Coaching youth soccer

[Cringer]

So, about 8 months after walking off the truck I am doing one of the things I always wanted to do and couldn't before, I am coaching my daughters soccer team. A few years ago my wife coached her U6 team and I took part in that a few times when I could, but it was just that, a few times. My daughter hasn't played since (because of a somewhat disorganized soccer program in our town in that time) and is very excited to play and have me as the coach.

So let the madness begin. My daughter is supposed to be playing U9, but do to lack of kids in her age group (we blame the lack of knowledge about when sign-ups happen, same reason my daughter missed the last two years) she will be playing in what is U9 and U10 combined. Not only that, but coed as well. I got the call last night and went to pick up the roster and schedule tonight. Scrimmage games are Saturday morning, not a lot of time eh? Called all the parents, told them about Saturday and what they need, let them know to be there early so everyone can meet and we can try to squeeze in a short-sided game to warm up before hand. Then we will decide about when to practice afterwards and all that.....

(Interesting side story, lost one player already because the dad volunteered to coach and was given a team his son wasn't on. He said his son only plays if he is the coach so the League Director kicked the guy out and said he would be a bad coach anyways. Kid loses out because dad is selfish.)

Going to be interesting. I am currently trying to find a link to U9-U10 soccer rules. I have no idea how it differs right now and they said they just follow the USYS rules or something like that. I know it is 8v8, with goalie, and that is about it. Any tips from veteran soccer coaches would be cool. I am already planning training programs, mostly SSG's, though I am going to have to work with goalies and some basics for a few kids like throw-ins and such because they have limited to no experience.

Ok, back to looking at the info I can find online. So far footy4kids seems like a great site.

[Izulde]

I've only coached U14 and it was just for one year so I doubt I'd be much help, especially given the huge disparity between U9/U10 playing environment and U14.

[Chief Rum]

Here's a tutorial:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384642/

[Cringer]

Get Mike Ditka? Will have to work on that one.....

[BishopMVP]

Sorry, I've only helped coach U14-JV level before. (I honestly thought U-10 was only 7v7, but maybe that's a regional difference.) Going off reffing a few small-sided games in the past and coaching youth lacrosse teams, I'd recommend the following.

The most important thing at that age is to make sure the kids have fun and want to continue playing/improving their game. It sounds like you'll get an hour a week at most for practice, so any kids that markedly improve skillsets will do so on their own at home (strongly encourage them all to do this - juggle a little, kick against a wall, but they'll only do so on their own if they're having fun and enjoy playing, which is why that's step 1). Tactically, I'd say do your best to make them spread out and look to pass to an open person, any open person. Their natural impulse will pretty much all be to swarm the ball and run straight at goal with it, so do what you can to make sure some kids are opening up as an outlet, and make sure that it rewarded by receiving a pass - it'll encourage more of it. My one favorite drill for that age level has always been 2v1's/3v2's. 50% or more of team sports is find the open teammate and get them the ball, plus there are lots of goals which are fun. For defense, it's get between your man and the goal or get between the ball and the goal (which I'm always surprised is so difficult to grasp.)

Knowing South Texas, if your team happens to be heavily hispanic and knows the game/has advanced skills compared to what I described you can try introducing diagonal runs, overlapping, triangles and tracking back/filling space vacated by defenders pushing up, but from your league description I doubt that'll be the case.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Sorry, I've only helped coach U14-JV level before. (I honestly thought U-10 was only 7v7, but maybe that's a regional difference.) Going off reffing a few small-sided games in the past and coaching youth lacrosse teams, I'd recommend the following.

The most important thing at that age is to make sure the kids have fun and want to continue playing/improving their game. It sounds like you'll get an hour a week at most for practice, so any kids that markedly improve skillsets will do so on their own at home (strongly encourage them all to do this - juggle a little, kick against a wall, but they'll only do so on their own if they're having fun and enjoy playing, which is why that's step 1). Tactically, I'd say do your best to make them spread out and look to pass to an open person, any open person. Their natural impulse will pretty much all be to swarm the ball and run straight at goal with it, so do what you can to make sure some kids are opening up as an outlet, and make sure that it rewarded by receiving a pass - it'll encourage more of it. My one favorite drill for that age level has always been 2v1's/3v2's. 50% or more of team sports is find the open teammate and get them the ball, plus there are lots of goals which are fun. For defense, it's get between your man and the goal or get between the ball and the goal (which I'm always surprised is so difficult to grasp.)

Knowing South Texas, if your team happens to be heavily hispanic and knows the game/has advanced skills compared to what I described you can try introducing diagonal runs, overlapping, triangles and tracking back/filling space vacated by defenders pushing up, but from your league description I doubt that'll be the case.

Yes, having fun is key here. I want these kids to enjoy it, especially the ones who have little experience, and to want to keep playing. I have pretty much decided (so good to hear you would agree kind of) that the two main things I want the kids to improve on is ball control and teamwork/passing/spreading out. The defensive tip is a good one, I hadn't thought much about it yet.

And yes, being I live where I live, the whole team is hispanic looking at the names on the roster. Only my daughter is half hispanic. The age gap will play into it as well with the combined age groups. One boy is 10 in a few days, while the youngest two boys are not 9 until next spring.

[cthomer5000]

quick aside:

You're living the dream of coaching your daughters team, but the other dad is an asshole for not wanting to coach a team his son isn't on?

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

quick aside:

You're living the dream of coaching your daughters team, but the other dad is an asshole for not wanting to coach a team his son isn't on?

The other dad is an asshole because he won't let his son play at all unless he is coaching him. I would not do that to my daughter if I had not been able to be a coach her team. This guy volunteered, was assigned a team (in a different age group that needed a coach badly) and he won't do that now either. He left a team without a coach 2 days before a scrimmage, and his son won't play at all. Yes he is an asshole.

[PilotMan]

Having watched my oldest son play through this age group I have some idea of what to expect here.

Here are my tips:

Keep practice moving fast. If kids are waiting for anything you aren't doing something well enough.

At this age, try and get the kids to look up and recognize where their teammates are. You will find that one good ball player can dominate the game. And that you can improve your whole team if they can see each other across the field.

Get them to talk to each other. Half the battle of finding someone is knowing where they are. As well as calling out defenders approaching.

Get them to know their positions. Some will, and some won't, but one of my biggest issues is kids who won't stay in the general vicinity of their position.

Get them to move to space to receive a pass. Bunching in the middle of the field will be all you see at the start of the season. if you can get them to make space, and work the outside and inside, you will have better success.

SSG are the best way to go with this. I had a big book with a lot of games in it. You should be able to find good info on line as well. If you want, shoot me a PM and let me know what you are looking for. I will see if I can send you anything that would help.

[Cringer]

Thanks PilotMan, good stuff. As for the SSGs, I think I have that covered. footy4kids (english site) has a crap load of them, and even age specific ones.

I think tomorrow I will just give them some words about staying apart and communicating (good reminder you gave me there). As for positions that will have to hold off until practices next week.

[MizzouRah]

I coach U14 girls recreation and U13 girls competitive..

U9 - U10 should be idential as far as rules go.. both are 8v8, both use a size 4 soccer ball, 25 min halves.. etc..

You can google soccer drills and find some really good drills, but I will help you out any way I can.

[JediKooter]

That one dad who they kicked out, his last name doesn't happen to be Manning is it?

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I coach U14 girls recreation and U13 girls competitive..

U9 - U10 should be idential as far as rules go.. both are 8v8, both use a size 4 soccer ball, 25 min halves.. etc..

You can google soccer drills and find some really good drills, but I will help you out any way I can.

Same except 20 minute halves here. Knocked down a little for the age maybe. A good thing too, because we have 10 players right now with 8 being on the field at all times that means everyone really gets a chance to play. We might get 1 or 2 more added but I don't know yet.

[RPI-Fan]

At that age level the most important thing, BY FAR, is individual skills. Without individual ball skills you can't implement any useful teamwork anyways. The single most useful kids that age can learn to do is be a master on the ball and be able and willing to take players on 1v1 in the open field.

[Tasan]

Footwork, ballwork, 1v1, and basic goalie skills. I've coached 4/5s and 5/6s so far, and you've got to make sure the basics are there before anything else can happen. With 9s, I'd hope you would be there, but you never know. I'd start early with making sure basics are there, and then start passing and basic defense concepts, but you've got to make sure you don't overload the young ones.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Tasan

Footwork, ballwork, 1v1, and basic goalie skills. I've coached 4/5s and 5/6s so far, and you've got to make sure the basics are there before anything else can happen. With 9s, I'd hope you would be there, but you never know. I'd start early with making sure basics are there, and then start passing and basic defense concepts, but you've got to make sure you don't overload the young ones.

I don't know a ton about soccer but I was an assistant to a very good coach for ~8 year old boys a couple years back. The individual skills are probably the most important thing you can work on. That age was really the first time I saw anyone try to teach the kids proper technique when learning how to shoot(as opposed to kick the crap out of the ball in the general direction of the net). Teamwork/Positioning related things that were stressed and that these kids were able to get at this age:

- On defense, close down all open space. Attack the man with the ball.
- On offense, find open space, get away from defenders.
- General positions and their roles were discussed. Staying on the left/right side of the field, staying further back as a defender, staying further up as a forward.
- The importance of passing the ball is starting to be understood. At age 6 its still all kids converging on the ball, by age 8 many of the kids are starting to understand that you can't do that and try to get open for a pass instead.

Those all seemed to be things that were nearly impossible to teach to 6/7 year olds, but great progress was made with 8/9 year olds.

[MacroGuru]

One suggestion, you see me on the field as the ref...be prepared...for the Red Card...cause I already know how you talk to people in Authority!

I honestly red carded a goalie and her father in a game. U12, it was CRAZY!

[Cringer]

lol. I think I can keep things civil with a referee. Pretty sure......

[cubboyroy1826]

Cringer welcome to the club. I coach both my son and my daughter's U10 teams and love it. I just wish there was a little more strategy you could use but we are just now using the offside rule this week so it should be interesting. If the league is an AYSO league you should be able to go to their site and get the rules but here is a decent site for drills.

U10 games and drills

There are a couple of other sites that i get drills from but i will have to look those up. The biggest difference in AYSO going from U8 to U10 was the size of the field. I really try to make sure there is very little dead time so that while constantly moving they are building up stamina and don't even know it. If you can get the kids to understand spacing and passing you will be ahead of most.

[tarcone]

Find a parent that has strengths where you are week and get them to coach with you.

I help coach my daughters 8U team. I know very little about soccer but am good with kids. the HC knows a lot about soccer (or a lot more then me) but isnt as strong with the kids. Works great.

I coach both daughters in softball and basketball and my oldest in soccer. It is a great time and I love spending time with them this way. Im glad you get the chance to do it.

[bhlloy]

I feel your pain. I got suckered into coaching a U12 girls AYSO team because my brother in law is the regional co-ordinator, and it's not as easy as it looks.

My wife and I have both played all our lives (her at a really high level, me not so much) but we are way out of our depth. We have a couple of kids who are downright disruptive, and if they are in a stupid mood, it's a real struggle to get anything done at practice.

That being said, we have a lot of really talented girls even though I haven't got them to play as a team yet. First friendly game is tomorrow... should be interesting.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I've found the DVD Super Soccer Skills pretty helpful for me in coaching U7 boys.

Got it from Netflix.

[GoldenEagle]

Are you sure it is 8v8? Around here, most people play 6v6 in U10. I find that in younger age groups, doing things repetitively really helps. Also, focusing on just one topic per practice will do wonders. So if you are working on individual defending, only make corrections about individual defending.

The organization that I coach with is a classic organization so our focus is a bit different with u10 players. We place no emphasis on winning and everything on development. It seems to do well when the kids get ready to play classic at u11.

And don't just scrimmage. Kids love scrimmaging, so reserve the last 30 minutes of practice for it. But don't give into the kids who will beg you just to let them scrimmage the entire time they are at practice.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Same except 20 minute halves here. Knocked down a little for the age maybe. A good thing too, because we have 10 players right now with 8 being on the field at all times that means everyone really gets a chance to play. We might get 1 or 2 more added but I don't know yet.

I guess it varies because it's definitely 25 min halves for that age group where I live... and that's with 10 players as well.

We now play 35 min halves for U13 and U14.

Our first competitive game is today!!! We are a U13 team, but are playing up on U14 this year - I can't wait to see them on that field today. We have worked so hard and after a rainout last week I can finally see them in action!

[Cringer]

So I got home an hour ago or so and am ready to report on Day 1.

YIKES! I pretty much know this is how it happens, at least down here, so I am not real surprised. The first year coach gets a lot of the first/second year players. Our scrimmage game was set to begin at 10 am, so I wanted everyone there at 9 so we get meet and go through some things. This next part was expected somewhat as well, 9 am comes around and there are 4 kids including my own. I start them on some simple dribbling drill and as we finish that and move on to a couple other things more kids start coming in. We had 7 and finally at 10 #8 showed up. Then #9 showed up late and not able to play with no soccer shoes or anything. #10 never showed.

I will cut to this now, the team we were to play never showed up. I was getting ready to let them just scrimmage until 20 minutes into our game time the league director came up and said he had a team for us to play. It was a team in our division that was practicing and only had 6 players there. We agree to make it a short scrimmage game of 30 minutes, play on. I find out later from the brother of one of my players that knows the other coach, most of that team has been playing together for 4 years. It was U-G-L-Y, UGLY! Halfway through the scrimmage the other coach came around to me and asked if his goalkeeper could play for us so he could get some experience. I said sure.

So, problems identified right away:

Fitness levels, there is none. No stamina at all. Part of the problem was the practice before hand, and I tried to keep them at low levels for that but it wasn't always possible. Still, about halfway through our scrimmage I had kids asking to come out for a rest, and the others were walking way too much. There is only 1 kid, the oldest girl and a first year player, who I would call actually fat. A couple of the boys may be a little on the....uh, soft side. Not fat or even chunky, but not fit either.

Technically I have only 1 kid who hasn't played soccer before, yet it turns out most of them had little idea about the basic rules and structure of a soccer game. Lots of work needed there. I hate to spend time with a lot of talking about how things are to work in a game, but it will need to be done I guess.

Teamwork. There was none at all really, and I really expected that since they all just met an hour before. There were times when I was pleased though with the communication some of them attempted at least, as I had told them to do.

Goalies. We don't have one. A couple have played a little, but the ones who are most enthusiastic about it have no experience. I will need to work on goalkeeping, what the keeper should do in certain situations, and to go along with that how the team should react when their keeper has the ball and needs to distribute it.

Passing and dribbling just plain need work. This, along with basics, will have to be my focus in our two practices this week. It goes along with team work and individual ball control skills. Everyone on the team needs work in these areas so I will be doing drills and mini-games for these I guess.

Overall, I think I can really help these kids improve while enjoying the game. They are eager to play, and despite the heavy pressure from the other team they did real well defending the first half of the game. It was when they got worn down is when they started to give up goals. Lots of work is needed though....lots.

[MizzouRah]

You are on your way Cringer!

We lost 5-0 today in our first competitive game.. we're playing up one year, but I didn't expect this whoopin today.

[Cringer]

So after two practices this week the next time my team gets together is Saturday for our first real game. I honestly have no idea how we will do but I am pretty excited to find out. I think the first two practices had mixed results. Monday was a very solid practice with focus of moving with the ball, passing, and spreading out some. The bad part was 3 boys were missing.

We had our second practice last night, with all 10 players there. Since I had all 10 there I did what I wanted to do on Monday, and that was force the kids to listen to me talk for a bit. I went over some basics of soccer rules, what happens and why in a game, and then basic movement of soccer positions. They needed this bad, and it will help with the game some on Saturday just so they know what is happening a little more then they did for the scrimmage the other day. We went onto protecting the ball after that, showing them how to shield the ball to give them enough time to pass, then divided them up so they could play keep-away. Finished with a 5v5 scrimmage.

The good and the bad. One of they boys, Angel, was with us for the first time yesterday. And I am glad to have him on the team. He speaks very little english but so far that is not a problem as he seems to be able to pick things up, and if not then most of the team speaks both spanish and english anyways and can help. So this kid was one of the first to show up for practice and he, my daughter, and another girl took shots on goal with me as goalie. This kid has a rocket of a kick, hardest/fastest on the team by far. He was letting it get too high half the time though and I showed him how to keep it down and he was drilling it chest high on me the rest of the time. Chest high on me is head high on an 8-10 year old, so the other team better have a damn good goalie if he can get a shot. Getting him shots is something I don't know if it will happen... lol.

My other problem is goalie. Three kids are volunteering for the job, and I plan on playing two a game. The three volunteering? The smallest (and quietest) boy and girl, and the bigger girl. I am going to play two of them the first game, because I asked who wanted to and they were the eager ones. I just don't know if it will turn out well...

Having a blast overall. I wish I could get them out there for more practices because I am having fun with it and they are as well.

[MizzouRah]

Get that defense going so your goalies face fewer shots..

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Get that defense going so your goalies face fewer shots..

I am working on it. Tried to do it some yesterday with the keep-away drill to focus on ball control/passing between 2-3 people while the defender is getting work on taking away the ball.

I already plan to have a 1v1 drill on Monday to work on challenging for the ball. I will look tonight and tomorrow to see what else I want to do on Monday.

[MizzouRah]

We have an off week this weekend (my competitive team).. sucks because the weather is so good..

At least I have Sunday's game for my rec team.

[Cringer]

So, not counting the 'scrimmage' last week, we just had our first real game. It didn't go so well, we lost 5-1.

It started out as an even game, with a lot of back and forth play. Then I am not real sure what happened except the the other team finally was able to take advantage of our weaknesses and got a couple goals. We got one back and then we gave up another three over the rest of the game. We missed a couple really good opportunities for goals in the second half, but each time the kid with the ball never had any support. One negative is we didn't have one player there, the kid who has a rocket kick.

We had a couple weaknesses that were very obvious to me. First, our defense was better but horrible. It comes down to four players, including my own daughter, who just are not moving at all. My daughter practices with me, she is active, moving, trying to get the ball from me. In the first half though she was a defender who wasn't defending, she just stood there a lot of the time. The 'large' girl is the same, but even worse. I was able to get my daughter to do better in the second half, the other girl didn't even want to play. (And I was being encouraging, I wasn't yelling, complaining or anything, she basically said her ankle hurt and didn't want to go back out there). The third girl just joined our team today, so she had limited playing time and she has never played so she wasn't real comfortable not knowing anyone or anything about soccer.

The 4th kid is a boy. He is the smallest boy, very quiet a lot of the time. He wants to play goalie and since he had been saying all week he did and no one else wanted to I let him play the 2nd half. He was horrible. Afraid of the ball, can't kick, barely moves, kicked the ball right to the other team on a goal kick. I had another player asking to be goalie right away in the 2nd half, I could tell none of the other boys wanted him playing goalie. My wife said the parents wanted him out of goalie. In truth, I didn't want him playing goalie but I wasn't going to make the change when I had told him he would get the chance all week.

If anyone has any good tips on how I can get these types of kids moving, more involved, I would appreciate it. Overall I think we showed improvement, especially when the week before we never got close to the goal much less got shots off. If I can get these kids involved and moving more it would be a big help to the team. As of now I am planning some 1v1 drills for our practices this week, and some more defending and ball control stuff. Really, I am not sure what else I can do but to emphasize going after the ball (1v1 drills for this), protecting and controlling the ball, and good defense. Tips are more then welcome though, because as of right now I feel more down then the kids I think because I feel I am/was missing something in what I should be teaching them or how.

[JonInMiddleGA]

There's a bit of a delay before you see the improvement but I'd consider this

Originally Posted by Cringer

If anyone has any good tips on how I can get these types of kids moving, more involved, I would appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Cringer

... because as of right now I feel more down than the kids I think because I feel I am/was missing something in what I should be teaching them or how.

Okay, this may not be what you want to hear and I definitely could have the wrong impression but it's what I'm thinking after following the thread. It sounds to me like you've got quite a few kids who really aren't interested in being out there and if that's the case then you damned well shouldn't be beating yourself up over their lack of performance. I'll gladly leave it to those who know soccer to address specific things you might do to improve the performance of those who are actually interested & willing to work but I felt like somebody needed to cut off any attempt for you to take the blame for something you aren't responsible for. Feel free to punish yourself for the soccer stuff you might mess up on

[tarcone]

2 lines and one ball. roll ball towards goal. whoever gets ball is offense and the other is defense. gets kids to attack the ball. one on one.

We had the same problem last week.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

There's a bit of a delay before you see the improvement but I'd consider this







Okay, this may not be what you want to hear and I definitely could have the wrong impression but it's what I'm thinking after following the thread. It sounds to me like you've got quite a few kids who really aren't interested in being out there and if that's the case then you damned well shouldn't be beating yourself up over their lack of performance. I'll gladly leave it to those who know soccer to address specific things you might do to improve the performance of those who are actually interested & willing to work but I felt like somebody needed to cut off any attempt for you to take the blame for something you aren't responsible for. Feel free to punish yourself for the soccer stuff you might mess up on

I wanted a taser at one point.

As for the 2nd part, maybe. I know my daughter wants to play, she loves it. But for whatever reason she was totally different in the game then she is at home or was in practice even. It wasn't until I told her to relax and have fun like at home that she started to do a little more. The bigger girl, I think you may be right. She likes the idea of soccer, but when she actually has to do it and move a lot she doesn't want to do that. The cheese covered nachos her mom was buying her at 11 AM after the game doesn't help I am sure. The 3rd girl, I don't know yet. She is a late arrival, just got placed on my team last night and so I think she felt out of place being the new comer to both the team and the game. The smallish boy, he loves it from what I see. Whenever he is talking to me it's about soccer. From what the mom has told my wife he was a bit wild in the past and he was under strict orders not to be aggressive last year. I find it hard to imagine, because he is the complete opposite now. Perhaps he is medicated......

I think I am just going to stay the course for now. I will work on things I plan on improving, make things fun, and try to encourage the slackers to pick it up a little in as constructive a way as possible. I am thinking some 1v1 drills may help. It will get them used to having to go for the ball more instead of waiting for someone else to do it. That is what I am hoping at least.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Okay, case by case. Won't be anything profound from me here but maybe just talking through stuff has some value (even when it's stuff you probably already know).

Originally Posted by Cringer

As for the 2nd part, maybe. I know my daughter wants to play, she loves it. But for whatever reason she was totally different in the game then she is at home or was in practice even. It wasn't until I told her to relax and have fun like at home that she started to do a little more.

Sounds like performance anxiety to me. Standing around might have been a function of wanting to avoid a mistake instead of making a play. She's your kid so you'll know whether she might respond to this but I'm thinking maybe of giving her some specific responsibilities/goals off the record. One of those "some of the kids don't have your skills/experience, so I need you to try to do X,Y,Z to help pick up the slack. You'll make some mistakes & some things won't work out as planned but that's okay, I need you to supply some energy & activity while the others are coming up to speed".

The bigger girl, I think you may be right. She likes the idea of soccer, but when she actually has to do it and move a lot she doesn't want to do that. The cheese covered nachos her mom was buying her at 11 AM after the game doesn't help I am sure.

Hence my taser recommendation.

The 3rd girl, I don't know yet. She is a late arrival, just got placed on my team last night and so I think she felt out of place being the new comer to both the team and the game.

My read matches yours FWIW. I wouldn't worry about her performance one bit until after she's got a couple of practices under her belt.

The smallish boy, he loves it from what I see. Whenever he is talking to me it's about soccer. From what the mom has told my wife he was a bit wild in the past and he was under strict orders not to be aggressive last year. I find it hard to imagine, because he is the complete opposite now. Perhaps he is medicated......

Hardest of the four to read IMO. With the new info, I'm afraid he may be a case of the spirit being more willing than the flesh is able. And although I'm a complete soccer noob when it comes to youth play, my neophyte reaction is "can you survive with an undersized and underskilled keeper"? And with limited practice time I think there's a legit question of whether there's opportunity to coach him up to adequate.

I am thinking some 1v1 drills may help. It will get them used to having to go for the ball more instead of waiting for someone else to do it.

I like this idea, especially if you have time to rotate everyone through the drill and get a complete round robin look at them. Knowing who will or won't seems just as important as who can or can't, and getting some concrete results of who's better at this might help with positioning/role assignment.

[Barkeep49]

With girls, I've always read in basketball that getting them to overcome their tendency to want to be "nice" to the other team is important. So when your daughter is practicing with you, she knows it's ok to take the ball and such, but isn't inclined to do it to some strange girl. Now here's where if I had experience coaching girls I could probably offer help, but I don't have that, so can't really be of assistance here.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Sounds like performance anxiety to me. Standing around might have been a function of wanting to avoid a mistake instead of making a play. She's your kid so you'll know whether she might respond to this but I'm thinking maybe of giving her some specific responsibilities/goals off the record. One of those "some of the kids don't have your skills/experience, so I need you to try to do X,Y,Z to help pick up the slack. You'll make some mistakes & some things won't work out as planned but that's okay, I need you to supply some energy & activity while the others are coming up to speed".

Good points on the other stuff, but I pick out this one because I think it may be a very good call. I can see the worry of messing up going through my daughters head. It had not clicked with me on this one though and I think it's good advice for a new approach with her. Thanks.

[Cringer]

Haven't updated this for a few weeks and this is a good week to do it.

So out 2nd game went badly, as we lost 4-0. I saw improvement though and felt ok about it. I was worried about how the kids felt though because I didn't want them to get too down about it and about their team. I was happy to have here a couple of the players talk about they thought we did better on the Monday practice after that game though. I think that week I worked on defense and team work in our two practices once again.

So our third game ended in a 0-0 draw, with our best attacking player not there. It seemed a little like a loss afterwards with a couple unhappy faces, but once again on Monday I heard good things being said from the kids to each other about how we would/should have won. We shut out the other team and I was VERY happy about that as we had some really good goalie play as both goalies player their second game and I had worked with them some during the previous week (one being my daughter, yay! ).

So, last week I figured we had been doing well with improving our defensive play and figured after two weeks with no goals (and only one for the season) I needed to do something to improve the attack. I set up drills the focused on working together with passing, staying more spaced out, and gave the kids a walk through of all the positions and how they should act.

Yesterday morning we went out and won our first game, 7-1. Those kids went out and frickin' destroyed the other team in every way possible and the one goal the other team got was almost a gift as I had set up the team the last ten minutes so it had two week players as our defenders. (I am also going to use this goal given up as a teaching point this week so I am glad it happened without hurting us).

We had 3 players score two goals each, and for the life of me I can't remember who had the 7th goal. It was fantastic because the team stayed more spread out then they have before, especially our attacking players. We had so many fast breaking counters (with teammates actually running up to support the attack) that the other team had little chance from the start of the game to the end and it us up for some really good shots on goal with some really good goals.

The only part of the game I felt bad for the other team was when it came to one of their players getting injured. We had a break, and the kid with the ball ended up one on one with their goalie. The goalie played it how I would have wanted my goalie to play it, by coming out at him to narrow his shooting window. The problem is our kid with the ball is the hardest kicker on the team, so much so he has nailed it at me once and it stung a little when I caught it. Well, this kid also tends to get the ball up in the air and he drilled it right at the goalie who took the full blow right in the face. He stayed up and it took about 5 seconds before he realized it hurt like hell. He ended up leaving the game.

Anyways, I am very happy for the kids. I could tell some of the boys were a little frustrated with not scoring and not getting a win yet. I have never once emphasized winning to them (I want them to obviously, but I don't say it), and from what I can tell we have a good group of parents thankfully. Now the goal is to keep them moving forward and improving. They will expect to win again next week as we play the same team that we played yesterday, so my goal is to keep them from getting too confident and to work hard to make sure they do. Thankfully I still have several things to coach them up on. I will continue to focus on spacing and working together (even though I was happy to see some great passing yesterday) and will hit up on defense a little again this week.

I still have a couple of players I need to get through to, one of which I probably never will. I have been happy to see 'the fat girl' start to work harder and actually make some good plays. I need to work on the girl my wife has dubbed 'the girlie girl' who is excited about doing sports for the first time but is still so 'girlie' that at one point in the game she was skipping instead of running. The other kid is the small, soft boy. He also provided a laugh out loud moment in the game where he called for a pass when he was wide open and when the other boy passed it up to him he turned away from it and let it bounce off the back of his legs. Glad to see most of them improving though, as it has really made me get even more into coaching them and I think I will be doing this for a long time now.

[tarcone]

My 3rd grade girls team that plays in the A division. Finally won a game today. We have been losing 4-0 or 11-0 or 7-0, scores like that. But we finally came through and won 4-0. My daughter had her 1st career goal today.

Had to share and this seemed like a good thread.

[Cringer]

Anyone is free to join in.

Congrats to your daughter.

[Cringer]

So my last update we had just crushed a team for our first win. We came back the next week and lost to the same team 3-1. I knew fromt he get go things would not end up well. The whole team was just not playing their best, a lot of tired kids walking around for some reason, and just lazy play. It was 3-1 at the half, for the first time I got somewhat negative and told them they are not playing as well as they could. They responded in the 2nd half and we had multiple shots compared to only a couple for the other team. None of ours went in though and the 2nd half saw the score remain the same until the end. It was a bad week leading up to the game with a rained out practice and the make up practice only had 4 kids besides my daughter show up. Still the game bugs me still, we should have won that game and it could be important down the road....

So last week at practice we had good attendance, and I lightened it up some by playing a passing game and a 1v1(that expands to 1v2 up to 1v4) game the whole practice. I think it helped and we won Saturday 2-0. We are sitting at 2-3-1 right now and so that last loss bugs me since I feel we should be at 3-2-1. The top two teams go to the playoffs.

We have this weekend off for Parent Appreciation Day (where I will be playing in a parents game) but we still practice this week. Next weekend when we play again we play the #1 team in the league, who we lost 4-0 against the first time we played. We are better now, but this will be a good game to find out how much better we actually are.

[Cringer]

The season is winding down.....

And I got some good drama today for the first time.

First the game. We were playing the best team in the league, undefeated and the coach with some of those players won the league last year as well as came in 2nd in a regional tourny. We lost 4-0 to them the first time we played them. So we start the game and after some back and forth play they play they get a goal, our defense broke down enough and they made a pretty good play IIRC. Then the killer one, the stab through the heart goal happened. This is the first time it has happened to out team this year, we have an own-goal. Our goalie came out to far and got stuck behind his own defender who was trying to move the ball out. She passed it/kicked it over to the other defender who went straight to the bad habit of "OH! BALL! KICK NOW!!!" She wildly swung the leg, it went off the side of her foot, and slooooooooooooooooowly rolled into our goal while the keeper was stuck too far out of the box. We got one back not long after that, had some good chances the rest of the game, but we ended up losing 2-1. Just painful to have it happen that way.

Now the drama. In the 2nd half the other coach (also a league board member) calls me over and asks me if I would say something to the one or two parents from my team who are getting out of hand. Parents have to stay on the other side of the field and I pretty much zone them out, plus their comments tend to be in spanish so I zone it out even more. He tells me that one of them just yelled in spanish for his son "to push the fat girl down." Kind of mean when the kids are right in front of you, not too mention promoting the wrong kind of aggresive play. So I sent the wife over to tell them to stop and after the game Ivan (the other coach/board member) asked me to get my parents together. He talked to them, the offending dad had a fit at first and said they wouldn't be coming back and walked off. One of my best players gone. A bit later Ivan came up to me and let me know he talked to him one on one and he understood the problem now and was coming back.

THEN, I find out from another board member that after Ivan talked to them that she took her kid and went and complained to another board member about me. ME!?!?!? Now this woman speaks spanish only as well, and I am hoping there is confusion because of that. She never said naything to my wife or I though. I guess the complaint was about 3 or 4 weeks ago in a practice when two of the boys started to aggresively push (with intent to knock down) other players in a drill. After a couple of individual warnings they did it to each other at one point and I yelled 'stop' to get everyone to stop and pay attention. I then kicked the two boys out of practice for the rest of the day. Her son was NOT one of those boys, so I am finding the whole thing kind of odd. In fact her son is one of my favorite kids on the team and I have never had to even tell him to stop messing around or anything like that. It's just odd. The crappy thing is she may pull her son fromt he team the last couple of games, and here I am not even knowing what the problem is. The league President is supposed to talk to her so hopefully it works out.

Soccer drama, got to love it. Of course Ivan, talking to him later, then started saying how the drama was 100x worse last year and giving me some stories.

[Barkeep49]

I tune out the parents myself during games. It's enough to focus on the game in front of me while also trying to communicate with my bench. Hopefully the whole thing dies down quickly and you can end the season on a high note for everyone.

[MizzouRah]

I probably yell louder than the parents do.

In all seriousness.. that is why I love competitive soccer over recreational soccer, for me when picking kids it's all about the whole package.. kid, parents, and payments on time.

We were up today 2-0 and ended up losing 3-2 on a free kick that went off on of our defenders and into our goal.. tough loss.

Indoor starts next week though!!!

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I probably yell louder than the parents do.

So do I, but we are on different sides of the field from each other so they hear both I am sure. And I usually yell about moving up or staying back or something tactical, not "Knock the fat girl down."

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Cringer

So do I, but we are on different sides of the field from each other so they hear both I am sure. And I usually yell about moving up or staying back or something tactical, not "Knock the fat girl down."

I say that under my breath..

There is a girl on our team who also wrestles and is fearless.. I call her the "hammer". We play U14 even though we should be playing U13 this year.. some of these U14 kids are rough.. so every now and then I yell.. "drop the hammer" and she looks over and smiles as she turns it up a notch on the girl who just plowed over one of our smaller girls. No yellow cards yet though!

[MizzouRah]

Today was our last game of the summer outdoor season and I'm so proud of these girls. We totally dominated tonight and I mean dominated.. their goalie made some great saves and we only won 1-0, but I'd guess they had about 5 shots on our goal and the ball on our end about 10 mins tonight.. we were that good.

This team started with alot of rough edges on what we wanted to accomplish with this team and it all paid off tonight as everyone did exactly what we've been teaching for the last 4-5 months.

Three girls are sitting out for the indoor session that starts up Sunday.. but once spring rolls around, we should have them back along with 2-3 kids that came to practice and want to play outdoor with us this spring.

I love indoor, can't wait until our first game!

[Cringer]

Indoor would be cool, but we don't have it and I think I will have enough soccer in my life I guess to cover me until the spring. I need to get to working on the local club's website and get more then a front page up, and I am going to get paid to do the regional soccer association's site. Registration starts in December for the spring league, my wife is a board member now, we still have two games left plus a December tourny (pay to play, for charity, so I hope enough of my kids can be in it).

And with a new kid on the way it looks like I am in this stuff for a long time still when I was thinking I only had a few years of it.

[MizzouRah]

Good for you!

I love indoor.. I guess that's the hockey fan in me.

[MizzouRah]

Well, we are 3-0 on this young indoor season and tomorrow we play another 3-0 team... but it really pisses me off the game is at 6:30am

I mean, seriously.. we are playing about 40 mins away, so 5:00 is going to come quick.

Crazy...