eNewsletter for Indiana Soccer Club Directors of
October r
2011-12
Coaching
Table of Contents Introduction to eNews Magazine…page 2 Future Coaches Program…page 2 Parents should let kids be kids…page 2 Using Visual Imagery to Help Individual and Team Successes…page 5 Plug Into the Circuit: Circuit Training For Youth Soccer Players..page 8 Building a Successful Practice Starts with the Coach…page 15 Elite Soccer Magazine: Steve Erye – The 100 Passes Game…page 18
Dear Club D.O.C.s and Administrators, What’s up D.O.C.? - will be my way of trying to get closer to you and share some important and fun things that are going on in Indiana Soccer. I hope to share with you informative articles, opportunities to grow with the game, and just interesting soccer tidbits. If you have anything that you feel you want to share with the rest of the soccer community please send to me.
Future Coaches Program Future Coaches Program is a course created for young adults that would like to make an impact in youth individuals that are involved in soccer. In addition to a practical coaching experience, individuals who register and complete the course will receive a: Youth Module 1, Youth Module 2, E License, TOPSoccer Coaching Certificate, and the potential for college credit in the area of Physical Education. This program will be delivered by Vince Ganzberg, former Director of Education for Indiana Soccer. The program is for young adults between 15 to 22 years old, and will go from November 2011 to June 2012. For more information, click on the following link: Indiana Soccer Future Coaches Program.
Parents should let kids be kids By Amy Donaldson Deseret Morning News
Shaun White loved soccer, but there was a moment when he learned it wasn't for him. "I showed up at the field late one time, and it was intense," he said. "I'm playing on this lower, recreation level, just so I could have fun. Someone else's mom came over and yelled at me, 'You better get out there and you better score!' There is something about someone else's mom yelling at you." White said he did as he was told and shortly thereafter he quit. Instead of traditional organized sports, he gravitated to nontraditional activities like snowboarding and skateboarding. The 21-yearold, who won an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding in 2006 and an X Games gold medal this summer in skateboarding, said the decision changed his life and his relationship with his parents.
"Instead of my dad yelling at me from the sideline, we were out riding together," he said. "(Snowboarding) really drew our family together." The professional skateboarder who was in Salt Lake City this week to compete in the AST Dew Tour said he believes a lot of young athletes turn to nontraditional sports because they have more freedom. "Normally, there are no moms allowed in the parks," he laughed. "It's brutal when you have people always telling you what to do. ... My attraction to skateboarding was that you didn't have that. You could just ask your friends, learn tricks from each other or just figure it out on your own." That's how all play begins. Most of us have those memories. Just some neighborhood kids in a field, dividing into teams, making up games and having a good time. We learned to negotiate, cooperate, to employ strategy and to have fun. We rode our bikes everywhere, and on the way we invented tricks, we made up games, we had races and we fed our imaginations. Then adults got involved. At some point, our parents set up leagues, they instituted rules and regulations and they stole some of our freedom. In order to develop at a higher level, we had to forfeit some of what drew us to those games in the first place. Organization isn't always a bad thing, but it does cost us something. And in this age of super development, accelerated leagues and club sports, I am afraid that many of our children don't know anything BUT organized sports. And that, my fellow sports lovers, is a dangerous thing. Too much structure is as crippling as not enough. Organized sports teach us many valuable lessons, but they can't teach us everything. I think when children always look to adults for instruction, direction and motivation, they lack what we learned on those sandlots. We learned to improvise and to run faster because we didn't want to let our friends down. We learned that having fun was every bit as important as winning and that we could find ways to do both. The lessons we learned from unstructured, random goofing off is easier to feel than it is to describe, but I saw some of it this weekend during the Dew Tour. The buzzer sounded, but that didn't matter to BMX rider Morgan Lloyd, who was competing in the preliminary round of the BMX Park competition Saturday. He fell trying to land a breathtaking trick that thrilled the crowd. His time was up, and he'd likely failed to qualify for the finals. But at the urging of the crowd, he tried three more times before landing the trick and bringing the crowd and his fellow competitors to their feet. "This is what BMX is about," exclaimed one of the announcers. "Not awards, not points. It's about having a good time on your bicycle."
In any other professional arena, he'd have been whistled for delay of game, tagged with a celebration penalty or told to exit quietly so the winners could square off. But much of action sports still belongs to the riders, which is why it still feels a little unorganized, unofficial and always unpredictable. It still feels like a bunch of neighborhood kids having a good time while they challenge each other to do what they thought was impossible just last week. Corporate sponsorships and financial success may eventually change action sports. I'm not sure what the future holds for any individual sport. But after this weekend, I am more certain of one thing: If we continue to micromanage the lives of our children, that future won't be as creative, exciting or joyous.
USING VISUAL IMAGERY TO HELP INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM SUCCESS
Building a Successful Practice Starts with the Coach By Bobby Howe Former Director of Coaching, Washington State Youth Soccer Association
In previous articles I have given examples of games that help players to improve their skills. However, it must be understood by coaches that while the games themselves will help to teach players, they do not complete the total development picture. Players must apply themselves within the practice, and coaches must help the players solve their problems. How does the coach interpret the game and help the players solve their problems? Method • With young players, all aspects of the game will require a great deal of work. Coaches should select one part of the game that they believe requires attention and use that as the theme for practice. • Devise a realistic practice situation where that aspect of the game can be highlighted. For example, if control was the theme of the practice, the coach should ensure that, within the framework of the practice, the players have the opportunity to control the ball a great deal. • The practices shown in previous articles are examples of the "frames" that coaches should use to highlight the themes of their practices. • Observe the performance of the players within the practice to identify their mistakes and successes. • Guide the player(s) to successful responses to their problems by: a) Stopping the play after the mistake, b) Pointing out the mistake to the player, c) Demonstrating the correct method of execution to show the correct "picture" to the players. d) Allowing the player to correct his mistake under similar circumstances in which the error occurred. • Allow play to continue if the error is corrected. If the player continues to make a mistake, the coach should remain with the player to give him opportunity to succeed. However, the coach should ensure that the challenge that is being presented to the player is not too difficult. Players will not be motivated to learn if their tasks are too difficult. Organization The coach should spend a little time before each session preparing the practice. In preparation, the following points should be considered: • The theme of the practice • How many players are available • How much equipment is needed (e.g., balls, bibs, goals, cones, Frisbees, etc.) • How much area is available in which to work • How the practice would progress ideally • Approximately how much time is going to be spent in each segment of practice
If the coach is not prepared before practice, too much valuable coaching time will be wasted on organization during the practice. If the coach looks disorganized to the players, credibility could be eroded.
Demonstration “A picture paints a thousand words.” In practice, the coach should demonstrate exactly what is being sought from the players rather than trying to provide lengthy explanation. It is important, however, that the coach has an understanding of his/her own abilities before attempting to demonstrate. Not only would a poor demonstration affect the credibility of the coach, it also would not represent a true “picture” of the technique being demonstrated. If a coach does not feel comfortable in demonstrating a particular technique, one of the team’s better players should be used to perform the demonstration. Observation and information The skill in coaching is to observe the mistakes of players as individuals, or as a team, and to provide the information to correct the mistakes. There may be times when individual players or the team make mistakes that the coach has observed but is unsure of the information to correct them. In those cases it is much better for the coach to say nothing and allow the practice to continue rather than confuse the players and him/herself. The coach should be clear and precise with information. A drawn-out explanation of a mistake will cause players to lose attention. Naturally, many mistakes occur in practice games. However, it would be poor judgment for the coach to stop the game every time a mistake is made; the players must be allowed to play. Too many interruptions will cause players to lose attention. One of the arts of good coaching is to know when to stop play and when to allow play to continue. Position The coach should ensure that the practice is observed from “outside” the activity and not in the middle of play. In a practice session where there is more than one group working, the coach should be positioned to see all the players. When speaking to the players, they should be facing away from the sun and away from all other activity on the field. Any distraction will cause players to lose attention. Personality It is most important that a coach’s own personality is reflected in the practice sessions and at games. A coach should not try to copy anybody else. A person is the best at being him/herself, but at best the second-best at trying to be somebody else. The former USSF Director of Coaching Education, Howe was serving as Director of Coaching for Washington State Youth Soccer Association when this article was first published in the WSYS newsletter in 1996.
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