Kid's sports - The Sequel

[lookout123]

Last saturday's game was an absolute blast. Lil Lookout had a club game against the league leaders scheduled at the same time on another field so I sent him over there. (They lost -6-4)

Our team took the field with a couple of the kids nervous that Lil Lookout wasn't there as usual. They've never seen me without the kid there, so I suppose that was normal. We were facing one of the mid table teams so the game could definitely go either way. When LL is playing he kind of assumes an unofficial captain's role on the field just because he is cocky enough to direct the other players (yes that is good and bad). Without him I was concerned that they would lack a bit of direction so I instituted an official Captain for the first time and gave him the armband. C was the man for this game, he's got the ability but he usually likes to settle into his second fiddle role though so it was a fun experiment to tell him the team was his and it was his job to direct them. He did great. The other coach of course mocked me for having a captain, but that's ok - it's a friendly rivalry. His kid is on my team afterall.

I put my two weakest kids up top, strongest midfield, decent defense and good goalie in. 2 minutes, 1 goal. Great passing. All smiles and fun. They scored a couple more and were just having fun without a care in the world until the other team scored two in a row. Their confidence was dented a little bit more when I benched C2, the most aggressive goalscorer and other coach's son, because he started playing a little dirty against his sister and cousin on the other team.

We went into the break winning by 2 but the tide was turning and the kids looked unsure of themselves. I decided they didn't need a pep talk as much as to just relax, so we used our break to play tag until they all piled on top of me as the bleachers full of parents and the other team just stared at us like we were insane. I told them to relax and have fun and set them back in position with C (the captain) on the bench with me.

I told him it was his job to rally the troops and make sure they knew what to do. I asked him how to do that and he shrugged and said that's what LL does, not him. I asked how Lil Lookout does that and he replied that he usually just scores. It took us awhile to get to the point but he finally came to the conclusion that he needed to go get the ball and show his team that they could break down the other team's defense. He went out there and tried. and tried. and tried. He didn't realize it but the other kids started to push further and further up the field with him and were now really pinning the other team back when finally C got the break he was looking for and nailed the outside shot. Jumps, cheers, and smiles break out and from that point on the kids ran the field. C became a human dynamo. C2 calmed down. B started running with focus (not easy for a 6 year old with ADD), and D started bossing the midfield even though she was on defense, C kept track of and directed the movement of J,S,L, and K - no small task in and of itself. I sat back and kept quiet, just subbing the kids in and out as needed. At one point C was doing so well directing them that I played tic tac toe with B's little brother on the bench.

Final score: 10-3.
Team record: 7-0-1
Experience gained: You don't need a rockstar to follow if you just decide to be a rockstar yourself.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Damn, I'm glad your not on Al-Quida's side.

[lookout123]

Woohoo! 9 games down, 1 to go. The current record is 8-0-1.

I knew before showing up that we could chalk this past game as a win. The team has two stars on it, both prominent members of their respective club teams. Unfortunately, someone wasn't using their thinking cap when they put those two boys on the same team. They are both selfish players who instinctively want to go it alone and think the team is only a tool to get the ball back to them. Having one player like that is sad. Having two is destructive. They now quite visible can't stand eachother. They have a decent supporting cast but no unit cohesiveness.

Lil Lookout had a really tough club game immediately following the rec game and more importantly he had a new pair of goalie gloves he wanted to try so he started in the goal. From the beginning I put B, C, and C on left foot shots and assists. They attacked aggressively from the first whistle. Because of the shooting restrictions they were taking lots of shots but nothing was falling so the game stayed 0-0 for awhile. LL was getting bored in the goal without getting even a touch on the ball in the first 5 minutes when K, a midfielder was getting pressured with the ball and she did exactly what she always does under pressure and passes to LL. It was a perfectly executed backpass, nice and smooth, no bumps as it rolled across the turf to LL who was waiting to crush the ball. With a set up like that he will usually send the ball about 2/3 the length of the field before it bounces. He hit the sweet spot and really got under that ball. Unfortunately a player from the other team had charged the ball down in and jumped in the air to block the ball. He was successful, unfortunately he blocked it with his nose before crashing to the turf in a bloody crying heap. LL was horrified. I could tell because I heard him say "OH SHIT!" we had a talk about proper language for a 6 year old later. He instantly ran off the field for ice while the coaches went to pick up the pieces.

The other team had no subs so they played the rest of the game a player short so I pulled one of our kids off the field to even the sides up. Play resumed, but the other team was really just going through the motions at that point. My kids won 7-3 but spent more time working on passing than really attacking hard.

One more week to go then I lose two of my most mature players to the next age group up.

[Trilby]

lookout--your enthusiasm is heartening, my man.

good for you and LL

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Lil'!!!!!!

[lookout123]

Saturday was our team's last game together. We have known all season long that we would be losing D and C because they had to go to the next age group. The way the teams are divided up after evaluations is as follows: All the coaches watch and rate all the kids on a 1-5 scale, 5 is rock your socks good. Then we go in, usually keep the core of our teams together and add the new kids in around them so that at the end of it all, total team valuations are roughly the same. When we formed teams for the last season I think we all came up with an average score of 28 - my team was NOT the highest. My returning player ratings are one 5, one 4, three 3's, one 2, and a -.5. Well, with our record I knew I wasn't going to get any experienced players in so I told the director that he could keep my 7 returning players together and give me 4 or 5 ones - completely inexperienced players for me to blood.

Unfortunately he has other ideas. He announced that I'll get to keep Lil Lookout and have 8 or 9 players, some new, some experienced, but all new to my team. He wants to split all the teams up so that they can experience new coaches, yadayadayada. He gave me the pat on the back and told me I'd done too good of a job. He wants parity in the league. He wants inexperienced coaches getting the chance to work with "top notch" players. Never mind that other coaches in the league have had their chance with all but my two most inexperienced players. The one session I took off Lil Lookout played for another coach and only scored 3 or 4 times. Don't tell me it's because of the quality of the players, it is about what you tell the kids to do on the field. Basically he doesn't want to hear shit about my "stacked" team anymore.

In coaching theory that sounds great. In reality, from a business standpoint you had better think about customer satisfaction and whether you are going to piss off parents. I have a very satisfied group of parents who have all become good friends outside of the complex. They get their kids together to play, they go to dinner... These parents like me as a coach, sure, but just as important they like the people they sit with for a few hours each week. They like being able to trust eachother with carpooling kids around. I'm not unique, other coaches have developed the same situations regardless of their win/loss record. I told him that there would be hell to pay if he dropped this news on the parents. His response was that I should warn them about it before evaluations then. So I did. After our last game and an hour before our end of season pizza party.

By the time I arrived at the pizza party they had already planned and organized their revolt. They are passing a petition to parents from all the teams threatening to yank their kids from the complex if this plan is put into action.

No matter what happens, someone is going to be upset this week. Most importantly a program that a few of us have pulled together with our blood, sweat, tears (and more than just a little seed money) could collapse over "sound coaching theory".

The director is a good friend of mine who used this same system in another state before we hired him last year. It still really hasn't sunk in for him that this isn't just a building, some kids, and a field... it is a close knit community that has formed and evolved around a silly little ball. Communities are hard to form and easy to destroy and I am not looking forward to this week.

[lookout123]

But on to the last game. The team we were facing was missing their two top scorers so I knew the outcome before we took the field. My two kids who were moving up to the next age group were allowed to play any position they wanted as long as they told me what they were doing so I could reposition around them. Lil Lookout's allergies and asthma were kicking the crap out of him and he'd already played a tough club game so he told me "I just want to score a few then I'll stay in the goal." cocky lil bugger, ain't he? My only other agenda was to make sure that my three players who didn't score much got into scoring positions for the last game.

I told LL, B, and C that they couldn't shoot with their right foot until they each had an assist. 4 minutes into the game LL came over after scoring and apologized because he "tried to pass it to L but it went into the goal instead." He was concerned about having to run laps for ignoring the rules. I could only laugh.

Anyway, the kids were playing great and passing the ball really well. We were up by 4 points and I told the ref to not change the scoreboard anymore. With about 5 minutes left in the first half my tiny little dynamo B shouted with terror "I can't play against him! He'll step on me!" The other coach had put one of his player's older brothers who plays club level U12 age bracket in a center midfield position. Cool. I figured he'd go out and shore up the midfield and help their team organize some attack. Instead he went out and played full field attacking ball. I just watched him for awhile not really concerned with the score. I wanted to see my kids' reaction to him. I had my weakest lineup out there because I had been trying to keep the score down and I wanted the other team to put some points on the board and this kid took advantage of that. Lil Lookout was in the goal and was pretty pissed after he got scored on twice, but I told him to deal with it and just play his best. Right about then the kid shouldered LL's little crush off the ball and charged the goal. Wrong thing to do at that point because LL doesn't understand the concept of "punching above his weight" and he went straight out at the attacker and slid into him before he could shoot. LL's down, the attacker is down, parents are yelling from the sidelines.

I stopped the other coach and told him it was ok to have that player out there but it might be better if he told the kid to marshal the troops and help THEM score instead of just attacking on his own. The coach blew me off with the pronouncement " He passes more than he shoots and he's having fun." Uh, ok. Are you more concerned about teaching the kids to play or about getting a couple more points in the last game of a rec league season? Dummy.

So at that point my kids were a little flustered. I was annoyed, not because of the scoreline, but because of the idiocy of using a ringer like that to win a game rather than teaching the other players how to win. So I reset my players into a strong line up and took the leashes off. I put my weakest player in goal, 2 strongest defenders, 3 solid forwards and LL to run the midfield on his own. I kept that lineup intact for ten minutes before the other coach conceded the point and put his ringer into a different position and had him start directing the players around him. During that 10 minutes we had scored 12 points and they hadn't scored at all. Point made. What the point was, I'm not exactly sure, but I was annoyed at the coaching stupidity when I had already arranged my team to make sure the game would not get out of hand.

Admittedly, it was pretty fun watching my kids really kick it into overdrive to subdue the ringer who could only chase after the ball being passed by rec league kids 4 and 5 years younger than himself. He is a club player, he should know how to get his team involved instead of doing it all on his own.

Season over. Every kid scored at least once. All but one scored multiple times. Every kid played in every position at some point. All kids are signed up to play the next session without a single family deciding it was time for another sport. Mission accomplished.

9-0-1

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by lookout123

In coaching theory that sounds great. In reality, from a business standpoint you had better think about customer satisfaction and whether you are going to piss off parents. I have a very satisfied group of parents who have all become good friends outside of the complex. They get their kids together to play, they go to dinner... These parents like me as a coach, sure, but just as important they like the people they sit with for a few hours each week. They like being able to trust eachother with carpooling kids around.

So it's all about the parents, and to hell with the kids?

[lookout123]

I don't think anyone is saying to hell with the kids Bruce. Just a couple clashing ideas coming to a boil.

The director: wants league parity so that no team can blow another out. Admirable. He hasn't been around long enough to really see any of my kids play for another team. When they are in a group and passing it looks like I've got everyone beat on a talent level. In truth, my kids aren't really better than other teams on an individual basis. Even LL has a couple kids that he's a dead tie with talent and skill wise. Each of my kids lifts the level of the players around them because of the way they play. They trust the other players to carry their weight and fill their position. That gives them the freedom to play their position without fear of being left hanging if something doesn't work.

If each team has roughly the same total skill valuation I guarantee that my team will finish the next session with better than a .500 record even if I have LL and 9 kids who've never played together. The season after that we'll win 8/10 games. Not because I'm a master tactician or my kids are super stars but because I make them play as a team instead of teaching 5 kids how to get the ball to two stars.

Weekly practice is for building the team dynamic. If kids/parents want to work on individual skills they are free to join me and LL another evening each week, when we just go kick around for fun. Teamwork will beat individual skill most of the time. That shouldn't be some foreign concept to anyone willing to be a coach.

The Parents: They've each been around the club for awhile, they like me as a coach mainly because each of their kids plays - no one is left on the outside looking in. The parents like eachother which, while not necessary, is helpful when they spend hours sitting around eachother.

The Other teams: 4 of the 5 other teams are in the same situation. The 5th has been a revolving door of players and coaches - not a coincidence. Our methods, performance, and records may be different but they each have a core group that is there season after season that they fill in with fresh kids each time. Even the coaches bitching about my "stacked" team don't want to give up their core group - they want to keep them and add a couple of my players in around them. Well, hell - if I could keep my core group and add in the strongest players from another team I'd have a team that couldn't be scored on. That's the way it works.

No one is talking about pulling their kids out of soccer. There are 3 competing programs within a 10 minute drive of the complex. Those programs would gladly accept these kids if they left our place. My goal is to keep kids playing soccer because they find it fun. To do that I need parents willing to keep paying for them to play, drive them to practices and games, and generally take time out of life for the game. To do that they have see their kids having fun and learning the game. To do that the kids and parents have to get along with the people on their team. Splitting them all up can hinder that.

Whatever, I'll be standing out there for as long as I enjoy myself or until LL decides soccer sucks and he wants to be a rodeo clown instead.