Well, thus Sunday is the last Sunday of the 4 Sunday Youth Coaching certificate...wish me luck. If I want to go for the Senior certificate in the future (and I will), I need to get an advance pass in this one.
My 'test' will be to set up a small sided game to teach "controlling and moving the ball". Should be fun. My son came along last Sunday and had a ball (in a manner of speaking). There'll be at least 10 kids there this Sunday. So, instead of a bunch of other coaches as test subjects -- who, by the way, know what I'm trying to achieve and will try to help -- I'll have a bunch of kids that will have absolutely no idea what I'm trying to achieve. Should be an honest test.
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I was chatting with another dad while we were watching our sons at their weekly academy training session and we got talking about a particular set of parents (both husband and wife shared the same traits).
They are what I would have considered bullies when I was in grade school. The dad was my team manager last year (for what it's worth -- I did most of the management, in addition to the coaching). But what he really wanted to do was coach. (The club didn't agree). His coaching style, and their game day sideline demeanor, shouldn't be tolerated by anyone. Their targets include the players (both teams), opposing coaches and officials.
A far as I'm concerned, the basic idea when coaching (kids or adults) is to help develop their game and that includes attitude as well as skill. If you're yelling at the kids you're pushing the game in the wrong direction for them. Correct mistakes (that's why you're there), be firm with horsing around, but negative comments have no place in training.
Fortunately, the negative couple are no longer on the club committee. Unfortunately, they haven't been banned from showing up at games. I'll still have to deal with them (their son is on my team and is probably the best right back in his age group that I've seen -- and remarkably balanced despite his parents.
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. - Carl Sagan
