Away For A While

Wow, didn't expect to be away for such a long time but life throws some unexpected events. 

Well, I am back and will be resuming this blog. It will serve me as therapeutic and hopefully be of some help to those soccer parent volunteers. There were some topics in my previous posts that needed a follow up blog and there are new topics that I am looking forward to address. Stay tuned as I prepare to blog some more about recreational soccer as it pertains to the soccer parent.

If there are any topics you think I should address please don't hesitate to leave a blog comment. Or even better if you want to be a blog contributor let me know, it will be most welcome.

Preseason Meeting Topics

As I was perusing some Web sources on the topic of soccer volunteering I came across another blog 10 Things Soccer Parents Should Know' (check it out and let me know what you think)
that lists a good set of things that a coach has experienced with parents in his 22 years of coaching. This is a good read that works well with my blog's theme that a coach needs to understand his role goes beyond training a team of young players.

Now for the topic at hand, the contents of what we should prepare in an initial soccer parent meeting. I have mentioned that you should plan for at least three parent meetings throughout the soccer season. Preseason, mid-season and post season.

In general the contents for the preseason meeting is somewhat similar within the different level of categories but there are some differences as your goals with a younger category will be different from those of and older one. The essence remains the same where a young player should be learning the sport and striving at improving their skill sets with you help. Lets get into the thick of the preseason meeting topics.

As a note blogger doesn't support hosting of downloadable documents therefore I have managed to make use of another third party that allows file hosting and sharing so that you can access some of the documents I have created and used in my training career. A template of a sample agenda has been posted and is available to you for download under the 'Document & Template Download' section of this blog. Let me know if you experience problems gaining access to this section and the documents posted.

The following topics should make up the list of items you will want to cover during this meeting.

1. Meeting Preview
2. Team Staff Introductions
3. Coach's Goals & Expectations
4. Parent's/Relative's Conduct & Commitment
5. Player Conduct & Commitment
6. Practices & Games
7. Player's Playing Time
8. Open Door Policy
9. Questions & Adjournment

The first and last topics speak for themselves where you use the first topic to adjourn the meeting and distribute hard copies of the agenda for those attendees that didn't bring in a printed copy. There will be those who regardless if  you sent out the agenda way in advance will show up without a copy because they either sent a relative in their place or just forgot to do so. Quickly reviewing the topics to be presented and discussed is a good start and helps put you at ease with the session.

If you decided to hold the meeting during a scheduled practice session I recommend that you have additional help from you club to start and run the practice on time while you meet with the parents. Your time box will be tighter in this situation therefore I do recommend that you make this a separate one from a scheduled practice. I have come across a neat free site that help you schedule a meeting of a large group of people at Doodle.

Lets get into the meat and potatoes of the topics at hand and I will point out the ones that would more likely apply to specific category of young players.

Team Staff Introductions

At this point you would have had time to recruit additional help as I had mentioned that it makes it a lot easier to train a team if you have added help. Hopefully you have managed to engage two assistant trainers and a team manager. This would be a good time to have them introduce themselves during the meeting and have them give details of what roles they will be playing with the team. This structure may not be readily needed at the U5,U6,U7 categories but U8 and up it is a good staffing level to have.

The team manager will lift from you the tasks of handling tournament administration, collecting fees, fund raising, equipment administration, general communication, team profile and vacation schedule. Basically all tasks that take you away from concentrating on a sound training program suitable for the category you are training.

You can further explain that your assistants will help you in running and maintaining team structure, discipline,  soccer skills and for the older categories tactical skills.

If you have not been able to get the additional help then now would be the time to canvas the parents for these roles. You need to make this happen otherwise you will find yourself overwhelmed and it will impact your success.

Coach's Goals & Expectations

You will need to define what goals and expectations you have set for the team. Be open minded on this one because you will need to be aligned with any programs being promoted by your soccer club. Do not and I repeat do not loose perspective here as the team you are leading doesn't belong to you. You have been given the privilege to train them on behalf of the club regardless if you found yourself in the coach position because there was a lack of trainers within the club.

Some of the topics I cover in this section are my desire to demonstrate the building blocks to learn the skills to play the game. To contribute in self esteem and confidence building so that the young player develops positively. Players need to be respectful first to themselves and then to those around them such as other players, trainers, club officials, other teams and game referees. The other topic I touch on is teaching team play, like the old saying goes, there is no 'I' in team. And lastly to have fun in the process.

Parent's/Relative's Conduct & Commitment

This topic is a good one to cover with parents and their relatives. It may be a little intimidating but must be discussed as this is your opportunity to be transparent about what your expectations will be in this area. Believe me when I say you will be revisiting this topic in other parent meetings you will have.

Concerning the players you need to be clear that you are the coach along with your assistants. There should be zero tolerance on parents coaching from the sideline either at practice or at games. Express that comments like shoot, pass, boot it or any other playing instructions should not be a conduct adapted by them. If they can't help it then suggest that they sign up to coach. What they should adapt are encouraging remarks like nice run, great job, good hustle. Additionally suggest to the parent to help improve their child's soccer skills which will lead you to an important topic. Reiterate that they should not live through their children as their time has passed. Let their child be themselves and help them develop at their own pace.

Concerning the topic of referees, this is another most important subject to touch upon. Express that most referees are young and in most cases learning the sport and all the rules that go with it. Needless to mention that they are in a position to make judgement calls that may not be favorable. Parents need to keep their perspective and acknowledge this. Express that the coaches nor the players will never argue with a referees and the parent should extend this same respect and courtesy. Remember that teaching is also by example and hence arguing with referees teaches young players the wrong conduct.

 Player's Conduct & Commitment

This topic should be relevant to the category you are training. For the younger categories, U5 to U8, you will want to express that you will be enforcing and teaching players to concentrate and pay full attention for the length of practices and.or games. This one is challenging but this is one of the reasons you have the assistants. Also with the aid of the parents you will encourage that they continue to learn outside of practices and games.

For the older categories U9 to U12 enforce that their full attention during practices and games will be expected. That their will be some kind of sanctions for disorderly conduct keeping in mind that parents are paying for their child to form part of the team, therefore you need to work out what sanctions you will want to define with this in mind. And here also there will be an expectation for the player to continue to learn outside of practices and games.

Practices & Games

In this topic there is a lot of flexibility as you practices maybe dependent on the policies of your club. You will want to express that you will want players to be at practices on time and ready to start on schedule therefore, being a little earlier would be expected. Set you rules for pre-arrival times at games and tournament games. Discus the frequency of practices after having addressed the topic with your club. As you prepare an elite team the frequency will be higher versus a recreational team were it would be less intensive.

Player's Playing Time

This topic will be an on going one especially when training an elite team. If your a parent coach you can certainly relate as you will have the tendency to have you child play as often as possible. In an elite team there will be the tendency to play the better players more than the other weaker players. There are many opinions on this subject but I will express how I have handle this subject. And believe me that this is in no any way promotes any satisfaction among the parents. So be weary on this topic when you choose to define your policy and expressing it to the parents.

What I have used in the past and somewhat altered depending on the reaction received by the parents is the following; Elite team players form part of a team that is under pressure to attain top standings. Hence parents need to understand that even good players will have bad games and therefore, are subject to see less playing time when this happens. For a recreational team then equal play time will be used to the best of your ability and through the help of your assistants. A recreational team being primed for elite category you will still want to promote equal play and I point this out because it is during game play that players really learn to use what they practice and in real game conditions. And finally in an elite team punctuality and attendance are important and I have used this as playing sanctions when a player is a bad performer in both these areas, especially the older players.

Open Door Policy

The last topic I cover is that I adhere to the open door policy. Express to parents that if there are any issues or concerns they encounter not to keep it among themselves and to bring it to you for open discussion. If you are a soccer parent coach impartiality will be hard to preach but if your not then you will want to express this as your goal is to be the best role model you can be as a coach

This was a long blog but I felt that this is important and very much lacking with many coaches training young teams. I have used this for many years and it has worked well in the long run. I have had parents approach me and thank me for the openness and how thy wished more coaches or club would adapt this type of coaching.

What do you think about this approach? Are you involved with a team that has a coach with similar policies? Is this type of transparency something you wish would exist within your current team?

Soccer Parent Meetings

One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of soccer volunteer coaches do is not establishing a good rapport with the parents of the team they are training.

What is a rapport? As per WikipediA, Rapport occurs when two or more people feel that they are in sync or on the same wavelength because they feel similar or relate well to each other.

As a coach you should, and it is a must, that you carefully consider this as I have mentioned in past posts that a youth soccer team is not only trained by a coach but by all involved with the team for which it is formed from a large part of the parent's participation. Complete transparency is the goal as it will establish an environment that will be both pleasurable, memorable and successful to you and your team.

Yes you are one of the soccer parents and in most cases this is the situation therefore, you have a vested interest in the team but as the coach of the team, you have become more than just a parent. You need to acknowledge this and act accordingly staying away from the temptation that you are building a word class soccer team and that what you say and do and how you act is the way it is and if nobody likes it, then it is to bad. Not a very good start or future if you follow this path. Having understood this you can move ahead with the following recommendation which has worked really good for me and the teams I have trained.

Once you have had the chance to plan out the season and established your goals for the team it is time to communicate this to the parents and if the young players are old enough they should be included. Plan on having at least three formal parent's meetings. One before the start of the season, one at the middle of it and one at the very end. Nothing stops you from planning more but keep in mind that in most cases parents have added the soccer sport for their children on top of other activities that have with the family and in their own lives. Also they may have other children doing other activities or on other soccer teams because of age differences among their children and other preferences.

As you prepare for the first meeting make sure you keep the following themes in mind. Think about respect, caring, being positive and supportive, encouraging and reassuring. These are but a few of the topics you can or should cover within this initial meeting. This is the time where you start that rapport with parents and young players that will be meeting you at a more personal level. It is an important initiative putting both parents and the players at ease because they will get a open understanding of what they can expect being part of the team.

The meeting can be held right before a scheduled practice depending on parent availability. It is easier to have it then because they would have already arranged their personal schedules to bring their child for practice therefore, adjusting the time to get there is easier that planing for an additional day/night to participate in the meeting. If the parent population is more flexible then you can have a more formal meeting over and above a practice session at some location where parents can take a seat while you run the encounter. Most importantly is to time box the meeting as this shows your leadership skills and keeps a good order for the meeting. It also sets the expectation for the team as a whole. I have done both types of meetings and I tend to lean towards the extra meeting session that is not before a practice session as you can really concentrate on running a good session.

I will dive into more details of what a good initial meeting should cover in another post but in the mean time this is a good start as food for thought. This topic is why I have mentioned that you will need to sharpen your communications skills because it will help you build that rapport.

What do you think about transparency? Have you experienced being involved with a team where the coach establishes a good rapport through meetings as proposed here? If you have, what do you think about the experience?

Recreational Soccer Teams

The volunteer coach that will be gearing up to train a recreational soccer team would plan differently than one that is leading an elite team.

For one thing the main theme should be the fun factor of the learning to play soccer and planing accordingly is important. Depending on the category the planning would involve skill sets that will be varied among your young players.

In most cases the soccer association that you are affiliated with will offer some kind of help if you are new to the sport or to coaching it. Although it is recommended that you learn how to coach using as many resources as you can namely the internet. In doing so you will realize that training U5, U6, U7 and U8 categories is slightly different than if you are at the U9, U10, U11 and U12 categories. And as they get older the fun factor is still important but there is the competition element that will come into play. Like in most cases when learning a discipline there are steps that build on previous steps and learning to play soccer is not different.

Most soccer associations  will have course offerings that will cover different levels of coaching. When you are beginning you will probably be offered the first level which will cover the youth level. In most cases it will apply to the the level you will be training. Find out what the club has to offer you and make it part of your learning process. Keep an open mind even if you already have athletic skills acquired from your youth. Playing a sport even one like soccer is not the same when teaching it as a coach.

Preparation comes with learning how to teach a sport skill even if you already know how to do it yourself you need to be able to teach it. You will need to be very open minded as how you teach it will heavily depend on the category you will be coaching. This should become part of you preseason preparation and needs to be part of your presentation during your initial parent meeting.

How do you gain your coaching knowledge? Do give much thought on how you will present a particular soccer skill? Do you plan a parent meeting at the beginning of the soccer season?

New Soccer Season Planning

Regardless if you are new to being a volunteer soccer coach or a veteran the following is a very positive recommendation on getting yourself organized for the soccer season ahead of you. There are differences in coaching a recreational team versus a competitive one but the organizational part is pretty much the same.

The thing to always keep in mind is that a youth soccer team needs the cooperation of all involved. In the development of the team you need the parents as much as the players to be on the same plan. For this reason it is imperative that you decide to assemble a team staff which will facilitate this goal.

Decide on recruiting two assistant coaches from the your parent pool as this will make things easier with the following aspects:

• In most situations you will have a large group of players that you will be training. Having additional trainers on the field will help better manage the players especially with the younger categories.
• We all need to take vacations and in an effort to keep continuity on the training program you planned for the season, having additional help will serve this very well.
• Managing game play behind the bench becomes a lot easier. As you direct the team on the field the one assistant can manage the player substations  The other assistant can manage keeping  order on the bench as younger players struggle with paying attention to a game even one that they are participating in. Believe me game bench management is really challenging when you are doing alone.
• One of the soccer positions that gets the least amount of training would be the goalie. You can have one of your assistants work out a goalie training program that will be used during the soccer season. This is in addition to any training for goalies offered by the soccer club your team is affiliated to.
• Note that your soccer club may not support three coaches behind the bench in which case you should still have that second assistant on the field during soccer practices regardless.

Decide on a parent team manager because there will be off field tasks that you can find a little overwhelming and hence because of time constraints you may not do very well. A team manager is a good idea as they can take care of items such as:

• Fund raiding activities if any are decided to be done by the team and the parents. They can take on the responsibility to get this organized thereby minimizing your participation with this some times much needed activity.
• The team manager can be given the task to get all the paper work done for tournaments that you plan the team to participate in. There will be registration fees to collect, travel permits to obtain from the soccer association and preparation of  the roster and game sheets that will be used within the tournament.
• You can even make use of the team manager to take care of the team registration to your soccer association so that the parents can get a full service as opposed to having to visit the soccer association individually. This will usually occur to already established soccer teams where you know the majority if not the entire team will register for the next season.
•  For the younger soccer teams the team manager can also take care of the parent snack schedule for both the practices and the games. This is a rotation of healthy snacks that are brought to the team for them to enjoy after a good training session or game.
• The team manager can also be you resource to acquire additional team equipment either from the soccer club, loans, or purchased if needed. They can take the responsibility of the team uniform gathering and distribution. In most cases this one is usually done by you, the head coach, as there will  be special playaer requests for particular jersey numbers from your players.

Getting organized should be your first step to making this experience fun and not overwhelming. Keeping your perspective is most important as it is going to be a fun and fulfilling venture for you and the people you will be leading. Sharpen up your communication skills because in the planning phase you will need to define how you will be as transparent with your parents as you can be. It goes a long way if you adapt this mind set and makes the experience a lot more enjoyable.

What do you think? Does these recommendations make sense to you? How do you handle your team management?

The Parent Soccer Coach

So you find yourself accepting to be a soccer head coach for the the very first time. There may have been many reasons that you decided to accept this role and the main one could be that there wasn't anybody else stepping up to the challenge. In an effort to support the need and not have the soccer league abolish the team your child is part of you decide to help.

These are all very good reasons and you are definitely doing a good service for a much needed community activity. There are some perspectives that you need to consider along with some tips that will allow you to ease into this new role.

From my years of coaching first my children’s teams then other teams where my children were not a part of there were realizations that I would like to share with a new head coach.

First it is the acknowledgement that a coach is a role model not just to the young players that you will be training but to the parents that you will be interacting with. This maybe hard to do at first but you need to keep your perspective and realize that the team along with the associated parents, will be looking to you to be a leader in all aspects. The way you act and how you communicate will become very important. It will be a factor in how well the team will gel and the fun that will be experienced by not just the young players but their parents.

The other factor that is most important concerns your child. I have come across many parents that live through their children when it comes to sports. You must separate this feeling right from the start and understand that your time has passed and now it is your child’s time. Each child learns at their own pace and they perfect their talents in due time. Your attitude and actions play a big part in this development and your patience needs to be at its peak.

And lastly the realization that you will be leading a team of players should be fully understood. I have seen soccer coach parents that place their child on a pedestal and put undue pressures on them to be the best on the team. Such a parent coach fails to understand that they are leading a team as a whole and rightfully so you need to train and teach each player equally allowing and helping each player to play and develop to their full potential. This means that your child needs to be treated equally just like the rest of the players on the team.

At the younger categories it is a lot about teaching the skills needed to play the game. As the team evolves and advances to higher categories the rules of the game become a large factor till eventually you are delving into the tactics and strategies ofsoccer. This is a learning progression for both the parent coach and the team they lead.

Therefore, as you ponder if you should have accepted being a head coach and acknowledge that it is a big responsibly there are things that will facilitate your experience. These are tips that I have used during my years of coaching and have yielded great results. I will cover these in another blog but for now the points I have listed here are a good starter as food for thought.

Being the best soccer parent coach you can be is a rewarding experience for both you and the people you will be interacting with. It is a learning experience in not only the soccer sport but in people management and learning to do it well will create lasting lessons to the team you lead. After all you will be a role model and if you do it to the best of your abilities you will be teaching life lessons to the youth under your charge. Along the way you maybe also influencing some of the parents within your team.

Noun: Role Model

Definition(s):

• A person regarded by others, especially younger people, as a good example to follow.
• A person who serves as a model in a particular behavioral or social role for another person to emulate.

Definition obtained fromThe Free Dictionary by Farlex

The Coach Within

So you find yourself in a situation where you sign up one of your children or all of them to a soccer league. It is a first experience for you and your children. Excitement, nerves, sense of pride and many other feelings all become a part of the initial experience for both you and your child.

It appears that all is well with the club you have signed up with but what most parents do not realize is that most soccer clubs rely on volunteers to offer the service. The clubs find themselves short of them to effectively deliver a community service that runs smoothly and in harmony. Member registration at times overwhelms their capacity to staff even when they try to limit the enrollment. Volunteers always have the best intentions and therefore, the club may not want to turn away new members and scramble to look for more volunteers to fill in the need.

Soccer clubs in this situation will reach out to their soccer parent pool first to fill in the head coach positions for the teams they build within the different categories. Players are grouped by year of birth and teams from these groups are assembled. The groups are call categories and are identified as U5, U6, U7, etc. Within each of the categories there may be as little as one team just like there could be four or five teams. Some are co-ed and others are divided boys and girls.

The category identification is preceded by the letter 'U' which stands for the world 'Under' and then by the group's age. So a U5 soccer category is made up of soccer teams with 5 year old players. A U12 category will have teams with soccer players that are 12 years old. There may be exceptions were players are mixed within the category and there are many reasons for this. An 8 year old player may be playing within a 9 year old category. This is another topic which I will cover in another blog.

When a club realizes the shortfall on soccer coaches they promote your participation. Now keep in mind that most parents have doubts about taking on this responsibility. After all they went in to sign up their children and never even thought that they would be recruited in the process. Parents worry not just about the knowledge of the sport but the time that it requires. Therefore, parents will not commit to this role other than to bring their child to games and practices. But before you turn this opportunity down there are some things you should evaluate and those I will cover in another blog.

For those of you that take on the challenge there is a feeling of excitement and fear if it is the first time doing such volunteer work. The coach within you needs to be born and the implications are plentiful. One thing is for sure there are certain realizations that a soccer parent coach needs to acknowledge. I'll cover these in another blog post. But for the most part you have filled in a need and at the same time your children have a team to play in and are proud to say my Dad or Mom is the coach.

Soccer clubs have programs in place to help volunteer parents learn the sport and also how to teach playing it. So for those parents with little knowledge there is help. For those parents with the knowledge then they will benefit from the training by learning how to teach.

A new venture starts for you and the proud child that you will be guiding within this sport. I hope to share with you my experience that taught me a lot about myself and help you be the best coach you can become.