Great Drill, Great Coach

I'm not talking about me when I mention "Great Coach" in the title of this post. I'm referring to my friend Chip. While some may not think of him as great, he certainly is plugged into the sport of soccer and loves working with the boys we coach.

Yesterday in the midst of my muddled state of mind, Chip picked up the usual slack and worked with our U9B team. The ending drill was very effective, so much so that I stole it and used it for my U13B with great success.

The drill starts with two "striker" placed lines facing the goal and one center line facing the opposite direction. The ball is started from the backfield into the center line where the center drops it back and peels out either left or right. The wide swing creates space to dribble where upon approach to the goal the two strikers receive a cross from the outside and attempt to one-touch the ball into the goal.

The effectiveness of the drill is in the quick pace, the timing of the strike on goal, the pass out to the sides and the accuracy of all passes. The drill can be varied through adding defensive players but for the sake of simplicity and timing was run without.

Give it a try and tell me what works well for you!

KSA Board Meeting Info: Coach's Lanyards Mandatory

There really wasn't much pertinent info for me at last night's meeting. Most of it was business as usual and little applied. But something I was interested was how NMSCL has been voting (and this is questionable) regarding coaches and their attendance on the field.

An explainable plague has befuddled me for years now which is why parents that do not volunteer their time during practices see the need to stand next the coaching staff during the games. For the little guys they may see this as a motivator, an encouragement for their wee little child. As a coach, it's a distraction. As a ref (and I'm only guessing here), it's an impediment of control if things get out of hand. At KSA we've implemented a fairly strict parents on one side and the team/coaches on the other. This minimizes this confusion and strife. But even with this well accepted policy, the parents at times meander over to the team side of the field.

The new ruling at the league level places the burden of identifying the coaches squarely on the shoulders of the association and the coach. Lanyards will be issued that identify a registered and background-checked coach and games will either be forfeited or not start until the coach's card on the lanyard is produced.

Negative consequences? Well, for occasions when a coach either forgets or doesn't have an assistant and cannot attend the game this is an issue. But these cases are rare and can be managed.

Benefits? Of course. Clearly marking which adults are authorized by not only the association but acceptable to the league is a good thing. It's good for the opposing coaches as well as we'll know which adults to address with the referee in the event things are out of control with the players (I've had to address this in the past).

I welcome the change and hope that other coaches will welcome this too. Thoughts?

Gearing Up for Fall Season

It's amazing how quickly the summer flies by, especially when you're not involved continuously with grooming teams, working practices and skills and constantly out on the fields for games and monitoring. With little more than Board meetings to attend, my summer has been virtually soccer free.

That's gonna change here soon. With just over 2 weeks left of July, soccer practices will be starting with a vengeance. I have so much to accomplish in so little time. I check my building rosters this morning and to my disappointment very few have returned. This was expected of my oldest team and while disappointing, I've come to terms with it. The surprise was on the other 3 teams (yes, I'll be coaching 4 teams).

So it's time to beginning the solicitations and beefing up of the teams before I have to scramble just before the season starts.

Let the near insanity begin!