Be a "contrary" When coaching youth soccer
Wading upstream when coaching youth soccer
Many “mature” youth soccer programs that have been around for more than 10 years or more often have ingrained traits. Many times it is almost as if some of these clubs have their own identity or even “brand”. Most leagues are made up of several identifiable “brands” or clubs. They each have their own unique personality and way of doing things.
Most youth soccer leagues are made up of a variety of these unique “brands.” There is often friendly and sometimes almost hostile and unhealthy competition between the managers of the various clubs.
the nature of the beast
As most coaches know, it takes a lot of time and effort to keep a youth soccer program running. While most of the “heavy lifting” is done by “parent coaches”, for there to be long-term stability, there has to be continuity, and that means leadership that lasts beyond the “shelf life” of parent involvement. their own children. Unfortunately, for most organizations, those types of resources are somewhat limited. Thank God for these people, without them we would all have to start from scratch every few years.
Unfortunately, SOME of those that have been around for a long time also bring with them unnecessary baggage that actually inhibits the organization’s ability to accomplish its mission. Some of these well meaning coaches will train against you and don’t like change or anything that makes your organization look bad. They will always be your biggest critics. Any kind of “change” means they will have to learn to defend a new scheme or defend against techniques they have never seen before.
be a little different
My own teams are the most filmed, studied and commented on in the league we play in because we drive something very different from the others, we consistently score a lot of points and consistently win. I’m sure those rival coaches get tired of listening to parents; “Why can’t we execute or score the kind of points that the Eagles do? Or why don’t we have those great football plays like the Eagles do? Or why can’t you pass the ball to as many players as the Eagles do? Or why can’t our kids block and tackle and play defense like the Eagles do?” They get tired of hearing it and sometimes their frustration and embarrassment shows. Unfortunately, if these trainers can’t stop you, they will often try to discount you or become the king of excuse-makers.
We get to hear many interesting stories from your trainers via email, phone, and in person at clinics. That’s probably the most fun part of doing this, hearing these amazing stories and in some cases being able to help in a small way. In my opinion, some of the situations you have to deal with are quite difficult and silly. There is often selfishness and butt-covering in youth soccer on many levels. While there are fantastic leagues of great, committed people reaching kids across the country, there are also small-minded, selfish, and jealous “human barriers.”
In doing some private clinics these past few months I have had the privilege of working with several quality organizations and several simply outstanding coaching groups. Coaches who were not just great X and O guys, but guys who were in youth soccer for the right reasons. Some of the things I saw: teams overflowing with kids, all coming back to play (great retention), enthusiastic coaches, open-minded and committed coaching staffs. They were universally respected and admired by their children, a very easy group of children to work with. You could tell the kids loved playing, couldn’t wait to start soccer practice, and hated when practice was over. In fact, a group of coaches were able to get a group of about 20 players together overnight for practice the next day. This was right in the middle of baseball and lacrosse season, you know they’re doing something right when they can pull it off.
Youth soccer drama unfolds
A story I have to share with you that he told me in “after hours” discussions at one of these clinics that I did recently for a trainer who installed our system for the first time last year:. After our classroom clinic and field demonstrations, we went with the coaching staff for lunch at a local restaurant. One of the most demonstrative coaches animatedly shared with the group several very funny stories from his first season in charge of my Offensive. Last season he was in a game scouting an opponent and overheard several of his opponent’s coaches from next week talking about his team. The opposing coaches had no idea our friend was a coach as they unknowingly bragged about how they were going to crush their team the following week. These opposing coaches seemed so pleased with how they were going to stop that ‘silly’ offense and blow up the wedge play and everything else with ease. it was and how it had no chance of working against his defense. In fact, these coaches engaged our friend in the conversation, demonstrating to him how linemen would duck and huddle, again sarcastically mocking the offense all the way. Imagine his shock and horror the following week when they saw this same coach come out for the coaches presentation and coin toss.
Our friend is a good storyteller, he’s one of those guys who makes everyone laugh and can put you on the edge of your seat, you know the guy, the life of the party. As he told the story, he was a whirlwind of activity, standing up, sitting down, moving around the table, waving his arms, raising and lowering his voice, and of course, lots of smiles and laughter. The results of the game were almost as interesting as the way the story was told. When the game started, our friend was a little excited and he decided he was going to start the wedge game to see if this other team really did have all the answers to back up his coach’s bravado. The first offensive play was for a 70-yard wedge touchdown, the coach was smiling a little and quite happy. After holding the other team to a 3-and-out, the next play for our buddy team: you guessed it, a 63-yard wedge touchdown run. On the inside, our hero was beaming, throwing his fist in the air, silencing his ill-informed detractors, but on the outside he was calm and confident, perhaps with the hint of a knowing smile on his face.
He thought about running the wedge play on every play in that first half to prove a point, but he was the better man and steered clear of what was probably a pretty tempting course of action. By half time, the score was 35-0 and our hero called off the dogs to make the final 42-7. At the end of his story, I joined the crowd in a laugh that was probably so loud that it startled some of the restaurant patrons. Thank goodness it was Florida and we were in a fairly low-key location that this group frequents regularly. I think I laughed so hard that part of my lungs is still on the floor somewhere in that restaurant. These weren’t the only criticisms of him, in the end his team finished an unlikely 14-1. They beat at least 7 teams that were way more talented than their team, based on the game tapes I saw. This was a magical season for a youth soccer team that had no winning tradition and excellent training.
While I had met some of the coaching staff on this team several times (very high quality guys), I had never met this coach. Our introduction included a warm heterosexual hug, something that comes from sharing a common bond or experience. I’m always a bit surprised by the warm welcome I get from people I’ve never met. But being from the Midwest, for me it’s one of the biggest benefits of doing what I do.
I know it can come your way
Be prepared, is what I am trying to convey to you. When you’re not running the same thing as most teams in your league, you can be the target of a few hits. If you’re more talented than anyone in your league, it makes a lot of sense to run exactly what everyone else is running if it makes you happy. But when you are not up to it, when you do NOT have the best talent, how are you going to be able to compete with the same things as most of your opponents? When you score a lot of points and win a lot of games like many or most of our teams do, unfortunately some jealous fangs will show. Stay the course, but be aware that those bumps may come your way.
In the end, many of the curious and critical of our hero in this story now take his team seriously. When you’re successful, it’s impossible to ignore no matter how much someone would like to. The teams in this club that ran our system went a combined 23-1 and now other club teams are looking to adopt some of what they’re doing. I know this trainer will be forever grateful to the trainer (KMJ) who brought this system to this organization. I’m sure the parents are glad that the coach was open-minded enough to listen to the (KMJ) coach that he investigated. learned and brought the system to his attention as well. Mind you, I do NOT take credit for the success of this team, the coaches and players did a simply excellent job, their execution was close to perfect.