wyona
Jr. Academy
Posts: 44
|
Post by wyona on Apr 23, 2018 16:17:04 GMT -5
What do you look for in a good practice from a coach? How can you tell they are running a productive practice? What makes you go home thinking “my kid got a lot out of that tonight” in comparison to “that seemed a waste of time”
I have my own opinions but interested to see what others think....
|
|
|
Post by SoccerMom on Apr 23, 2018 20:02:16 GMT -5
I don't watch my kid's practice....I may ask my kids what they did that day. But i don't ever sit and watch. Only time I do is if they have a scrimmage
|
|
|
Post by footy on Apr 23, 2018 21:19:34 GMT -5
I don't watch practices all the time but I have seen a lot in my decade+ as a soccer parent so here are my observations.
First, I hope that a lot more thought from a coach goes into the practice than is apparent to a parent. A training session that appears to be unorganized or unplanned may actually be productive so I'd like to give coaches the benefit of the doubt.
I think good practices are where the kids are always doing something rather than waiting on the sidelines for a long time to take their turn in a drill. Efficient coaches can have multiple groups going at the same time. Good coaches will give feedback during the practice and sometimes during scrimmages so kids know when they're doing something right or wrong. This may be obvious, but I don't think it's helpful for a coach to sit on a bench chatting with other coaches or players and only sometimes looking at the field to give direction.
One coach recently had lesson plans on his phone or in a notebook. He determined where the kids needed improvement from the weekend's games then created practice sessions to address the deficiencies. He referred back to his notes between each skills session. That was the first time I ever saw a coach with diagrams in practice, but I think that should be the norm rather than the exception.
|
|
|
Post by soccerdaddy on Apr 23, 2018 21:42:52 GMT -5
If the coach starts singling out the starters or dominant players and separates them from the rest of the team then this may be the case when it comes to games too. The team won’t train as a team/win as a team/lose as a team. This will create anxiety between players and will eventually poison the entire team. Starts in Academy and players and parents will take so much. If the players are that good then please move them up in age group. Don’t single them out as your favorites, they will play like that as well.
|
|
|
Post by soccerlegacy on Apr 24, 2018 10:35:39 GMT -5
If the coach starts singling out the starters or dominant players and separates them from the rest of the team then this may be the case when it comes to games too. The team won’t train as a team/win as a team/lose as a team. This will create anxiety between players and will eventually poison the entire team. Starts in Academy and players and parents will take so much. If the players are that good then please move them up in age group. Don’t single them out as your favorites, they will play like that as well. In a coaches defense and to play devils advocate, it is sometimes hard when you have a large group with uneven abilities.. for instance, at the academy level. There may be two or three teams worth of players all practicing together. I have seen where a coach will break the players into groups of equal level players, but run the same drill with everyone. The only difference is, he will require that top group to do the drill with extra stipulations that is harder than the others. I have also seen a coach that had obvious talent discrepancies between the top team and the 2nd team, and decided to break the practice into two separate training times/sessions. But my point is, it is sometimes hard to coach a team with varying degrees of ability and still allow for each of the players to get what they need out of a practice.
|
|
|
Post by Soccerhouse on Apr 24, 2018 10:47:55 GMT -5
If the coach starts singling out the starters or dominant players and separates them from the rest of the team then this may be the case when it comes to games too. The team won’t train as a team/win as a team/lose as a team. This will create anxiety between players and will eventually poison the entire team. Starts in Academy and players and parents will take so much. If the players are that good then please move them up in age group. Don’t single them out as your favorites, they will play like that as well. In a coaches defense and to play devils advocate, it is sometimes hard when you have a large group with uneven abilities.. for instance, at the academy level. There may be two or three teams worth of players all practicing together. I have seen where a coach will break the players into groups of equal level players, but run the same drill with everyone. The only difference is, he will require that top group to do the drill with extra stipulations that is harder than the others. I have also seen a coach that had obvious talent discrepancies between the top team and the 2nd team, and decided to break the practice into two separate training times/sessions. But my point is, it is sometimes hard to coach a team with varying degrees of ability and still allow for each of the players to get what they need out of a practice. Not to be harsh, but we used to call those kids session killers. One kid can really ruin the dynamic of a training session. That's why its always hard when pooling players that have such a drastic difference of skills, ability and drive to get better.
|
|
|
Post by soccerdaddy on Apr 24, 2018 10:48:30 GMT -5
Agreed, but talking only 1 team so when that is the case I don’t see anything wrong with that especially when you are trying to benefit the entire group 👍
|
|
|
Post by throughball on Apr 24, 2018 10:59:21 GMT -5
In a coaches defense and to play devils advocate, it is sometimes hard when you have a large group with uneven abilities.. for instance, at the academy level. There may be two or three teams worth of players all practicing together. I have seen where a coach will break the players into groups of equal level players, but run the same drill with everyone. The only difference is, he will require that top group to do the drill with extra stipulations that is harder than the others. I have also seen a coach that had obvious talent discrepancies between the top team and the 2nd team, and decided to break the practice into two separate training times/sessions. But my point is, it is sometimes hard to coach a team with varying degrees of ability and still allow for each of the players to get what they need out of a practice. Not to be harsh, but we used to call those kids session killers. One kid can really ruin the dynamic of a training session. That's why its always hard when pooling players that have such a drastic difference of skills, ability and drive to get better. We've seen this kind of thing for the first time this year with the introduction of DA that resulted in kids that had been on the top team for several years mixing in with kids from the second team and below, and I can corroborate that it is hard for players to get a lot out of practice if there is a significant difference in skill level. In our case we went from beautiful possession-based soccer to kids that can barely connect a few passes in a row in a triangle passing drill without losing control and watching the ball fly through the air during scrimmages vs. playing the ball on the ground.
|
|
|
Post by Futsal Gawdess on Apr 24, 2018 15:19:40 GMT -5
I too try not watch practices on a regular basis. I might sometimes watch a scrimmage if it's against a team of the opposite sex, or a higher level team, or another club. Otherwise, the only other times I watch practice are mostly in May. Which as you can surmise is right before tryouts. I go and scout the potential coach for next season if I'm unfamiliar with him/her. I then look for a lot of the same qualities and philosophies described by "Footy", "Soccerdaddy", and "Twdsoccer" above. You don't want to go into next season not knowing anything about a coach, their coaching philosophy or how they handle a team. Because by then it might be too late.
|
|