Being an “opposite” when coaching youth soccer
Wading against the current when training youth soccer
Many “mature” youth soccer programs that have been around for 10+ years or more often have entrenched 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 endures beyond the “shelf life” of parental 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 coach against you and they don’t like change or anything that makes their organization look bad. They will always be your biggest critics. Any kind of “change” means that they will have to learn to defend a new scheme or defend against techniques that they have never seen before.
be a little different
My own teams are the most filmed, studied and talked about in the league we play in because we run something very different from the others, we consistently score a lot of points and consistently win. Sure those rival coaches get tired of listening to parents; “Why can’t we run 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 listening to it and sometimes their frustration and embarrassment show. Unfortunately, if these trainers can’t stop you, they will often try to discount you or become the king of excuse makers.
We can hear many interesting stories from your coaches via email, phone and in person at the 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 at many levels. While there are fantastic leagues of great, committed people reaching out to kids across the country, there are also small-minded, selfish, and jealous “human barriers” on the other hand.
In doing some private clinics these past few months I have had the privilege of working with several quality organizations and several groups of simply outstanding coaches. Coaches who weren’t just great guys from X and O, but guys who were in youth soccer for all 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 engaged coaching staff. 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 for soccer practice to start, and hated when practice was over. In fact, a group of coaches was 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 was told to me in the “after hours” discussions at one of these clinics I did recently by a trainer who installed our system last year for the first time:. After our classroom clinic and field demonstrations, we went with the coaching staff to lunch at a local restaurant. One of the most demonstrative coaches animatedly shared with the group several very funny stories from his first season leading 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 happy how they were going to stop that ‘dumb’ 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 until the very end. Imagine his shock and horror the following week when they saw this same coach leave for the coaches’ presentation and coin toss.
Our friend is a good story teller, he is 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 that he was going to start the wedge game to see if this other team really had 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 team of friends: you guessed it, a 63-yard wedge touchdown. Inside, our hero was beaming, pumping his fist in the air, silencing his uninformed detractors, but 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 stayed away from what was probably a pretty tempting course of action. By halftime 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 loud enough to startle some of the restaurant patrons. Thank goodness it was Florida and we were in a pretty low-key place that this group frequents regularly. I think I laughed so hard that part of my lungs are still on the floor somewhere in that restaurant. These were not the only criticisms of him, in the end his team ended with an improbable 14-1. They beat at least 7 teams that were much more talented than their team, based on the game tapes I watched. This was a magical season for a youth soccer team that had no winning tradition and excellent coaching.
While I had met some of the coaching staff of this team several times (very high quality guys), I had never met this coach. Our introduction included a warm heterosexual embrace, something that comes from sharing a common bond or experience. I am always a little surprised by the warm welcome I get from people I have 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 he’s not running the same as most teams in his league, he can be the target of some hits. If you’re more talented than anyone else in your league, it makes a lot of sense to execute exactly what everyone else is executing if it makes you happy. But when you’re not up to the task, when you DON’T 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, sadly the fangs of jealousy will appear from some. 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 are successful, it is impossible to ignore it no matter how much someone would like it. The teams in this club that ran our system were a combined 23-1 and now other club teams are looking to adopt some of what they’re doing. I know this coach will be eternally grateful to the coach (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 coach (KMJ) 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 almost perfect.