Saturday, July 14, 2012

There is something special about grassroots soccer

Every coach should make periodic visits back to grassroots soccer.  This week I lived it.  Working with those kids makes me a better coach, of this I have no doubt.

For the last 24 years, a majority of my coaching has been at the district, travel and college level.  But, for me, getting back to grassroots is always re-energizing and meaningful.

This past week I worked our club's annual camp with Coaches Rob and Gerry.  Youth Assistant Coach Cara from our u14 girls team was also on hand.  We had 42 players from ages 5-8, boys and girls and the camp ran from Monday to Friday, 9am-noon.

Working with grassroots players at the youngest age groups re-aligns your coaching methods and gets you right back to basics.  You cannot make assumptions on what the players already know and your tone of voice, coaching style and choice of words have to be bang on and suitable for the age group.

Physical literacy and familiarity with the ball was the order of the week with the camp.  One player.  One ball.  Show them something.  Everyday we ran 30 minutes of different movements with their bodies with and without the ball, then broke off into stations that offered more movements and situations to put their new skills to work.

The kids give you a harsh reminder of what they want and what keeps them coming back.  A nickname.  A free ball and shirt. Fun. Juice breaks.  They didn't even realize they were playing a LOT of soccer.

The length of the get together was not in line with LTPD, but the content was and matched the age group.  It was a camp and I am not sure where LTPD and camps find common ground.
"Working with grassroots players at the youngest age groups re-aligns your coaching methods and gets you right back to basics."
On Saturday, I went to run my friend's session in Niagara Falls and was surrounded by the buzz of younger age house league soccer at Niagara United SC.  This afternoon I took my son to officiate the Welland Soccer Club's annual house league festival and found myself walking around watching the U5-U6 kids from our camp playing.

The look on their faces when they are playing in priceless.  Excitement and nervousness all bundled up in a little kit.  The games were exciting and the parents and coaches were positive with all of the players.

My wife tells everybody that I love Saturday mornings.   How can you not?  The BS and intensity of competitive level sports disappears and it boils down to the players and the ball.  There is an electricity in the air at Saturday morning house league.  Every player comes with parents and siblings, umbrella, chairs and cooler.  You can't find a parking spot and the traffic on the street is jammed.

I make the occasional visit to grassroots soccer, as a coach, but this week I was immersed in it and came out a better coach.