That just proves the point that learning should never stop. I hope you gave him the "Little grasshopper..." speech. Or maybe he was just "yanking your chain" to get a reaction. Congrats on the goals. Goal scoring never gets old.
I believe I may see him Sunday. Our team is supposed to have its first scrimmage of the spring season. Not sure if one of his kids has an away game, that may preclude him from showing up.
Weekend 2 of games is in the books. From a results standpoint, it was all bad. From a coaching standpoint there were some positive things (good passing/movement off the ball) and some bad(not applying pressure when on D) 3 of the 4 games were blowouts and it was interesting to see how different coaches did/didn't take steps to control the score
Well at least you know what to make your next practice plan in the next two practices. Immediate pressure on the dribbler after you lose the ball during transition to defense. Then your next game you should be better then you were in your previous games. It is up to the coaches that lost to make sure those blowouts don't happen again by working on individual defense and team defense in their practice plans for their teams.
Two weeks of club tryouts start tomorrow. I am going, but not involved. (I will be coaching an after-school elementary school program, not a club team.) This will be a "first" for me. I conducted trials for my former adult rec club, but we didn't use tryouts. (We were very selective and only added 1 or 2 new members a year.) I was impressed with the coaches I met so far and am looking forward to watching them in action.
Our boys had a successful tournament weekend. Five age groups out of five came away with first place, including multiple winners in several divisions within age groups. With that said, the "love fest" from parents are pouring in (not to me) to each other, managers, the players. But my cynical self wishes that we can mold this to become part of the club culture. That we are supportive of each other when things aren't going so well. It's easy to be ra-ra when you win.
Congrats elessar78. That is a tough season start for the team mentally. Leads to complacency with the parents, and kids are often are influenced by their parent's attitudes.
Nick got me curious. I found this article on line that includes a clip from an interview. http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball...n-coach-geno-auriemmas-2016-womens-final-four
I thought the guy was right I might not look at body language. But I agree with what he said. I would like to see how he acts in practice and in games. Guaranteed he is enthusiastic he probably shows his love of game in everything he does. That enthusiasm is contagious to his players. He also want the bench players to get involved in the game when they are not actually in the game. I have them look for opponents weaknesses. If they find something I want them to tell me about what they saw. If it makes sense I will use it. Then if it works I go wild with praise on those players. How many players do you have that has become coaches from just doing that?
One of the best coaches I had as a kid had a habit of periodically, and randomly, asking kids on the bench what they were seeing. It was a great tool to keep easily distracted teens focused on the game and not chatting with each other. On top of that he would often interact with the response if there was any substance to it, and if it was a good enough observation he'd be sure to credit the kid who made it when telling the team about it. That taught me a lot about how to watch a game, no matter the sport.
Do your teenage players, male or female, look bigger physically now than they used to be, say, 20 years ago? My female coaching colleagues who range in their 20s to 40s, don't seem built like these players. Most of our male coaches are also much slighter, shorter than the teens. Is it just an anomaly of our club? Are we subconsciously selecting these players at age 7-8? Are the diets different?
I think player selection has always favored early bloomers and older kids. Coaching hasn't changed in that regard. (Most of the birth year research reflects coaching decisions that happened decades ago.) What you are seeing is real. I suspect there are two factors: 1) Average height for the general population has changed slighted upward, and 2) Soccer is a mainstream sport today rather than being in many areas an ethnic sport. Today many parents played youth soccer, so they are more likely to encourage their children to play. The result is soccer participation is more reflective of the general population. For competitive athletes in the past, HS football and basketball (boys and girls), were the most popular sports. Athletes who were not the optimal body type for football and basketball could try out for soccer. Today soccer is a first choice sport of some without regard to body type.
I also wonder if all the bad press that American football has been getting these past few years, particularly regarding head injuries, isn't also having more parents point their kids and more kids look to soccer. When I grew up soccer was viewed as the sport people played when they weren't good enough for football; that conversation has changed considerably these days.
I agree, Peter. My kids are now all in their 30s. I wouldn't allow my kids to play football at all. It wasn't the sport; it was high school coaches exploiting kids for their size rather teaching the kids how to play. Way too many injuries even with the best of coaching. I explained to my boys that playing high school football was unnecessary to prepare for college football, and my job was to see that they made 18 in one piece. Then they could run their own life. Other sports would do as well or better as preparation for college football. Neither of them were really interested in football. Both of them were targeted for recruitment as early bloomers though. It was just the football coach's flattery while trying to recruit them that was getting them interested. As I had a great high school football coach I know the difference between bull$*&% and competence. Neither turned out to be big enough for college football anyway.
Not everywhere. Around my area, you still hear parents regard the whole concussion thing as further proof of the "pussification" of America. Using of course the "I got my bell rung and turned out fine" argument. I think it's been going on for much longer than the rise of the concussion concerns. My area was known as a hotbed for football talent 60s through the 80s. Now peewee football can hardly field more than a few teams. The allocation of soccer fields versus football fields is also further evidence. On a normal weekend, I drive around to the various parks around the area for soccer—why are there no football games going on? I still see baseball regularly. But even then, I don't get t-ball for kids. It's such a horrible sport for little kids. You get one kid at bat and 10-12 kids waiting for a ball. Developmentally, it's not appropriate? They should just have a bunch of games that work on the skills relating to baseball during their time. throwing and catching games, batting games, running bases games—but something with constant action. Sorry, to sound like a broken record because I've mentioned this multiple times, but we have the sons of NFL players playing soccer for us. They say their boys aren't playing football until age 14. Yeah, this is one NFL team but still revealing. I played football and I don't think you need to start early, like soccer. mid teens sounds like a perfectly good age.
4-5 years ago I asked to switch to the boys side, because knowing I had girls I'd be coaching girls for a lot longer. Well, next season the time has come to switch back. This may be my last boys team for the next decade or two. Will be interesting.
Ugh. One of those games yesterday. U11 boys. Playing against a grossly inferior opponent and somehow managed to lose 0-2. They scored their first on a complete fluke goal where one of their players knocked our keeper into the goal as he was grabbing the ball, and the ref awarded it. The other goal against was a direct kick after an inadvertent handball just outside the box. Shot hit right at our keeper but the ball squirted through his hands after a nasty bounce in the wet grass. Those literally were their only two goal scoring chances and they converted both. They didn't even have another shot all game, much less a shot on goal. We had AT LEAST 15 good chances to score, and probably five chances that absolutely had to go in, yet somehow stayed out. We had possession for probably 80% of the game, but the other team destroyed the game's flow by kicking the ball out of bounds every time they got the ball in their defensive third. We must have had 40 throw ins, with them having maybe 5. And we had at least 15 corners, compared to zero for them. This probably was the most frustrating game I've ever coached and my players were thoroughly demoralized afterward. Soccer can be so cruel. Looking forward to a cleansing training session this evening!
Sounds like some of the teams we've been playing against lately. "When in doubt, kick it out!!!!" Ughh I hate that. My G04 team played in a sand soccer tournament this past weekend. It's barely soccer, but it is super fun. I think it's the highlight of our Spring season for these girls. We lost both games on Saturday. A few weird bounces on the sand and you are down 2 goals. But won both games on Sunday. (We were down 3-1 and came back to win 5-2 and down 2-1 and came back to win 6-2). I know winning isn't everything, but it sure feels a heck of a lot better walking away from the field after a win. We are pretty tiny team, but can bang if needed when a game turns physical. Sand soccer is pretty physical at times and we held out own. The highlight for me was after the 2nd game on Sunday, the referee pulled me aside and said "We need more coaches like you working with our kids." The other team needed a shirt for their keeper. I grabbed a pinnie and let them use ours. The ref let a girl have a do-over on a throw in. He looked over at me thinking I was going to flip out for letting her have another chance. I didn't say a word. And the few times I questioned his calls, I did it in a docile and joking manner.
Weekend soccer update. It was a 5 game weekend. My 6th graders tied their 1st game, and every other game was a loss. Teams largely played reasonably well. I've got one player that is making me totally insane-- her lack of focus cost us at least 1 goal.
I started responding to this last week and then stopped—I had to really think whether what I had written down were generalizations and stereotypes or were they accurate. When I get a chance, I'll probably just answer with my experience with the caveat that it doesn't apply universally.
Coaching U-19s right now. My U-14s just finished up their "season" by winning 3 of their last 5 tournaments and finishing ranked within the top 10 in the state. Couldn't ask for more in their first year together.. can't wait to see how they develop going into Summer/Fall ball. U-19s is just newly formed.. but they have some real talent on the team. Should be fun.
Interesting coaching weekend. 7th graders played their most complete game of the season with lots of good movement off of the ball, good passing and long stretches of solid D. The bummer for this was running into the buzzsaw of a hot striker whose team kept feeding her the ball. HS girls played strong for 59 minutes and 45 seconds. They gave up the game winner with about 15 seconds left on the clock
@jmnva you were correct to emphasize the positives-how the team played. Some days the ball bounces against you. Keep up the good work.