Maybe I used the term "moves" too liberally. I agree, a go-to move is critical. I've found that to be the case anyway. When we used to teach Coerver to the preteens exclusively, we'd show them dozens of moves. Out of hundreds, only 1 or 2 kids over the years really had more than one go-to move. And you can see it in pros too—everyone knows it's coming but still can't stop it. What I'm looking to add is having a bit more wiggle and shake to their game. More simple ball feints, foot feints, shoulder feints etc. Something to throw off the defender's timing vs a scissors move. Hope that makes sense. Maybe I can incorporate that as part of a warm-up—two minutes of freestyle dribbling against a defender. I don't really have good words for what I'm thinking.
I get it and agree. With that type of training, I would demo the move (or have a capable assistant demo) and then have the players practice the moves while moving in a tight space like the center circle or a smaller cone square depending on numbers. Encourage them to practice the moves while avoiding running into each other.
I think attempting moves comes with confidence and having the ability to control the ball creates confidence. IMO, work on that left foot.
School team question: player A gets subbed off. Player B on the bench is holding out her hand for a high five for A. A doesn’t notice. B takes affront at the snub and open hand smacks A on the forehead. Prob would be nothing but B got talked to by principal for bullying last week. Coach has to report it because of previous incident. What’s the way to handle this as a parent, coach, or admin?
MS is the worst. Parent-- really strong conversation about how this isn't acceptable behavior. Lots of conversation about values and what we believe. Coach-- More conversation--we are one team. We don't treat each other this way. Not acceptable to me Admin-- least familiar role to me but under zero tolerance. Some combination of above. Even inadvertent hitting is not OK. Probably some sort of detention Rules are different from when we were kids
Update on my season. 3rd graders 1st game was grim They didn't get the idea of bigger field. Yesterday- it started to click and they played really well. Gave up a super late goal to tie Today-- it was really cool. Things really clicked and they played amazing. It helped that the other team played a stupid formation (3-3) which allowed my 2-3-1 to boss the midfield. HS Girls As a reminders these girls were amazing in the spring and we merged with a team where the top players are almost as good. This means we now have subs and no drop in quality. They have a goal difference of +7 in their last 2 games (1st game was a tie as the coaches struggled to figure out the right formation). Kindergarten girls-- just F*ing adorable
My 6Us are the same. We got blasted on my end of the field yesterday, but the kids kept playing and were having fun even though we weren't scoring much. It's nice to not keep score or worry about the results. As long as they get treats at the end, everyone is happy. I have 2 girls on my team. One is super shy until the game starts, and then she's an elbows-out bull in a china shop. The other (my daughter) is the opposite. She's the boss before the game starts. Then if the opponent are bigger or more skilled, she totally shuts down. She plays timidly and lacks aggression. I don't think it's totally a girls against boys thing, but I'd love to see her play with and against just girls to see if it makes a difference.
I get sad when I think about ages like u6 vs u9(?). At u6 we coaches and parents think their mistakes are cute and adorable. As they get even a little older we lose that sense of “adorable mistakes”. I’m using the term “we” liberally.
Ya. I could kill hours talking/writing about that. There's such a broad spectrum of players and talent and competitiveness. I played on adult teams where I had some beginner teammates making "adorable mistakes". We'd just laugh about if we were destroying the opponent, but in a close game, the competition gets the best of you, and you get super frustrated.
First game of the season was today. U14(8th grade) girls. Finally saw everything come together that we've been putting together for years. A parent described at as them playing with maturity. Heads were up, first touches away from pressure, and controlled possession. Looking forward to a great season
My daughter had her first meltdown with me as her coach yesterday. She refused to engage in the warmup and wouldn't play the first period, but when I swapped her in for the second period, she was back to normal. She ended up playing hard and scoring a goal. I have no idea what triggered her, but I'm glad my wife was there to be the parent while I coached the team. We play dual 2v2 games across an 8U field. Each coach runs a game on one half of the field. This was the first game where I was able to split up our teams and have our best pairs play each other while weaker pairs played against each other on the other half. This was one of the reasons I wanted to switch to the 2v2 format. It was great to see the stronger players get challenged while the weaker players got a chance to play against a similar level of opponents without being dominated.
Hey, coaches. I need some help. I am currenly coaching an amateur team. I was playing for the team last season, when the owner said he is going to look for a coach. I volunteered as I always dreamed to try it out. I coached the last 2 games of the season and managed to make a couple of practices. We finished 6th out of 8 teams thanks to two teams not showing to our home games. Otherwise we would finish last probably. I somehow managed to make a preseason. I figured I am not able to make the team run, so organized 6 small sided games and asked the club owner for 2 friendlies. I was able to make 5 tactical trainings to work on building from the back, attacking and some defending from the front. All of these included some transitioning work. Our results have turned out good so far. We play some decent football for this level. First game we got a draw away and they equalized in the last minute for a 2:2. 2nd game we lost, with the oponents having 1 shot on targer from a corner and then playing good defence. 3rd game we won 4-2 away against a good team and last game we trashed the last team in the league 13-1. Now the problems are. We had a melt down before our loss. I almost got in a fight during a small sided game i organized between the 1st and the second game in order to keep us in form. Our star player insulted me and tried to humiliate me in front of the team for being a trash coach. Now I am not even a coach I have no license, I am just organizing trainings and trying to organize some play. I made a meeting with the owner, the player and both captains and we figured our problems. All of them were on my side. However I am not able to organize a training session or a small sided game. I almost have an anxiety to try it. I do want to keep on training so we are in shape and I can practice coaching for my UEFA C licence. Any advice?
Try to find an experienced assistant coach, or if that's not an option, see if your captains will help you plan your training sessions.
I have a full 18 players registered with deposits for my spring 19U team, and we're 2 weeks out from the deadline and evaluations. This is a first. Not only am I not struggling to recruit players, I won't have spots on the team for the late arrivals who want to sign up over the winter. That part's almost a double edged sword. I'm sure I will have some good players decide they want to play late, but what can I do? I've been reaching out to the area high school coaches and my former players all fall so they can't say they don't know about the situation.
That is a tough situation-- especially for that age group since it is their "last" season (correct). It is always hard to say no but sometimes we have to do it. In our club we have strict size limits and a process where kids have to register by a specified date to return to their previous team. After that date, we fill slots on a first-come first-serve basis. Every season there are folks we can't return to their team. If you've reached out, I don't think there is anything you can do.
Our club is so small that our 19U team is a mix from freshman to seniors so we usually have 15Us all the way up to true 19Us. We play in a lower level league that is usually bigger clubs' B teams or mixed teams like ours so we're competitive until we get to Presidents Cup games. I had hoped some of my non-returning players would decide to play after they lost their first round sectional game last week, but nothing so far. On the other side, my assistant and I went to watch some of our new and returning guys play in their regional game last night. It was fun to be there as a fan instead of coaching ourselves. The only reason I wanted to be on the other side of the field last night was to get away from the idiot parents. Suddenly, when the opponent went down a goal, the referee turned into a totally biased idiot... apparently.
Looking for input Here is the scenario: U15 game. Attacking player is behind the defense about 3 yards outside the box. Defender throws both arms into the attackers back and sends them to the ground. Would love to know what you think the ref should do from a coaches perspective?
Did the attacker have control of the ball, moving towards the goal? Or was he running onto a through ball?
I'd be hoping for Denial of Goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) foul and direct free kick? (not a ref, unclear on restart after DOGSO outside the penalty area) Depending on the level of u15, anywhere from a red for the defender to the ref explains what the call is, the kid iis off the rest of the game but can be replaced and isn't penalized by sitting out the next game. Ideally the game reports would be monitored by the league/state and if the player was a habitual offender they'd take later action, but my goal would be for the kid to know it was a serious foul but I'm not taking 1/8th of your season away for it. Realistically I'd bet on a yellow and a dfk regardless of level...
Just coming to brag. My 3rd graders played an amazing game today. Almost all of them were executing the dribble/turn moves we'd worked on in practice. They were staying spread out and making passes. Our ref was an adult ref that we'd had in week one. He came up to me and said "it was amazing to see the difference between week 1 and today. The parents should double your pay." My HS team was down by 2 players the whole game and only lost by 1 on a weird fluky goal. Also ref total blew one call which should have resulted in us getting a free kick from 20 yards out which one of my girls might have been able to bury