When The Passion Leaves...

                It's been a while since I've last written here, and there are a few reasons behind that, but with me being pretty sick this weekend and not wanting to get out of bed I figured that today is a good day to write.

                

One of the reasons why I haven't written in quite a long time is because I have lost the full passion that I have had for the game (it's slowly coming back though). There are a few personal reasons why my passion has dwindled but I won't get into that. I have always said to myself though that when the game no longer becomes fun it's time to step away. Today I want to write a quick blog on this topic in regards to both players and coaches when it comes to the passion being gone.

               

  A couple of seasons ago I had a player's mother chat with me where she tried to help me convince her then 9 year old to stick with playing soccer after she had decided she wanted to participate in other activities. I think I may have caught her a little off guard when I said I can't do that. My reasoning/thought process behind that statement comes from my personal belief that if a player isn't interested in participating in a certain activity, there's really no point in forcing the individual to stick around, especially when the players are at a young age. When players are at a young age they are still trying to figure themselves out as people and to try and typecast into one sport for the rest of their lives (if it isn't their choice) is a bit foolish in my opinion, and they should be able to try to find the activity that brings them the most happiness. I'm a firm believer that kids should be provided with as many opportunities to find themselves while growing up.

                

From a coaching stand point, it's not fair to the coach, or to other teammates when one of their teammates has no interest in being there. They often become a distraction to the rest of the group as they have little interest and they could be potentially be taking the place of another individual who may not be as skilled, but has the eagerness to learn. I know personally as a coach I'd prefer to work with a player who is less skilled but is wanting to get better at any cost in comparison to a player who may be a bit more skilled but has little interest in being there.

                

I would like to point out that while you were reading this article, I wasn't talking about players giving up the sport because they're going through a difficult patch (team isn't winning as much, not having as much fun in their current environment), but I'm talking about the individuals that truly don't have interest in participating in the sport any more. This also goes for coaches as well, because if they're not interested then they are doing a complete disservice to their players.

                

As I said I'm not feeling too well so I'm going to be wrapping this one up now.

Cheers!

Creating a Better Environment

So it's been awhile since I've written a blog, but tonight I came across a great read titled Coaches 10 Commandments for a Great Season (found here: http://girlscansocceradventures.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/coaches-10-commandments-for-a-great-season/) and it inspired me to come up with some of my own tips on what can help lead to a great season, and great relationships amongst your team.

Come With A Proper Session Plan:

This is quite possibly the most important thing a coach can do, as player development and game preparation starts on the training pitch. There's nothing worse seeing a session being ran where there is no specific topic that you can see the players working on, and the different drills have no or very little connection to one another. This is important in the development of players as they will be having the point you're trying to get across to them engrained into them all practice, and thus they can focus on those principles that you're teaching them. With that being said, as a coach you should focus on only coaching points related to the topic that you're teaching. I know it may be hard, but in the end it's for the better. If you're coaching drills for strikers, then there should be very little focus on defensive points that session. Another thing to remember is make the session plan applicable to the level you are coaching. There's no sense in running a session that is below or well above the player's level as they will end up gaining very little from the session.

Listen To Your Players:

I've made reference to this in prior blogs, but I have personally found this to be one of the most important tools when coaching. As a coach you may have your own ideas, but it is very important to ask your players engaging open ended (not yes/no) that allow them to think about the importance of what you're teaching, why THEY think it may be useful, and when they can use it in a game situation. I've also found that this is particularly useful with younger aged players because (I'm guilty of this sometimes) us as coaches will explain a drill in terms that we understand, but the majority of your players don't. From here I have had many times where my players have been able to in the most basic of terms so that everyone can understand.

Don't Be Afraid To Have Fun (It's Not A Sin to Have A Laugh):

At the end of the day soccer is a game, and I'm a firm believer that if the player isn't enjoying the game anymore then it may be time for them to hang-up the boots (I know it seems bad to say). Fun can be had in many ways though through a training session. Coaches can do this by turning certain drills into small competitions (that will also increase the intensity), or mixing things up a bit so you're teaching them soccer related topics but in different manners (such as hand ball to teach off ball movement). Sometimes you also have to put your own pride to the side and let loose, like allowing your players to dye your hair, agreeing for them to choose your wardrobe for a day if they complete a specific task that you ask of them. When working with older groups, don't be afraid to revert back to small activities/drills that they may have done at much younger ages as sometimes it can lift their spirits to just go out and have fun. One comment that has stuck with me came over this past winter session when I was running a session for my club's u17 girls team. I had the players do a taxi race and when they were finished that I heard a player say to her teammates "Who knew fitness could actually be fun?"

When working with younger players (u8-u11), one of the best pieces of advice I received when I just started out coaching was that "About every 6 weeks, there will be a practice which is a complete throw away". What this coach meant was that the players are kids and there will be a session (if you're training multiple times a week) where their focus just won't be there no matter what you do. These are the days where instead of getting angry and sending players out, you grab your bibs, call them in split them into teams and just let them play.

Team Bonding:

One of the things that I'm really in disagreement with the OSA is their elimination of tournaments for players from u8-u12, and not for the chance to win a meaningless trophy (eventually life will trash all your trophies), but for the fact that it takes away opportunities for the players and their families to bond together off the pitch. Very few if any of the players you coach will go pro, but the bonds and friendships they will develop can last a lifetime. Ways you can provide these bonding moments as a coach is by organizing team parties/bbq's, fundraising events such as carwashes, or going to watch a professional game just to name a few things. This also allows you to learn more about the players that you coach away from the pitch.

24 Hour Rule:

Sometimes as coaches we don't like to interact with parents all too much when it pertains to the game. One of the most useful tools I always implement with any team I'm coaching is the 24 hour rule. What this is, is a rule that if there are any issues (bad OR GOOD) things don't get discussed until at least 24 hours after the event. The reason behind this is because when something happens immediately individuals may be filled with emotions and say things that they may regret shortly after. This goes for coaches too when it comes to dealing with parents on how a player(s) may be behaving. If the emotions are still there after 24 hours, then the majority of the time it is an actual valid concern, and not just a heat of the moment thing.

Look for the Positives:

Especially when you're coaching younger players, it is always very important to look for the positives no matter how things may be going. If the team happens to play a "bad" game, you may be a bit angry but after you might let them know of areas that may need improvement on, you should try your best to end your post game/practice talk with a couple positive points. The reason why this is important is because it shows the players that you still have faith in them, and that they know some things still went okay.

These are just a few of my thoughts that can help lead to a more positive team environment.  The better the environment is, the more enjoyable it is for the players, and it will make them wanting to come back pitch that much more.

Let Players Touch the Ball

As a coach and spectator of many games, there is very few things less settling than seeing players who receive a ball in a game, and their automatic reaction is to kick the ball away! This is very frustrating to watch because the majority of times these players have many different options to either dribble or to make a pass to help maintain possession of the ball, yet this doesn't seem to happen as often because often time players are afraid to make a mistake or even worse they lack the confidence to control, dribble, and take players on because they weren't taught these fundamentals from a young age.

A way to avoid this in players and helping them build their confidence on the ball can start at a young (u4-u12) and it comes down to coaching. At the younger ages it is very important that players are doing things that constantly involve them having a ball at their feet, or leaning to control a ball in many different passions, so that when it comes to games they are comfortable to deal with that situations. From the ages of u4-u7 every player should have a ball at their feet during training sessions with the focus being on using different surfaces of the foot, different movements of the feet such as turning, step-overs, stopping and accelerating, throwing the ball up in the air and having them control it with other parts of their body (bringing it down with their chest, feet, thighs, or head) will help build their confidence of getting the ball when they face such situations during games. As the players get a bit older (u8-u12) drills that focus on players dribbling at defenders and then taking them on trying to beat them should be encouraged. Things such as receiving the ball with their back to goal and a defender on them, which then you encourage the player to try to turn and beat that defender, receiving the ball  going directly at the defender trying to beat them, and even teaching players how to dribble out of the back because for defenders that is a great asset to have if they have the confidence to join in the attack or start the attack in a manner other than just punting a hail-marry up the pitch.  Even as the kids get older (depending on how many training sessions they have a week) one should be completely focused on ball mastery.

With that being said one of the most important things I've observed as a coach to help change this attitude of fear players may have is during different types of games at the younger ages is instead of putting a maximum amount of touches a player may take, coaches should set a minimum amount of touches. With me I often like to set the minimum amount of touches for players at 3. The reasoning behind this is so that the player can receive the pass, take a touch with their head up, and then make a decision by seeing the field as to whether they should dribble, make a pass or have a shot. I find this to be very successful as players tend to become more comfortable with the ball, and as mentioned before (and most importantly) they observe the field in front of them to make their decision. If they realize they have space to take the ball no matter their position (including keepers) should be utilizing that space to go forward. If they have been taught there is nothing wrong with taking a player on and they have had a lot of practice of doing  so you will see the confidence build in them.  

OPDL: Where Changes Should Be Made

As I've stated before, I think the idea of LTPD and the OPDL are very great in concept, but with that being said, I think there has been a major lack of communication and structural set up by the OSA with all the clubs involved in the process. There are many naysayers out there who appear to want this league to fail, while others think this is the saving grace for Canadian soccer. Where do I stand in this whole situation? Although I'd love to see this league succeed, unless there are changes made by the OSA quickly, I can't see this league obtaining its full purpose. From the majority of talk I am hearing via soccer blogs and twitter there are many flaws currently going on with the process at the moment (I don't know if the talk is all true, but I believe a lot of it is). I'm not going to get into prices, lack of inclusion of academies, demographics and other issues, but I will be talking about where the OSA/Clubs are still failing the players.

If the OPDL is supposed to be a league for Elite players...

When this league was introduced, many individuals believed (and still do) that this league is supposed to be for the "elite" players in the province. If this was the case the OSA failed miserably right from the get go.  Taken right from the OSA page, they describe the league as this:

"OPDL represents young players' early graduation to a genuine high performance training environment, targeting only the top athletes in the province from age groups U13 to U23 with what will be the highest level of competitive youth soccer in Ontario."

With this statement being made by the OSA, for the league to be truly for the top athletes, the way they granted teams should have been completely differently. If they wanted it to be for the "top players" (I find it a bit hard to claim 12/13 year olds are "top level players", then this league should have moved away from clubs being appointed teams, but instead ran as a district league. What this would allow for is to players from teams an opportunity to play relatively close to home (depending on district size),  provide clubs with an opportunity to pride themselves on how many players they could promote to the next level, costs could be unified being supplemented by clubs in that district having to pay some of their district fees to the program (they already give money from registrations to the district), and for the larger districts they could possibly have 2 teams.

Despite the OSA claiming that this is for the top athletes, they contradict themselves in other documents as they say that this league is about development of the player. With the development of the player being the focus of the league, from what is being talked about by individuals from the Ontario soccer world, then the clubs are failing from this aspect.

OPDL, the Developmental League...

With rumours circulating that many clubs are struggling to find players, and more importantly RELEASING players, clubs are failing, and despite the focus being about "development" the old problem of wanting the best players currently still exist. For those that follow me on twitter, you may know that sometimes Jason De Vos and I don't always see eye to eye on things, but yesterday we did come to an agreement on one major issue. After having a back and forth discussion I tweeted: 

"If it's about elite training then coaches should, be taking almost any decent player willing to join the program" 

Jason agreed with statement, and provided quite possibly the best response to what these clubs should be doing with 

"You are absolutely spot on. It's not about the kids who are currently "the best". It's about the ones if want to be.  

I couldn't agree with this anymore, if clubs are receiving players who want to get better by receiving elite training year round, and these coaches who were hired are really good at developing players based on their qualifications, then they shouldn't be releasing players (they obviously have to have a bit of skill), but instead they should be taking them in to develop these players so that the talent pool can increase. The problems of "low numbers" could be resolved by this.

Why are coaches supposedly releasing so many players that are wanting to join the program? Is it possible that despite results not mattering in this league, coaches and clubs still want to get a WINNING team on the pitch?

Conclusion:

With the OPDL season slated to begin soon, the OSA and all the clubs need to make some changes to how this is being ran in order for it to operate properly. With development supposed to be the main focus of the league, players shouldn't be turned away, but instead embraced and taken in so that they can further their development so that in the long run they can actually produce some "elite" players in the future.

The Multi-Sport Athlete

With the Canadian World Juniors not winning a medal in their 2nd consecutive World Championships, our nation believes that hockey needs to change how the grass roots level is operating. This was spear headed by head coach Brent Sutter's comments after their bronze medal game loss saying that kids are being forced to focus on results at a young age instead of developing their skills, and everything they do is to hockey oriented from such a young age. These comments got a lot of the youth soccer community talking as this is what they are trying to eliminate from the game in Canada. While getting in on this topic, I ended up getting into a lengthy discussion with a couple coaches about players who are multi-sport athletes, and thus don't "focus enough on their soccer development". The comment that really got me thinking was when one coach wrote:

"I have coached a boy’s team in the past with several high level hockey players and for them and their families the hockey always came first. Admittedly, these soccer players played the sport in the summer to keep fit and when they did not get the majority of playing time they were upset. As a coach I don’t want to build a team with such players being the corner stone. I have the greatest respect for those athletes who can compete at a high level in multiple sports, but that does not change the need for total commitment to the team. Both hockey and soccer are a 9 to 10 month a year sport and therefore there will be conflicts. As a coach I could not in good conscience give majority of the playing time to a player who does not practice regularly with the team between September to March. So I am not saying that my view is correct, but it is my view."

This got me really going because I don't agree with it at all, and believe that by penalizing individuals for being talented in more than one sport might actually drive them away from the game. In regards to this specific issue, in my eyes if the player is able to be one of your top players when they come back to join the team in the summer, and they are committed to the team, then they deserve to play more than a less skilled player on the team. This particular coach said it wasn't in the best interest of the team to build it around players who weren't around all year. If the coach is truly looking out for the best interest of the team, then they should be putting out their best players no matter what their commitment is in the winter. If the coach is looking for the best interest of the players (which should be the main focus), then this is taking away from those talented players who have talents in multiple sports.

Having coached a team with many multi-sport athletes, I never really cared to put much focus on the indoor portion of year by having a slightly leaner policy on attendance for training, and never entering into an indoor league.  I believe that allowing players to participate in other sports in the off season has many benefits because it  allows them to work on different skills that might not happen in soccer, allows them to analyse the game in different ways, and most importantly won't lead them to burning out from being too consumed with soccer at a young age that by the time they reach 15 or 16 they want to quit. What I noticed with my group when we first started playing games at the competitive level, the players who played other sports had a much better sense of positioning in comparison to other players who just played house league soccer the year before.

The argument then came up of if we want to be producing world class players in Canada, then they should focus on soccer to develop their skills. In regards to this, a true reality check needed to be given. At the end of the day, a very small percentage (1%) will end up going pro. To me, the players that do end up going far with the sport are the ones who truly want it (not their parents, not their coaches, not their coaches, or their peers). These are the players that will show up to every training session possible, go out on their own without being told, grab a ball work on their touches and watch games whenever they have the opportunity. To many times it is everybody else who wants to see a player excel in soccer, but the player themselves may not. If the player truly doesn't have the desire then even if they train 10 months a year with their club, they won't go anywhere.

My view on the multisport athlete is that parents shouldn't take it away from them if they can afford it, and the child is enjoying it. The athletes who have aspirations of getting to the next level will show that on their own by their actions away from the team. If they are a multisport athlete, when the time is right for them, they will make the decision as to which sport THEY want to focus on.

Starting Fresh- Youth Soccer in Yellowknife

Been awhile since I have written one of these, but I'm back! As some of you may know I have moved from Ontario to the Northwest Territories for work, and along with that I have gotten myself back into coaching as well (it's hard to stay away when you love it). I plan on updating this more frequently now, but this blog will be a brief over view of the soccer "culture" that I have observed here so far.

Fees for Coaching Courses
In comparison to courses that are ran by the OSA, it is a lot cheaper up here in the north in comparison to coaching with the OSA. I recently registered to take my pre-b license and unlike the astronomical fees of $250 (minimum) charged by the OSA, the exact same course here is offered for just $50. The NWTSA only looks to cover the cost to bring the facilitator in to run the course (my instructor will be coming from Saskatchewan), and the course is going to be ran in a much smaller setting (obviously there a much less coach's here). Another great thing is that for any other courses that I may decide to take such as my B, they will pay to send me out of province and cover all my expenses.

Politics
If you thought the OSA was a mess, despite being a small city sadly politics exist here too. I am living in the city of Yellowknife (population of just under 20,000), and yet somehow there are 6 different clubs with 5 of them being "competitive" clubs... To put this in perspective, I'm from Mississauga which has a population of over 700,000 and there are 6 main clubs and 3 micro clubs. Each competitive club here only operate in specific age groups, with none of them having the same age groups. One clubs has u9-u11 (one group of boys and one group of girls with the 3 age groups combined), the next club u11-u16 with the with the u11's to u 13's as one group an the u14's-16's together, another just has a u18 team, another is the 2 adult teams that represent the province at Nationals (they automatically get to go as there is no other teams to play). Worst of all, the only real game action that these kids get to play is in by playing in a poorly ran house league program that as very little organization (the indoor facility in town that they had the most say in has boards...) and there is ZERO development there. Soccer is played by a lot of kids in the city, but in order for these kids to actually develop, it would be essential for the entire soccer community in the city to come under one umbrella to build a proper foundation.

Player Development 
Today was my first day running a session with the u11-u13 group with the club I am coaching at, and lets just say there is A LOT of work that needs to be done (I will get into more details about this at a later time). These kids haven't really had any proper training, with a lot of them being introduced to a bit of "quality" training at the u11 age group, but by then they have picked up some bad habits and have not learned any of the basics to the game. Tonight there was not one player during the warm-up who was on their toes (all flat footed), terms like check away weren't known, and during the scrimmage... well let's just say the sense of positioning wasn't there, and EVERYTHING was always going forward with very little passing. Another problem that may hinder their development is that due to the location of Yellowknife, and the lack of organization, there is no league for these "competitive" (or high performance as they call it here) teams to play in and if lucky they get 1 tournament for the year in Alberta.

Conclusion
As I said this was going to be brief as I have to get to bed to work early in the am so I will wrap this up now. I will provide more updates with how the soccer life here is going but I will end it with this. I HAVE A LOT OF WORK AHEAD OF ME, BUT IT'S A CHALLENGE I AM READY TO ACCEPT! 

Everybody Makes Mistakes, That's Why Pencils Have Erasers

If you can remember a few months ago there was an uproar by many individuals in the province of Ontario who are both apart and unattached to the soccer community, with Don Cheery being the biggest critic (media wise) to the removal of standings in youth soccer up until the age of 12. This is a topic for another day, but with the introduction of LTPD players are able to play in  a much less stressful environment (or at least it should be that way).

In the old system, coaches often hindered players development because the focus of play was on winning instead of actually developing players, and more importantly allowing players to be creative. As I watch rep games in the older age groups, I often see very little creativity from players, when in pressure they are quick to get rid of the ball instead of trying to take a player on, and I believe this can be attributed to the fact that from a very young age these players were never given the freedom to actually be creative as coaches wanted to win, and if the player tried to do something creative and made a mistake, they were often yelled at and in some cases taken right off the pitch. From a young age when players are in such an environment, they get scared of making mistakes because they don't want an ear full from the coach after.

With the removal of standings and having the kids just play, coach's should now (although they should have always been) be encouraging their players to try for them to be creative without getting on them negatively if they happen to be unsuccessful with what they are attempting. When we started to walk, our parents didn't yell at us, but instead would encourage us to keep trying until it became natural to us, and this is the approach that we should have with all young players in the game. 

If a player is coming out of the back, or in the middle of the pitch tries to beat a player with a step-over and happens to get the ball taken from them, instead of instructing the player to get rid of it next time, coaches should be encouraging that player to keep trying it so that eventually as they do develop they aren't afraid to try it again or other tricks that are even more advanced, because one day they will eventually be able to do such things successfully. The u9 team I've coached for the last 2 years have conceded goals where players try to make a certain pass such as looking to play it back to a defender and it gets intercepted and the counter attack is on. Instead of yelling at the player to not try that again, it is important to recognize what they are trying to do, and point out it was a great idea, and maybe I will tell them next time they need to put a bit more pace on the ball to make sure it makes it to the player next time. If a player realizes that the coach isn't going to be upset with them with for making a mistake, it will only help build their confidence and they won't be nervous to try it again. Something like this is very important because as they get older, there will be many times where they need to knock the ball back to their defender to maintain possession, and if their confidence is shattered from a young age it will be much more detrimental to them as they get older.

Quite possibly the most important position where coaches should allow for "mistakes" to take place is the keeper. I was recently watching a  u10 game where a coach was yelling at their keeper to stay deeper in their goal as the keeper was highly aggressive at challenging the shooter and got beat over their head a couple of times. I later had a talk with the coach and the keeper and told them that they should be encouraging the keeper to continue this style of play, because as they grow (and can touch the cross bar with ease) the goals lobbing over their head will decrease dramatically, and they will also be cutting down the angle on what the shooter has. There is nothing worse than seeing a keeper at the u13+ age group who afraid to come off of their line because from a young age their coach was instructing them to stay deep to avoid getting beat over their head.

With young kids we must remember that they are going to make mistakes as they aren't professionals, and instead of getting on them for making the mistake, we should be encouraging them to try it again. With there now being nothing on the line to play for from up until u13, we need coaches need to do their best to let players confidence grow so that when they are ready they can do something special like a rainbow to get by a defender instead of have them just knock the ball down the pitch in hope that their player can chase it down.

I conclude this entry with a quote from William Edward Hickson "IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN." To all coaches, please remember this and encourage the creativity that your young players have inside of them.

They Do, But Are They Really Learning?

Having watched many youth soccer games over the last decade (I'm an official as well, and for many years was on a pitch no less than 6 days a week), I have heard the saying that players "look lost out there" or "their style of play is very robotic". We then ask the questions of "why do they look lost out there?" or "why are they playing like robots?" and below I am going to explain my thoughts on why I believe this happens very often and what can be done at an early age of development to help stop this problem.

Many times when coaches run a training session, they explain the drill, do a demonstration, correct (or yell a lot of the times) something that is being done wrong, and then watch the players go through the motions of the drill properly. This may seem good if the players can complete a drill properly, but coaches (especially at the younger ages u8-u13) often forget what I believe to be the most important step when teaching children to play the game, and that is finding out if the players truly understand what they are being taught.

As a coach of a girls u9 player pool this is a step that I refuse not to overlook at any of our training sessions. The way this can be done is by asking players open ended questions (other than just do you understand? or do you have any questions?) Questions that need to be asked are "why is this important?" "when in a game would we use this?" or "if this happens (a change in the play as things rarely work out exactly according to plan) what do we need to do?". Questions like these give you as a coach a better understanding if the players are actually grasping what you are teaching them, or if they are simply just going through the motions of what they are being shown. As I mentioned briefly earlier, there are the coaches who like to yell or tell a player how to correct something they are doing wrong in a drill. Although correction is needed, I believe that the best way for this to be done is not by telling them what they should do, but instead asking what the player or team believes they should do to correct what they're doing, and then as a coach you should elaborate on what they say.

As a coach this approach has many benefits in the development of young players, along with the development of the coach. Some of these benefits are:

• Helps you understand if the players are grasping the concept of what is being taught
• Makes them aware of when to apply such skills or tactics in a game
• When they hear information coming from a peer they sometimes can better relate to what is being said
• As a coach working with younger kids there are moments where we use advanced terminology (I'm guilty of this sometimes, but luckily my assistant coach is able to remind me that the girls are 9), but there is a player or two who understands what you are teaching and can break down what you are teaching into the most simplistic terms that wouldn't ever cross your mind
• It challenges the players to think deeper about the game

At the end of each training session it is important to ask the players a few questions and they are:

• What was today's topic? (hopefully you tell them at the start of training)
• What are some important things about the topic?
• Why/when do we use such skill/tactic?

If these steps are followed it will give you a much better gauge on whether the players you are training are simply just going through the motions, or if they are actually understanding what they are doing. If they truly understand what they're doing then it will help them that much more in their development.