Team organization/structure

Organizing the team is a major priority for me every season.  I tell people I run teams as a benevolent dictatorship because I am not big on committees, straw polls, votes, etc.  But I do like everything taken care of so the business of coaching is made easier and the players can see their parents contributing and setting a good example.

The motto is "Player Centred, Coach Driven, Community Supported".  This is part of where the "parents" part of the community comes into play.

I am careful to not put parents in a position where they are involved in the inter-personal relations (politics) of a team.  See the section on parent-reps below, for example.

Coaching at the college level, everything but the coaching is taken care of by the Athletic department.  That is very nice. 

"the players can see their parents contributing and setting a good example."

The club teams I coach usually look like this:

Bench during games
1 Head Coach and 1 or 2 Assistant coaches.  If it's 2, one has to be a non-parent.
I don't like 4 people on a bench.   Too much potential to turn into a circus and too many instructions coming from the side.

Practices
Coaching staff plus extra help when needed.  This year we will be involving more parents for various reasons.

Manager
Some coaches enjoy having a manager.   I'm not big on it because I like to organize games and practices on a whim and make the announcement.  To organize games I have to contact peers in the sport and by the time I tell the manager who to contact and they make the call and call me back ... I might as well call myself.  Finances are handled by somebody else so there is little for a manager to do.
 
Finances
This is my sticking point that is sometimes seen as too picky.  NO CASH.  Two people handle the team finances with a chequing account that requires 2 signatures.  The bank account is opened at a bank that neither party deals with.  The two treasurers are not married to each other or to either coach.  Parental contributions and payments out are all made by cheque.  I have always been sensitive about the handling of team money, but more so after hearing that a friend of ours had her reputation attacked (about 10 years ago) on a hockey team for which she was the lone treasurer.  With 2 people signing and all cheques, there is very little room for untraceable transactions.

Why an account at a bank where neither treasurer deals?  Well, if somebody bounces a cheque to the team and the account goes overdraft, the funds could be automatically transferred from their personal affairs.  Or, reverse, if one of the treasurers has a personal account that goes overdraft the team account can be used to move money over by the bank.

Game Day Crew
We have a group of parents who set up our tent and bench etc etc.   It's a good vehicle for getting parents involved and it's a useful and appreciated function.

Social events
We appoint parents to organize social events (team dinner at a tournament, year end party, etc).

Snacks
Somebody organizes snacks/refreshments for after each game.  This might be as simple as assigning a family for each game.

Equipment
I usually bring the balls and cones but it's not a bad idea if you have somebody who is there every time.  My fear is balls arrive a bit flat or something left behind, etc.

Team Website
I have a very basic team website at http://www.iaw.com/1999boys that has a schedule only.  I don't want a site that's too fancy with pictures and player names because of the heightened awareness of privacy issues, children's safety, etc.  Some teams have them and that's great if they want that.  I prefer not too.

Family relationships between coaches and players
In 24 years of coaching, I have only had my own children on my team for 8 seasons.  It's easier to coach without them, but enjoyable coaching them.  Paradoxical I guess, but true.  I do not like coaching staffs where there are too many dads.  If I were to bring an official third coach to this team it would be a non-parent as coach Coach Paul and I both have sons playing.  We play against teams that have 4 dads on the bench and I don't envy them.  I also don't have any of the players as friends on FaceBook (or anybody under 19 years old for that matter).

Other

If I do have a major hole in my structure it's conflict resolution.  I usually take the attitude that if something was terribly wrong, just come talk to me.  I've never had a confrontation but the door is always open.  For some organizations, they want a procedure followed.  Until our club has a formal procedure in place, I will keep it informal.

Hockey teams in Welland have what's called a "parent-rep" to handle conflicts if necessary.  I was a parent-rep for 5 seasons at different age groups.  During that time I had to handle 3 conflicts, all that could have been settled by calling the coach or meeting with them.  Hockey is formal.  During those meetings we had 2 parents reps, 4-man coaching staff and both parents.  An 8-person meeting for minor hockey?  I felt like I was at The Hague trying a war criminal.

Team organization and development is a never ending process and I like to think I am open to new ideas.  I made quite a few changes to my structures after serving as a parent-rep for one of my son's hockey coaches.  Coach Scott Doan let me do my thing while sharing his requirements with me, helping me reshape how my club teams function.

Congratulations AGAIN to Sabrina

Friday night Canada's U20 WNT beat Panama to secure a spot in the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup.

Sabrina was in goal for the fourth straight game during qualifying with a fourth straight clean sheet.

http://www.canadasoccer.com/match-report-canada-v-panama-p149585

Go Canada.  Go Sabrina.

Congratulations Sabrina D'Angelo

Congratulations to Sabrina D'Angelo who was awarded the Welland H.L Cudney Memorial Awards for Sportsman (sportsperson?  sportswoman?) of the Year.

Sabrina has done everybody at the Welland Soccer Club proud.  Her successes at the club, provincial, NCAA, national, and international levels have all been well documented.

Hopefully by the end of the night Canada beats Panama in the U20 women WCQ and secures a spot in the FIFA U20 women's world cup.  Sabrina has been in goal every game so far.  Success here would send her to her Third FIFA World Cup as she played in 2 previous as the U17 goalkeeper.

Sabrina is currently in her freshman year at the University of South Carolina.  She was a Freshman All-American as well as conference co-defensive player of the year.

http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2012/03/04/welland-sportswoman-of-the-year

Start time of sessions ... does it matter?

Our best session of the year, so far, had a 7:30pm start time.  Drawing from my experience I would say that the start time of sessions is a big deal.  When it's the dead of winter and you can't be picky about availability, you take what you get and sometimes it's the kids that suffer.

During tryouts we started at 5pm on Tuesdays and 8:30pm on Thursdays.  For most of the boys, I would have to guess that one of those times might have been difficult.

If you didn't have a snack after school then you came to 5pm training hungry.  If your parents rushed home to get you, you might have had a stressed-out ride coming in.  If you were up early you might have already been tired for 8:30pm training. if you started tired, you were probably read for bed at 9:30.

You also have to consider your situation.  Are you going to be tired?  Rushed?  Possibly late?  Pressed to leave immediately after training?

When my middle son was U13 and trying for the Regional team, were were doing winter training at 7am or 9am Sundays in Caledon (1.75 hours from home).  My son made the first cut, lasted  2 more sessions then told me he was not going anymore.  The year before, the Regional program trained at 9:00pm and 10:30pm on Saturday nights at the same facility.

You need to know the age of your boys and what works for them.  After all, it's their team.  Realities such as facility availability come into play during the winter, but there is enough flexibility during the summer to accommodate.

Also remember to consider the day of the week and what might be going on outside of soccer.  Events to consider are school trips, school social events, days of religious significance, etc.

It is recommended that you have at least one training session per week at the same time your games start.

Session start times are always difficult to juggle.  During the winter you are slotted in between leagues and competing with other programs for field time.  During the summer you are dealing with players who have been swimming or out in the sun all day.  I find my most successful practices happen after dinner while the school year is still in session.

So while you are reflecting on your session plan and personal delivery, remember to also make note of the time of day and what's going on before and after training.

U13 - Quick -Early-Accurate passes AGAIN

Tonight the two U13 teams trained together at the Welland SC indoor field.  I enjoy having those joint sessions because Coach John and I get a chance to "over analyze" our boys and sound smart.  :-)

We were aiming again to instill the need for quicker passes.

In reality the bigger numbers generate more energy in the building and I get to see who is showing potential for a call-up opportunity.  The best part of the joint sessions is that most of the boys are friends away from soccer and they get a chance to be together.  The togetherness that makes them happy sometimes makes them restless ... but that's OK.

We started by putting all the boys through dribbling and turns, unstructured in a big area.  We did several sequences that some of the boys have not done before.  Getting their footwork in every session has to stay on every practice plan.

Coaching points:

• Head up after the turn and accelerate
• Quick/deceptive turns
• Keep the ball moving
• Entire body contributes to effectiveness/deceptiveness of the turn

We then got them in 4v4 games across the field.  We stressed the use of turns to help keep possession and challenging for every ball.  Again, setting the stage for faster passing.  We made some progress again with that and got to see again who needs to work on what.

Coaching points for the 4v4 to set the stage:

• Challenge on 1v1 with a purpose
• First to the ball
• Shape on attack

Coaching points for the themes of the practice:

• Move the ball when the pass is on (early)
• Strike the ball firmly and with pace (quick)
• On target (accurate)

When we moved to full field Coach John and I intentionally added a few extra players to reinforce the need to quick passes to avoid being intercepted.

Practice went well tonight.  The boys all got the point of what we were doing and there was some progress.  I worry about big groups and I try to keep the practice simple.  There were three 4v4 games going on and only 2 coaches.  I would have been more comfortable with 4 coaches with me going by every game.  Coach Paul and the other Coach John were tied up today.

I find with this group it doesn't take much to distract them.  They're good kids and decent athletes, but we need to stay on top of them to get the work done to get to our functional and game portions of the sessions.  They love to compete so we try to tailor practice to that.  Like they say with children "feed them what they'll eat".

I still, after three years, find myself getting occasionally frustrated when the intensity drops.   But that's something that needs to be fixed via the coach and the practice plan, not the kids.

Things we saw today:

• Need to review 1v1 defending again 
• Need to review 2v1 attacking again
• Continue to work on quick passing

The team I coach is off until after March break.   Coach John's U13 Wizards are on again Thursday night then they are on break.

Coach John had his U10 boys after our sessions.  I hope to work with them again one day soon.