Just another good piece on the value of understated coaching.

I had observed this parent’s sideline behavior several times, and had also seen him silenced by his daughter’s coach on more than one occasion. This parent’s pearls of coaching wisdom included phrases like “Go!” ”Get the ball!”  “Shoot it!” “Get back!” “Hard kicks!” “Don’t Bunch!” and liberal doses of the one phrase guaranteed to make me cringe whenever I hear it: “Boot it!”

via SoccerAmerica – Sideline coaching — Dump the GPS and let the kids drive 11/09/2011.

The U.S. national team coach and legendary German player wants to see more “informal” soccer akin to basketball’s 1-on-1 and H-O-R-S-E games.

He also has direct advice for U8 coaches:

Have fun! Let the children enjoy themselves! Help them learn the excitement they can experience kicking a ball and playing soccer-type games on their own, with their friends, and with their parents wherever they are with whatever ball they have available.

via SoccerAmerica – Klinsmann Q&A: Parents can set an example Part 1 11/04/2011.

One thing I’ve heard from Brandi Chastain on occasion is that she thinks growing up playing multiple sports helped her in her soccer career. She stayed active, stayed refreshed and translated certain skills like anticipating a fly ball in softball.

Think that’s a thing of the past, only applicable to previous generations? Alex Morgan would say no. Until high school, she was in AYSO, not intense club soccer.

SoccerAmerica – Becoming Alex Morgan: Rising star reflects on youth game (Part 1) 11/02/2011.

Good read on the advantages and disadvantages of showing athletic talent early or late.

The early bloomers get confidence and a quick pass to advanced coaching, but if they fail to meet expectations, that confidence can be easily crushed.

Late bloomers have a harder time getting that coaching.

Early bloomers also can be incredibly rude to Matt Saracen and then lash out when Coach Taylor benches them in the state final. But I digress.

Early and Late Bloomers in Youth Sports: Lessons for Parents | MomsTeam.

So I’ve got Nicky and Mikey back on defense, Pedro and Paulie are up front … we’re just about ready … hey! Andy! ANDY! ANNNNDDDDYYYY!!!!!!

(Names changed to protect the innocent and the kid who has just wandered into the woods.)

We had a discussion among a few coaches recently about quality of play. I raised the point that one difficulty we had was that some players weren’t particularly interested in being there. If you’ve ever coached, you know the type — picking at the grass, playing with the net, perhaps even going on what Crocodile Dundee would call a walkabout.

I got a bit of a smackdown in response. We should NEVER turn our backs on such players. Perhaps that player will be the next Steve Jobs.

OK. Fair enough, I suppose. Not really saying we should ignore such players. Just saying it’s a challenge.

And there’s a fundamental issue of fairness here. If you spend a whole practice session or game trying to coax a reluctant player into playing, you’re not coaching the rest of the team. At some levels, perhaps that’s OK. Kids who have soccer aptitude, speed or strength might not need a parent volunteer’s help to develop their skills at this stage. Our club offers additional training for serious players at a small cost, so they can always take advantage of that. But the dominant players deserve — and need — a bit of attention as well. Some of them need to dial it back a bit. Some need to pass the ball once in a while. Some need to quit picking on the kids who aren’t interested.

And frankly, I feel better equipped to deal with those kids. I can communicate with them. Most of them want to get better. If they misbehave, they’re in trouble with me and their parents. In three years or so of coaching, I can honestly say I’ve made a difference for several talented players, encouraging them to round out their skills and learn teamwork.

The disinterested kids are more difficult. Their parents might be able to get through, but more often than not, they’re hoping a new voice — that of a coach — will help coax them out of their shells.

It’s safe to say these challenges have stretched my creativity. I asked one player who was always smiling but never playing if he had a favorite superhero. He said Batman. I said, “OK, pretend you’re Batman. Gotham City needs your help! Your teammates are in danger!”

Nah. Didn’t work.

Being raised on old-school YMCA sports, the only model I have to follow is yelling. Then yelling louder. Modern-day child psychology frowns on belittling, so there’s not much left from the old school.

So what do you do? Seriously — I don’t know. Any ideas?

That’s not to say I’ve been totally unsuccessful. I’ve seen a couple of players progress with a bit of patience. I just managed to hold the door open long enough that they eventually wandered through. But I’d love to be able to do it more consistently.

In the single-digit years, kids have two reasons for playing soccer:

1. Getting good at it, competing and challenging themselves.

2. Being on a team with their buddies.

Some kids play for both reasons; some for just one. But at some point, they have to be split up. The kids who are playing for recreation keep playing recreationally, perhaps making a breakthrough in aptitude and interest at a later age. The other kids are herded into national training camps at age 7 to practice eight hours a day, living on a special regimen of protein-boosted smoothies … oh, no, I guess we’re not to that point. Yet.

What we actually do is this: We take the top players in each age group into “travel” soccer. In my area, that starts at U9.

But it’s creeping downward. Back in the first installment of this series, I mentioned a program that took U8 players into an Academy program in which they would practice more and play less. Here’s another club’s program: When a lot of rising U9s (and U8s looking to play up) turned out for travel tryouts, they created a program straddling the House and Travel programs. This middle “Club Academy” tier is like House league except that teams practice twice a week, and Travel players make guest appearances in their games.

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