Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Does club/institutional support matter in soccer?

I came to a realization this week in regards to my soccer experience.  I'm spoiled.

Is having a good organization to work with important in sport?  At the end of the day, you have to be a good coach to deliver the final product, but back-end support is very helpful, and in some cases necessary, to setting up a proper environment that fosters a quality program.  This ties into a previous article I wrote regarding your stakeholders.

Among my many soccer related activities, I have three busier roles right now.  I coach Niagara College's Men's and Women's Varsity soccer program, I deliver development programs for the

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Grassroots Soccer. Coaching less ... not easy, but rewarding

I wrote an article in September about being "not so loud" when coaching.

Last night we started our Fall U8-U12 Wizard Academy at the Welland Soccer Club.  We run two programs in the fall and winter for players U6-U7 and U8-U12.  Rob Lalama, our Technical Director, has done a fabulous job engaging the grassroots through various initiatives.

Our session had 56 players, 5 coaches and 5 stations.  I will not get into the stations and organization as I've done that before.

I enjoy doing stations for a number of reasons.   The most important being that it keeps the kids in smaller group and busier.  LOTS OF SOCCER.  But my other side alternative is coaching development.

Even if a coach is experienced, I give them the plan for the station and coaching points.  And my initial message to them is to give the kids their problem to solve and let them solve it.  Fight the urge to coach too much.

I know how difficult it is to not over-coach.  As a person who has faith in humanity, I have to believe