U9 – U11 MPS Boys Coaches Participate in Coach’s Clinic

Last Friday night all of the U9 – U11 MPS Boys Coaches participated in a coach’s clinic, sponsored by MYS/MPS, at Tysons Sport and Health Club in McLean. While there were coach’s from all age groups, both boys and girls, I am proud to say that ours was the only group with 100% attendance. I believe this just continues to highlight the amount of dedication our coaches have toward your sons and our program.

All of us found the subjects to be interesting and we felt like much was learned. The topics that were discussed:

-Review of proper injury prevention warm-up

-At risk athlete assessment (diagnosing which athletes are most at risk and what

we can do)

-Speed off the mark and first step drills

-Flexibility and partner stretching technique

This was also a “hands on” type of training with all of us actually doing various components of the topic areas. The photo on the right shows Coach Mike and Lucas after completing some of the flexibility exercises.

Many thanks to our Technical Director, Clyde Watson, and the MYS Board for providing this continuing education opportunity. Very few, if any, clubs provide this type of training for its coach’s.

Next up is attendance at the VYSA Workshop in January for all of us. There will be a lot of educational topics and sessions that we hope to use to continue our personal development and to pass along to your boys.

Thanks for all of your support of your boys and our program.

Bill Delaney
Age Group Director U9 – U11 MPS Boys

VID 00006-20091009-1846

U10 Fire boys playing a little beach soccer. How cool!
Stay Safe,

Bill
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Fall '09 Update

To: All Fall 09 U9 – U11 Boys Parents

From: Bill Delaney – U9 – U11 MPS Boys Age Group Director

I just want to take an opportunity to make sure we are all on the same page as we move forward during this fall 09 season.

Below, I have laid out what I would like to think of as a “U9 – U11 Players Bill of Rights.” The reason I am sharing this with all of you, is the fact that I believe you should know what to expect for your soccer player. A lot of this is an excerpt from an email I sent all U9 – U11 coaches so that we, as a coaching staff, are all on the same page.

In addition, toward the bottom, is a brief explanation of the “escalation pathway” for any concerns/issues. I ask that all of you please attempt to work out things between your coach and manager first and foremost. Far too often I receive complaints about a player’s position or playing time without that parent having made any attempt to speak with the coach about it. Worse, and fortunately an infrequent occurrence, some folks feel they should just go “right to the top” and attempt discussion of these issues with members of the MYS Board with out allowing an opportunity for the coach to address it first. Understand that I, or the board member, are probably going to tell you to speak with the coach first anyway. Please understand the rationale for this policy and know that there are several layers of “appeal” if you can not resolve it at the team level.

Players’ Bill of Rights:

Positions: at this stage, I expect all kids to be trained to play every position and to allow an opportunity to play in at least two different positions throughout each season’s games. We should not be locking kids in at these ages to certain spots based on what we think at this time OR what we may think is best for the win! Now, some kids can only handle so much and it may be in a player’s interest to limit them to one position for this season. No problem, just make sure you communicate this to the parents!

Practices: will be fun and technically based. This age range is critical in providing the proper technical foundation for these kids if they are to enjoy future success (and to continue to love the game of soccer). We are developing kids NOT training teams to win as many clubs in the area are doing. Make no mistake, there is a huge difference!

Training teams to win means winning at all costs to include locking kids into one position, kick ball type of game with no skill development, coaches making on field decisions for players, not playing certain players, recruiting bigger and faster and stronger kids (what have you done for me lately attitude), and cutting kids because something a little better may have come along etc., etc. In the majority of cases I have seen over 25 years of coaching, this approach eventually fails as the teams truly developing players tend to start beating those teams who were probably beating them at U9 – U11

Goal Keepers: again, not a good idea to lock a kid into this spot even if he/she claims this is their passion. No kid should play more than ½ a game in goal. The only remote exception is if it is the finals of a tournament and the kid really wants to play and it benefits the team. That should be a very rare exception.

For the U11’s we can start looking at kids full time if all feel this is in the best interest of the kid. Some kids want to be keepers at this point and maybe it is the best for them. Again, a discussion with the parent and child should occur so that all are in agreement and expectations are managed.

Playing time:

U9 and U10 teams: I want to make sure all players get a minimum of half the game playing time. This is of course dependant on the fact the kids are showing up for practice, behaving, working hard, etc. Obviously, if they are not doing these things – or were late to the game – that guarantee goes out the window. We need to remember that this group in particular is still developmental. With like players theoretically on the same team, this should not impact the game too much – especially if you put the right balance of kids out on the field.

U11 teams: playing time CAN go to 20 mins. minimum as these games will count for division placement in the spring. The goal is that all still play at least a half but we do need to slowly introduce the concept of personal accountability to the player. Either way, U-11 is sort of a “Transitional” period and age appropriate competitiveness is an important concept for us to introduce. With the advent of 8 v 8 at U12 we may revisit this issue again.

Please know that there are some exceptions to the rules. If you find a kid is really struggling you can adjust playing time and limit him/her to one position. The key is to communicate what is happening to the parents involved. Most will be fine as long as you let them know what is happening up front and that this is an attempt to get them on the right track long term.

Parent-Player Conferences: will occur toward the end of each season. These provide a great opportunity to provide positive feedback as well as to ID stuff they may need to work on with the parent present so that all involved understand and are on the same page. You can schedule these during a practice or two where the kids are playing World Cup or something and you pull them out one by one for a sit down with the parent. I have also held them before and after practices and have even scheduled an evening at Starbuck’s to meet up with folks.

If a player is struggling during the course of a season and you feel a move to one of the other teams is needed and beneficial to the child, start talking to the parent(s) then. There really should be no surprise to any player and parent at the end of the season if they are moved to one of the other teams. Players who are “on the bubble” as it relates to the age group player pool should be made aware they may be compromised if there is a strong turnout at tryouts.

There should be communication with the parents so as to keep most everyone on the same page.

The escalation pathway for a parent concern is team coach, Head Coach for age Group, Age Group Director (ME), and then to Rich Maresco (Travel Director). They would eventually huddle and handle with Clyde Watson (Technical Director) as they deem appropriate.

Best of luck this fall season!

Best Regards,

Bill