Coaching youth soccer - Page 2

Cringer · 02-14-2009, 11:23 PM

Ok, so it seems I keep getting sucked into the youth soccer world more and more. My wife actually took a board position with our local club back in the fall, just to help out. Since then, along with me doing the website for them and doing the website for the regional Association we have been sucked in full force by now with the spring season approaching. It is going to get worse though, which might be a good thing or might not....

The club President has some serious problems. His communication skills are pretty bad. He gets people together, they all agree on something, and then he will tell parents whatever he feels like when he talks to them. Registration has had signs of progress over last fall, but then there are still the same stupid mistakes. We have become tight with the Club Secretary, and one of her big concerns is where all the $$ the club brings in is going (basically is he using it in stupid ways only, or is he using it for personal use as well?) The Club VP is a joke, and only really has anything to do with referees. No one even knows if the Club Treasury is alive (which goes back to the $$ again since there seems to be this refusal from the Pres. to replace the guy who no one else on the board has seen in a year). I am supposed to be just a coach but with my wife, found myself calling lists of parents to get them to renew for the Spring season. The Club is in bad standing with the regional Association, owing them money (there is that $$ question again), somewhere in the thousands category. My wife mentioned to the President about moving me in as VP, which I guess he seemed ok with so we will see what happens there.

Today though, while my wife and I sat at the soccer fields so people could register, the Secretary (and then got my wife backing her) started saying I should go after the President position, that his contract/term is up soon with it only being for two years. Oi! I am not sure about that one, as I question my knowledge of the youth soccer world. Crap, I won't be getting my E coaching license until next month. Still, the amount of displeasure voiced to me from parents with the orginization of the league kind of helps the case for it.

So, I wrote an email to the Regional Association President, whom I work with for their website. I told him I want to meet with him in the next two-three weeks to talk about website stuff as well as 'other things' not associated with the site. I guess I will start fishing for some information from him, and see exactly how things work. I think this will be interesting, since he has no contact from anyone at our club except the Pres, who has refused to give the Secretary his contact info even. I am sure he doesn't know how things look from this side of things, and I wonder how it looks from his side. The $$ questions may be brought up but I am not sure yet. It will in a way just because of some of my questions as I fish for info.

That's the end of my rant, or my evil plans, whatever it may be. I am not thrilled about it really but I also see something that should be running like a business being run like someone's personal club, and there is really no one right now locally who would step up to try to right the ship.

cartman · 02-14-2009, 11:47 PM

Grow your beard back for maximum intimidation points.

Cringer · 02-14-2009, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cartman

Grow your beard back for maximum intimidation points.

I haven't shaved since October.

cartman · 02-15-2009, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cringer

I haven't shaved since October.

They don't stand a chance.

Marc Vaughan · 02-15-2009, 12:31 PM

I've just completed my first ever season coaching a kids U9 3v3 team.

The team had never even met before their first match and predictably got hammered the first couple of weeks, the team only had two players who could really play, an English kid who had some talent but was a tad selfish and a girl called bailey who had limited control but one hell of a hard kick.

Two other players were enthustiatic and reasonably mobile, then there was my son who was enthustic but not so mobile (one of the reason I've encouraged him to join up is that he doesn't get enough exercise).

After the first week we've done weekly training sessions for around 45 minutes where the kids practice basic passing and movement before they play a quick match (normally involving all of them vs whatever parents have been ill-advised enough to turn up

).

The team has been 'managed' with the intent to give everyone a decent amount of playing time regardless of ability and I've tried to ensure that the kids are good losers as well as good winners.

Despite our rocky start after a training session or two and some very basic crude tactics we started getting results, indeed for the final few weeks we were unbeaten until yesterday when we played the final two games of the season.

In the first game we played a side which as unbeaten last season, our two best players were late so we fielded all our weaker players at once - despite this we went a goal ahead and better still it was my son scoring his first goal of the season

The team went onto win the match 6-5 with Jake clocking up two goals

The best game was yet to come though - throughout the season the teams played well together and I've tried to encourage them to be unselfish - now Jake had scored there was only one player left on the side who hadn't done so during the season ... and for the first time ever his dad was there to watch him play.

While he was off talking to his dad I asked the other players to try and give him a chance to score if possible, I told them he'd worked hard and often set the better players up to score so this was their turn to try and help him score.

We lost the match 1-3 but it was fantastic to watch the kids try their hardest and also the way in which they tried to help him score, he didn't but his team-mates really tried hard to be unselfish and ensure he got a few chances and most importantly didn't hold it against him when he missed - I was more proud of them for their effort and loss than I had been for any of the victories they'd achieved previously.

I'm back to England for work later today and don't know if the team will remain in place for next season - but I hope so and would definitely recommend coaching to anyone who gets the opportunity.

I found it truly terrifying at first, but ended up really enjoying it - as someone who originally wanted to become a teacher its probably as close as I'll ever get to that and its been great watching the team learn and grow.

MizzouRah · 02-15-2009, 12:35 PM

I just want some decent weather so we can practice outdoors.

Izulde · 02-15-2009, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

I found it truly terrifying at first, but ended up really enjoying it

Sums up my youth soccer coaching experience perfectly.

I have to admit, I miss it, especially since I flew solo.

MizzouRah · 03-02-2009, 10:22 PM

Well, we have had around 4 practices since February and we play our first game tomorrow. We have 18 girls on this team, plus an "at large" girl who just moved here. The funny thing is, we only have one girl who doesn't fit the age matrix for U13, so we either cut her and play at U13 or keep her and play U14. We talked to the parents and decided to keep her and play up - U14. I think it's a good thing as this kid is good and she has been with me for many years.

It's going to be about 38 degrees though and that sucks!!!

We have one 5th grader on this team who is a blast to watch and we picked up a 7th grader who is a striker, something we needed big time last summer. I'm really pumped up!

Cringer · 03-06-2009, 01:14 PM

Among a ton of things that have been happening in my little soccer world, I am now coaching a 2nd team this spring due to a lack of coaches for the older kids. I am taking on a 13/14 year old team. Getting my E License this week so that should help me out some with this new team. I filled in for a guy last night coaching a practice of 11-13 year olds and the difference between the 9-10 year olds I am used to was very noticeable.

It's like with the 9-10 year olds I am trying to construct the machine out of odd parts. With the older kids the machine is built, I just needed to give it oil and and fuel for it to run smoothly.

DaddyTorgo · 03-06-2009, 02:29 PM

what's happened with the club cringer?

Cringer · 03-06-2009, 05:19 PM

heh. I started to type that out and stopped myself earlier.

I met with the regional President a week or so ago now and we talked for 2-3 hours, mostly about my local club. Without hesitation he started saying how unhappy is is with my local club board and how they are going down the path the previous board went down, which got them kicked out two years ago by the same regional Pres. and board. We compared notes on things, he sent me the club's Bylaws which should be public and are not, he also sent me the the meeting minutes and sumaries from two years ago when the last club board was dismissed and the new Pres. placed. The regional Pres. said they (regional board) would have a meeting with the local club board sometime not far down the road and probably start with taking away player registration directly with the club and have it go through them. There are serious money questions since the club has not been paying up to those above them like they should (we are talking several thousands of dollars at this point). They also have not been registering players into the system with STYSA like they should, which creates insurance liabilites for everyone I guess.

In the end I have dived further in and if things continue bad then there will probably be a change. I am actually trying to work for things to get better though, so if the local Pres. doesn't listen to advice he will probably seal his own ousting. My wife and I basically took on the roll of half the board this week with helping him fix the rosters/returning players mess, a couple of nights lasting until 2 AM just for that. I also had a fiasco in which I tried to coach just my team Wed. and ended up with almost 30 kids as no other team had heard from a coach. So trying to handle all those kids while answering calls from unhappy parents, parents wanting to register, and talking face to face with unhappy/confused parents. After an hour of that I drove across town and while throwing several F-bombs at the guy told him the roster/coach situation needs to be finished (resulting in the last couple of long nights). Since my wife and I have done so much phone work and such, we now have half the parents of 500 kids coming to us for their info, as well as coaches coming to me to find out what they want to know.

I figure down the road one of two things happen. 1) The club gets straightened out enough so it's organized and more efficient and the current Pres. keeps on going with more help or 2) It gets the boot at some point and I probably end up as President seeing how quickly I have already become a go-to for so many people and the regional guy is very comfortable with me.

Either one works for me actually, as long as the club gets better and not something that is a posterboard for how things should NOT be done. The way it is now won't work too much longer.

Cringer · 03-08-2009, 08:19 PM

Just spent most of the last three days getting my E license. They are holding a D license course down here in the summer but I think I will pass on that and hopefully they hold another one down here in a year, two at most (I say that because it has been two years since they last held a D license course down here). I am pretty sure in a year or so I will want the D license enough to go through twice the amount of what I just did.

King of New York · 03-08-2009, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

In the first game we played a side which as unbeaten last season, our two best players were late so we fielded all our weaker players at once - despite this we went a goal ahead and better still it was my son scoring his first goal of the season

The team went onto win the match 6-5 with Jake clocking up two goals

Admit it, you were screaming "Jake Vaughn is having an absolute stormer!" throughout the match.

Cringer · 03-22-2009, 01:43 PM

Finally, we got some spring games in! Our first week was postponed last week because of two days of non-stop rain killing the fields. So week two turned into week one. I have two teams I coach now so I will do a quick recap of each I guess.

First game up was my daughter's coed 9/10 team. Talk about a crazy game. I have high hopes for this team because we added three new girls from the fall, as well as three new boys. Total roster is twelve. Game was to start at 9:00 AM yesterday, and the players were showing up very slowly. We are supposed to play 8v8 w/ GK, we ended up playing 6v6. The kicker was because of no-shows I had 4 girls and 2 boys, the other team was all boys. One boy I had is a damn good player, the other is so small he could pass for a 6 year old. Technically the other team should play a man down because they had no girls, but we went even up. It was a bit rough as the girls were intimidate at first, and we went down 2-0 fairly quick. My daughter, in goal, calmed down and started making plays though, as did the girls in the field. The 'star' boy was able to start making an impact with the help and we started pressing. Then this kid got hurt halfway through the first half, bad enough that I had to go pick him up and carry him off the field and I then had to watch his mom try to help him get to the car (called last night and he is doing ok, it was his knee but he seems to have bounced back already). We had another girl show up right when he got injured so she went in, it was now 5 girls/1 small boy versus 6 boys. We gave up another goal to go down 3-0. Then the girls turned it on before the half and we controlled the ball and managed to get a goal to send it to half 3-1. At halftime I had another boy show up and I probably made a mistake here when I put him in so we could play 7v7, instead of keeping it 6v6 and giving me 1 sub to use. The team became extremely gassed at the end, combined with my daughter's hand getting hurt while making a play and having to take her out of goal for someone with no experience, the last 8 minutes of the game saw us give up 3 more goals to get crushed 6-1. Overall though I was very happy with the team on the field. They played their hearts out, and they played fairly well under the circumstances for most of the game. I saw some nice passing. My daughter tends to over think when she distributes the ball while in goal, meaning she takes too long usually, but she overall was much better there then in fall. She even threw the ball over two opponents heads on one play which gave us a break down field. One girl, who in the fall would only try to kick the ball if it came to her had some great dribbling action down the side of the field. Add our boys into the mix to make things a little more even in physical abilities and this team should be winning more games then not this season I think.

My older team played at 11:00 AM, and it was a mess because I didn't know if I really had a team. Because of the club president and his inability to decide things before they are a problem I didn't get even a partial list of players for this team. This team is 11-13 year olds because of the lack of players to keep them separate. So we had 4 players at game time, we borrowed one from the other team, and borrowed another from a travel team not playing yesterday. Turns out one girls has never played soccer, so the fact we didn't have a chance to practice before a game sure sucked for her. The good thing was the roster grew as the game went on. One boy has a friend who we registered and he will practice with us this week. We also got a girl I am very excited to coach. She played in my daughters 9/10 division in the fall, but is pretty well advanced of the other girls in that age and she was moved up for the spring. She started playing with us at the half. The interesting thing was how she locked up and didn't do much. I asked her if she was intimidated because it wasn't the Jags (her old team) and she said yes. I think once the roster gets fixed this week and we have our actual team and some practices, this will be a fun team to work with.

Cringer · 04-04-2009, 09:55 PM

I may have to retire, I clearly suck. My two teams are now a combined 0-6 to start the season. My 9/10 team lost 3-2 today, and I am kicking myself because it should have been a 2-1 win. We gave up an own goal and another goal on horrible play from the goalie. The crappy part is the goalie was my daughter, who seemed to brush it off but at the same time has said she doesn't want to play goalie for at least a week or so. The team kicked butt otherwise. My older team was horrible, with half the players newbie girls and only one sub on a hot day as two of the boys didn't show up. They fought hard but got crushed 6-0.

Not a season so far.

Cringer · 05-09-2009, 02:46 PM

Finished the regular season today (tournament left for all rec teams). After the bad 0-4 start my daughter's team finished strong with 3 wins and 1 draw in the final four games. Today they started down 2-0 early and came back to win 4-2. I am damn proud of those kids, just a great end to the season.

The older kids lost again today, their only win of the season being a forfeit last week. They were in a rough spot from the start though with mostly first time soccer players and few boys. They tried hard and improved, and seemed to enjoy themselves, so overall it wasn't a total failure.

I am a little disappointed the season is over, though a break will be nice I guess. I got attached to my daughter's team though, going to stink I can't have them all again in the fall. Since some of the boys will be moving up to U11 though I should be able to have some of them on one team and a few on my daughter's team again I guess.

Cringer · 05-21-2009, 11:57 PM

The season has been extended. El Tigres (my daughter's team) played our two tournament games the last two nights. Last night was against a team we played only once before and beat 3-1. The kids were disappointed to end in a 2-2 draw. Up 2-1 with about a minute before the final whistle and a free kick went off the goalies finger tips above his head to tie it up. I acted as I always do, let them know they did well (even though they were a little sloppy after some time off) but right away they were just deflated and really took it as a loss.

Tonight we played Pachuca, the team who steamrolled the league their first 6 games until we beat them 1-0 towards the end of the season. They beat us 6-1 the first game of the year. After they lost to us they lost the next week, then lost last night in 1-0 in the tournament. They have a good team, great GK, but they just weren't clicking I guess. We came out, it was a tough game for a bit and then we got two goals before the half. Finished up winning the game 4-0. A win and a draw equals 4 points and enough to make it to the Finals next week. The kids went crazy.

The kicker was the other team was all boys except 1 girl. They had 9 players show up (we play 8v8) while I had 8. No subs, four of my players girls. Those four girls played the games of their lives, literally. All four of them really stepped it up this game and played at a higher level then they had. I was just sad that our 5th girl missed it tonight after being with us last night.

Thursday is the Final. We play a team who we split with this season in two games. The coach is also a great guy so I am pretty happy our teams both made it. Will be a fun time. Kids don't know they get trophies for being 1st or 2nd yet, so they will love that.

Cringer · 05-27-2009, 10:55 PM

9/10 kids lost in the Final tonight, a heartbreaking 2-1. They got their trophies though, and we lost to the only team I can get over losing to I think, good kids, good guy for coach.

Now myself and that same coach we went against tonight will start working towards a U11 travel team for the fall with a lot of the U10 boys who played tonight on both sides. And of course I will do my daughters U10 team in the Fall as well.

MizzouRah · 05-28-2009, 01:09 PM

We are expanding from 1 U14 girls team to having a U12, U14, and two U15-HS teams.

Tough loss.. but at least it was a good game Cringer!

Oh.. and my 13yr old daughter will be heading to Mizzou soccer camp next month!!! She is soooo excited!

Cringer · 05-28-2009, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

We are expanding from 1 U14 girls team to having a U12, U14, and two U15-HS teams.

Tough loss.. but at least it was a good game Cringer!

Oh.. and my 13yr old daughter will be heading to Mizzou soccer camp next month!!! She is soooo excited!

That is a big jump in teams, ouch. I coached two this spring, taking one of the U12/11 rec teams because they had no coach. So I will end up sticking with two, although I will call it 2.5 because if 9/10 rec is co-ed again then I will be putting a girls team together on the side to practice one in a while and go to the regional tournament at the end of the season.

The loss was rough, we lost 3-2 and won 3-1 against them in the season. Both teams are fairly even, though we have more girls which is the case against any team we played. For that reason alone I am very happy with the team doing as well as they did. 6 games without a loss until yesterday, 4 of them wins.

My daughter is signed up for the Challenger British Soccer Camp, supposed to be pretty good but we will see.

MizzouRah · 05-28-2009, 06:43 PM

Ooohh.. that British soccer camp sounds excellent!

I actually forgot a U13 team also.. we started out with one team after we quit another local team which was not running like we had thought it would.

Now, after two seasons.. more teams are calling us and we are finally going to go "club". I'm only going to coach the U13 and U14 teams and 1 rec U8 team this fall... the other 3 guys who started this with me are going to run the other teams.

Should be a busy fall for sure!

Cringer · 09-15-2009, 03:28 AM

Let year #2 begin, or season #3, however you want to number things.

Let me skip back to the Challenger British Soccer Camp though, that happened in early August here. It was excellent! We ended up with 26 kids register and attend, which was higher then expected when the early numbers were so low and past camps only in the teens. Over $100 for a one week camp down here is just too hard for a majority of the people. The camp was great to watch though. The two coaches are university coaches in England, both young guys. They did a great job. I was happy to see my daughter improve during the camp. I also think part of it is she seems to be loosening up on the field, having more field, and moving slightly more 'athletic' then she had been last year.

Fall 2009 season officially started on the fields today with our first team practice. Been working hard for a month as I am now club treasurer and have also handle half of the registrations, roster forming, and publishing the rosters. We ended up with enough girls to have a U9/U10 girls division, in part do to the state association changing those ages to 6v6 play. No co-ed, YAY! It's going to be very good for the girls and getting them to keep playing.

I have two returning players from last season, my daughter and a girl who wasn't going to return unless it was all girls. She is a pretty good player so I am glad it worked out. Three girls have never played before and with one it clearly showed. It will be very fun working with them though and enjoyed practice very much today. Since practice at the end of last week was rained out twice we are having three this week, first game is Saturday.

Just the one team this fall, though it ends up being two/three basically. Since we are a smaller club we are allowed to assemble a U10 and U9 team from all the girls we have to play in the valley-wide Association playoffs at the end of the season. I will be in charge of picking the players, getting in a few practices, and coaching in a couple friendlies against another smaller club's teams and in the tournament. I really look forward to that as well.

Cringer · 11-19-2009, 01:22 AM

Season is pretty much over and tonight helped make this a crazy week. My U9/U10 girls team went 5-1-2 this season, both ties coming against the other top team who finished 5-1-2 I believe as well (or 4-2-2). Really a great season and all the girls from the team now make up three teams going to the Valley Playoffs (regional rec tourny). I coach the U10 girls and that takes place this weekend with what will be four games in two days.

Tonight though pretty much ended what has been a build up for a while and peeked after I became Treasurer a few months back and I saw were the money has been going. I ran for President and won fairly easy, with some people who I know would have voted for me not even able to make it to the meeting tonight. So that was nice. To complete the cleaning house my wife won to be Registrar replacing the soon former President's brother-in-law. Those two guys did pretty well to mess up many things over the year I have been around, so now the responsibilty falls on our shoulders and I am confident it will get much better with us as two of the key board members. I start officially on December 1st with my work cut out for me because right away I need to start cleaning up his mess of a tournament that is supposed to take place on December 12th but hasn't been planned, and then the off-season work of planning everything out in advance until next Fall as well as putting in solid rules and policies that the coaches support, something that hasn't ever been done really.

Going to be crazy. In a good way though I think.

Landshark44 · 06-04-2010, 05:36 PM

My 9 yr old boy is playing travel soccer for a club in Galloway, NJ. I have found it to be very good soccer, and am enjoying the experience very much. The club he plays for is Atlantic United. The Head coach is a schoolteacher, Kris Anderson, that also coaches the womens varsity team at Rutgers. They typically train 2-3 times a week, and play games on Sundays. They are just starting to take on some MAPS games....

The team my boy plays on is U10, and they go to U11 on August 1st. Since my son can hang with all of them, and is only 9, naturally I think he is a future star destined to play in the 2022 World Cup.

Anyone have experience with trying to take their kid to the TOP levels of youth soccer? I'd love to see the boy max out on his potential.....

Should I continue to have him play above his age level? Or is there more benefit to playing with kids his own age....?

Any insight into the process would be appreciated.....

MrBug708 · 08-16-2010, 01:33 PM

Looks like I am stepping into the realm of coaching youth soccer, being handed a girls U10 AYSO team.

Ksyrup · 08-16-2010, 01:52 PM

Our little one's soccer league is dying for coaches. Her team still doesn't have one and it's been 2 weeks. I just don't have the time, and I don't know jack squat or care about soccer anyway. I'll stick with softball.

DaddyTorgo · 08-16-2010, 03:34 PM

I've thought about sorta making this my "thing." I'd need to go and get my licenses though. Good thing is that my dad has a couple levels done, so he can help me thru the process.

MizzouRah · 08-16-2010, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Looks like I am stepping into the realm of coaching youth soccer, being handed a girls U10 AYSO team.

Good luck!

I have 2 U9 teams this year, rec + and competitive.

We start in two weeks and have been working hard, even in the heat.

Our club has went from one girls soccer team to 8 total teams, it's a LOT of work, but worth it.

I have my "D" license and would be happy to help anyone that needs it.

Cringer · 08-16-2010, 10:08 PM

It is worth it. I am jumping from U10 girls to U12 girls and what I am calling half-travel. Because of our location I can take advantage of registering the team as a Division III rec team but still play a mostly Division II teams. Didn't have the numbers for U11 girls so jumping to U12. Will be a rough season but I think I can keep these girls together a while and it will be worth it.

Plus, since I will not be doing a straight up rec team I will start doing open training sessions once a week for the rec kids, no charge. that way parents who maybe aren't real happy with their inexperienced coach will still feel like their kid is getting proper training and I don't have to coach twenty teams on game day to do it. The club paid for me to go get my National D license, hotel and all, so this was the goal of that for the most part. also willing to help anyone if they need it.

cubboyroy1826 · 08-16-2010, 10:56 PM

Well my U12 and U8 girls teams had their first games this past Saturday. The U8 team was awesome winning 9-5 (it would have been worse but I pulled my goal scorers back on defense after we were up 7-2.

My U12 girls wound up having three players not show up so we had no subs on a steaming ass hot day. The other teams coaches had not had time to go over offsides so there were no offisides called for the game. Having taught my girls a bit about the offsides trap we were down 4-0 in the first quarter due to 3 offside goals. My girls made a game of it losing 8-5 but really had no gas left in the 4th quarter. Their biggest problem was trying to push the ball through the middle of the field rather than up the sides which were wide open all game. We started in a 3-2-3 and had to switch to a 3-3-2 because my midfielders kept pushing too far forward. At least with 3 midfielders I was able to get on who would at least lag back a bit. So next game is Saturday and I have two girls who have said they will not make it. At least this week I get my two best defensive players back along with my top goalie. Ah the frustration of AYSO soccer when the parents just cannot commit to making the games.

Warhammer · 08-16-2010, 11:20 PM

Got roped into this again this year, this time 3rd and 4th graders.

Cringer · 08-17-2010, 02:32 AM

Wow, start early up north eh? Our season won't start until September 18th. It's a little warmer down here in November though I guess.

MrBug708 · 08-18-2010, 12:07 PM

Scheduled the first practice for tomorrow evening. Probably keep it pretty short, maybe 30 minutes and designed more to meet the girls/parents. Any ideas? Should I just work on some simple passing and stretches?

Ksyrup · 08-18-2010, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cringer

Wow, start early up north eh? Our season won't start until September 18th. It's a little warmer down here in November though I guess.

In Kentucky, the kids play end of August through early-mid October, then again in mid-March through May. In Florida, our season started in December and went through February.

bhlloy · 08-18-2010, 12:13 PM

Bug - are you coaching in TC region 98?

MrBug708 · 08-18-2010, 12:28 PM

Yessir! Are you volunteering?

bhlloy · 08-18-2010, 01:27 PM

Don't really have time anymore now I'm moving offices, but we had a Girls U10 team a couple of years ago. Good luck, definitely a very rewarding experience.

MizzouRah · 03-03-2012, 10:41 PM

Spring soccer is here.. going to be abour 35 degrees for our first game tomorrow. Our club is now at 14 teams and I'm coaching 3 teams total, 2 U10 teams and 1 U11 team, all girls.

We are looking to purchase 20 acres here in Troy, I'm so excited. Hopefully, in about 5-8 years I can quit my day job and run a soccer business.

My oldest daughter just turned 16 and would have made varsity this year, but she wants to train with our new trainer who just moved here from New York and is excellent. She only wants to train and play club ball right now, I'm a little disappointed, but it's her choice.

My 9 year old is on my U10 competitive team and she's really starting to grow, her foot skills are top 3 on the team and she has the hardest shot. I just want her to get her endurance up.

I've challeged all my teams to win their divisions this season, so we will see what happens. I really don't care about wins and losses, but there is no reason these 3 teams shouldn't win games with all the work they have put in with our trainers.

gkb · 03-04-2012, 09:48 AM

I signed my oldest up this year for U6 and was promptly told that unless we got some more coaches, we wouldn't have enough for a team. I volunteered as did another dad and I get to be assistant for the year. I've never played or coached soccer. I'm taking some classes the local club offers in an attempt to learn as much as possible before the season starts. I'm pretty nervous about this, but I like the way they go about coaching - No Lines, No Lectures, No Laps.

gstelmack · 03-04-2012, 10:41 AM

I got roped into coaching my son's U7 team due to a lack of volunteers. I have no clue what I'm doing, but I'll keep it as fun as I can for the kids.

Landshark44 · 03-04-2012, 10:52 AM

Our first game is today.... Away in Cherry Hill, NJ....U-11 Boys

Edit- Tied 0-0 Our Goalie kept us in it. We couldn't pressure at all.....

BishopMVP · 03-04-2012, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I got roped into coaching my son's U7 team due to a lack of volunteers. I have no clue what I'm doing, but I'll keep it as fun as I can for the kids.

At that age it pretty much all comes down to keeping them happy and interested. When in doubt, just try to get them as many touches as possible, particularly while moving.

MizzouRah · 03-04-2012, 06:53 PM

I was 0-3 today.. although I was very happy with foot skills/ball movement/positioning.. just couldn't finish.

I'm beat though..

MizzouRah · 03-20-2012, 10:34 PM

My U10 competitive team won tonight 2-0 and we are now 2-1 on this young season!!! We probably had possession 35 out of 50 minutes, so happy right now.

The weather has been too rainy to get practices in, but they have finally clicked as a team and work really well together.

MizzouRah · 07-28-2013, 08:38 AM

wow.. over a year later.. my U11 team is at the show me games this weekend and we had to win all 4 games to take the gold.. we won the first two 4-1 and lost 3-1 last night.. ugh.. I waited too long to switch to a 2-3-2 as skill wise we were better, but the other team was a "kick and run team" and just let their two speedsters run under the long ball.

Playing for silver today..

MizzouRah · 07-28-2013, 07:16 PM

Won the silver!

Izulde · 07-28-2013, 07:18 PM

Congrats!

MizzouRah · 07-28-2013, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Izulde

Congrats!

Thanks, we had a blast!

Now we are on to 11v11.. I can't wait!!!

02-14-2009, 11:47 PM	#52
cartman Death Herald Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Le stelle la notte sono grandi e luminose nel cuore profondo del Texas	Grow your beard back for maximum intimidation points. __________________ Thinkin' of a master plan 'Cuz ain't nuthin' but sweat inside my hand So I dig into my pocket, all my money is spent So I dig deeper but still comin' up with lint

02-15-2009, 12:31 PM	#55
Marc Vaughan SI Games Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Melbourne, FL	I've just completed my first ever season coaching a kids U9 3v3 team. The team had never even met before their first match and predictably got hammered the first couple of weeks, the team only had two players who could really play, an English kid who had some talent but was a tad selfish and a girl called bailey who had limited control but one hell of a hard kick. Two other players were enthustiatic and reasonably mobile, then there was my son who was enthustic but not so mobile (one of the reason I've encouraged him to join up is that he doesn't get enough exercise). After the first week we've done weekly training sessions for around 45 minutes where the kids practice basic passing and movement before they play a quick match (normally involving all of them vs whatever parents have been ill-advised enough to turn up ). The team has been 'managed' with the intent to give everyone a decent amount of playing time regardless of ability and I've tried to ensure that the kids are good losers as well as good winners. Despite our rocky start after a training session or two and some very basic crude tactics we started getting results, indeed for the final few weeks we were unbeaten until yesterday when we played the final two games of the season. In the first game we played a side which as unbeaten last season, our two best players were late so we fielded all our weaker players at once - despite this we went a goal ahead and better still it was my son scoring his first goal of the season The team went onto win the match 6-5 with Jake clocking up two goals The best game was yet to come though - throughout the season the teams played well together and I've tried to encourage them to be unselfish - now Jake had scored there was only one player left on the side who hadn't done so during the season ... and for the first time ever his dad was there to watch him play. While he was off talking to his dad I asked the other players to try and give him a chance to score if possible, I told them he'd worked hard and often set the better players up to score so this was their turn to try and help him score. We lost the match 1-3 but it was fantastic to watch the kids try their hardest and also the way in which they tried to help him score, he didn't but his team-mates really tried hard to be unselfish and ensure he got a few chances and most importantly didn't hold it against him when he missed - I was more proud of them for their effort and loss than I had been for any of the victories they'd achieved previously. I'm back to England for work later today and don't know if the team will remain in place for next season - but I hope so and would definitely recommend coaching to anyone who gets the opportunity. I found it truly terrifying at first, but ended up really enjoying it - as someone who originally wanted to become a teacher its probably as close as I'll ever get to that and its been great watching the team learn and grow. Last edited by Marc Vaughan : 02-15-2009 at 12:33 PM.

03-06-2009, 01:14 PM	#59
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	Among a ton of things that have been happening in my little soccer world, I am now coaching a 2nd team this spring due to a lack of coaches for the older kids. I am taking on a 13/14 year old team. Getting my E License this week so that should help me out some with this new team. I filled in for a guy last night coaching a practice of 11-13 year olds and the difference between the 9-10 year olds I am used to was very noticeable. It's like with the 9-10 year olds I am trying to construct the machine out of odd parts. With the older kids the machine is built, I just needed to give it oil and and fuel for it to run smoothly. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

03-06-2009, 05:19 PM	#61
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	heh. I started to type that out and stopped myself earlier. I met with the regional President a week or so ago now and we talked for 2-3 hours, mostly about my local club. Without hesitation he started saying how unhappy is is with my local club board and how they are going down the path the previous board went down, which got them kicked out two years ago by the same regional Pres. and board. We compared notes on things, he sent me the club's Bylaws which should be public and are not, he also sent me the the meeting minutes and sumaries from two years ago when the last club board was dismissed and the new Pres. placed. The regional Pres. said they (regional board) would have a meeting with the local club board sometime not far down the road and probably start with taking away player registration directly with the club and have it go through them. There are serious money questions since the club has not been paying up to those above them like they should (we are talking several thousands of dollars at this point). They also have not been registering players into the system with STYSA like they should, which creates insurance liabilites for everyone I guess. In the end I have dived further in and if things continue bad then there will probably be a change. I am actually trying to work for things to get better though, so if the local Pres. doesn't listen to advice he will probably seal his own ousting. My wife and I basically took on the roll of half the board this week with helping him fix the rosters/returning players mess, a couple of nights lasting until 2 AM just for that. I also had a fiasco in which I tried to coach just my team Wed. and ended up with almost 30 kids as no other team had heard from a coach. So trying to handle all those kids while answering calls from unhappy parents, parents wanting to register, and talking face to face with unhappy/confused parents. After an hour of that I drove across town and while throwing several F-bombs at the guy told him the roster/coach situation needs to be finished (resulting in the last couple of long nights). Since my wife and I have done so much phone work and such, we now have half the parents of 500 kids coming to us for their info, as well as coaches coming to me to find out what they want to know. I figure down the road one of two things happen. 1) The club gets straightened out enough so it's organized and more efficient and the current Pres. keeps on going with more help or 2) It gets the boot at some point and I probably end up as President seeing how quickly I have already become a go-to for so many people and the regional guy is very comfortable with me. Either one works for me actually, as long as the club gets better and not something that is a posterboard for how things should NOT be done. The way it is now won't work too much longer. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

03-08-2009, 08:19 PM	#62
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	Just spent most of the last three days getting my E license. They are holding a D license course down here in the summer but I think I will pass on that and hopefully they hold another one down here in a year, two at most (I say that because it has been two years since they last held a D license course down here). I am pretty sure in a year or so I will want the D license enough to go through twice the amount of what I just did. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

02-15-2009, 12:35 PM	#56
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Troy, Mo	I just want some decent weather so we can practice outdoors.

03-02-2009, 10:22 PM	#58
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Troy, Mo	Well, we have had around 4 practices since February and we play our first game tomorrow. We have 18 girls on this team, plus an "at large" girl who just moved here. The funny thing is, we only have one girl who doesn't fit the age matrix for U13, so we either cut her and play at U13 or keep her and play U14. We talked to the parents and decided to keep her and play up - U14. I think it's a good thing as this kid is good and she has been with me for many years. It's going to be about 38 degrees though and that sucks!!! We have one 5th grader on this team who is a blast to watch and we picked up a 7th grader who is a striker, something we needed big time last summer. I'm really pumped up!

03-06-2009, 02:29 PM	#60
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	what's happened with the club cringer?

03-22-2009, 01:43 PM	#64
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	Finally, we got some spring games in! Our first week was postponed last week because of two days of non-stop rain killing the fields. So week two turned into week one. I have two teams I coach now so I will do a quick recap of each I guess. First game up was my daughter's coed 9/10 team. Talk about a crazy game. I have high hopes for this team because we added three new girls from the fall, as well as three new boys. Total roster is twelve. Game was to start at 9:00 AM yesterday, and the players were showing up very slowly. We are supposed to play 8v8 w/ GK, we ended up playing 6v6. The kicker was because of no-shows I had 4 girls and 2 boys, the other team was all boys. One boy I had is a damn good player, the other is so small he could pass for a 6 year old. Technically the other team should play a man down because they had no girls, but we went even up. It was a bit rough as the girls were intimidate at first, and we went down 2-0 fairly quick. My daughter, in goal, calmed down and started making plays though, as did the girls in the field. The 'star' boy was able to start making an impact with the help and we started pressing. Then this kid got hurt halfway through the first half, bad enough that I had to go pick him up and carry him off the field and I then had to watch his mom try to help him get to the car (called last night and he is doing ok, it was his knee but he seems to have bounced back already). We had another girl show up right when he got injured so she went in, it was now 5 girls/1 small boy versus 6 boys. We gave up another goal to go down 3-0. Then the girls turned it on before the half and we controlled the ball and managed to get a goal to send it to half 3-1. At halftime I had another boy show up and I probably made a mistake here when I put him in so we could play 7v7, instead of keeping it 6v6 and giving me 1 sub to use. The team became extremely gassed at the end, combined with my daughter's hand getting hurt while making a play and having to take her out of goal for someone with no experience, the last 8 minutes of the game saw us give up 3 more goals to get crushed 6-1. Overall though I was very happy with the team on the field. They played their hearts out, and they played fairly well under the circumstances for most of the game. I saw some nice passing. My daughter tends to over think when she distributes the ball while in goal, meaning she takes too long usually, but she overall was much better there then in fall. She even threw the ball over two opponents heads on one play which gave us a break down field. One girl, who in the fall would only try to kick the ball if it came to her had some great dribbling action down the side of the field. Add our boys into the mix to make things a little more even in physical abilities and this team should be winning more games then not this season I think. My older team played at 11:00 AM, and it was a mess because I didn't know if I really had a team. Because of the club president and his inability to decide things before they are a problem I didn't get even a partial list of players for this team. This team is 11-13 year olds because of the lack of players to keep them separate. So we had 4 players at game time, we borrowed one from the other team, and borrowed another from a travel team not playing yesterday. Turns out one girls has never played soccer, so the fact we didn't have a chance to practice before a game sure sucked for her. The good thing was the roster grew as the game went on. One boy has a friend who we registered and he will practice with us this week. We also got a girl I am very excited to coach. She played in my daughters 9/10 division in the fall, but is pretty well advanced of the other girls in that age and she was moved up for the spring. She started playing with us at the half. The interesting thing was how she locked up and didn't do much. I asked her if she was intimidated because it wasn't the Jags (her old team) and she said yes. I think once the roster gets fixed this week and we have our actual team and some practices, this will be a fun team to work with. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

04-04-2009, 09:55 PM	#65
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	I may have to retire, I clearly suck. My two teams are now a combined 0-6 to start the season. My 9/10 team lost 3-2 today, and I am kicking myself because it should have been a 2-1 win. We gave up an own goal and another goal on horrible play from the goalie. The crappy part is the goalie was my daughter, who seemed to brush it off but at the same time has said she doesn't want to play goalie for at least a week or so. The team kicked butt otherwise. My older team was horrible, with half the players newbie girls and only one sub on a hot day as two of the boys didn't show up. They fought hard but got crushed 6-0. Not a season so far. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

05-09-2009, 02:46 PM	#66
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	Finished the regular season today (tournament left for all rec teams). After the bad 0-4 start my daughter's team finished strong with 3 wins and 1 draw in the final four games. Today they started down 2-0 early and came back to win 4-2. I am damn proud of those kids, just a great end to the season. The older kids lost again today, their only win of the season being a forfeit last week. They were in a rough spot from the start though with mostly first time soccer players and few boys. They tried hard and improved, and seemed to enjoy themselves, so overall it wasn't a total failure. I am a little disappointed the season is over, though a break will be nice I guess. I got attached to my daughter's team though, going to stink I can't have them all again in the fall. Since some of the boys will be moving up to U11 though I should be able to have some of them on one team and a few on my daughter's team again I guess. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

05-21-2009, 11:57 PM	#67
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	The season has been extended. El Tigres (my daughter's team) played our two tournament games the last two nights. Last night was against a team we played only once before and beat 3-1. The kids were disappointed to end in a 2-2 draw. Up 2-1 with about a minute before the final whistle and a free kick went off the goalies finger tips above his head to tie it up. I acted as I always do, let them know they did well (even though they were a little sloppy after some time off) but right away they were just deflated and really took it as a loss. Tonight we played Pachuca, the team who steamrolled the league their first 6 games until we beat them 1-0 towards the end of the season. They beat us 6-1 the first game of the year. After they lost to us they lost the next week, then lost last night in 1-0 in the tournament. They have a good team, great GK, but they just weren't clicking I guess. We came out, it was a tough game for a bit and then we got two goals before the half. Finished up winning the game 4-0. A win and a draw equals 4 points and enough to make it to the Finals next week. The kids went crazy. The kicker was the other team was all boys except 1 girl. They had 9 players show up (we play 8v8) while I had 8. No subs, four of my players girls. Those four girls played the games of their lives, literally. All four of them really stepped it up this game and played at a higher level then they had. I was just sad that our 5th girl missed it tonight after being with us last night. Thursday is the Final. We play a team who we split with this season in two games. The coach is also a great guy so I am pretty happy our teams both made it. Will be a fun time. Kids don't know they get trophies for being 1st or 2nd yet, so they will love that. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

05-27-2009, 10:55 PM	#68
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	9/10 kids lost in the Final tonight, a heartbreaking 2-1. They got their trophies though, and we lost to the only team I can get over losing to I think, good kids, good guy for coach. Now myself and that same coach we went against tonight will start working towards a U11 travel team for the fall with a lot of the U10 boys who played tonight on both sides. And of course I will do my daughters U10 team in the Fall as well. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

05-28-2009, 01:09 PM	#69
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Troy, Mo	We are expanding from 1 U14 girls team to having a U12, U14, and two U15-HS teams. Tough loss.. but at least it was a good game Cringer! Oh.. and my 13yr old daughter will be heading to Mizzou soccer camp next month!!! She is soooo excited! Last edited by MizzouRah : 05-28-2009 at 01:10 PM.

05-28-2009, 06:43 PM	#71
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Troy, Mo	Ooohh.. that British soccer camp sounds excellent! I actually forgot a U13 team also.. we started out with one team after we quit another local team which was not running like we had thought it would. Now, after two seasons.. more teams are calling us and we are finally going to go "club". I'm only going to coach the U13 and U14 teams and 1 rec U8 team this fall... the other 3 guys who started this with me are going to run the other teams. Should be a busy fall for sure!

09-15-2009, 03:28 AM	#72
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	Let year #2 begin, or season #3, however you want to number things. Let me skip back to the Challenger British Soccer Camp though, that happened in early August here. It was excellent! We ended up with 26 kids register and attend, which was higher then expected when the early numbers were so low and past camps only in the teens. Over $100 for a one week camp down here is just too hard for a majority of the people. The camp was great to watch though. The two coaches are university coaches in England, both young guys. They did a great job. I was happy to see my daughter improve during the camp. I also think part of it is she seems to be loosening up on the field, having more field, and moving slightly more 'athletic' then she had been last year. Fall 2009 season officially started on the fields today with our first team practice. Been working hard for a month as I am now club treasurer and have also handle half of the registrations, roster forming, and publishing the rosters. We ended up with enough girls to have a U9/U10 girls division, in part do to the state association changing those ages to 6v6 play. No co-ed, YAY! It's going to be very good for the girls and getting them to keep playing. I have two returning players from last season, my daughter and a girl who wasn't going to return unless it was all girls. She is a pretty good player so I am glad it worked out. Three girls have never played before and with one it clearly showed. It will be very fun working with them though and enjoyed practice very much today. Since practice at the end of last week was rained out twice we are having three this week, first game is Saturday. Just the one team this fall, though it ends up being two/three basically. Since we are a smaller club we are allowed to assemble a U10 and U9 team from all the girls we have to play in the valley-wide Association playoffs at the end of the season. I will be in charge of picking the players, getting in a few practices, and coaching in a couple friendlies against another smaller club's teams and in the tournament. I really look forward to that as well. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

11-19-2009, 01:22 AM	#73
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	Season is pretty much over and tonight helped make this a crazy week. My U9/U10 girls team went 5-1-2 this season, both ties coming against the other top team who finished 5-1-2 I believe as well (or 4-2-2). Really a great season and all the girls from the team now make up three teams going to the Valley Playoffs (regional rec tourny). I coach the U10 girls and that takes place this weekend with what will be four games in two days. Tonight though pretty much ended what has been a build up for a while and peeked after I became Treasurer a few months back and I saw were the money has been going. I ran for President and won fairly easy, with some people who I know would have voted for me not even able to make it to the meeting tonight. So that was nice. To complete the cleaning house my wife won to be Registrar replacing the soon former President's brother-in-law. Those two guys did pretty well to mess up many things over the year I have been around, so now the responsibilty falls on our shoulders and I am confident it will get much better with us as two of the key board members. I start officially on December 1st with my work cut out for me because right away I need to start cleaning up his mess of a tournament that is supposed to take place on December 12th but hasn't been planned, and then the off-season work of planning everything out in advance until next Fall as well as putting in solid rules and policies that the coaches support, something that hasn't ever been done really. Going to be crazy. In a good way though I think. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

06-04-2010, 05:36 PM	#74
Landshark44 High School Varsity Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Atlantic City, NJ	My 9 yr old boy is playing travel soccer for a club in Galloway, NJ. I have found it to be very good soccer, and am enjoying the experience very much. The club he plays for is Atlantic United. The Head coach is a schoolteacher, Kris Anderson, that also coaches the womens varsity team at Rutgers. They typically train 2-3 times a week, and play games on Sundays. They are just starting to take on some MAPS games.... The team my boy plays on is U10, and they go to U11 on August 1st. Since my son can hang with all of them, and is only 9, naturally I think he is a future star destined to play in the 2022 World Cup. Anyone have experience with trying to take their kid to the TOP levels of youth soccer? I'd love to see the boy max out on his potential..... Should I continue to have him play above his age level? Or is there more benefit to playing with kids his own age....? Any insight into the process would be appreciated.....

08-16-2010, 01:33 PM	#75
MrBug708 Head Coach Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Whittier	Looks like I am stepping into the realm of coaching youth soccer, being handed a girls U10 AYSO team.

08-16-2010, 01:52 PM	#76
Ksyrup This guy has posted so much, his fingers are about to fall off. Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: In Absentia	Our little one's soccer league is dying for coaches. Her team still doesn't have one and it's been 2 weeks. I just don't have the time, and I don't know jack squat or care about soccer anyway. I'll stick with softball. __________________ M's pitcher Miguel Batista: "Now, I feel like I've had everything. I've talked pitching with Sandy Koufax, had Kenny G play for me. Maybe if I could have an interview with God, then I'd be served. I'd be complete." Last edited by Ksyrup : 08-16-2010 at 01:52 PM.

08-16-2010, 03:34 PM	#77
DaddyTorgo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Massachusetts	I've thought about sorta making this my "thing." I'd need to go and get my licenses though. Good thing is that my dad has a couple levels done, so he can help me thru the process. __________________ Get bent whoever hacked my pw and changed my signature.

08-16-2010, 10:08 PM	#79
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	It is worth it. I am jumping from U10 girls to U12 girls and what I am calling half-travel. Because of our location I can take advantage of registering the team as a Division III rec team but still play a mostly Division II teams. Didn't have the numbers for U11 girls so jumping to U12. Will be a rough season but I think I can keep these girls together a while and it will be worth it. Plus, since I will not be doing a straight up rec team I will start doing open training sessions once a week for the rec kids, no charge. that way parents who maybe aren't real happy with their inexperienced coach will still feel like their kid is getting proper training and I don't have to coach twenty teams on game day to do it. The club paid for me to go get my National D license, hotel and all, so this was the goal of that for the most part. also willing to help anyone if they need it. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose! Last edited by Cringer : 08-16-2010 at 10:09 PM.

08-16-2010, 10:56 PM	#80
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	Well my U12 and U8 girls teams had their first games this past Saturday. The U8 team was awesome winning 9-5 (it would have been worse but I pulled my goal scorers back on defense after we were up 7-2. My U12 girls wound up having three players not show up so we had no subs on a steaming ass hot day. The other teams coaches had not had time to go over offsides so there were no offisides called for the game. Having taught my girls a bit about the offsides trap we were down 4-0 in the first quarter due to 3 offside goals. My girls made a game of it losing 8-5 but really had no gas left in the 4th quarter. Their biggest problem was trying to push the ball through the middle of the field rather than up the sides which were wide open all game. We started in a 3-2-3 and had to switch to a 3-3-2 because my midfielders kept pushing too far forward. At least with 3 midfielders I was able to get on who would at least lag back a bit. So next game is Saturday and I have two girls who have said they will not make it. At least this week I get my two best defensive players back along with my top goalie. Ah the frustration of AYSO soccer when the parents just cannot commit to making the games.

08-16-2010, 11:20 PM	#81
Warhammer Pro Starter Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Dayton, OH	Got roped into this again this year, this time 3rd and 4th graders.

08-17-2010, 02:32 AM	#82
Cringer Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Edinburg,TX	Wow, start early up north eh? Our season won't start until September 18th. It's a little warmer down here in November though I guess. __________________ You Stole Fizzy Lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and steralized, so you get NOTHING! You lose!

08-18-2010, 12:07 PM	#83
MrBug708 Head Coach Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Whittier	Scheduled the first practice for tomorrow evening. Probably keep it pretty short, maybe 30 minutes and designed more to meet the girls/parents. Any ideas? Should I just work on some simple passing and stretches?

08-18-2010, 12:13 PM	#85
bhlloy Coordinator Join Date: Nov 2003	Bug - are you coaching in TC region 98?

08-18-2010, 12:28 PM	#86
MrBug708 Head Coach Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Whittier	Yessir! Are you volunteering?

08-18-2010, 01:27 PM	#87
bhlloy Coordinator Join Date: Nov 2003	Don't really have time anymore now I'm moving offices, but we had a Girls U10 team a couple of years ago. Good luck, definitely a very rewarding experience.

03-03-2012, 10:41 PM	#88
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Troy, Mo	Spring soccer is here.. going to be abour 35 degrees for our first game tomorrow. Our club is now at 14 teams and I'm coaching 3 teams total, 2 U10 teams and 1 U11 team, all girls. We are looking to purchase 20 acres here in Troy, I'm so excited. Hopefully, in about 5-8 years I can quit my day job and run a soccer business. My oldest daughter just turned 16 and would have made varsity this year, but she wants to train with our new trainer who just moved here from New York and is excellent. She only wants to train and play club ball right now, I'm a little disappointed, but it's her choice. My 9 year old is on my U10 competitive team and she's really starting to grow, her foot skills are top 3 on the team and she has the hardest shot. I just want her to get her endurance up. I've challeged all my teams to win their divisions this season, so we will see what happens. I really don't care about wins and losses, but there is no reason these 3 teams shouldn't win games with all the work they have put in with our trainers.

03-04-2012, 09:48 AM	#89
gkb High School Varsity Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Colorado	I signed my oldest up this year for U6 and was promptly told that unless we got some more coaches, we wouldn't have enough for a team. I volunteered as did another dad and I get to be assistant for the year. I've never played or coached soccer. I'm taking some classes the local club offers in an attempt to learn as much as possible before the season starts. I'm pretty nervous about this, but I like the way they go about coaching - No Lines, No Lectures, No Laps. __________________ BALLERZ YO, fo shizzle. - QuikSand

03-04-2012, 10:41 AM	#90
gstelmack Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Cary, NC	I got roped into coaching my son's U7 team due to a lack of volunteers. I have no clue what I'm doing, but I'll keep it as fun as I can for the kids. __________________ -- Greg -- Author of various FOF utilities

03-04-2012, 10:52 AM	#91
Landshark44 High School Varsity Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Atlantic City, NJ	Our first game is today.... Away in Cherry Hill, NJ....U-11 Boys Edit- Tied 0-0 Our Goalie kept us in it. We couldn't pressure at all..... Last edited by Landshark44 : 03-04-2012 at 05:46 PM.

03-04-2012, 06:53 PM	#93
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Troy, Mo	I was 0-3 today.. although I was very happy with foot skills/ball movement/positioning.. just couldn't finish. I'm beat though..

03-20-2012, 10:34 PM	#94
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Troy, Mo	My U10 competitive team won tonight 2-0 and we are now 2-1 on this young season!!! We probably had possession 35 out of 50 minutes, so happy right now. The weather has been too rainy to get practices in, but they have finally clicked as a team and work really well together.