The beauty of 9v9 soccer for U11 and U12.

There was a time when soccer people were thinking of moving U11 and U12 to 7v7 soccer.  That would have been too small. 

I remember when my boys were U11 and u12 and on a big field.  We did very good things but never had that one kid who could cover the field and physically take the game over.

Watching 9v9 has been a pure pleasure, as a technical coach.  I envision some of my old players and what we could have built on during those special years.

Relating techniques to recognizable situations in a soccer game.

Every coach has access to drills but not sure where and how those relate to a game.

The big question comes" What do I work on at training?"

Well, let's look at the game, then we'll build our training session.

"Every situation in a game can be broken down into a set of required skills and coachable chunks..."

If you are a very experienced coach, this may come across as overly simplified. 


Situation:
4-4-2.  Ball played into goalkeeper, right defender checks back and wide, GK rolls him the ball, he passes to a central midfielder who then passes to right midfielder.  Simple everyday situation.  What

The danger of "The Deal" when a new soccer player recruits you.

Winning is not a crime.  Wanting to win is not a crime. Recruiting is not a crime.  As a parent, wanting a better place for your child to play is not a crime.  Wanting to find another place to coach is not a crime. Let's all understand those points.  Good people have good reasons for a change.

I've had a lot of time to consider my position on recruiting.  I know people say I am not aggressive enough in recruiting and that it was my biggest weakness as a youth coach.  I take that as a compliment :)

When some coaches engage in heavy recruiting, I don't see them as bad people (although I don't like heavy recruiting).  But I do wonder

Maybe enjoying soccer as a parent is not that complicated.

Yesterday was a day I was dreading for a while.  Watching my old team play.

I coached Welland 1999 boys for 3 seasons (U11/U12/U13).  For various reasons, I did not return to coach, but my son is still playing.

Yesterday was their first competition.  I only saw tryouts in small chunks, but I did deliver two sessions for Coach John over the past 6 weeks.

Yesterday did not go how I thought it would.  I was thinking I would over-analyze everything, being frustrated, yelling instructions and seeing how the old players are doing and how the new players fit in, etc etc etc.

Instead, I watched from the sideline, had a blast with the other parents and enjoyed watching my son play without his father on the bench.   Chomping on my sunflower seeds, drinking my Timmy's (Green tea, black, bag out, in case it's your round...) being a wise-guy and cheering.  That was me.

The level of the games was "OK" at best, but they were all exciting.  The first game they drew 1-1 with a team that beat them 6-0 last week in a friendly.  Then they lost 3-2 in a tight game and lost the last game in penalty kicks after an exciting 2-2 draw. They played with a lot of confidence and intensity.

"Chomping on my sunflower seeds, drinking my Timmy's, being a wise-guy and cheering. 
That was me."

I have been just as relaxed watching my other son's senior high school games.  I could write a 200 page technical report on both teams (good, bad and ugly), but in this case, it's more fun and very easy to just watch and enjoy.  I don't think my wife and I discussed the games at all on the way home.

Enjoying myself is not only good for me, it's being fair to my children and their coaches.  Their coaches know that other parents ask me questions all the time, but I never engage in that kind of talk. 

I still coach a lot and do so with 110% of everything I have, but I intend to enjoy watching when my job is a parent.

If the game is not enjoyable at U14, they will walk away and do something else.  I intend to contribute to that enjoyment as much as I can.

I am proud of this program.  There have been 2 teams since U9 and both teams are still full.  Some players have come, left and returned and many have been there since U9.  Neither team is exceptionally strong, but some so called "power houses" have imploded around us over the years.  I hope the program stays strong until U18.

P.S.  Do not let this negate the fact that I do miss those boys.  :)

Do policies help you do your job as a soccer coach?

In 2009, my oldest son's Bantam house league hockey coach announced to anybody who bothered to listen "5 on 5, power play and penalty kills, no matter the situation, the next guy at the door goes on".  With that statement, he pretty much killed any and all questions from wannabe coaches in the stands who wanted to talk about why we lost or what could be better.  In February, one dad said to him "Some teams put their better players on the power play" and he replied, politely "Good for them". 

As a coach, you are called upon to make decisions over and over.  As a club coach your attention is required everywhere, from team party to hotel arrangements.

Here is where the idea of policies comes into play.

A policy is a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent, and is implemented as a procedure or protocol.  Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision making.

"Will your policy make coaching more enjoyable for you and the team more enjoyable for the players?  If the answer is no, stop right there."

During my time as an elected Councillor in Welland and Niagara, I learned that policies relieve staff of having to make ad-hoc decisions over and over, with the possibility of being inconsistent.

In most club team situations, policies come from the National/Provincial level, District, Club and team.

Should you have some policies in place when you coach? Are they helpful?  Well, let's suppose you are a technical director at a medium size clubs, roughly 15 travel teams.  How difficult is it for the club to be accountable for 15 coaches who all run their teams differently?

For you as a coach, I am not talking about a 400 page manual to distribute to parents.  I am talking about guidelines that help settle situations/questions before they become issues.  The players do not need to know about all of your policies regarding team operation.

"Having things in place through team and club policies and addressing topics at your parent meeting makes life a lot easier down the road."

If you are part of a club's governance, how easy is it for your club staff if they have answers for members regarding issues like payment plans for registration, refunds, etc.

But let's think of this as coaches.  What are the questions you keep dealing with over and over?

• Can we buy this?
• How do we pay for tournaments?
• How long are tryouts?
• How do you handle releases?
• What is the minimum number of tryouts a player has before judgement?
• How do we pick jersey numbers?
• Who starts?
• How do you handle playing time?
• My child is going to be late again.
• Can you stay late until I pick up my child?
• Can he wear his favourite green shorts to game?
• We don't go to away games.
• When can I talk to you about my child, in private?
• Can I set up a fundraiser for the team?
• Why are we staying at that hotel?  Who picks the hotel?
• How are team parties handled?
• etc etc etc

Policies and guidelines established in advance answer a lot of questions before they even become questions.  In no particular order, here are some of my personal policies and guidelines when I coach, over and above the clubs:

• The team money is held in a double-signature bank account, by 2 parents who are not married to each other or one of the coaches, at a bank not used by one of the co-signers.  I do this for accountability.  Cash is not accountable or traceable.  The choice is bank is to avoid the team account being raided in the event one of the signers has overdraft issues with their accounts.
• No cash.  Everything is done by cheque.
• Grey t-shirt at training.
• Player selections are done via posted list on Internet.
• Two parents in charge of setting up bench area for games.
• No fundraisers without the coaches' direct involvement.
• Coach expenses covered and not covered.  Mostly not covered :)
• Absolutely no social media postings about the team, good or bad.
• No positional requests or conversations about tactics.
• We publicly go by the name of the sponsor that was registering via club procedures, not a private donor.
• Coach does not drive players to tournaments (we have enough to do once there).
• Coach does not handle club administration issues for parents.
• Coach is off limits 15 before and 5 minutes after training.

These are a few ... but in each case I did them to make my job easier and keep things consistent.   The last thing I want to hear is that I decided something one way for one person and another way for somebody else.  Much of the policy concerns non-soccer matters.

Before you go crazy making a book of policies and procedures, you need to ask questions:

• Will your policy make coaching more enjoyable for you and the team more enjoyable for the players?  If the answer is no, stop right there.
• Is there a persistent and repeating issue that leaves you in a position for making quick decisions?
• Who is being directly and indirectly effected by the issue?
• What have been the fairest results of the decisions you made in the past?
• Who is available to review any rough drafts of policies or rules you are considering?
• When do you want the policy to take effect?
• Is your new policy in contravention of any club bylaw?
• When are you going to review the policy and make adjustments if necessary?
• Is the policy necessary?
• Are you willing to drop your policy at a later date if you see it's not necessary?
• Is your potential policy consistent with your philosophy?  If you are not comfortable with what you are proposing, don't do it.  Nobody can fake it for very long.  My experiences are most coaches make rules about attendance, punctuality and playing time that they don't really believe in.

Am I trying to complicate coaching?  No, quite the opposite.  Having things in place through personal and club policies and addressing topics at your parent meeting makes life a lot easier down the road.

You also want to prevent the possiblilty of being seen as bending to everybody's request and making one-off decisions over and over.

Before addressing this topic, ensure that you check all of your club policies first.  You don't want to reinvent or contradict any of the work already done by the club.

If you have policies that work, share them with other coaches or your club.  If you see other coaches' and clubs' policies that you like, retool them for your own use and share.

Please keep this one thought in mind;  if you do establish any ground rules for the operation of a team, ensure every idea is geared towards providing a better program for the players.  If the sole purpose is to establish your authority, your enjoyment and time with that team will be short lived.

Now that you're finished thinking like a politician, go coach!