JT's Blog - For the love of the game - Sept. 7

JT's Blog will be a weekly addition to the US Youth Soccer Blog. John Thomas "JT" is the Assistant Director of Coaching Education for US Youth Soccer.

Why can’t we do more of these events? On August 24-26, I flew to San Jose, Calif., to present four different small-sided games clinics for Youth Soccer Month (Sept). The theme of the day was “For the Love of the Game”. The event was held in Union City, Calif. There were a lot of kids and parents out to just have some fun but they really weren’t sure what to expect. There wasn’t going to be any coaching of the players or parents telling players what and when to do anything, so for the parents and the coaches, what was there to do? How about simply enjoy the kids playing. There were a lot of smiles and running and kids making decisions about what to do in a free flowing game that seemed to be fun.

This event was organized by Evert Glenn, an US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program (US Youth Soccer ODP) coach and staff instructor for the California Youth Soccer Association-North. This event was a trial outing of a proposed event series to be run in conjunction with the California Youth Soccer Association-North Recreation Committee called “For the Love of the Game”. It’s a day of soccer dedicated to bringing local college coaches and players together with recreational youth coaches and players in a relaxed free-flowing, non-competitive environment.

The small-sided games are played 3v3 though 6v6 on appropriate field sizes. Pick-up games occurred from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The games were short with no scores being kept. Coaches and any upper-level players were mixed in with recreational players of all ages except the U8 age group, for safety reasons.

The secondary theme of this event was small-sided games, which I trained four different groups of players and coaches ages Under-6, Under-8, Under-10 and Under-12. I saw joy and fun being had by all. However please note, CYSA-N was one of the first states to use small sided games as a training tool but coaching education is always to the benefit of the players being coached. There were recreational coaches and competitive coaches in attendance of each training session of my small-sided games demonstrations.

The fields were located at Cesar Chavez Middle School in Union City, Calif. The complex had three full grass fields and ample side areas for other activities. There were more than adequate comfort facilities and volunteers from the local soccer community who offer concessions items and music for the youth and parents listening pleasure.

JT's Blog - California North's President’s Workshop - May 24

JT's Blog will be a weekly addition to the US Youth Soccer Blog. John Thomas "JT" is the Assistant Director of Coaching Education for US Youth Soccer.

On May 19-20, I attended the California Youth Soccer Association North’s President’s Workshop in Oakland, hosted by the Director of Coaching Karl Dewazian. It was my first time attending a California North event and I was excited with anticipation of what was to come.

The outline of the scheduled events was:
Mr. John Murphy, Sideline Behaviors
Ms. Regan McMahon, Author, Revolution in the Bleachers
Karl Dewazien and myself, Choosing the Right Coach
Mr. Kurt Barthel, Independent Contractors vs. Employees
Mr. Marc Pinnell, Online Registration

Mr. Murphy, Sideline Behaviors, discussed the following:

- How positive leadership can affect the sideline behavior
- Never underestimate the effect of the positive leadership as a model for others to follow.
- Acceptances of responsibility: Not only coaches, but parents and spectators must own up to appropriate sideline behaviors.
- If coaches, managers, parents and spectators can’t manage their sideline behavior, then the referee should.

Coach Karl and I discussed some of the requirements the board may want to consider when hiring a new coach:

- The personality fits with the children
- Appropriate levels of soccer education
- The right attitude towards children
- The right attitude toward coaching
- The right attitude toward the game

Mr. Barthel discussed employee vs. independent contractor. Mr. Barthel explained the differences between the definitions of an employee and independent contractor. It is very important that the paid coaches and hiring organization are both clear as which contract the coach will work under. This will help to avoid any issues with the IRS.

Mr. Pinnel discussed the upgraded software now being used for online registration.

Lastly, Ms. Regan McMahon discussed her research and new book called Revolution in the Bleachers. In her book and article Ms. McMahon looks at what has happen the last 20 years with childhood and the family life. The demands of sports for our youth today are pushing family time and structure away from what it use to be. I think it’s very important to understand the cost of what is being called hypercompetitive sports life. Kids are getting stressed out, burned out, injured and are not spending holidays at home or with the entire family. What’s more important is that Ms. McMahon gave her thoughts on how we can give some of the playtime and childhood back to our kids. Ms. McMahon gave permission to copy and re-print her article. To learn more see McMahon’s article in the San Francisco Chronicle.