adults at whatever level. I think/hope my current u17s will all be playing as adults. I think 6 of them have a chance at a semi pro/national level amateur career if they apply themselves. If your daughter's coach is short term goal oriented that is not something you can do much about. What you can do is help her love of the game so that she will always be looking to play somewhere. To me, any level is fine. She will be getting lifelong memories and lifeskills. I would rather coach a losing team in a select team that plays for the love of it than have them drop out at 14. If the club do their job right, the girls will be demanding to play travel/select or whatever they need to play to keep together and the results/prospective results will not matter. No need for this to be an absolute. The club can work on getting players in. This is why we did not have trials or cuts. We wanted the numbers in. Too many players? Form more teams and get more coaches. Any idiot can send 11 good players onto the field and shout the right things from the sideline. A coach helps make them the best player they can be - sometimes that means accepting they would be better off with a better coach; more often than not it means accepting that if they can't tackle, pass, move and shoot you are doing something wrong and need to pull your finger out. We have two under 17 teams (34 players). We train them together most of the time although the teams will split if there is something specific we need to work on. I am also doing sessions for 4,5, & 6 year olds. Partly because the club sent out a call for help and partly because I have been asked to think about being Academy Director. This would mean coaching the 4,5 & 6 year olds before they are handed off to their age group coaches at age 7 but also fixing the clubs style of play and coaching philosophy - to be followed to an extent by all age group teams which have been through it i.e. a very long term commitment so hence I am thinking about it
My club's HS rec program looks a lot like this. Teams have rosters of 20ish kids and typically have 11-14 show up for games. Most teams just practice once a week. Depending on what is going at school, teams get anyplace from 6-12 kids at practice. We had 16 girls teams and 21 boys teams in the fall season.