Author: Jemma

Jemma Merrick is a life-long soccer fan, long-time soccer player and coach, and current soccer mom.  After high school, Jemma played both Division I and Division III collegiate soccer, at the University of Virginia and Macalester College, respectively. Jemma coached the women Macalester College Team.

COACH’S CORNER: Nurture a love of the game!

As a recreation coach, you might just be a first introduction to the beautiful game of soccer for many kids and their parents. This is an opportunity to provide a positive initial experience for families that can nurture a love of the game and help grow lifelong players and fans (no pressure!). Here are some quick and easy tips to create some hype and help you on this mission:

  • Have a competition with the kids at practice and add extra incentive by telling them you will do something silly, like star jumps or singing Twinkle, Twinkle, if they “beat” you.
  • Give some fun homework: recommend that they try to get 200 touches on the ball before the next practice, spend two 5-minute sessions practicing passing with perfect posing form or work on increasing the number of juggles they can get by one.
  • Keep parents in the loop about the things you are asking the players to work on so they know what to emphasize with praise too (I love the way you tried that drag back, you really locked your ankle when you passed today, etc.).
  • Encourage players/families to watch a professional or college game – live or on TV – and give them ideas of things to look for during the run of play: count how many passes one team can string together before they lose possession or how many times they see a certain move, for example.

Bring lots of energy and keep it fun while they are learning and you will keep them coming back for more!

COACH’S CORNER: Connect 4

The recreational soccer seasons are usually quite short and coaches often
don’t get enough contacts or time with their players. As a parent
coach, we can get so caught up in our agenda of the nuts and bolts list of
things we want to teach the players in practice and the season that we can
some times forget one of the important basics of coaching at this, and all
levels: making meaningful connections!

  1. Make a one-to-one verbal connection with each player at every practice
    and game day. The kids want to know they are seen and that it mattered that they showed up!
  2. Connect to where the individual player is, emotionally, mentally and
    physically. There can be wide range of abilities at the rec level: try to
    find a way to simplify things for the child who isn’t coming in as
    naturally coordinated, or to have empathy for the child who has had a rough
    day, or to create an additional challenge for the player who comes in with
    more soccer experience.
  3. Connect what you work on in practice directly to the games. Remind the
    players about the new skill you introduced earlier that week and tell them
    you are looking for them to try it against that day’s opponent.
  4. Remember to connect with the parents! Introduce yourself to the group
    and individually when you see a new face. Ask the kids to thank their
    parents for getting them to practice and games. Let them know, either in
    person or via email, something positive you saw their child do or something
    that you are encouraging their child to try.

These little efforts can make a big difference in giving the entire team a
fun soccer experience.

Published
Categorized as Articles

COACH’S CORNER: Tackling a Practice Plan

COACH’S CORNER: Tackling a Practice Plan

When you first start coaching – be it your initial foray as a parent coach or the beginning of a new season with a new team for a more seasoned recreational coach, figuring out what to cover in a practice can be daunting. This is often especially true after you have seen them in their first competition – the list of “things they need to work on” feels endless. But you’ve got to start somewhere, and its best to go in with a plan.

First, give some thought to the skills you would like to introduce and the topics you would generally like to cover over the span of the season and work from there. Be realistic and age/developmentally appropriate with your expectations and goals.

Pick a theme for the practice. Keep it focused. Don’t worry too much about correcting non-theme related “issues” that come up in that practice (might be no need to address a missed passing opportunity if you are introducing and working on moves to get around a defender)

Incorporate that theme into the progressive stages of your session: warm up, drills, game-type situation. Emphasize throughout. Regardless of the theme – keep it fun and keep them active.

Be over prepared. Occasionally an activity will be a bust and you’ll need to change course. Having extra theme related ideas as part of your plan will prevent you from panicking and (hopefully) the 7 year olds from finding the dandelions more interesting than practice.

Keep building on the themes each week. But repeating an entire practice plan (with tweaks based on what worked and what didn’t) can be a good thing for everyone too!

And finally, whether it be at the beginning of practice as players are arriving (great incentive for kids to arrive on time) or at the end as your final activity, it is always a good idea to give them an opportunity to just play at each session– scrimmaging with no restrictions and little to no coaching!