Coaching young kids sports teams

[Grape_Ape]

I coach my boys' under 10 soccer team. There is a kid on the team from Ethiopia (adopted). He doesn't understand english very well and hates drills, but man the kid can play. It's hard to get him to listen to me, but once I started juggling and doing some tricks with the ball and kicking it around with him, he started listening to me. I love this kid. The other kids think he's weird (because he acts weird due to the fact that he has been in the country for 8 months and is having adjustment issues) so I have him under my wing. The parents are great. This little guy (Kya) makes it all worthwhile for me as a coach.

I know...sweet blog, but I figured I'd offer a positive side to coaching the little urchins.

[chatton18]

Meh - I think parents should stay out of it unless its the coaches kid getting all the reps at QB and he sucks. That said, part of a coaches job is to develop a winning, competitive, team oriented attitude, even at a kids level. Competitive youth sports teach a lot of positive values like focusing on a goal, being responsible and a team player. I've been on and around winning and losing teams in HS and College. There is a huge difference between the preparation, attitude etc. of winners that i think goes onto lifelong success.

As for your edit, that makes almost no sense.

I realize you always got the gold star to take home to mommy and were always a winner (isn't everyone on TGR?) but youth sports don't work if the only goal for everyone is winning all the time.

Kind of a math thing.

That attitude is why the sports kinda suck - bunch of assholes and their asshole parents going around thinking they are winners because their shitty 8 year old swarmballed the other shitty 8 year olds better. Not that winning's not important, just blunt fucking out - NOT EVERYONE CAN WIN! YOUR CHILD LIKELY WONT PLAY COLLEGE BALL BECAUSE THEY SUCK! MOST OF THE KIDS ON THIS TEAM SUCK! So they cheat, and berate the ref, and the life lesson is be a cunt. Which many of them take to heart, because their parents are cunts.

Edit before the inevitable hugh's a bitter shitter from some asswipe: if you look at, say, the euro soccer powers they've a ton of soccer players at many ages and many skill brackets. People aren't playing on their Non-league Division South Football team "because they are a winner" it's for some other reason. Same for the many, many teams in Germany or Spain or wherever. The idea that everyone can, and has, to be a winner is what'll kill College Football because ultimately most schools can't compete or field a good team. It's fucking basic math.

[Stu Gotz]

What do you guys think of this statement.

"I am not concerned with W or L or if we even play a game. boys get better in practice not games."

Quoted from today's email, from parent dipshit.

The coaching staff at AFC Ajax would agreee with parent dipshit.

[Hugh Conway]

As for your edit, that makes almost no sense.

It makes no sense to you that you need a broad talent base and base of support to generate highly talented players and teams? And that - since mathematically - except for ties - someone loses every game - that there needs to be some other reason than winning to play for most of them? Particularly when you get lower on the pyramid, they know they'll never be "winners" in any real sense?

Ugh, that's a dumb as skiballs and your idiotic "coaching" failure philosophy of B-grade losers finding games they can win so they can claim success. Which is good at selling shoes to snotty rich brats who can convinve their parents they need $300 nikes to be better, but not good at teaching anything other than being a winner in some shitty segment. Which is, I guess, the key to success in america. Dipshits finding their niche and convincing themselves that they are winners. It's TGR to a T.

[BigDaddy]

I know what HC is saying, tho maybe it's a little too watered down...

Winning vs losing is definitely an issue... We've had seasons where we won just two games and then last year, we went undefeated. I was more concerned with the players attitudes last year, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happier winning.

In the past, when we were losing all games, I'd try to spin it positively, but I swear I never said, "It doesn't matter if you win or lose..." because, it does. Either way, I'd always use it as an excuse to get ice cream, tho.

[chatton18]

It makes no sense to you that you need a broad talent base and base of support to generate highly talented players and teams? And that - since mathematically - except for ties - someone loses every game - that there needs to be some other reason than winning to play for most of them? Particularly when you get lower on the pyramid, they know they'll never be "winners" in any real sense?

Ugh, that's a dumb as skiballs and your idiotic "coaching" failure philosophy of B-grade losers finding games they can win so they can claim success. Which is good at selling shoes to snotty rich brats who can convinve their parents they need $300 nikes to be better, but not good at teaching anything other than being a winner in some shitty segment. Which is, I guess, the key to success in america. Dipshits finding their niche and convincing themselves that they are winners. It's TGR to a T.

Your ability to explain it didn't make any sense. Every professional league except the NFL and NBA build through minor league systems. Heck, even the NBA has the D-league, although most players go from college directly into the NBA. Do you want to know why high potential prospects get put into lower level competition, to gain exposure, learn how to play the game and win at the game.

You're really just arguing a circuitous point aren't you hugh. I get that the average record is .500 in any league. And finding your niche and then having pride in it is a pretty respectable thing and goes to the basic economic tenant of comparative advantage. Surprisingly after all of you're bitching on TGR all i've found your philosophy to be is I'm better than you bc I'm not some entitled U.S. douche. I've traveled the world and I'm cool.

[Hugh Conway]

Your ability to explain it didn't make any sense. Every professional league except the NFL and NBA build through minor league systems. Heck, even the NBA has the D-league, although most players go from college directly into the NBA. Do you want to know why high potential prospects get put into lower level competition, to gain exposure, learn how to play the game and win at the game.

If you don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, that's your problem, not mine. This isn't college or your shitty team where the coach tells you what to do.

There's 25,000 clubs in the DFB, 170,000+ teams, and 6.8 million people. Here's a little primer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_...ll_Association on the league system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_..._league_system
The top of that pyramid is the national football team and the top of the club structure is the Bundesliga 1. Other soccer powers have a similar structure. Lots of people, lots of players, one big pyramid funneling to the top. There's nothing in US adult sports that's at all similar. It's nothing at all like the D-league or minor league baseball, with a bunch of losers chasing a dream that'll probably never come true. Or college sports with a bunch of losers chasing a dream and getting a free (bad) education along the way while tv execs get rich.

But it does work, and does seem to produce community benefit and other things, and while I'm sure they love winning, clearly they can't all be winners. Anyways, now back to parents talking about how wonderful their kids are and ponying up $75 an hour for private tutoring for their (sucky) kid to play soccer, and $300 for shoes, and all to teach them some vague lifelesson of how yelling at the referee sets you up for success.

[MMP]

4th grade lax, dad comes up after the game and reports to the second how many minutes his kid was on the field. His point I think was that other kids played more (we typically at that age ran 2 attack and D lines and 3 midfield).

I took out my notebook and opened it to the roster and wrote the time next to his kid. Then I asked for the remaining 22 kids times and he just looked at me. I said I have 23-24 kids to mind and you only timed one of them? Never heard another word.

[1080Rider]

I coach my boys' under 10 soccer team. There is a kid on the team from Ethiopia (adopted). He doesn't understand english very well and hates drills, but man the kid can play. It's hard to get him to listen to me, but once I started juggling and doing some tricks with the ball and kicking it around with him, he started listening to me. I love this kid. The other kids think he's weird (because he acts weird due to the fact that he has been in the country for 8 months and is having adjustment issues) so I have him under my wing. The parents are great. This little guy (Kya) makes it all worthwhile for me as a coach.

I know...sweet blog, but I figured I'd offer a positive side to coaching the little urchins.

That's why I love football. I've had foreign kids play on teams and it is great for the suburban white kids to have exposure to players from other countries. It helps that the foreign kids are generally very good players. It teaches other kids that they need to respect others on and off the field. I try to incorporate female players in practice whenever I can as well, just to show adolescent boys that they need to respect everyone 'cause there's always someone out there that can dribble around you, male, female, brown, black, white, whatever...

[Smoova]

4th grade lax, dad comes up after the game and reports to the second how many minutes his kid was on the field. His point I think was that other kids played more (we typically at that age ran 2 attack and D lines and 3 midfield).

I took out my notebook and opened it to the roster and wrote the time next to his kid. Then I asked for the remaining 22 kids times and he just looked at me. I said I have 23-24 kids to mind and you only timed one of them? Never heard another word.

I also coach 4th grade lax, so I understand the challenges you face. We had 20 players last season, so my policy was that if a kid shows up to a game, he plays a minimum 0f 1/3 of the game if he's a middie (we run three lines) or a minimum of 1/2 of the game if he plays defense or attack. We were fortunate enough to have several really good players, so playing everyone generally equal amounts didn't prevent us from having a successful season.

I did have one kid on the team with some severe developmental disabilities. He could not catch and even running was a challenge. He often tripped over his own feet during line drills and twice hurt himself running around the field during warm-ups. I put this kid on attack (where he could do a minimum of damage) and, regardless of what we practiced, he would stand at the crease like a statue yelling "pass, pass, pass" for the entire time he was in the game. On the odd occasion that he was open and someone passed to him, he would miss the ball and often drop his stick in the process. This continued in spite of me spending a ton of practice time working individually with him while my assistant worked with the rest of the team.

Toward the end of the season, this kid's parents sent me a pissy text message stating that they were pulling their son from the team because I was not "making the other players pass to [our son] enough during the games" and that my failure in this regard had "ruined the sport for [our son]."

Pretty funny, but also a little sad - I can certainly understand how hard it must be for parents to admit to themselves that their kid is just not built for something that they think is important. It also helped me learn that no matter what a youth coach does, there will always be parents who are unhappy.

I still love coaching though and can't wait for our indoor season to start this weekend.

[MMP]

^. The obvious answer is to say "he has a regular shift and he's on our man up and man down teams. " Just don't explain that he plays man up defense and man down attack.

edit : phone post was screwed up

[MMP]

The hahaha part of that post was pasted somehow and not part of the. Story. Can't edit from phone. Oops

[BigDaddy]

Put the phone down and drive, sir.

[booner]

had an interview for the head coaching job yesterday...been an assistant up till now. I really enjoyed it cause one of the 4 people interviewing me had MONSTER natty titties (like volleyball size bags) that were half hanging out. She also was not ugly. I might request a second interview

[wooley12]

I coached 10 y o girls softball - Piece of cake.

[skiballs]

So I get a call from the league commisioner last night.
Some concerned parent has reported my extensive use of the F-word.
I'm going what are you talking about and assured him that this did not happen.
So I think about it, one of the better players on my team is named Huck.
Huck wants to be team captain and I have coached him in the past.
So when I yell " huck get up field" or " cut him off Huck" it might sound like something else from 60yds away.
First game today, those little fucks better win or there's gona be some ass kicking

[uglymoney]

Some concerned parent has reported my extensive use of the F-word.
So I think about it, one of the better players on my team is named Huck.
So when I yell " huck get up field" or " cut him off Huck" it might sound like something else from 60yds away.

Epic sideline parent fail!

I'm a sideline stepdad for U11 and I keep my mouth shut because I know next to nothing about soccer. At the start of the year they put us in a room and make us sign a contract that says we can encourage but not coach from the sidelines or we will be banned from all games. This last weekend my stepsons dad who also knows nothing about soccer but thinks he knows so much about it that he calls it 'football' makes a rare appearance at a game and we were told he was coaching up a storm from the sideline until coach yelled at the poseur to shut up. Love it. Need to thank that coach personally the next time I see him.

[farmer]

Would you play a premiere leveled team at a select or rec level just to win games? I hope not!

A bunch of us did that our last couple years of playing soccer in high school. None of us had interest in going any further with it, so we played on the bronze team (1 step above a rec team) rather than silver or gold knowing we could take it easy, have fun, and kick ass without putting in the effort required for the upper level teams. Many of us were 2 or 3 sport athletes and soccer wasn't #1.

I ran into my old hs basketball coach at the pub one weekend and had a few beers with him. I had seen a few of their games that year and want too impressed by their lack of toughness. He was telling me about a kid on his team that year. He was a freshman when I was a Sr, so I sort of remembered him. Coach informs the kid that he is a 'complete fucking pussy' at practice one day, which from my memory is the gentle way of putting it with this kid. Lots of skill but to toughness whatsoever.
A couple of days later the dad, who is a local sports radio host, calls coach up to tell him that he can't go saying those things to the boys. Coaches response was, "you know
Barry, I was pissed at your son for playing like a complete fucking pussy. But now I'm even more pissed that he went home and proved that he is a complete fucking pussy by crying to you about it."

[Grape_Ape]

Just returning from our first game of the season - a definitive 6-nil win for the Charles Village Fire. Suck on that St. Kasimir's! Go back to southeast Baltimore and lick your wounds, bitches.

My man Kiya had one goal.

[XXX-er]

how about the attitude of the kids ?

The ski coach was telling me in europe a kid fucks around and he is out but here it doesn't really matter

[MMP]

The 7-8 grade JV youth football game that preceded our 5th graders game had a parent calling the referee a motherfucker from the sideline. The guy completely went off. He was upset about the officiating, but when you lose 28-0 it probably wasn't the officiating.

[mnflyfish]

Wow, reading this I sure feel lucky. I coach HS Alpine Ski team and I get 2 or 3 emails each year from parent with suggestions, but those are more about where we race, conference stuff, etc. Fortunately I get very few comments on the actual skiing stuff, though I did have a kid show up at practice not knowing how to ride a lift or make a wedge turn. That was an uncomfortable conversation, I suggested a few lessons and maybe next season, other than that I have it pretty easy.

[skiballs]

1-1 on the season. One of the boys moms comes out onto the field 20 minutes before this weeks game. She can't find her son's socks. I tell her there are an extra pair over there in that bag. She comes back over with the socks and says, " he can't wear these they don't have the stripes like everyone else's socks". I tell her " the boys are 8 yrs old. I don't think the strips are gona make much difference". She gets all flustered and asks me " what am I supposed to do, buy new ones?". "If you think that will make Johnny run faster, by all means get 'um". I turned away and get back to coaching. She mumbled something and left.

[booner]

1-1 on the season. One of the boys moms comes out onto the field 20 minutes before this weeks game. She can't find her son's socks. I tell her there are an extra pair over there in that bag. She comes back over with the socks and says, " he can't wear these they don't have the stripes like everyone else's socks". I tell her " the boys are 8 yrs old. I don't think the strips are gona make much difference". She gets all flustered and asks me " what am I supposed to do, buy new ones?". "If you think that will make Johnny run faster, by all means get 'um". I turned away and get back to coaching. She mumbled something and left.

Soooo, is she hot?



Sent from one of those fancy cellular telephones

[skiballs]

Soooo, is she hot?

No, the hot milf's kid lost his socks. She put an old pair on the boy and sent him out.