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Coaches Forum

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A coach said: My only "issue" (and not a major one) is that many players like to play one position or don't want to play one position, i.e. goalie, and usually I try to get everyone to play some of every position. I felt it was important they learn all aspects of the game, and that sometimes (like in life) they need to do something they are not as good at. My son Shlermie is a good example, he would play defense all game if he could. I think this was good especially for the younger ones. I guess now that he's going into 8th grade and the players are older, how much should I let them choose positions vs. making everyone play some of every position? If you any thoughts on that let me know. Obviously I want the players to have as much fun as possible, but that's not the only thing they can learn from playing.

A thought (and other thoughts are welcome): Even at the youngest ages, unless the position is goalie, I wouldn’t flinch at a player wanting to play one position. Keep in mind, playing defense is not like playing Offensive Tackle or First Base. As a defender, your primary responsibility is to stop the other team from scoring goals and… defenders should also be involved in the offense. Throughout the players seasons, they should learn the skill of taking calculated risks into the offensive half of the field. Offensive players should be getting back and defensive players should be getting forward. And, as coaches, you should be prodding and encouraging this behavior. If every player on the other team is defending and you still have three defenders standing at attention in the defensive half of your field waiting for their opportunity to “do their job”, something is off. My vote is to let the kids, at all ages, play the position they’re most comfortable with and then encourage them to stretch their wings. Again, with the one exception being goalie. Goalie is a very static position and shouldn’t be played by (the younger) players all game.

A coach said: I think for the little kids, I am going to focus on building confidence and having fun. I know that for some of these girls, they have not played team sports much if at all and being in a game is going to be a new thing for them to get used to. I am planning to reward them with treats!

A thought (and other thoughts are welcome): Agreed on the building confidence and fun. 100% agreed. As for the treats, you can obviously give food, candy, etc. to your daughter. But do not give any food to any of the other kids without the explicit permission of their parents. This includes cut oranges at halftime, etc. As a Jewish league with a broad spectrum of Jews, kashrut is a very real issue. Please do not give any food to the kids without the explicit permission of the players’ parents.
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Only going to have 6 players

Post by DanVogel »

While I'm new to coaching a Hapoel team this year I will ask a question that I am sure has been dealt with before is seasons past.

I know that next week, due to simchas for some of my players that at the most I am going to have 6 players - what is the normal procedure for that? I take it this is not a forfeit when it comes to the BK1 age group.

Thanks!
Dan Vogel

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Short Players, Lopsided Scores, Player Positions

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A coach said: I know that next week, due to simchas for some of my players that at the most I am going to have 6 players - what is the normal procedure for that? I take it this is not a forfeit when it comes to the BK1 age group.

A thought (and other thoughts are welcome): If the numbers are lopsided, the players (not the coaches, parents, referees or otherwise) on the smaller team can agree to forfeit the game and the players redistributed for a "friendly" game. In this situation, the referee should still record goals and assists so that the players are credited for their performance when the statistics come out each week. Similarly, at no point should one team have two or more players sitting out because some players from the other team did not turn up. The team that showed up shouldn’t be penalized because the opposing team, for whatever reason, is not in full attendance.


A coach said: What is the best way to handle a game with lopsided scoring.

A thought (and other thoughts are welcome): This issue relates directly to the situation spoken to directly above. If the score is starting to get lopsided, as a coach, please tell the team that each player is not allowed to score more than two goals until everyone on the team has scored at least once. Previous coaches have tried this with a very positive effect as it made the players help each other out.


A parent said: It appears my son’s coach’s intention is to play the kids at fixed positions all season. (He told me he planned to put my son at a defender spot.) Although I can certainly understand a desire to weight assignments somewhat to reflect differing skill levels, I don't think keeping kids in the same spots throughout the game is a healthy thing to do for kids of this age. I know my son likes the opportunity to play forward or midfield from time to time.

A thought (and other thoughts are welcome): There is no reason for a player to play the same position all season unless he prefers this position. (As an aside, if a player wants to play goalie all season, I would discourage it. But, if the player is insistent, it seems inappropriate to make the child play in the field.) Alternatively, there is also no reason to make each player play every position. The young man above, strikes me as the prototypical “role player”. As a consequence, he should play numerous roles throughout the season including forward, midfield and defense. With this said, if you have a boy who loves playing offense, is good at playing defense and has no interest in playing any other position, let him be a defender. The overarching rule being… Let the kids decide. Lastly, if every kid wants to play forward, let them all play forward in equal proportions.

On a related topic, it bears mentioning that soccer is a very different sport from football and baseball. In football and baseball, positions are very static. An offensive tackle does a very specific job. A first baseman does a very specific job. In soccer, every player, with the possible exception of the goalie, has the opportunity to cover the whole field. While a defenders top responsibility is defense, all defenders should be involved in the offense. While forwards top responsibility is on offense, all forwards should be involved in defending. Any and all players no matter their position should be running and getting involved in both halves of the field.
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6-Team Play-Off System and A Letter to a Team

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Two things:

1. Changes to the play-off system for the leagues with six teams: BK1, B23 and B45
2. A letter I sent to my team’s parents – Feel free to read, ignore, plagiarize or otherwise.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Historically, the six team leagues had a three-game play-off where the top teams during the regular season were rewarded by playing the bottom teams during the regular season and vice-versa. I like this system for the top teams because they should be rewarded but it bothers me that the 6th Place team during the regular season needs to play the #1 and #2 teams during the regular season and then beat the #1 team during the play-offs in order to “win it all”. Considering the regular season is composed of five games and the players are just getting to know each other, know the sport, etc., I feel that the regular season is too heavily weighted during the playoffs. As a consequence, I’ve changed the play-off schedule for the six-team leagues.

a. Week 6 is now an extra regular season game.
b. Week 7 is now two three-team, round-robin, play-off tournaments. The team tournaments are composed of the #1, #4 and #6 regular season finishers in Tournament A and the #2, #3 and #5 regular season finishers in the Tournament B. The tournaments are a rotation of games where, for example, #1 plays #4 for 10 minutes, #4 plays #6 for 10 minutes, #6 plays #1 for 10 minutes, etc. until every plays the other teams twice. The team with the moist goals for and the least goals against, wins. Second, second. And, third, third. If there is a tie, we do our usual overtime system where every minute we remove a player from each team from the field. (As an aside, we did this two seasons ago or so when we had a three way tie within one of our leagues and it was pretty darn exciting.)
c. Week 8 will be the Finals with the #1 teams in each tournament playing in the Grand Finals, #2 teams playing in the Consolation Final and the #3 team playing in the 2nd Consolation Final.

The point of the new play-off structure is to deemphasize the part of the season where the players are simply getting up to speed and give every team a fair chance to “win it all”. Also, there shouldn’t be any confusion for the parents and players as the only change is the format. i.e. The game times and otherwise are the same. The new schedule has been changed on the website and looks as follows:

Week 6 (November 8)
10:00 - Soccer-cise
10:00 - GK12 – Red/Green vs. Purple/Yellow
10:00 - G345 - Red vs. Green and Purple vs. Yellow
11:15 - BK1 (Boy’s Kindergarten and 1st Grade) - Red vs. Yellow, Purple vs. Green, Silver vs. Blue
12:30 - B23 (Boy’s 2nd and 3rd Grade) - Red vs. Yellow, Purple vs. Green, Silver vs. Blue
1:45 - B45 (Boy’s 4th and 5th Grade) - Red vs. Yellow, Purple vs. Green, Silver vs. Blue
3:00 - G678 - Red vs. Green and Purple vs. Yellow
3:00 - B6789 - Red vs. Green and Purple vs. Yellow

Week 7 (November 15)
10:00 - Soccer-cise
10:00 - GK12 – #1/#3 vs. #2/#4
10:00 - G345 - Semi-Finals: #1 vs. #4, #2 vs. #3
11:15 - BK1 – Play-Off Tournaments: Tournament A - Regular Season #1 vs. #4 vs. #6 and Tournament B – Regular Season #2 vs. #3 vs. #5
12:30 - B23 - Play-Off Tournaments: Tournament A - Regular Season #1 vs. #4 vs. #6 and Tournament B – Regular Season #2 vs. #3 vs. #5
1:45 - B45 - Play-Off Tournaments: Tournament A - Regular Season #1 vs. #4 vs. #6 and Tournament B – Regular Season #2 vs. #3 vs. #5
3:00 - G678 - Semi-Finals: #1 vs. #4, #2 vs. #3
3:00 - B6789 - Semi-Finals: #1 vs. #4, #2 vs. #3

Week 8 (November 22)
10:00 - Soccer-cise
10:00 - GK12 – Grand Finals: #1/#4 vs. #2/#3
10:00 - G345 – Grand Final: Semi-Final Game Winners, Consolation Final: Semi-Final Game Losers
11:15 - BK1 – Grand Final: Tournament A #1 vs. Tournament B #1, Consolation Final: Tournament A #2 vs. Tournament B #2, Second Consolation Final: Tournament A #3 vs. Tournament B #3
12:30 - B23 - Grand Final: Tournament A #1 vs. Tournament B #1, Consolation Final: Tournament A #2 vs. Tournament B #2, Second Consolation Final: Tournament A #3 vs. Tournament B #3
1:45 - B45 - Grand Final: Tournament A #1 vs. Tournament B #1, Consolation Final: Tournament A #2 vs. Tournament B #2, Second Consolation Final: Tournament A #3 vs. Tournament B #3
3:00 - G678 - Grand Final: Semi-Final Game Winners, Consolation Final: Semi-Final Game Losers
3:00 - B6789 - Grand Final: Semi-Final Game Winners, Consolation Final: Semi-Final Game Losers

2. This is an e-mail that I sent to my team parents. I’m confident that my outlook won’t be shared by all. None the less, I thought some coaches may find the team goals’ interesting or otherwise. Please feel free to read it, plagiarize it, etc.

Tiveria Green Players and Parents:

Just an e-mail to touch base as we kick-off the season.

In the name of setting expectations and getting the coach, players, parents and fans rowing in the same direction for the upcoming season, this is a brief outline of what we’re trying to accomplish this season. Our goal is to create a team of independent, creative, responsible players. In a word, we want to create a team of entrepreneurs. The boys need to understand that they have roles and responsibilities within our team, but they should never feel like they’re, so to speak, a cog in a machine. We want to avoid having players that are standing around during a game because they are “playing right defender”. We want every boy on this team to feel like the soccer field is a big, blank canvas where they and their teammates can express their independence, creativity, adventurousness and more. Each player should see their “standing and waiting” as a wasted opportunity to try something new, proactively help a teammate on a different part of the field and more. The goal for this season is to finish this season with a team of players that internalize:

1. Roles and responsibilities – As a team, we want to score goals and stop the other team from scoring goals. In order to accomplish this goal, our players will be asked to play four different roles on the field: goalie, defender, midfielder and forward. The primary responsibility of the goalie and defender is to stop the other team from scoring goals. The responsibility of the forward is to score goals. And the responsibility of the midfielder is to do both. Players will not, so to speak, play positions. We do not want to create a “right defender”. e.g. We don’t want a player to stand where a coach made an x on a chalkboard and wait for the ball to come to them. Players will have specific responsibilities and will be held accountable for fulfilling these responsibilities. But while the players are fulfilling their core responsibilities, they will also be encouraged to do more. If, as coaches and parents, we do our jobs correctly, the players will take risks and, by definition, make mistakes. (Keep in mind, every team goes to the play-offs and, come play-off time, has an equal opportunity to “win it all”. Let’s make our mistakes early and often and learn from these mistakes. As a consequence, during the play-offs, we’ll be more experienced and better prepared to play our highest level of soccer.) Our goal is not to win the regular season, go undefeated or otherwise. Our goal is to learn and internalize our different roles and responsibilities on the soccer field. e.g. a defender doesn’t just defend. A defender can do, and does, so much more. A defender scores goals.
2. Team work – While we want the players to understand their individual roles and responsibilities, it’s also critical that the players understand that each player is responsible for the team as a whole. We want to create independent players that are accountable for their individual responsibilities as well as the responsibilities and goals of the entire team. As spoken to above, we will encourage our players to take risks and make mistakes. Similarly, we will encourage our players to support their teammates in fulfilling their individual responsibilities, lend a hand when a teammate makes a mistake and more. Ultimately, all our goals will be team-centric goals.
3. Responsibility and teamwork both on and off the field – If we’re going to set goals for the season, we might as well create some “stretch goals”. At the conclusion of the season, our players will learn to be independent, creative, adventurous, responsible team players both on and off the field. My hope is that our players will use their experiences on the field to stretch their wings in other aspects of their lives.

We most certainly will not accomplish all these goals in Week One. We most certainly will have more detailed strategies and tactics throughout the season to accomplish these goals and more. We most certainly will have peaks and valleys in accomplishing our goals. But, as a start, this is the framework for our season. So, please don’t be surprised if your son is playing goalie and he makes a run into the offensive half of the field. At least in the beginning of our season, I will be encouraging this exact behavior. And, my hope is that when the young man takes a risk, you’ll commend him for doing exactly this. So, let’s show up on Sunday ready to take some chances and see what we, individually and as a team, can get away with.

On Sunday, we play Game One of our 2009 season. Currently, we have eight players. (As an FYI, our games are 6 players and a goalie so, when we’re at full attendance, we’ll have one sub.) With this said, this coming Sunday is a long weekend so we shouldn’t be surprised if we have 7 players or less. If you’re not going to be at the game this coming weekend, please e-mail me. Currently, for this coming Sunday, this is our squad:

B23 - Tiveria Green
Benjamin XXX
ShlomoXXX
XXX
XXX
XXX

Lastly, now and throughout the season, please e-mail me and let me know if you have any questions, comments, thoughts, etc. This would be enormously helpful. Please talk to your sons and let me know how they’re doing, what they’re thinking, etc. We have a relatively limited amount of time on the field each Sunday and, again, this feedback would be enormously helpful.

Looking forward to Sunday and the season,
Coach Matt

I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday.

Thanks,
Coach Matt
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Short Players and Field Size

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A Coach said: This week the Shlermans are going out of town so we will have only 5 players and Purple will have up to 8 (I think). In the unlikely case they have all of their players show up, will they play only 7 with a sub?

A thought (and other thoughts are welcome: With the long weekend, my guess is all teams will be short players. With this said, if your opponent has 8 players and you have 5, officially, they can play with six and a goalie plus one sub (e.g. Play at full force) while you will be playing with four and a goalie and no subs. (At no point should one team have two or more players sitting out because some players from the other team did not turn up. The team that showed up shouldn’t be penalized because the opposing team, for whatever reason, is not in full attendance.)

My suggestion is to evaluate who your 5 players are. In Hapoel Soccer, especially in the younger leagues, quality of players trumps quantity of players. Your players will most certainly have a challenge. But this is a challenge that has been met innumerable Hapoel teams. We’ve seen two player teams beat full squads. Keep the kids spirits high. And, if the score gets ugly, the players (not the coaches, parents, referees or otherwise) on the smaller team can agree to forfeit the game and the players redistributed for a "friendly" game. In this situation, the referee should still record goals and assists so that the players are credited for their performance when the statistics come out each week.

A Coach said: At our preseason game the parents wanted to make the goals a little closer. Is there an official position on the length and width of the field?

A thought (and other thoughts are welcome): The width always stays the same. Shortening the length is totally appropriate. If there are less than 6 players and a goalie, at times, this makes sense. What we want to avoid is making the field so small that there’s no space for the players to run into. And, similarly, we want to avoid creating a game where the kids aren’t running enough. But, in answer to the question, at times, it is appropriate to shorten the field. Lastly, obviously, please consult with the referee.
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Player Awards, Winning and Some Reminders

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1. Player Awards - Just a heads-up to new coaches and a reminder to old coaches to send me your players of the game for the Week One games. Traditionally, the awards are the (1) Play Hard Award, (2) Play Smart Award and (3) Mensch Award.
2. Winning – Hapoel Soccer is not a league where we don’t keep score, shun competition, etc. We embrace competition as an effective way to get our young men and women to Play Hard. Play Smart. And Be a Mensch. We recognize that winning and losing is a critical aspect of the game of soccer. With this said, to think that the success of a team’s or player’s performance is based on winning and losing would be a mistake. Our players could play their best soccer of the season and… not score a goal and lose the game. Scoring goals is a small piece of the game of soccer and winning games is a poor indicator, especially at this point of the season, of how well the boys are playing. The highlight of numerous games I watched yesterday were plays that concluded with a shot wide of the goal. Admittedly, the goal would have been more satisfying. But the build-up to the shot was still beautiful. As a suggestion, especially this early in the season, you may want to minimize the importance of scoring goals and winning games.
3. Reminder #1 – All the teams go to the play-offs. As a consequence, the regular season, for all intents and purposes, is really a pre-season. For this reason and more, let’s keep the pressure off the players. The play-offs is where we’ll ask the players to be more, so to speak, buttoned-up. But, for now, let the players, and us for that matter, just enjoy the benefit of being able to improve both slowly, organically and purposefully as players and as a team.
4. Reminder #2 – As a reminder, let’s stay positive with the players. With no exception, our teams are composed of young men and women who are trying to play the sport of soccer as best they can. At this age, some are less talented, some are still learning about teamwork, some are still learning the basics of the game, etc. But, again, with no exception, there is not a single player on the field who is purposely “not playing at the highest level”. With no exception, let’s be as respectful towards our players as we would if they were players of our own age.
5. Team Practice – We have a big field and an extra field with goals during the 11:15, 12:30 and 1:45 time slots. All coaches should feel free to use this space to practice before their games, etc.
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September 9, 2009

Post by admin »

Hapoel Coaches:

Just so you have some context for these e-mails, the majority of comments I’m sharing come directly from players and parents. I happen to agree with these comments or I wouldn’t share them. Please know they come from, inarguably, the most important people within our league: the players (and their parents).

1. An e-Mail from a Parent that has been Echoed by other Players and Parents – “I continue to be disturbed by the amount and volume of yelling by the coaches during the games -- even when it is positively directed. My children are in kindergarten and third grade. They love playing soccer. But they and every one of their teammates and opponents are far too young to process the amount of information that is regularly yelled at them from the sidelines during the games. What I hear in these games sounds more like it should be coming from the sidelines of a high school or college game. I understand that the kids need and can benefit from coaching, and I know that the coaches are trying to help the kids, but what I and many other parents are observing seems less like coaching and more like a constant stream of instructions that can't really be of any benefit to kids this young. If anything, it seems to me like it's stressing the kids out, because they're trying to play and listen at the same time. And if they can't follow the coach's instructions, all they hear is the same instructions yelled again and again. Isn't it possible to let the kids go out there and just play with a minimum of instruction during the game? It's time to let these (very young) kids be kids. I really want to urge you to sensitize the coaches to this.”
2. A Similar e-Mail from a Parent that’s Voicing the Same Sentiment – “"Please tone down the shouting from the sidelines and let the kids enjoy playing." Let’s remember, we’re trying to encourage and facilitate the improvement and enjoyment of the sport of soccer for our players and for our teams. With this in mind, let’s be aware of our potentially being hyper-competitive and hyper-controlling.
3. Shaking Hands – The players should be shaking hands with the other team after the conclusion of their games.
4. Big Trophies and How They Relate to Your Teams – Here are some coaching thoughts with relation to the Big Trophies. Just as reminder, the Big Trophies that are given at the End-of-Season Banquet will be given to teams, not players, this season. For numerous reasons including keeping our young men and women focused on Playing Hard, Playing Smart and Being Mensches, we may want to remind our players of these Big Trophies. The trophies include:

a. Most Improved Team – In Week One, we had the opportunity to see the inherent talent of our respective teams. For some teams which were short numerous players, in Week Two, we’ll have an opportunity to see the talent level of our teams. As coaches, we all now have a benchmark to work from in terms of how talented our teams are both by individual player talent and by their ability to work as a team. As coaches, now is when our season starts. If your team showed up for Week One and played great soccer, that’s wonderful. But, as a coach, your job is now to improve on this performance. Much like a salesperson who takes over a territory that has reoccurring sales of $1 million per month, you can’t show up the next month with $1 million saying “Look what I did!” We need to continually work with the players and the teams to continually get better. The benchmark has been set for most of our teams. Now, let’s raise the bar. (With this in mind, if I can help in any way with drills, exercises or other coaching ideas, please let me know. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. If you need a drill to facilitate the players moving to open space, shooting more effectively, dribbling with a purpose, etc., please let me know.)

b. Hardest Working Team – This award is self-explanatory. We want to reward the team that puts forth the most effort throughout the season. This is especially true when a team is losing, aware that they are going to lose the game and, still, they put forth 100%.

c. Team that Demonstrates the Most Menschlikeit – This trophy is for the team that demonstrates the most respect, responsibility, selflessness and other traits of general maturity. This is equally true for teams that are up by heaps of goals and change their strategy to playing two-touch soccer as it is for teams that are losing by heaps of goals yet they continue to persist. This award will go to the team that is, colloquially, a class act.

d. Coach of the Year – There’s an obvious correlation between the aforementioned trophies and this honor.

5. Being a Coach – Lastly, on a more personal note, I’m coaching a team this season. Ironically, I’m coaching the same son that was born three months before we started the Hapoel Soccer Club many years ago. Anyway, after being a coach for one week, I have to say, this has been a great experience in terms of understanding what Hapoel coaches have to deal with. I’ve always been aware of the criticisms from parents, pressure during matches, time constraints during the season, etc. But to experience it first hand is a very different experience. I’m hopeful that this experience will serve as an impetus to try and improve the experience for Hapoel coaches, players and parents alike. I have several thoughts but I’d prefer to share these in a separate e-mail.

Please let me know if you have any comments, criticisms, thoughts or otherwise. See you Sunday.

Play Hard. Play Smart. And Be a Mensch.
Coach Matt (Bernstein)
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A Suggestion from a Veteran Coach

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In my experience (7 years now, I think, and with ages 8 -15) giving a wide range of instructions from the sideline just doesn't work, for players of any age. It confuses the kids, diminishes their self-confidence, and makes them (and everyone else, including the coach themselves) tense. So, when I coach, I focus on specific one-phrase reminders:

On defense: "challenge the ball!"
In the midfield: "move it up!"
On offense: "to the goal!"

Over the course of many pre-game and half-time huddles I slowly teach the kids what these phrases mean, and do drills with them to foster more effective behaviors. Other than that, I leave it to them to work out the kinks in their own good time, as they have fun.

The number one absolutely most important thing to avoid is trying to choreograph the game. It takes effort, but we really can't afford to treat our coaching as vicarious playing. So, I say: no detailed instructions, no running on the sidelines, no calling plays, yes inspiring the kids to make the most of themselves.
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Rings true

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The number one absolutely most important thing to avoid is trying to choreograph the game. It takes effort, but we really can't afford to treat our coaching as vicarious playing.


This rings so true to me. That describes very well the style of coaching that just seems to smother the players and sap the enjoyment from them. The style of coaching where the players are just, so to speak, limbs of the relevant coach.
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Q & A - Winning Big

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Question: My team won big last week and, after looking at our upcoming opponent, there's a good chance that this will happen again. Any suggestions?

An Answer (other answers answers are also appreciated): You need a vision for your team. What will they look like when they defend. When they attack. etc. And, this vision should include all the players on your squad. The fact that you’ll have your full complement of players is great because it’ll allow you to work with the whole team. The opponent is all but meaningless. Sunday should be about creating pretty soccer and all the boys should be aware of this. The wins, losses, goals, etc. during the regular season are all but meaningless. The regular season is just an elongated preseason. (As an FYI, on Sunday, I’m planning on having a pre-game practice to discuss 50-50 balls. i.e. I have a 50% chance of winning the ball and my opponent has a 50% chance of winning the ball. We'll discuss winning the 50-50 balls, do some drills and then, during the game, I’m going to keep track of which players win the most. The ref is recording goals. I’m not. That’s not what my team is working on next week. In Week 3, I’ll be doing something similar with number of consecutive passes or smething similar. Again, the goals are all but meaningless. Unless I’m working on scoring goals that week. I cheer for the kids when they score. Recognize a pretty goal. etc. But that's just not our focus right now.

Once we get to Week 5 or 6 or so, then we’ll start piecing together the foundation we had built in these first weeks and we'll start talking about putting the ball in the back of the net. But, if we do our jobs, the goals that will occur will be team-based and worthy of oo’s and ah’s.)

Every team has better and worse players. Without exception. Especially in the BK1 league. In general, kindergartners are weak. But these are the exact players that you need to be working with. The goal is to get all your players over the fence. Not just the better players. I’m not suggesting that the better players play goalie. I’m suggesting that they should have to complete 2, 3, 4 or so passes without the other team touching the ball before they can shoot. (Start with 2 and then keep raising the bar. Challenge them.) I’m suggesting that they should have a limit of 2 touches of the ball before they have to pass or shoot. By setting up a situation where the better players can't touch the ball more than twice before they have to pass or shoot (e.g. two-touch soccer), the boys will most certainly learn the beauty of a wall or 1-2 pass. I’m suggesting they should have to play solely with their opposite foot. Force the boys to become better players. I’m not suggesting blindfolding them or some other silly trick just to handicap them. I’m suggesting ways to make them better players and your squad a better team.
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October 26, 2009

Post by admin »

Coaches:

Four reminders:

1. Hapoel Soccer and Winning – At the risk of being repetitive, winning games is not your job as a coach. Undeniably winning and losing plays an important role within our league. For the majority of our teams, this is what motivates our players. i.e. We keep score for a reason. With this said, winning is a means, not an ends. Our real goal is to have our players Play Hard. Play Smart. And Be a Mensch. Let’s not lose focus of what’s the real goal of our league. To quote a parent’s e-mail that I received today, “Parents will not judge them [the coaches] based on wins and losses, but instead based on the positive or negative example that they are setting for our children.”

2. Using Coach Gary – In the name of “Play Smart” and teaching the players how to play skillfully, I highly suggest that you take advantage of Coach Gary. Coach Gary brings a wealth of soccer playing and coaching experience to our league. I highly suggest that you let Coach Gary work with your team to teach them some of the finer points of the game. Just reply to this e-mail and we’ll set-up a time for him to work with you and your squad.

3. Running up the score – When winning a game by numerous goals (e.g. 4-0, 5-0 or more), use this opportunity to have the boys play two- or three-touch (i.e. The team needs to pass the ball two to three times) before they can shoot and to work on learning how to play a better team game. Do not use the situation as an opportunity to run up the score. When this situation arises, we need to challenge the players in new ways. Simply scoring more goals is not the appropriate challenge for your squad.

4. Big Trophy Nominations – At the End-of-Season Banquet, we will reward players, coaches and teams in their ability to Play Hard. Play Smart. And Be a Mensch. The “Big Trophies” are given to teams at the End-of-Season Banquet. If you would like to nominate your/a team for the awards below, please reply to this e-mail and let us know. The trophies include:

a. Most Improved Team
b. Hardest Working Team
c. Team that Demonstrates the Most Menschlikeit.

Thank you for your help this season.

Sincerely,
Coach Matt
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November 4, 2009

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Coaches:

First, great job thus far this season. With one regular season game and two play-off games left in the Fall 2009 season, thank you for the time you’ve dedicated to the players and our soccer league.

With the regular season coming to a close and play-offs looming, I want to share some thoughts/ideas:

1. Winning as a Metric - In the vast majority of cases, as Hapoel coaches, a team’s wins and losses correlates directly to one factor: the talent of the players that were originally put on your squad. As coaches, our goal is to take our players and create a team. As a consequence, though we don’t want to ignore wins and losses, it behooves us to focus on other metrics.

2. Goals… and Assists – A better metric to measure teamwork is to look at a team’s ratio of assists to goals. e.g. If a team has innumerable goals but few of these goals were assisted, this is a sign of a lack of teamwork. As coaches, we need to encourage and work with our players to score goals as a team. Having one or two players score a goal is part of the game. Having one or two players score goal after goal is doing a disservice to these young men or women as well as the team. (I can speak to this issue in a different e-mail but the top players in grade school, in large numbers, peak in grade or middle school. By insisting that our more talented young men and women take a more skillful, team-based approach, we can avoid this stumbling block.) As coaches, we need implore our players to strive for goals… and assists.

3. Goals and Assists Relative to Previous Opponents – With the conclusion of Week Five, all the teams in all the leagues have played every other team at least once. One of the benefits of this full cycle, is the ability for us to see our teams improvement relative to other teams. i.e. On Sunday, numerous teams will play against a team that they had played previously in the season. If, previously in the season, a team had won 10-0 with no assists, as coaches, we should be talking to our players about getting assists and scoring team-based goals. (We should not be talking to our players about scoring 11 goals and more.) If a team had lost 4-1 with no assists, this team should strive to score more than one goal, get at least one assist and, defensively, hold the opposing squad to less than 4 goals. Obviously, we don’t want our pre-game speech to consist of telling our players to strive to lose 3-1 with an assisted goal. But, as the game progresses, this information may be helpful in helping to inspire the boys.

4. Running up the score – When a team starts running away with a game, please do not put the multi-goal scorer in goal nor bench the player. The young man or woman shouldn’t be, so to speak, penalized for scoring goals. The young man or woman should be challenged to score goals in a more skillful, team-based manner. i.e. Your team should play two-touch soccer. Two-touch soccer means the relevant team needs to have two players touch the ball, without the other team touching the ball, before they can shoot. (e.g. Two-touches is a pass without the other team touching the ball and a shot.) If two-touch is too easy, switch to three-touch. (Three-touches is a pass, another pass without the other team touching the ball and then a shot.) If three-pass is to easy, switch to four-pass. This is, by far, the most common method used by top youth soccer teams when playing against a weaker opponent. If your team is starting to run away with the game and you need help explaining 2-touch, 3-touch, etc. soccer to your players, just call me, Coach Gary or Coach Andrew over to help. We’d be happy to explain this to you or your players.

5. Big Trophy Nominations – At the End-of-Season Banquet, we will reward players, coaches and teams in their ability to Play Hard. Play Smart. And Be a Mensch. The “Big Trophies” are given to teams at the End-of-Season Banquet. If you would like to nominate your/a team for the awards below, please reply to this e-mail and let us know. The trophies include:

a. Most Improved Team
b. Hardest Working Team
c. Team that Demonstrates the Most Menschlikeit.

Again, thank you for your help this season.

Sincerely,
Coach Matt
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Youth Sports Coaching Article from Sports Illustrated

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