I always get these coach gift idea posts out late, but such is life. Along the line of a gift my girls team gave me last year, Shutterfly can put together photo books, often for less than $30. I just wish they could do the 5×7 in hard cover. That would be perfect.
How Children Acquire Skill
One of the coolest aspects of the USSF National Youth License course is that it goes into a lot of detail about how kids learn, how their bodies develop, how they interpret and understand things, and thus what their practice sessions should be like. Their age will dictate what they can realistically understand and process. It can put planning your practices into a whole new perspective, especially for younger age players.
One of the presentations they used in our classroom session was ‘How Children Acquire Skill‘ by Xavier University professor Ron Quinn. It lays out some of the foundation for the NYL course and the current USYSA thinking on youth soccer player development.
Give it a look – interesting stuff.
Sports Drinks And Hydration
A while back my daughter had a coach that flat out forbade them from bringing Gatorade to practice. Water was the only thing allowed. Her belief was that it hydrated them better. This didn’t make the parents all that happy, especially when US Youth Soccer was advocating sports drinks simply because kids were more likely to drink them. But this coach wasn’t alone in her belief. My ‘E’ course instructor was adamant about it. (and my daughter’s coach that year was in the same ‘E’ class. Coincidence? I think not!)
Anyway, someone finally did some research on this very question – what helps kids stay hydrated better? Not from the standpoint of ounce for ounce what helps the body more, but instead looking at the drinking habits of kids in sports and the quantity of fluids consumed. Survey says? Sports drinks are the way to go without question!
Several other studies show that kids, by and large, simply don’t drink water, even if it’s readily available. In a seminal group of studies in the 1990s, young athletes were brought in to a human performance laboratory in Canada and asked to complete intermittent, easy sessions of bicycling, while drinking as much water as they liked. During the 90 to 180 minute sessions, the “children dehydrated progressively and their core temperatures increased faster than in adults,” the researchers found. Change the beverage, though, and children’s drinking behavior alters — dramatically. In the Canadian laboratory cycling study, when the kids were offered grape-flavored water, they voluntarily drank 44.5 percent more than when the water was unflavored. And when the drink included 6 percent carbohydrates and electrolytes — when, in other words, it was a sports drink — they eagerly downed 91 percent more than when offered water alone.
That is a HUGE difference. The article goes on to make some important points. First, this applies to older kids playing sports (ie 10-12 and older). 5 year olds playing soccer aren’t going to suffer from dehydration, though they should always have things to drink during activities. But as the activities get more intense as the kids get older, something other than water may be the best thing because they’re most likely to drink it.
Don’t believe it? Pay attention to the drink bottles around your bench after your next match with an older team. How many water bottles still have water in them vs the sports drink bottles? I’m emptying out water bottles all the time, but it’s a rare Gatorade bottle that has anything left in it.
OTP Debate: The USYSA Vision
Earlier this year, the US Youth Soccer Association published their Vision for Youth Soccer in America. It generated a smattering of debate, but not much. It certainly should, because this vision sums up much of what the USYSA is thinking and advocating for youth soccer in America:
Too often in America a professional sport model is used in measuring youth sports success. Youth soccer is not immune to this misapplied standard. For soccer the situation is made worse by a desire of many adults to use measuring tools from other sports. In fact it is maddening to many adults that soccer is not as black and white as with some sports in judging successful play. Many team sports played in our nation are statistically driven and coach centered. Soccer is neither of those! Indeed just like the Laws of the Game our sport has many shades of grey within it. As a player centered sport some coaches become disillusioned as they learn that they are the ‘guide on the side’ and not the ‘sage on the stage’. Too many soccer coaches bring a “Pattonesque” attitude to the youth sport environment. This coach-centered perspective has been handed down to us from other sports and coaching styles of past generations.
So consider this your OTP Holiday reading assignment and post some thoughts in the comment section below. I’m hoping to take some themes from this document and write articles this winter where we can discuss the merits of what the USYSA is trying to do.
Joy Of The People
There are a lot of people writing about youth soccer on blogs these days – which is a great thing. It wasn’t long ago that OTP was pretty unique in the ‘soccersphere’ concentrating on youth soccer. Most youth soccer blogs are written about how to be a better coach, though often that means a better coach just like the blog’s author. I certainly suffer from that fault from time to time. Ironically when you look at what they’re advocating, it’s rarely the same across different blogs. So when I’m browsing through new youth soccer blogs, I like to look for the unexpected or refreshing ones.
Joy Of The People is just such a blog, which I stumbled across this summer. There are only a handful of posts, and it looks like Ted hasn’t updated it in a while, but it’s still worth reading what is there. I he finds the time to write some more – he put up some neat stuff.
Speaking of which – I wish Old Soccer Guy would share more of his insights!
Thinking I Need To Learn The Word No
Part of the reason I’ve been MIA these past few months is I returned to an active role in our league’s administration after taking a year off AND was coaching 4 teams, most without any of my children on them. I really should learn to say no. When a U12 coach had to step aside right as the season got underway, we couldn’t find anyone to step in for him. So I agreed to take his team, figuring I could combine at least one practice with my existing U12 team. That’s worked fairly well, but certainly presented a new challenge trying to come up with practice plans for 24 players vs 12. We rarely had all 24, but we simply ran it much like a ‘pool training’ session for our travel teams. Heavy emphasis on foot skills with occasional scrimmages thrown in. It paid off. The teams may not have won a ton of matches, but watching them repeatedly strip opponents and win 1v1’s was a lot of fun. We’ll probably continue the setup in the Spring.
Needless to say this Fall season was insanely hectic. Between my four teams (one of which my youngest plays on) and my other three children’s teams – my schedule was jam packed. Somewhere in there I managed to get a new business going too.
I need a vacation – or just need to learn that simple little word… NO!
Yeah, I don’t believe it’ll ever happen either!
Competitive Cauldron Details
I read Anson Dorrance’s book “The Vision of a Champion” a while back, his 2nd book where he talks about the competitive cauldron system they use for UNC Women’s Soccer. He talked about a coach who had adapted it for youth teams, but the links provided don’t work anymore and Google failed me, so I’m working on my own adaption. In order to do that, I’ve been tracking down any online versions of presentations that Anson has given and finally found a good one over at the North Carolina Girls Soccer Camp website. I figured I’d share.
On the competitive cauldron note, I also found a decent article by John O’Sullivan from Oregon Rush Soccer: Creating Intensity In Training.
We have all seen it; our top player lollygags his or her way through yet another session. We have prodded, cajoled, whispered and yelled, and yet, another display of average effort is put forth by a talented player, and a talented team. It is a problem all too common for the American coach, a result of our poor youth soccer structure in the US. With yearly fixed rosters, and little avenue to promote and demote players between teams, we are faced with players who know that their spot on the roster is pretty much guaranteed until the next tryouts.
My 96 girls team (which plays a 3-4-3) is in an even tougher spot as their spots are pretty much secured for as long as they want – we have 15 players and there are no other players trying to make the team since our overall numbers at this age are small. So incentive to play hard just isn’t there. I hope to touch on this in a lot more detail soon.
Sometimes It’s The Simple Things
Along with a number of other teams, I currently coach my youngest son’s U5 Rec team. Sponsored by Sheetz, their name is the Lil’ Sheetz – you gotta love it. Anyway – we’re playing a match that is pretty even this past weekend and both teams are scoring plenty of goals and having fun. I think I had three kids total (it was a cold morning and I had a few sick). So coach was happy. Then towards the end of the match, one of the players ‘dribbled’ towards the end line and stopped, unsure what to do now that he hadn’t ended up in front of the goal. So he put his foot on the ball and did a pull back, turning around and dribbling away. I went nuts cheering, as did the parents. The players on the field are like ‘huh?’ And for the last five minutes of the match, no matter where they were when they got the ball, they all tried to pull it back and turn. The other team wasn’t really sure what was going on, but a few of them decided to join in as well. Both coaches were hooting and hollering every time they did one. I’m not sure another goal got scored in those five minutes, but what an awesome feeling to watch kids that age so something other than chase and shoot. Can’t say it was anything magical the other coach and I may have done in practice. We certainly have the kids do pull backs as part of other activities, but it’s not like they’re a central focus. Yet as a coach I couldn’t help but walk away from that match extremely proud of the kids on both teams, and the parents who recognized what they were doing and cheered them on even if they weren’t scoring.
Good stuff!
How Many Kids Are REALLY Over Scheduled?
Raise your hand if you’ve worried about how much your kids do in a given year and if you are ruining their lives. Come on – you over there. As soccer season kicks off and schedules get busier, it’s a common concern. Joel Maners passed on a recent article in the Wall Street Journal that debunks the common belief that our kids are over scheduled:
we have some data about how kids spend their hours. In recent years, researchers from the University of Maryland have analyzed findings from the continuing Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which documents children’s time use. They found that teens spend 30 of their weekly 168 hours in school. With the 12- to 18-year-old set sleeping 65 hours per week (a little more than nine a day), that leaves 73 hours for other things. Homework took up a mere 4.9 of these hours (about 42 minutes a day), and sports 3.9 hours. “Organizations” (like youth groups) filled 1.2 hours.
These are, of course, averages. Some children spend more time playing sports or doing homework, but some do less, too. Joseph Mahoney, an education professor at the University of California, Irvine, estimates that about 40% of children aren’t involved in any activities.
Emphasis mine. You’d think by now most of us would be used to the over sensationalism of our media today. Those of us with soccer players, especially travel soccer players, put our kids at huge risk every time we put them in a car to go somewhere. Yet many parents fear kidnapping or assault by a stranger the most, something about as likely to happen as getting hit by lightning. All because of these individual horror stories the media latches on to. Many of us struggle to look at these things in terms of ‘acceptable risk‘ and instead believe a problem is rampant because something happened to someone in another state and the media latched onto it. The same holds for the idea that many kids have no down time. Yet few people actually do the math to see how much free time their kids may have, and even in extreme cases where kids are doing things non stop – that may be just what they need.
I have four children. They all play soccer (and usually basketball), and are doing or have done other activities in the past. We have family members who tell us how we’re hurting them because they do ‘too much’. There’s no question our lives are busy. Yet contrast that with summer – where they would sit and watch TV day after day if allowed. Even during school, they have time to relax and overall they seem to be having fun and staying busy. Do they groan once in a while about not being able to watch TV? Sure. But take away those activities, and you know exactly what they would be doing day after day (“Are you ready kids?” Ugh!).
All kids are different. Just like coaches are taught about ‘slanty lines‘ and challenging kids of all different athletic abilities, parents should try to do the same when assessing their own kid’s schedules. Ignore the media hype and do what seems best for your own child’s temperament and abilities.
Looking Forward To The Fall Season!
Pretty scary how fast the summer can fly by! The fall season is already underway for our Rec teams and most of our travel teams have been in pre-season tournaments before the start of their season after Labor Day. I’ve missed writing, but certainly haven’t been sitting idly by in Margaritaville. Besides opening a new business here in town (that finally is close to being ‘ready’ – took much longer than I expected), I’m president of our local league again and am coaching a number of Rec teams in addition to my 96 Girls travel team, the Lunachicks.
I’m hoping to get back in the swing of writing – certainly have a ton of stuff to write about. But it may be a while before I’m posting multiple times a week.
In addition to coaching the 96 girls, who moved to 11v11 this season, I’m coaching my youngest son’s U5 team (aptly named the Lil’ Sheetz. What? It’s their sponsor! 🙂 ) I’m also coaching two U12 Rec teams, which is fun. I really enjoy coaching 8v8. Big enough to give players some concept of tactics and field positioning, yet small enough to keep most players very active. Needless to say, my weeks are very busy (but it’s great exercise!)
I also got my National Youth License this summer after getting my National ‘D’ License last summer. The NYL course was fantastic – kind of like four mini ‘D’ courses packed into one course, one for each youth age level (U6, U8, U10, U12). Each day dealt with a different age and there was a lot more taught about WHY certain ages should be coached a certain way. Highly recommend it for any experienced coach who still coaches small sided teams. Our league tries to send one coach a year to this.
I hope everyone has a good Labor Day weekend! What are you all up to this season? New teams? New clubs? New Rules?
Heard On The Pitch
Sorry for disappearing! The end of the season is always crazy hectic. I’ve been dealing with a ton of makeups due to all the rain, end of season tournaments (Going to Wilmington NC this weekend – fun!), helping organize tryouts, setting up registration for the Fall, and more. Hope to get back onto the blog and Twitter in a week or two. I’m sure I’ve missed lots!
Anyway – my son had two U12 matches this weekend, and during the first the referee was letting a lot of contact go, even with arms being raised up. It wasn’t one sided, but some parents were still getting annoyed and making comments to call some of the pushing. So during a lull in the cheering from the parent sideline we all suddenly hear clear as day:
Come On Ref! They Don’t Bump That Hard In NASCAR!
Now that was funny. Even the referee grinned and it eased some of the tension. Just figured I’d share.
Hope you all are enjoying the nicer weather and your soccer seasons! Ours is almost over here 🙁
Nothing Wrong With Being Prepared
As the severity of the H1N1 or swine flu pandemic increases, governments are taking significant steps to deal with any severe outbreak. The US has already authorized the release of significant portions of it’s flu medication stockpiles and many states are activating their pandemic flu plans. Most of these plans were put into place after the avian flu outbreak in Asia.
Soccer leagues should also be taking steps to be prepared if things get worse. We are responsible for significant gatherings of children, often across school district lines, which could aid in the spread of an illness like this. Now, I’m not talking about over reacting, and the media certainly can overhype things. But when the World Health Organization is seeing significant human to human transmission of a virus that humans don’t have a natural immunity to – it has the potential to be very serious. So there is nothing wrong with leagues being prepared.
So what should soccer leagues be doing?
- Find out of your state has a Pandemic Flu plan. Many states do. Here is North Carolina’s (my home state). In particular, look for sections pertaining to ‘Community Containment’ or ‘Social Distancing’. Again, here is the applicable section for North Carolina. It will often provide hints as to how the state will respond if the pandemic worsens and at what stages they will limit social/community gatherings. NC uses a ‘Pandemic Severity Index’ with applicable durations (4 weeks and 12 weeks), depending on severity, for limiting community interaction (adults and children).
- Most community programs that involve children will follow the lead of the schools. In NC, the pandemic flu plans talks about the use of ‘snow days’ to close schools since that will trigger the closure of many other programs (day cares, after school programs, sports activities, etc.) If someone in your league works at your school district’s central office – reach out to them. They are likely to hear about things quickly in terms of future closings, pandemic threshold levels, infection rates, etc. This could be especially important if your state doesn’t have a pandemic flu plan.
- Find online sources of information. Not CNN or Fox News. Direct sources of information about the pandemic and steps state officials are taking (see list below). A great place to start is your state’s Health and Human Services department. Ours is providing detailed media briefings and has a wealth of information available. The media briefings will be where states announce any efforts to limit social/community interactions.
- Tap someone in your league to be the person responsible for getting informed and monitoring news/government information sources. They can review your state’s plans, work to find the best sources of information, and keep your league officers up to date on what’s happening.
- Touch base with your state soccer association and see if they are putting together tips or information on steps local leagues can take or if they plan to issues state wide activity suspensions and how will those be communicated.
- If things continue to worsen, or your state sees an outbreak, start to think about contingency plans for extended cancellations of activities. What would your league do if you had to suspend activities for 4 weeks? What if that happened when travel tryouts were scheduled? Would you simply cancel the rest of the season or try to make it up later in the year? Would you be able to? How would promotion and relegation be handled if you use it?
- Be prepared to responded intelligently to your parents. I guarantee you if this gets worse, parents will be asking if soccer activities will be suspended long before schools are closed. How will you answer those questions? You don’t want your parents thinking the league is unprepared for this – that can cause many problems down the road. So get ready to respond to parents and issue league wide communications to let your parents know the league is monitoring the situation and getting prepared. Note most health experts are NOT encouraging the use of masks, except for those already sick or in health care settings – so if things reach that point – expect parents to ask about wearing of masks.
Hopefully all this preparation will be for naught and the virus will burn out quickly without causing widespread suffering. But when many soccer leagues lack a severe weather policy, let alone a policy to deal with something like this, now would be a great time to get informed and putting something like that together. Even if it’s as simple as stating your league will follow the lead of the schools and the recommendations of state and local health departments, it shows you did your homework and have the kid’s best interests at heart.
Here are some other sources of information on the H1N1 Flu:
- CDC Swine Flu Website
- CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report – Despite the ghoulish name, this report provides almost realtime information about where outbreaks are occurring.
- PandemicFlu.gov – Clearinghouse for US government pandemic flu information
- List of state pandemic flu plans from PandemicFlu.gov
- World Health Organization’s main Influenza page
Banished From The Sideline
A league in Bethesda, Maryland, has tried fining parents who misbehave at youth soccer games, but that didn’t work. They just paid it and kept yelling. So now they banished them from the sideline – forcing them to watch from 100 yards away. Many used binoculars to see the action.
The trouble began when a parent from the Springfield Youth Club’s Xplosion working as an assistant referee raised a flag in the air and called an offside violation on a Bethesda player, according to the minutes of the disciplinary hearing. After the game, a Bethesda parent approached the referee and accused him of making the wrong call, the report says. The parent “started to raise his voice,” according to the report. More sniping occurred, and “the tone and behavior of the parents was aggressive.” Then another Bethesda parent allegedly yelled at the referee’s daughter, “Your father should be fired!”
The league’s disciplinary committee ruled that the Bethesda parents had violated the league’s code of conduct — which asks parents to refrain from questioning referees’ calls — through “egregious” behavior that “has no place in youth sports.” They ruled that the parents could not be on the sidelines for the first two games of this season.
That’s good stuff. This league doesn’t mess around – they even have sportsmanship liaisons for each team. And one of the parents inadvertently showed why this method will probably work when she was interviewed:
“It’s embarrassing,” one of the parents said. “This is seventh-grade soccer.” Across the way, Potomac lawyer Philip Page watched his daughter Jacqueline play through binoculars, which was “very maddening.” Especially because he wasn’t even at the game where the unsportsmanlike conduct occurred. “We accepted our punishment, and we’re abiding by it,” Page said. “One of the functions of sports is to teach sportsmanship. When we as parents violate that, the girls need to see there are consequences to those actions.”
Emphasis mine. What other innovative ideas have you encountered with leagues trying to address poor parent (and coach) behavior?
