Now in my past articles, I have written about the importance of school and sports, as I have stated before we become who we will be at an early age and it is very important for the parents, guardians, grand parents, social workers, teachers who play important parts of our up bringing, to lead us on the right path to become productive adults in are communities.
This past summer, I was approached by the soccer league President and asked to volunteer as a soccer coach for the 3-5 year olds with local soccer league here in my area. Having five children and two in this age range, I thought it may be a lot of fun, so I accepted the position and my journey began.
Now, I have never personally coached soccer in the past, but my two older boys have played soccer for 4 years and I have attended every home game and most away games since they started. Oh and let me tell you, I am a critic when it comes to sports (with the coaches that is), a team is only as good as the one’s giving instructions and I believe that children should be taught the importance of competition.
Well, having reputation as a boisterous man and not afraid to share my opinion, I have built a reputation on win all at all cost, never surrender and play to the best of your ability. My older children when on the field give it all they got, especially when I am sitting in the bleachers (barking) LOL at everyone especially my own. All right on with my experience.
When first meeting all the parents it is somewhat like a job interview, where you don’t want to say the wrong things or be offensive. I decided to write out all the rules and a letter as to what I expected and how I would coach the team. I believe if you not clear from the beginning you may have problems.
Being my first year coaching, I was definitely nervous and wanted to make a great impression on the children and parents/guardians alike. Now it was somewhat easy for me with my children, they know what to expect from dad, but incorporating that with the other children and their families can be a little difficult, but with proper communication this is easily achievable.
All of the children on my team were either in kindergarten, preschool or soon to begin one or the other. In my opinion it is best to teach the children the rules, and discipline them properly prior to going to school. By actively playing in sports you will only help re-enforce the right behavior and your children will be apt to adapt to the situations and will be a little less shy and more prepared for school. Through my experience this is all to true.
Now, being the first coach of some of these children I knew, what I taught these children and their parents would be an impression that would last a long time. Again, as I have stated that I have the win at all cost attitude. If your going to play on my team you are going to give it your all, or your going to sit on the bench. No kids sat on the bench.
With that being said, at every practice the children knew there place on the team. Prior to practice beginning they sat on the bench and waited for instruction. Then I would tell the children to line up on center line in each designated position. If they choose to not listen I would line them up on the boundary line and make them run laps around the field, the best part of this was that by the end of the season, I would make the child not listening line up on the line and all the kids would line up. I instilled team work as a major part of our training.
To give you an idea of what is needed to successfully coach a soccer team all you need a whistle, stop watch, orange cones and soccer balls that’s it and of a course an open field with the sunshine, which was a little tough this year we had a lot of rain.
Having five children and being involved in baseball, wrestling, soccer and bowling, I often watch and observe the coaches and attempted to use some their strategies with the kids on my team. This approach personally didn’t work for me after the first few practices I quickly realized that I needed to be more aggressive. So, I pulled out the drill sergeant hat and our training began.
When the children arrived for practice I would have them sit on the bench and keep quiet and wait instruction you can imagine how hard it is to get 3, 4, and 5 year olds to sit and listen, but I am here to tell you it is achievable with proper instruction.
If the children showed up and their shirts were not tucked in and shoes not tied then they would be taken over to the boundary lines and I would make them run laps until they knew what was expected, you would be surprised how quickly the young kids learn to follow the rules.
If your asking yourself why would you make young kids run laps, the answer is simple when playing in sports one of the most important attributes is to have good speed there isn’t to many sports that you don’t run in. So in fact what I was doing was having them increase their speed and endurance while also disciplining then, I was in fact killing three birds with one stone.
While the children would be doing their laps I would run around the field “barking” orders at them and pushing them to run faster around and to catch up to the other kids the ones that fell behind. In my opinion this helps them become more competitive. I would always find a reason to make them run laps at the start of practice and when one kid had to run then all the kids would run this helped me instill team work with this team.
After we finished running we would line up for are basic drills, controlling the ball and taking shots at the goal. Some of the kids get real nervous when they get in front of the goal and would be afraid to take the shot, so I started having the kids take field goal shots so they became comfortable and confident to take the shot. By the end of the season I had every kid on the team making goals and this was very rewarding for the kids and myself.
My most enjoyable part of being the soccer coach was when I lined my team up for games and I would ask each team if they were ready to play and the kids on my team would snap too and yell YES COACH!!! The kids and parents on the other teams just looked like wow these kids are tough, I had my own little personal Army platoon who were highly polished and ready for battle.
Needless to say my first year as soccer coach was a rewarding and a great experience, all the kids parents on my team asked if I could be their kids coach again next year. I even had parents from the other teams come up and ask if their kids could play on my team next year that is a really good feeling considering I thought the parents were going to dislike me for my drill sergeant approach to coaching soccer, but it was the exact opposite.
Oh and one more thing my kids had a undefeated season, I owe a special thanks to all these kids who worked so hard. Thanks kids for the rewarding experience as your first coach.
If you have children I would highly recommend you get them involved in sports the life lessons learned are never forgotten and very valuable for the children. They will learn to be competitive, teamwork, individuality, follow the rules and stay healthy while having fun.
Well, I hope this has been helpful and if ever given a chance to volunteer as a coach for your kids sports take up the opportunity and have some fun, your children will be so proud of you.
Good day to all