Posted by Helen on: 12.11.2007 /
Laura M posted this comment last week about how she coached her son’s soccer team. Even though Laura knew nothing about soccer, her team did much better this year than previously.
I’ve been busier than usual lately because I’ve been ‘coaching’ my son’s 6th grade soccer team. I didn’t want to coach the team, but so many guys signed up this season they had to split the team in half, and there was no one available to coach the extra team.
To make it easier on me (I really know nothing about soccer) they kept most of the guys who had played previous seasons on ‘my’ team. These boys had lost almost every game they’d played before I began ‘coaching’ them.
All I did was show up to practices with the equipment. At every practice I asked the guys what did they want to do, what did they think they needed to work on most, what positions did they want to play and practice?
I let them make almost all the decisions for themselves. If they wanted to play a postion they would be allowed to practice it during scrimmages and play it during real games. As many or as few positions as they wanted. If they didn’t want to play a position, they wouldn’t have to.
They could come to practices or not, stay as late as they wanted (we had some practices that didn’t end until nearly 6pm, when there were kids who wanted to keep playing) or leave early. The choices were theirs to make, and they all knew they could voice their opinions or ideas about anything or everything, or nothing.
When they had specific questions about rules or technique my first response was to ask all the other guys if they knew anything about what was being asked and we all listened to each others ideas/suggestions. One thing we all started to get a good sense of was who were those who knew what they were talking about, and who were the ones just sort of guessing or making it up as they went along.
I also finished up those discussions by pointing out to them that they could always ask someone they thought would be a good source of info about soccer and reminded them that the internet was a good source, full of abundant info on any topic.
Before I knew it these kids were teaching each other stuff they had researched and directing each other to websites/Youtube videos on soccer etc.
When they were doing well at something I would say ‘Kewl!!’, and if not
‘Ouch, looks like that needs work’.
When I was really impressed I’d say ‘Wow, I’m impressed!’
After the first game I had a ‘formal’ talk with them about what I thought their individual strengths were, and was specific about the things I’d noticed them each doing well. Then I talked with them about the responsibilities of the Team Captain and Co-Captain. I asked them each to name someone who they thought would be up to the job and why. **(This is the only ‘formal’ talk I remember having with them all season)
I felt that we were all interested in each other’s opinions and impressed with the judgements and reasonings that we heard. We were able to settle on a consensus as to which guys we would be the most comfortable with leading our team. We ended up with a Team Captain who turned out to be a fifth grader (only 10 years old at the time!) who had never formally played on a team before.
And I have to say I’ve never been more impressed by an individual’s leadership skills than I have been by this kid’s. He never missed a single game or practice, even coming to an extra one when the entire rest of the team (6th graders) was out of town for the week at Camp Grady Spruce. We’re still having practices even though the season is over ’cause this guy never stops.
After Team Captain was chosen, the guys had to impress him and each other so they could negotiate with him to get the position rotations that they wanted. They did very well for themselves and finished the season with 5 wins, 1 tie, 2 losses.
The main thing I learned was that teaching themselves to play soccer helped them develop initiative, confidence, communication and teamwork.
The funniest thing was how much practice time they chose to spend:
playing football
wrestling
tag
keep-away (monkey in the middle)
flirtng with the girls team across the field
gossiping (so NOT kidding)
The most touching thing was how quickly they rushed to help each other when someone got hurt, and to apologize if they felt themself to be at fault somehow.
Comment by: joe
1Sounds good - although it is probably fair to say that probably wouldn’t work in a culture where soccer is engrained - to the extent that the kids know that the coach knows nothing.
Mores the pity.
Comment by: Helen
2Laura I love that you affirmed these children in their own ability to make decisions and do self-directed research. I think it will do wonders for those unused to such affirmation. It might even change the course of their lives that someone believed they were capable of this much initiative and self-direction.
It would be neat to see more of this in education in general. I’m thankful for the teachers who affirm and encourage my children in being self-directed. It seems to vary from teacher to teacher. I always hope they will get teachers who care enough to notice my childrens’ strengths and challenge and encourage them to build on those strengths (as well as working on what they are less good at).
Comment by: Doreen
3you go Laura
If only other coaches would coach the way you coach….