Kid's sports - A New Hope

[lookout123]

Wow. Just wow. Those that have read the previous threads know that my old coaching situation became a very negative environment so I moved on. I will not be coaching rec league soccer anymore, but I had agreed to be an assistant coach with Lil Lookout's club team. I agreed to that a couple months ago but as the season drew nearer the assistant tag has disappeared. Although we've had skills clinics throughout the summer the actual season didn't start until last night. I can't even explain how much fun I had last night.

But it's me, so I'll try.

I showed up expecting to have a role that mainly kept me in the background only stepping in when the Head Coach is gone. That was a reasonable assumption because the head coach is also the club president and this particular age is his pet project. I'm fully confident in my abilities to teach kids the game but I didn't expect to get much attention as I've mainly been a rec league coach. Apparently my private coaching work preparing LL, C, B, K, and C for competitive soccer has gone a long way in giving me some unexpected credibility. As it was the first practice of the season we had a brief meeting with the parents beforehand. They've all paid their fees and signed some extremely strict code of conduct agreements but we just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. Apparently I was the only one who was reading the wrong book. Head Coach (HC) made the introductions first. He intro'd himself and then the coaches for the B team. Then he came to me and said "you all know Lookout, he has joined us as my assistant, that means the B team coaches report to him and will be working with him to ensure their training plans are preparing the kids to move up to the A team. He'll also be the primary trainer for the A team since he has coached each of the kids at some point in the last three years." I smiled and waved but inside I was thinking WTF? I'm not qualified to run the training program for a club team. Oh well, too late to do anything now, so off we went. The teams split up and got down to business.

HC and I worked with the A team, running them through a number of drills. A couple of times HC would show a new drill and one of the kids would shout, "coach Lookout had us do that when...". After the third time that happened he turned the practice over to me and asked what I wanted to do. I had him organize a drill to find open space while I set up a 20 by 20 square with mini pugg goals at each end. I got the kids in the box, split them up so it was 4 with HC and 4 with me and we played a small side game where no shot was allowed until three successful passes had been completed. HC and I played with them and it was a blast. We kept the play going unless a real opportunity presented itself. Then we'd freeze them, have them look around, and point out what should have happened - not set plays but free flow smart movement as the focus. All said and done I ran the practice like I did my rec teams but without any time lost to the basics of how to kick a ball, etc.

It was an absolute blast. The kids look good. I know them all except one, so I know the strengths and weaknesses and how to use them. I had eight 7 year olds playing a one and two touch scrimmage for 30 minutes and they really really look good. After we dismissed the kids HC showed me his practice plan he'd written up before hand and while the drills were a bit different, the objectives and coaching points were nearly identical with what I had run the kids through. That was a good feeling and a bit of a settling experience for me.

Our first tournament is 6 weeks away in Flagstaff and it is a very large one. Teams will come from as far as Texas and Washington for this one. Some of the teams have already been together playing as a unit for two years so we have our work cut out for us. In the next six weeks we have to get them working together as a well oiled machine as well as getting them fit enough to play the games at above 7,000 ft.

The main characters in this season's drama will be:

HC - Head Coach
G - Team Manager, admin duties
Me - Assistant Coach
----------

Lil Lookout
Ba
Br
K
Da
Di
J
S (will play for A and B teams)
Bi (will play for A and B teams)

B team - there are a number of great kids on this team but their skill level is generally lower. As circumstances dictate, we may pull one or two to the A team. On the whole, they are a prep squad who will not play in tournaments, but they do have weekly games of their own. They won't play a major role in the thread.

Unlike the previous threads which covered the adventures of my rec teams over the course of a 10 week season, this is club level. This team will be together for the next ten months so you will probably see greater character development than in previous threads. In fact, one of my goals with this thread is to have a record of the characters more than simply a record of flips, tricks, and kicks.

Anyway, I have to get back to work - 6 weeks to the tournament.

[Flint]

He called you Lookout?

[lookout123]

/sniveling/ he called you Lookout?/5th grader/


:COBL:

[HungLikeJesus]

City of Blinding Lights?

[Shawnee123]

WTF is this :COBL: crap everyone keeps posting? Is that like a secret love sign between you two?

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Flint

:::CBOL::: (chuckled briefly out loud)

[lookout123]

LOL. No secret code. It was just me idiotically mistyping something in my momentary desire to mock Flint.

[Shawnee123]

Ohhhhh

:::BCOL::: then.

[ZenGum]

but COBOL is a code...

And I couldn't help noticing one of your players is bi. Congrats to them for being so comfortable so early.

[Undertoad]

Yeah he's even listed as playing for both teams.

[lookout123]

lol. strangely enough it is a distinct possibility for little Bi.

[lookout123]

OK, we have two weeks until the first league game and three weeks until the first tournament which happens to be in Flagstaff. Why is the location important? Because in addition to the difficulty of getting a bunch of seven year olds to operate as a team, we also need to get them fit enough to play 4-7 games at an elevation of 8,000+ feet. Teams from all over the southwest will be there.

We have been practicing for 3.5 hours per week all month with extra fitness and skill sessions on the weekends. Last Saturday we pulled the kids together with another team and played a scrimmage. While all the pieces are there and we have a very talented group I am somewhat skeptical about their chances of putting together a winning record. HC, good guy that he is, is only looking at the individual skill levels. I, being a bit more realistic, am looking at team chemistry. Da will not pass. More to the point, his dad doesn't WANT him to pass and tells him to only play in the center forward role, and oh yeah- practice is for lesser mortals. HC is so impressed with Da's ability to score he turns a blind eye to it and believes he can coach it out of him. I am of the hardened belief that parental attitude and praise are far more important than coach's directions.

Example: If a kid scores one goal and gets two assists but the parent only praises the goal, what does the kid hear? Score more goals, be more selfish. AND THAT DEFINITELY AFFECTS THEIR ONFIELD DECISIONS.

Br and Ba both suffer from the same non passing affliction but I feel we can deal with that because the parents are more team oriented.
I approach the problem quite openly with the kids - you don't pass, you don't play any further forward than defense. your only job will be to win the ball back and pass it forward until you are willing to use your teammates further up the field. I will willingly sacrifice points and lose games by fielding weaker lineups to hammer that point home.

That means that when I'm coaching the team line up is:

DI/Keeper

Br/RB ------- Da/LB

Ba/CM

Bi/RF --- J/CF --- LL/LF

K is very tentative right now, acting afraid of the bigger players
S is playing very slow

Ideally, K the left footer will pick up his game and slot in as LFD and LL will move over to his stronger right side. If Da will start passing he'll be our strongest center forward and we can reshuffle. That would look like:
Di/Keeper
Ba/RB ----- J/LB

Br/CM

LL/RFD ---- Da/CFD ---- K/LFD

Ba and J together are an unbeatable defensive wall. Br is a fast little bulldog. LL and K switch the ball crossfield with no effort and they each have excellent outside shooting and Da is a prototypical tall CFWD who can muscle his way through the opposition. That is the starting lineup I want to see for when we have to be the strongest. For that to work, Da and Br have to seriously improve their teamwork with those around them. Ba has to seriously improve his positioning and K has to get over his sudden fear of larger players.

S will be able to slot in on defense for tournaments. Bi can move into any of the roles except keeper and hold his own, even if he isn't the best player in any of those roles. I love that kid as he has a great attitude and good workrate - he makes a perfect utility player. Ba is by far our best goalie, but he is far superior defender to Di so I hope to work on Di's keeping skills until he grows into his field player abilities.

[lookout123]

Got a call from Mrs L. I had a very early appointment this morning so was gone before kids were up. Apparently Lil Lookout found his kit bag (ball bag, uniforms...) for the coming season. I got it from HC and just hadn't given it to LL yet. No big deal I thought.

Then Mrs L tells me he's just sitting in his room on the verge of tears. She had to pry it out of him but apparently he was crushed when his jerseys weren't in there. He was certain they weren't giving him jerseys because of some error he'd made in the last scrimmage. He had himself convinced he wasn't getting the #9 jersey. He has placed some SERIOUS significance on that jersey being the right one for him. They offered him 10,11, and 14 which are traditionally the lusted for striker numbers. He insisted that he wants number 9. That's traditionally a winger or withdrawn striker shirt so maybe he sees himself changing his role in the team - i don't know.

I do know it took me some time to convince him that the coach didn't decide he wasn't good enough for the number nine.

So, how do you all feel about psychiatric drugs for 7 year olds?

[Griff]

Tell him to rub some dirt on it.

[footfootfoot]

I'd vote for less TV (as in a nature movie on friday night if all other things permit and less sugar, no food coloring or artificial anything, certainly never any highfructose cornsyrup, and absolutley rub some dirt on it.

Then play him that beatles song revolution #9.

Leave off the drugs until he's older and he can have organic mushrooms. Remember "Set and setting" link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_and_setting