U13 Boys Tryout - January 12

Last night we had our second U13 tryout of January.  The facility we were in has no boards and better turf than Tuesday, and costs a lot more.  To give the boys a chance to play we decreased the actual ball work or "drills" to 15 minutes.

10 minutes before the session we already organized the boys in pinnies ready to go.  Compared to outside, you have to stay more organized indoor because the clock is your master.

We repeated a zig-zag passing drill from Tuesday.  I believe in doing a drill at least twice to give the boys a chance to shine at it.  Not everybody gets everything the first time.  And, with 32 kids out, if you have too many drills, but the time you get each organized and the boys ready, too much time has passed.

After doing the zig-zag passing we ran a simple exercise with one player running with the ball, the other starting from behind him, 15 yds to his side, then running past him.  When the player with the ball reaches half he sends a ball forward for the other player.  One thing I want to fix is getting the players forward when a teammate the has the ball.  Too often they run with or behind their teammate with the ball.  That works great in rugby, but we're not playing rugby.

During the game portion of he night (45 minutes) players were getting forward and looking for penetrating passes.  And players were looking to move the ball forward while running.  Mission partially accomplished.

The boys have now had 2 sessions to shake their winter rust off.

Next Tuesday we will spend more time on technical work and Thursday we will spend more time playing.  After Thursday we shrink the list down.

U13 Boys - Tryout - January 10

Tonight we started up again.  It was nice to see all the boys from both teams last year and the new boys looking for spots.

We had 30 players and only had the indoor field for 60 minutes so we kept things running so we could get into a game quickly.  Our session was simple ... we did passing while running over 2 different drills then got into a game.  We wanted the boys to get back into soccer mode and a game would keep their attention.

The coaches didn't pay much attention to each individual player as we just wanted them to enjoy themselves tonight... but that's not to say we didn't notice some good things from some of the boys.

Thursday we will be indoor at the Niagara Falls Sportplex.  That field has no boards and the turf is better.  We also have the Niagara College gym booked Mondays and they have proper indoor goals.

Thursday we will give them another 15-20 minutes of active ball work again and get them into a game.  once we shrink the group down we can get more into teaching.

The good thing is that many of them are registered in the U14 house league that runs on Wednesdays.

Looking forward to watching the next few weeks unfold.

Starting OSA Courses

This Saturday and the subsequent Saturday I will observe and co-deliver coaching courses for Ontario Soccer.  After that I will be done my training and be able to deliver courses on my own.

Right now I am assigned to delivered the "Active Start" program and will work up from there.

I am looking forward to delivering a course for the first time.  I am not nervous to do it, I just want to get the apprenticeship portion behind me.  Taking the online course "Making Ethical Decisions" is part of the process.

Multi-sport athletes

We are getting emails from parents worried about their son missing tryouts because of their winter sports.  They have all been told that the current season sport comes first.  And we expect the same from their other coaches when soccer season is in progress.

Here is my thing... if your son's upcoming coach tries to force you to miss your current season commitment, you need to find a new coach.   Parents should never be afraid to declare that their son has a commitment in progress.  NEVER.

When the time comes to make a decision and decide on a sport, you will know.

Letter sent to parents to start 2012 season

I am very excited to get back at it.  I don't enjoy the actual selection process but I enjoy working with the boys.  Every year I like to give as much info as possible as sessions progress.  This year I wanted to have a mission statement to work around, to serve as a guide against which I can test the validity of any program decisions.

We sent this letter out to all the candidates' parents for our sessions that start on Tuesday:

January 10, 2012

Dear parents,

Welcome to Soccer 2012 and U13 soccer. 

We hope everybody had a relaxing holiday with the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. 

Here is the timeline we will follow for selections:

After January 19, we will reduce the list of candidates.

After February 2, we will have the first and second teams selected.

For the group of practices leading up to January 19, we require $20.00/player.  Please provide this in an envelope with their name written on it (with the $20.00 inside) and hand it in before your son takes the field.  There will be an assigned individual who will be collecting money.  Please make their job easy by finding them and not waiting to be found.

Please do not ask us to give you answers of your son’s status outside of our timelines.  We understand that some boys are trying out for other teams but it would be unfair to the group if some candidates were given information in advance of others.

All information during tryouts will be posted at http://www.iaw.com/19999boys .

We congratulate the boys in advance for their desire to play to travel soccer.  It’s unfortunate that there are more candidates than spots because an athlete who wants to play soccer and push himself should be given that opportunity.  We will help all the boys feel at ease during the process and treat everybody with respect.   You can help by encouraging them to be themselves and allow them to make their own decisions while on the field.

Our mission statement for the program this year is:

“To provide an enjoyable, safe and respectful experience where each
player feels they are included, improving and contributing.”

The commitment this year will include 2-3 training sessions plus game per week, 3 tournaments plus pre-season friendly games.  The approx budget per player will be approx $200-$250/player over and above club registration.  Registration will probably be in the range of $350.00 again.

After the teams are picked we will begin to approach parents for various roles on each team (treasurer, party organizers, equipment, game day crew, etc).

If you have any questions please feel free to ask a coach before or after the practices or contact me by email at frankd@iaw.com .

On behalf of Coaches Paul, John, John, Crane and Dave,

Frank DeChellis