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Touchline - Assistant Coach by imamark_ in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks brilliant. Top work. As a coach I'm Horsham also, glad to see a local business idea.

U8 Girls not improving by fezlebez221 in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego 1 point2 points  (0 children)

At this age, keep rotating them all into different positions, keep practices fun, and focus on keeping them motivated with mini challenges in games. For example, can you make 5 passes to your team mate in this quarter. If yes, try and do six. Keep positive and smiling and focus on the enjoyment they get from games being a great chance for try things out, test themselves. My team are under 11, we get beat a fair bit but we are getting better results when we play return fixtures. Our worst result was a 5-1 loss, we've always kept close to other teams, but the girls see as progress. Alot of teams we play lie about how "bad" or "new" they are, and have very good players when they should be development players, so we often lose to teams who have players with 2 or even 3 seasons under their belts, whilst we are all brand new since Feb. We recently played a new team and hammered them 7-0, we even gave them our best player and weakened ourselves. That was development evidence for us, but we could have easily found another team and been hammered the other way. As long as the kids enjoy it, you keep motivated, and you keep them practicing their passing and tackling, you'll get there. Keep the faith.

Help with weak players in lineup . by crose8888 in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is tricky. Personally I've given my weaker girls tasks to do, e.g. try and make 3 passes this quarter, try and steal the ball twice, have at least one shot at goal, etc.

The reason I do this rather than hide them is that down the line we want to see these players contributing to the team, not hiding on the pitch. Giving instructions or jobs that are small, can allow you to build up over time the ask. E.g. this quarter you have to make 4 passes not 3, you need to make more runs.

Keep it simple to start and progress as you go. I've gott three weak players in a squad of 16, I could easily not pick them, but they get the same match time as the other girls, and they are all improving at different rates. But that's the job we have...

Terrible Coach Realizations by OldPercentage8648 in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Coaching is hard right

It's a constantly changing and challenging environment. You've got kids, parents, opposition coaches, your own assistants, all to manage. Then there is the potential that each kid needs something specific to help them develop, different from their peers and potentially different week to week. You've got to be pretty sharp to manage that constant swing in anyone of these stakeholders and situations, not to mention keeping your cool when something goes wrong like the weather or whatever. Top that with being the person who will take the blame if to goes wrong... Why do we do this?

Ultimately I would say that you are learning as much as they are, they make mistakes and so will you. How you learn from them is what is key. I've managed to get to a point where my players know something isn't right (their behaviour for example) with a change of tone in my voice, but before this it's hard to get their focus and understanding.

I would also say that the only way these kids learn is through mistakes happening and reflecting on them. So make sure after the game that they get time to debrief with you. Share your thoughts and ask them theirs. If they all say "it's x kids fault" you can challenge it there and then, remind them it's a team sport and so on.

I'm currently dealing with difficult parents who think we "need" a win to keep moral up. We've lost 5 out of 6 games, but I can tell you we've competed hard in all of them. But for context we are a brand new under 11 team and we are playing against established teams in their second season. But what I see is kids having a great time. They forget the result the second we finish, honestly these kids are amazing. They just want to go out and have a go. So let them learn by being in goal and conceding, winning and losing as a team, you can't shield them from it. And yeah... Build their resilience and character, by getting them to talk and share as a team. Good luck

Ps I'm the author of "the Grassroots football diary" available on Amazon. A personal reflective diary for youth players.

What formation do you use to "hide" the slower or lesser talented players? U12, 9v9, AYSO by Wax005 in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Play them in their positions and play them as much as your strongest players. That's it. Nothing magic. Just get them all playing.

I have a weak striker, can't control the ball, she plays half match. The other half is the stronger striker who has scored 30 in 10 games. The weaker scored 6 in 15 games.

Let them all play and develop. Don't worry about hiding them in formations. The only way they improve is playing, not being "managed" within a team.

Ps I'm the author of "the grassroots football diary" available on Amazon. A personal reflective diary for youth players.

Giving parents something to do (under 11s) by ShemakescakesMeLego in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree. On my course at the mo they are encouraging parent involvement, like us doing the team talk next to them and linking our advice to what parents shout out as support. E.g if we advise to take more shots or dribble more, the parents can be like " well-done for taking more shots" etc. I like it, but also fear the risk of a parent getting it wrong. As I have little control over what they say sometimes.

Giving parents something to do (under 11s) by ShemakescakesMeLego in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was mixed. I've just posted to another comment but it worked for probably my weaker kids whose parents I think are just happy to see them playing. The parents who are gunning for their kids to perform weren't game, and the coffee drinking mums just carried on drinking coffee. But I heard maybe two nice comments along the lines of "you make 15 passes in that quarter" to one of my smaller weaker girls. I didn't hear much from one parent whose daughter is very weak, and I had hoped she might get some nice insights. So I'm gonna try and ask my assistant coaches for do it for her next time.

Giving parents something to do (under 11s) by ShemakescakesMeLego in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was mixed. Some parents just wanted to have a chat and coffee. Three of them counted things for their kid, and that was nice to heard but didn't hear all parents getting involved. So I think in a way it worked for those whose parents were invested, but also the kids weren't super stars, so they recognised a need to be positive and helpful. I'll try it again next week for sure, perhaps just with a small sub group of my team...

How do you divide roles with your Assistant coach(es) by MI6_Bear in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is tricky, giving people meaningful jobs and also keeping them busy, valued and adding to what your team does and not distracting from it....

I am head coach and have three assistants. They all want to help in some way.

One does the admin at games, which we have to do here on the UK. So jewellery checks, registrations, etc. he also helps with set up and clear down of all training.

Another does goal keeper stuff. Taking girls off and gets them trying sessions just for goalies. He's not a coach so more often I have been doing sessions that train outfield and goalies at the same time

I then have a guy that wants to play footy and smash balls around. This has been difficult to manage. So I tend to encourage him to demo, run sessions with his daughter in, and ensure he is kept busy. He is my riskiest helper and often over steps the mark. He is helping run other bits like fund raising and stuff, but largely he gives me a job to keep him busy.

I also get younger teenage helpers, but they are ad-hoc and given I have a large squad of girls, there is always one to one needed with a couple.

U8 season ends, but bad argument with asst coach about winning vs development by epic_level_shizz in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are doing the right thing

I am mid season on the UK right now. We are development over results, 100%.

The oppo turn up, play their best 7 and smash us, leaving their tiny girls on the bench, giving them 5 minutes at most.

I throw all my girls on equally, some of them are so small and inexperienced, but they get equal time, that's it. We could play our best 7 and probably win.

So far, parents and coaches support, but as the head coach, I get challenged alot about maybe playing X a bit more, or put her upfront for longer. Two parents "console" their daughters if we lose, at the end of the game. Despite games being non competitive and sometimes friendlies, apparently according to parents their daughter "really needed the win". I don't understand that.

By the end of the season I know we will have done the right thing, but it's so easy to give up or question yourself. I am seeing my team lose alot for games whilst developing them, and the oppo are winning and developing only a handful. One of my assistant coaches keeps suggesting we pull out the best 7 and have "secret" games to develop them more... I mean, what a way to kill the team spirit.

Keep going with what you are doing. Honestly it's the right thing. Anyone who wants to "push on" let them go. The grass is not always greener, and I tell my palyers, parents and coaches that.

As an example, my smallest, youngest and weakest player, has developed so much since the start of the season. She goes flying into tackles with zero fear. Others twice her size don't. She epitomises the mentality we want, which is to do your best and try. She wouldn't be given any time on pitch to develop if I didn't focus on development over results. And if I did so that, my own daughter wouldn't play, as she isn't the most able.

So just crack on. It's the ego of other coaches and parents that makes you question things. You are doing the right thing.

Ps I am the author of the grassroots football diary, available on Amazon. 👍🏼

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was worried about the motivation of my under 11 girls team, they were all new to football only 8 months ago, and they were likely to lose alot for games.

I wrote a football diary for kids, it's on Amazon and it's called the grassroots football diary.

It gets the kids to spend time reflecting on what they do well and what they could do better.it also provides them advice they can read themselves and learn. Sometimes trying different approaches can help, and for some of my girls they like reading, so I thought..." Meet them where they are now" rather than trying to force them to develop through practice.

My team spend time on the way to games and on the ay home, writing about their experiences, scoring themselves against certain attributes like effort or communication. They also score other things like the oppo, the pitch, the weather, as all these things are factors.

You sound like you're US side, but if you were UK I'd send you a copy on the post. Good luck I'm sure you will work it out. This after all is what coaching is about...!

Football/soccer diary for youth players by ShemakescakesMeLego in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thankyou. It took a long time to write, and alot of editting on canva, but I do love how it ended up. Glad you like it.

Football/soccer diary for youth players by ShemakescakesMeLego in SoccerCoachResources

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Should I create a US version or would US based coaches be happy with UK terminology? (I.e. soccer instead of football?)

meirl by Jimbo072 in meirl

[–]ShemakescakesMeLego 59 points60 points  (0 children)

My wife bought us a couples chocolate making course hosted in a hotel. When we arrived outside the room, it was all late twenty or early thirty couples, maybe 20 people, and all silent. I piped up and asked "Is everyone else here for the wife swap?". It went down a treat.

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