U17 Boys - a specific coaching mission

Working with this age group offers a different kind of fulfillment than the younger age groups. 

Coaching this team was not on my to-do list this summer.  Coach Benny went to Italy for a month, Coach Venanzio took a job in Toronto and Coach Loris has a very young child at home.  When Ben ask if I could fill in during his absence and be involved all year, I figured it would be a good time to do a different kind of coaching and, possibly, a final chance to coach my son Anthony.  Who knows where he's playing next season.

I give Coach Ben credit for running this team.  Running a U17 soccer team is no picnic.  I told Benny I wanted to use this chance to prepare these guys for the transition to men's and University/College level soccer and he was OK with that.  I also used this oppurtunity to get me back in tune and ready to coach the college program.

My sessions all year involved:

• Smart, competitive 1v1 play in different parts of the field
• The importance of shape, attacking and defending
• Playing smart and expending energy intelligently
• The importance of set pieces and restarts

I was flattered that the boys were very receptive to what I wanted to do.  I was a different voice and, at U17, that helps.  In the beginning, I kept referring to how they could implement what we were doing to their high school play to help make it more applicable to them.

We did run into some bumps in the road.  Some boys did not have the technique required to be consistently successful at U17.  For these boys, their athleticism kept them in the game to some degree but once their space was closed down it was a bit of a panic.  We were able to sell to  them that the better the shape, the more time and space you have.

This team had 4 things going for them:

• Parents and players got along great
• The boys were competitive
• The boys were athletic
• The boys were TOUGH

They've all been playing soccer since their were U5-U6.  Two were late-comers , but both of these boys were athletic and very intelligent.

Coach Loris was our most able-bodied coach and able to fully participate and guide play when we worked on positioning and other philosophies of play.  He still plays at the Men's Premier level. 

Some things we worked around this year:

• One of our smarter and more technical players did not play until July as he had a broken wrist and then his father passed away.  His return made the positive work done to that point even better.
• Our goalkeeper had a tender hamstring for most of the year.  He was unable to effectively strike a ball off the ground and that caused us to adjust our shape, keeping a man hanging back.  His commitment to keeping the ball out of our net was unforgettable, but he as unable to have balls played back to him or take goal kicks.  he was also slow coming off his line 1v1.  This made planning and organizing very interesting.
• One of our smarter midfield types had declared very, very early in tryouts that he was giving his hockey dream another shot and played summer hockey instead of soccer.

Training sessions went well.  Attendance varied between 10-16 players, depending on work commitments.  The boys who were present worked hard and listened.  They really enjoyed each others' company.  If training wasn't ultra-enjoyable, they mentally checked out, and I was OK with that.

Difficulties this year:

• Occasional hot heads, but not as bad as expected.
• One brawl.  :)
• Varying, uncertain attendance at training
• Difficult arranging training because of student work schedules
• Preparing team for season while school soccer is in progress
• Opponents short players late in season (twice)

Good things this year:

• Never embarrassed ourselves with a short bench or poor game attendance
• Made sure the one brawl was short.  :)
• Committed coaches
• Nobody quit for any reason.
• Able to attend two tournaments
• Coaches enthusiastically support their interest in school soccer
• Only two players missed one game each to suspensions

I am glad that the situation arose to work with this team.  They were good, able-bodied boys and wanted to learn.  Some needed to let go of old ideas/habits and trust us, and that came with time.

It did get a bit hectic at times while Ben was gone, but nothing that put a halt to anything.  He left the paperwork and reffing fees all sorted out so that made things a bit easier.


If there was one thing I got better at was being on a staff where I was not the head coach.  I think there is a skill-set there that needs to be developed.  When all 4 coaches were present, I stepped back and watched, sometimes from the other side.

Overall it was a positive experience for me.  I thought my son would squash the idea of me coaching but he was good with it.  I've always had good experiences coaching him, but he's U17, with his friends, and it's been a few years since I worked with him.

I am not sure where these guys are with their thinking for next year.  I am hoping that they all continue to play.


Our last duty to perform is to drive to the League Awards presentations to collect our League Championship Medals.