Hey guys, this is my first post so thanks for having me. I've been reading on here for a while and I have read several articles and posts about coaches and clubs finding success with girls' teams by using high expectations to develop their players. For instance, if the coach sets a high standard for the girls to live up to, the competition to reach that standard makes the players better. While I can see how this would work for U17, U18 teams, isn't this approach too passive to actually train the players at the younger age groups? I can see where clubs would find team success, because you set a level of expectations and if the players can't reach them, you go find other players who can. But in terms of player development, shouldn't coaches of younger players develop players through instruction rather than through competition?
Great first post! I think both of these aspects play a part in player and team development. Good results and competition (success) are the byproduct of player development. I train a U11 team and agree that it is important to set high goals, standards, expectations to succeed. This goes more in line with goal settings and let's face it, we are trying to develop players, teams to be the best possible. To be the best, you have to play the best. Once at that level, the trainers job becomes that much more important to enable the players to COMPETE at that level. My U11 team last year played at the highest level of probably one of the most competitive leagues in the country. We competed every game but were able to win only one game (too many one goal losses to count). Once we played outside this league in tournaments, we performed extremely well. It hasn't been easy, especially with the parents who want wins. But, again, when we performed in tournaments, I think the parents were starting to see the picture. One thing that I do before each season- Fall, Spring- is have the team meet in private and set team goals. I don't even ask them what their goals are but frequently it comes out in the heat of battle. And they do set high goals. For the most part, they work hard in training and games to try to meet these goals.
What you're talking about seems to be setting team goals and then teaching players how to reach them. What I'm talking about is more setting a standard for the players and expecting them to perform at that level or else they don't play, get cut, etc. The thinking behind that is that if a player is required to perform at a certain level, they'll compete to get to that level on their own, and that's where the development takes place. In other words, it's the environment that teaches the players, and not the lessons taught through instruction. I haven't watched "younger" girls' soccer since my daughter was that age, but I recently had a chance to see some high level teams play in the younger age groups. It was evident to me that the coaches were more concerned about letting the environment develop the players instead of teaching them. While these teams are obviously "successful", I'd imagine that very few of the girls would be able to stay on the team for a long time because the coach would probably just get the most he could out of the players and then replace them with better players. That's the kind of competition I was talking about ... the competition to fight for your job. This way of thinking seems to say that the players owe more to the coach than the coach owes to the players. I think at the younger ages, the coaches owe it to the kids to develop them.