Coaching in youth sports

[El Guapo]

Just for the record. My experience is not as extensive as it may have sounded. I did it for I suppose 9 or 10 years, and then migrated to helping out on other stuff.

10 years is a part time PhD luasy

 

[nelly sham]

This is a timely thread, I was considering starting one!


I coach my son's football team as one of 4 coaches (3 of us really, one of the Dad's is a passenger in most aspects but that's OK, it's basically sheep herding). It's 2018 kids, he plays up a year.
I was strong armed into it as we had those "Sunday football classes" where one of the other coaches attended and when he was away setting up the 2018 year team for the village team he asked if I wanted to bring my son for a few months until the 2019 team was ready. Only caveat was I needed to coach as they needed an extra body. The boy punches above his weight and he's fit right in so we've hung around.


It's a village team with some really good kids playing. I've massively enjoyed it I have to say. Crazy that the village has expanded to include 3 estates but they never built a communal green area. Luckily there's a pitch the Amateur team use but it's a walk down.

The Football Association here encourages equal game time and rotating positions. We're at 5 a side just now, will be 7s next year. I think we'll have a bit of an issue when that arises.
We have, probably, 3 high ability players, 7 really strong players and a handful of lads at lower ability for now but you can tell know what they want and need to do, its just about their brain and feet syncing up!
Once we get to 7s though the FA make ability based leagues and you can move up/down at the mid point if you've misassumed your level. We may be able to enter the top level but we'll have a massive drop off thereafter.
Our whole squad is 25 players with 10 training only and have no interest / parents don't want them playing matches. Which means next year we could have some lads that want and need to play being in a lower level team.
It's potentially going to be a nightmare.


Our focus for now is finding GKs, getting players to pass more, positional discipline and focus and attention in training- easier said than down, they're 8 and we're battling with the 10 that come to training for lols and just generally get in the way.

 

[Happyhonkaman]

This is a timely thread, I was considering starting one!


I coach my son's football team as one of 4 coaches (3 of us really, one of the Dad's is a passenger in most aspects but that's OK, it's basically sheep herding). It's 2018 kids, he plays up a year.
I was strong armed into it as we had those "Sunday football classes" where one of the other coaches attended and when he was away setting up the 2018 year team for the village team he asked if I wanted to bring my son for a few months until the 2019 team was ready. Only caveat was I needed to coach as they needed an extra body. The boy punches above his weight and he's fit right in so we've hung around.


It's a village team with some really good kids playing. I've massively enjoyed it I have to say. Crazy that the village has expanded to include 3 estates but they never built a communal green area. Luckily there's a pitch the Amateur team use but it's a walk down.

The Football Association here encourages equal game time and rotating positions. We're at 5 a side just now, will be 7s next year. I think we'll have a bit of an issue when that arises.
We have, probably, 3 high ability players, 7 really strong players and a handful of lads at lower ability for now but you can tell know what they want and need to do, its just about their brain and feet syncing up!
Once we get to 7s though the FA make ability based leagues and you can move up/down at the mid point if you've misassumed your level. We may be able to enter the top level but we'll have a massive drop off thereafter.
Our whole squad is 25 players with 10 training only and have no interest / parents don't want them playing matches. Which means next year we could have some lads that want and need to play being in a lower level team.
It's potentially going to be a nightmare.


Our focus for now is finding GKs, getting players to pass more, positional discipline and focus and attention in training- easier said than down, they're 8 and we're battling with the 10 that come to training for lols and just generally get in the way.

NellY, fair play for getting involved, no teams can exist without parents willing to put their hands up

Just one observation - U8 is far too young for any kind of really competitive atmosphere, that's nuts. Kids should simply be enjoying playing and looking to improve their skills, no more, It is also far too early for positional discipline or anything like it!

They should simply be learning to control the football, get the head up, find a pass, and move, develop the tekkers over and over, and there's years of that left! My youngfella is U14 and their training sessions are 7 a sides for the most part, with no set positions. The head coach has eufa badges etc so knows what he is talking about. You don't need a GK either, the best ones tend to have been outfield players anyway and play like a sweeper once you are on full size pitches. Saving shots is only one element of what they need to be good at

Don't get too bogged down in who is high ability etc at this age, in 2 or 3 years time I guarantee you that order will have changed, and in another 3 years after that when adolescence has hit in it will change again! Of the 3 stand out kids in or GAA group at U8 1 is still a top player and the other 2 play between the A and B teams by U14! My full back was playing in the C team 18 months ago and will play in the Dublin academy next year

 

[nelly sham]

Thanks HHM-y.

To be fair I don't think they record results until hey play u10s. The league structure is to allow non invite teams to compete against similar travel.

This year consists of 5 a side, 5 10 min games. Only the young lads themselves seem to keep the score. We rotate the keepers too for those who want a shot. You're dead right in that it's the better players that want in.

Positional wise, for now, I just mean non swarming. 70% of the kids get it which is good but its funny how even the better kids run all over.

The most frustrating thing right now is that we were all for mixed ability. We picked our teams to cover all ability when it was clear we were up against teams that left the "weaker" kids at home on weekends. This led to some of the kids who are currently behind ability wise getting annoyed and upset to the extent they or their parents said they don't want to play the games.
There's a few players in there that are improving that were keen to get back out for games but it's a challenge.

 

[Rebel CNC]

Stop ffs. Huge drama in my own GAA coaching group this week with players missing.

The local soccer club is going well and the same age group in soccer are going well on top of their league with 3 games this week.

GAA coaches snapping over lads being missing. Between soccer and gaa they would have had been out 7 days this week.

I’m happy out that lads are playing sport at all tbh. Cancelled training this morning as it was clashing with a soccer game. Had to politely tell my co-selectors to calm the fuck down over it.

Having the same issue but reversed. Coaching u9 soccer team. Have a CSL organised fixture (non competitive) every Saturday but in last few weeks, big drop off with players (including two most talented kids) skipping to play GAA. Couple of coaches going ballistic over it. Not as if kids just decided to stay home in front of a PlayStation or whatever. Just go with the flow and let the lads that are there enjoy the games.
CSL are well organised and non competitive (no scores or league tables) like the Go games in GAA but some clubs organise tournaments with "Elite" and "Mixed ability" categories which I think is way too soon but some of the coaches love them and are dead keen on entering.

I agree on the loss of free play.

I'm not as experienced a coach as either of you from the sounds. I've been at it five years at the GAA mostly started as a post covid desire to get eldest exercise and three years at Athletics because I've been involved with a club for a years.

I do my best to make training fun, you're mostly and entertainer at the age the kids i coach are but still I reckon the bits of training the kids enjoy most are the 20 mins of fuck acting about before and afterwards. I hate when kids are bundled into cars and off to the next thing

My fella can't kick ball out of his way but I was secretly delighted he could climb the posts and get up onto the crossbar when the none of the "good" kids could manage it and a little disappointed I had to nix the backflip competition onto the high jump mats from another precariously stacked HJ mat when he brained himself.

Spot on - let the kids enjoy the sessions whilst hopefully picking up few skills along the way. At 8-9 some kids just want to play "air hurling" whilst others happier with game of tag which is also great for movement, etc. Likewise for the soccer, some kids already showing serious talent whereas others are there under sufferance and asking "are we nearly finished" after 20 minutes with most kids somewhere in between. Thing is to organise it so all of them (or as many as possible) enjoy it and want to come back the following week.

Soccer finishing up soon and must say I'm looking forward to bit more free time. Hectic for the timeframe when two seasons override.

 

[nelly sham]

I'll be doing my second level course over the summer actually. Really enjoy the learning, given I only ever played football with my friends growing up. Think I'll take it maybe another level further and then step back in a year or two and pivot over to his rugby coaching.

I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I do I have to say.
I particularly enjoy building their confidence up and seeing the kids that don't initially stand up start to get better and better and really enjoy it.

We had a kid on the spectrum play with us for the last 2 years, his Dad took him away to setup another team closer to home but he sent us coaches an email thanking us for what we'd done with his son over the two years and that of he wasn't able to do likewise he'd have no issues sending him back to our squad while he ran the other team. I've got it saved away somewhere.

 

[peopleluas]

Interesting thread, I have started one or two on coaching over the years but they usually fizzled out quickly enough.

Peopleluas - what do you propose this training/play time would look like? I suppose I ask because watching my own kids grow up (13 and 14 y/o now) has been an interesting study if nothing else, and I wonder if you are projecting your childhood and memories of good times on to them and hoping it would work, because it did for you? I love the idea of kids playing on the street, and did everything I could to make it happen for mine, but we were always rowing against the tide at the same time because screens and online games have gripped the attention of most kids, and parents happily ignore it while they say the opposite.

I moved into a street when my kids were maybe 3 and 4 years old. There was a few young families and lots of older people. I’d go out on the street with mine kicking a ball around. After a few weeks some of the other kids started to emerge so I’d get the good old fashioned game of soccer across the street going most evenings. Myself and another dad on the other side didnt care about the ball hitting the cars so our pillars were the goals even though it made the pitch diagonal, and footpaths to be negotiated! For a few years we’d have 8 or 10 kids of all ages on the game, boys and girls. The older people on the street loved it, loads commented on how nice it was to hear kids playing again

Then we progressed to playing on the green because the road was too narrow really as they got bigger. The children made ‘kids team’ and they’d play the adults. We bought a few goals and they made jerseys out of T-shirts they bought cheap and drew strips on with markers and numbers on the back, I even got them crests made to sew on at a stupid cost but who cares. National anthem at the start of every game with the kids all linked in a line! And then an hour of running around trying to make sure every one of them got a goal

By 10/11 years old the group started to get smaller again as kids would stay at home playing CPU games instead of coming out and then it fizzled out completely. That coincided with their teams in the GAA and soccer clubs becoming more structured though so it was a natural enough transition again.

All I’m really saying I suppose is that this stuff is probably far more likely to happen in the home setting that a club setting, and maybe its not about one or the other? At the same time my kids were running around on the street they were also down in the club training and playing games in a more structured way, and they loved that too



I ended up getting involved at the GAA club also so have brought the team through to U14 now with a group of others. I will be taking a hurling session tonight and I’ll have about 35-40 at it. That group will be kids in the Dub Academy all of the way down to kids who can just about execute the basics, and everything in between. I dont think there is a magic formula at this stage as in there I have everything from a driven group playing at the very top level to a Division 5 team who love playing but dont want the 100 mile an hour physical stuff, and a Division 11 team which is like a parallel universe. The session has to be structured, and a load of lads messing will just disrupt the entire group so I suppose we try to have a nice atmosphere for them all but at the same time try to make sure that we are doing something worthwhile in every session to bring them along.

In the end, I always say to the boys that the aim in our club/team is to build a group of friends they will have for life and look out for each other. If we end up with a decent contingent of them still playing as adults in the club, and having a drink together in the club bar afterwards at any level at all we have succeeded

Oh no doubt I am projecting @Happyhonkaman. I was sort of appealing to what I considered to be a success in the past, but not necessarily suggesting that the circumstances of today allow for the exact same now (they don't).

Reading there, I think you and the other dad, and whoever else involved did absolutely great. And I think even though it fizzled out eventually, you provided it for them through the period of their lives when it is most impactful, and the impact will last them their lifetimes. And you are right - it's the home setting where it works, not necessarily a club (though as you also suggest it's not necessarily not the club either). Or more than just the home - it's the street/housing-estate/etc., especially in these days of smaller family sizes.

 

[Ondaball]

Having studied coaching at third level a lot of the points here are spot on

Younger ages all about having fun, giving players playing time etc.

What gets lost is the controlled chaos that needs to be in older kids and adult sessions. It creates faster thinking players who are used to the chaotic nature of a game and have had more chances to create solutions to pictures they might not see doing thesame drill 100 times over. It also can be more enjoyable, finding the balance is what makes a great coach however, you cant have too much chaos.

Find it a really interesting on the kicking around and playing point 1t 13 or 14 me and my friends would head to the pitch and just muck about with a hurley or football. That can lead you to trying things you might need but would never practice, like we'd definetly have been down the pitch trying to be sherlock or mccarron launching sidelines over, not sure the younger ages now would be.

Anyone who does coaching is doing something good, the enjoyment comes from watching the slow improvements in the weaker players, the areas you've worked on and the relationships you create, not winning.

 

[Happyhonkaman]

Having studied coaching at third level a lot of the points here are spot on

Younger ages all about having fun, giving players playing time etc.

What gets lost is the controlled chaos that needs to be in older kids and adult sessions. It creates faster thinking players who are used to the chaotic nature of a game and have had more chances to create solutions to pictures they might not see doing thesame drill 100 times over. It also can be more enjoyable, finding the balance is what makes a great coach however, you cant have too much chaos.

Find it a really interesting on the kicking around and playing point 1t 13 or 14 me and my friends would head to the pitch and just muck about with a hurley or football. That can lead you to trying things you might need but would never practice, like we'd definetly have been down the pitch trying to be sherlock or mccarron launching sidelines over, not sure the younger ages now would be.

Anyone who does coaching is doing something good, the enjoyment comes from watching the slow improvements in the weaker players, the areas you've worked on and the relationships you create, not winning.

At a coaching course I was at years ago the coach giving it said to avoid drills that do not replicate game environments so for instance having boys dribble around cones, because no one on a pitch ever stands still like a cone, they are moving and not equally spaced like the cones. I agree with this completely, but at the same time you have to develop the core/basic skills which do require repetition and technique that must be learned first and then you can speed it up/ execute under pressure etc

When they were younger we would separate the sessions into skills and then game time to make sure we were getting the basics done, and now that they are older I have almost no static drills at all. Simple changes to basic drills and you have lads always on the move and getting the same practice in for first touch, control, striking or whether it might be.

I like to set up backs vs forwards and watch them all arrange themselves with the wing forwards, full back/forward etc all nominated and ready to go.. and then announce that the backs are forwards and off we go watching the forwards learning to defend properly

Agree on allowing them to try things as well. The one that drives me nuts is listening to every mentor encourage weak side striking/kicking because they know they should.. and then when a kid does use their weak side and not execute it well they get shouted at for making the wrong decision, and only use your weak side when you have no other option type comments. It never seems to occur to these lads that the kid will never be able to execute weak side striking/kicking naturally until they have 10s of thousands of efforts under the belt, and that can only ever happen if they are encouraged. The bit kids don't realise for a while is that most of the time they have sub-consciously made the decision that determined which side they ended up striking on with their footwork when they received the ball, and a simple change in that puts them back on their stronger side the majority of the time again. Obviously if they can get the weak side striking to the same level it makes no difference anymore, but only a small % will get to that point.

 

[Pakied]

My son started u6 in local gaa club back 05 showed promise but was shy and timid, i was asked to help out at coaching, all was fine small numbers. Another Dad joined us and things started to go bad, he was a missing dad for 5 years of sons life and was now back to make up for lost time and was a weekend dad.. He was loud and slowly took over the teams and his son was center back on every team, now he was good but slow, but nobody's would say anything. As the team moved up the age's we had a amalgamation with another club but the Dad stayed in as coach of the Hurling at one stage he was center back u13 u14 u15 u16 it was crazy and in one game he had him taking all frees down to 21s. There was a always a lot of toxic stuff going on and it was only when my son moved up to play and train with the Adult team and met new coaching that he improved. He is now the only player from that group playing with the 1st team and is top scoring player at most of games . He is no star but is enjoying his gaa now. Small clubs can easily be dictated by a few people. I now see him back with a 2nd family and involved with Comagie, god help them.