The following was compiled from several travel coaches who were asked to share some impressions and insights that might be helpful to new (or not-so-new) coaches.
First Things First - Organizing Yourself and Your Team over the First Winter
Coaching a travel soccer team is a big commitment not just for the players and their parents, but for the coach too. Compared with coaching recreational league soccer, coaching travel soccer involves a higher standard of soccer competition and a higher level of administration and team management. For those of you who like to take control of all dimensions of a complex project, it can be a very rewarding experience. At the beginning, you may have a lot of questions about how, when or why things are done, but you also will come to the realization fairly quickly that there is a lot you just don't know to ask about. This guide is intended to help you sort through the “first time travel coach” syndrome. Just remember that while being a travel soccer coach at times seems to involve more administration of players and parents than it does soccer, in the end it is all about creating an intense but fun, competitive youth sporting experience for your players. Keeping that in perspective is very important.
First Things First – Organizing Yourself and Your Team Over the First Winter
There are a number of items you should consider as soon as you have agreed to be a travel coach. The matters discussed below in this section require attention very early on (i.e., in December and January, if your team was formed at the end of the fall season).
Team Staffing
Typically each team has a head coach, one or two assistant coaches, and a manager. If you're reading this, you will likely already be one of the coaches, and thus the outstanding task will be to select a team manager. Finding a highly organized and efficient manager is a key part of handling the administrative aspects of travel soccer. There are many necessary communications with parents, the Commissioner, tournament directors, and other teams, and these can and should be the manager's responsibilities. In addition, the manager should handle collection and disbursement of funds for team expenses, registering for and preparing for the logistics of tournaments, obtaining team uniforms, setting up a phone chain, assigning snack/drink duty to parents once the season starts, etc. See Travel Soccer Manager Responsibilities . Make sure to get your manager on all LJSL e-mail lists so that he/she is in that loop. Also try to get other parents involved, for example in tournament logistics. You do not want to overload your manager, and the more that parents are a part of the process, the fewer will be the criticisms of your efforts.
Communication with Players and Parents – Managing Expectations
Coaching a travel team means not only managing the players but also the parents. Many, particularly those whose only exposure to soccer comes from the LJSL recreational program, will have unrealistic expectations based on their rec experiences. Most players will have played forward and been “stars” on their rec teams, and will be used to dominating the ball and going straight toward the goal. Part of the initial and continuing task of the coach and trainers will be to teach spacing, passing and other team possession skills. The kids will adjust at varying rates, and in many cases, more quickly than their parents do. You may sometimes feel as if you are coaching 12 major college athletes, only these players have stage mothers and fathers!
Each coach will have his or her own philosophy about how things are going to work, by what principles the team will be governed, how communications will be handled, and who is to do what (and who is not to do what). Early on it is advisable, and fair, to let the parents know your thoughts on all of these matters, so there is no confusion later. Laying down some ground rules to the parents at the start can head off potentially uncomfortable or unpleasant situations later. Most experienced coaches will tell you that while communication is extremely important, democracy does not work. The coach must set the course and the tone – reasonably of course – and communicate it effectively, while being sensitive to feedback about how things might be improved.
It can be extremely helpful to hold an initial meeting with players and parents before your first season, to explain in person and in an interactive setting your coaching philosophy and how things will work etc. Meeting in person allows for give and take, helps you get to know the individual parents better and lets them hear and understand your philosophy and appreciate the effort involved.
Periodic meetings after that are recommended – approximately one per season is a good benchmark. The occasional parents-only meeting can also be helpful, to allow parents to express concerns that they might not want to discuss with their kids present. This forum can allow you to “air out” any issues, to explain why things were done as they were done and to let parents realize that there may be differing viewpoints and priorities among different team members and their parents. One thing that parents are entitled to is as much notice as possible of scheduling matters. While the schedule is often at the mercy of factors beyond the control of the coach, and parents will come to understand this, the coach must use his or her absolute best efforts to give parents (and players) as much notice of changes as circumstances allow.
Initial Administrative Tasks
The pre-season meeting described above will also give you an opportunity to give practical information to parents on how to make travel soccer a positive experience for all involved. Some examples are labeling players' balls and clothing (tell parents to pretend their kids are going off to camp), making sure to get players to and from practice on time, and stressing the importance of frequently checking email for messages.
You will need to create an information request list for each player and his/her parents. For the players, you might want to collect information such as nicknames, birthdays, shirt sizes, whether they are left- or right-footed, previous positions played, previous recreational league teams, and other sports played in the spring. Some of this information is useful, and some merely enables you to get to know the players better and have topics of interest to discuss with them. For the parents, you should collect all relevant contact information such as work and home telephone numbers, cell phone numbers, work and home e-mail addresses, etc. E-mail tends to be the primary form of communication, but there are times when, due to urgency or mobility, you'll need to organize a phone chain to call or find the parents.
While you are requesting this sort of information, you should also ask that the parents pre-fund expected team expenses. In general, collecting $300 per player at the start of the season should be sufficient to cover most expenses (mainly trainers and tournament application fees). The LJSL has scholarships available for those who would incur financial hardship due to the cost of participating – see Scholarships.
Given the demands on the family calendar that travel soccer requires, it is prudent to give parents as much information up front as you can so they can block out the times and dates. The ("WYSL") Web site will list game dates (all Sundays) very early on, but not times or locations (these are set just prior to the commencement of the season). You should also tell parents to keep Memorial Day, Labor Day and Columbus Day free for tournaments. In addition, you should advise parents that in the last week of the summer prior to Labor Day there will be a soccer camp -- many teams hire a trainer to run an end-of-summer camp, at Flint Park or Lorenzen, since many of the players will not have played soccer during the summer. Finally, you can tell parents to expect not only a weekday practice during the season (day and time to be determined) but also a Saturday practice.
Informal Player Get-Together
It is a good idea to get to know the players informally by holding an early “get together” at someone's house. Otherwise your only interaction will be at the practices (if you can attend them), which tends to be rushed. Many of the players might be familiar with each other, but since the travel teams are drawn from three public elementary schools and an unlimited number of private schools, there are lots of new connections for the players to make, not to mention for the coaches. This is a good opportunity to discuss with the players their previous soccer experiences, what to expect from travel soccer, and by what key principles the team is going to be governed.
It is also a good practice going-forward to hold the occasional planned excursion – e.g., to a local professional or semi-professional game (be sure to ask enough parents to accompany the team for supervision and chaperoning) – as well as more spontaneous ice creams after practice (even here, though, make sure that parents have some advance notice, given everyone's busy schedule). Many teams also hold post-season parties, at someone's house or a restaurant.
Coaching Mentor
It can be helpful to seek the Commissioner's help in connecting with a travel coach from the previous year's team in the relevant age group. Finding an informal and willing “mentor”, of whom you can ask all your burning questions, and off whom you can bounce ideas, is an effective way of finding your way through the thickets. The mentor's recent experiences and mistakes can be tremendous learning tools.
Coaching Licenses
To coach travel soccer, you must be licensed by WYSL. To become licensed, you are required to attend an eight hour coaching course and a two hour WYSL orientation course, which are held in the fall and in the spring. For the spring season, the two hour orientation course tends to be held in February and has no capacity limit. The eight hour coaching course is generally held on three dates, two of which take place very early on (in January) and have strict capacity limits, and a third is held in March for those who didn't attend the earlier courses. The course comprises three elements: a session on the motivational and psychological aspects of coaching youth sports; a session with a senior referee on the laws of soccer; and a hands-on session with a professional youth soccer trainer on how to run practice sessions, key drills, etc. The early dates fill up very quickly (by late December), and this is a useful course to attend as soon as possible. Thus as soon as you know you are coaching, you should visit the WYSL Web site and sign-up.
Indoor Practices
The travel teams hold weekly winter indoor practices (one hour each) starting in mid- to late January and ending when the season starts in early April. For brand-new teams, these practice sessions may be held in one of the local school gymnasia, after school, or the LJSL may have organized time at certain indoor training facilities (e.g. the Sports Underdome in Mount Vernon or the Omni facility in Pelham). The practices are run by professional trainers specified by the LJSL which are hired and paid for by your team. The training firm currently being used is Golden Touch Soccer. It is not required that the coaches attend these practices. If you do not attend, you should organize for a parent to be present at each session for the purposes of dealing with injuries, discipline and bathroom breaks. However, for a number of reasons, it is a very good idea to re-organize your schedule to attend as many of these indoor practices as possible. First, it is highly instructive to observe the trainers at work. Second, you want to start establishing a rapport with the players (and their parents) as soon as possible. Third, weekend practices do not commence until either the week before or after the first game of the season, so these practices are the best chance you will have to observe the players in action as individuals and as a team.
Pre-Season Tournaments
Tournaments are a critical part of the travel soccer experience. Not only do they provide the players with exposure to teams beyond those in WYSL, they are also great bonding experiences and a lot of fun. Eventually, you will be entering your team in tournaments played over one or more of Memorial Day, Labor Day and Columbus Day (more on this below). However, you should also think about participating in some early tournaments prior to the commencement of the season (there are tournaments that run in February and March). Otherwise, your first experience in a game setting will be when the season starts in early April, and you won't have had a chance to observe how the players perform in various positions, nor how the team works or doesn't work together on the field. If this is of interest to you, you need to move quickly. The February and March tournaments (most of which are indoor) fill up rapidly in the new year.
To discover what's available, see Tournaments . You can also research the Web (a good starting point is the Web site of the state association of which WYSL is part, namely the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (“ENYYSA”) and/or talk with your mentor. Most LJSL teams typically attend the Spring Classic at Iona College in New Rochelle , which is held at the end of March, outdoor on turf fields. It is close by, which minimizes logistical issues.
There are plenty of other tournaments in February and March which you should also consider. With respect to these early tournaments, however, there are three big caveats. First, to participate in a tournament you and the team must be registered with WYSL, which is normally completed just prior to the season (early April). Unless you have taken both of the coaching courses discussed above (which enables you to get registered), and received your coach and player passes, your team cannot play. There is a lead time to receive these passes, so you must specifically tell the Commissioner as soon as you have decided to enter a tournament, and he/she will arrange with WYSL for early processing. Second, you need to speak with the LJSL officer in charge of uniform procurement to ensure these are ordered and delivered in time for the tournament. Note you should also procure pinnies (or training jerseys, see below) that are of a different color from the blue and gold Larchmont jerseys, since if there is a color conflict at a tournament it may be your responsibility to resolve that conflict. Third, if you want to enter a tournament that is held in a different state (there are lots of New Jersey and Connecticut tournaments), you will first need to complete the Permission to Travel Form.
Whether or not you are going to attend an early tournament, you should communicate to the LJSL officer in charge of uniform procurement the shirt sizes for your team so that appropriate uniforms can be ordered.
Finally, there is a tradition at many tournaments (particularly the holiday tournaments – Memorial, Labor and Columbus Days) for the players to swap club patches. When entering a tournament you should inquire whether that tournament is patch exchange event. If so, you must contact the appropriate person at LJSL for a set of patches to take with you (Iona is not traditionally a “patch” tournament).
So What's Next?
Separately from the above “urgent” matters, there are a number of “high priority” matters that you should consider.
Trainers
The LJSL requires U9 and U10 teams to hire professional trainers, to ensure some basic level of quality, consistency and continuity. See Trainer Database. The cost per trainer generally ranges from $65 to $85 per hour. The trainers will run the weekly winter indoor practices (discussed above). Once the outdoor season starts, for each of the 10 weeks of the season the team will have one 90 minute weekday practice and one 90 minute weekend practice (on Saturdays). At the U9 and U10 level, the Blue, Gold and (if relevant) White teams will generally practice together (at least on Saturdays). The trainers typically run the weekday practice, thereby relieving the coach from having to attend during working hours (however, a parental “babysitter” is still required for the same reason as at the indoor practices, as discussed above).
On Saturdays, the practice session is intended to be a joint effort between the trainers and the coaches. It is up to you as to how to manage these practices, but you will need to coordinate not only with the trainers but also the coaches from the other squad(s). Some coaches are content to let the trainers run the weekend practice too. Others prefer to work jointly with the trainers. Still others prefer to split the session, letting the trainers run one half and the coaches the other half. It all depends on your soccer knowledge, how comfortable you are running practices, and what you want to achieve. The trainers tend to focus on basic skills, thus if you want to teach some basic game strategies, this would be your chance. You should remember that the trainers are there to serve the team, not the other way around, so if there are specific things you want the trainers to teach, or specific ways in which you want to be included, you should discuss this with them in advance. The trainers are professional coaches so they have a natural tendency to run the practice. You should make it clear to them if you want to run all or part of the practice as part of the team-building process – most are not likely to volunteer to step aside unless they know that is what you want, but will do so if you request. They have also been alerted – but may need to be reminded – to “empower” the coaches in the eyes of the players.
Different individual trainers have different styles. You should talk with your mentor, and other experienced coaches, to determine which individuals are best suited to what you want to get out of the training program. You should then discuss with the training firm which individuals are available and try to arrange to engage your preferred trainer. Over the course of the season, you should also talk to the players to see how they feel about particular trainers. There are generally meetings at the end of the season to discuss the training program with the training firm; in addition, feedback about individual trainers is welcomed by the Commissioners.
Note that the contract with the trainers includes not only the 10 weekday and 10 weekend practices, but also attendance at two or three games during the season. This provides opportunities for the trainers to give the coaches valuable feedback on what they observe at games. You may need to press the trainers to give you the feedback you desire on these matters – often they see a lot more than they volunteer at first, and may need to be drawn out to communicate it.
Practice Schedule
The LJSL has a Field Master whose job it is in January to take requests for outdoor practice times and days. He or she then has to allocate fields to all of the teams. This is a complex task and you should try to be helpful in complying with the Field Master's requests. You will need to poll your parent group early on for weekday conflicts. Inevitably many players have other after-school activities, and finding a day that works for everyone is very difficult. Once you have the necessary conflict information, you should submit some preferences for your team to the Field Master. Since at the U9 and U10 levels you will be practicing with the other squad, you will first need to coordinate with that squad before submitting your request to the Field Master.
Many of the players will have other commitments that cannot be easily broken, particularly when teams are just being organized and have not established their own position in the player's schedule. This does not necessarily refer only to other sporting commitments where the rules on participation are clear, but also to religious instruction, special studies, musical involvement and family commitments. There could also be other issues involved. It might be as simple as a player's family not having a way to get the player to practice because of their work schedules or because they do not own a car. If a player cannot make the scheduled practices on a regular basis, you or your manager should try to help arrange an appropriate alternative practice (or in the example above, a ride to and from the practice) and make the conflict resolution as easy as possible on the player and the player's family. For instance, in the event that your allocated practice day/time does not work on a regular basis for some members of your U9 team, one alternative is to have them practice with the U10s. Please do not assume motives for why another commitment wins out over soccer practice – ask to find out the issue – and please do not penalize the player. In some cases, players will have to make choices among commitments (for example, the LJSL does not recommend that players play baseball, lacrosse and soccer in the spring). In most instances, however, a little bit of effort and flexibility will address the problem.
Goalie Clinics
The LJSL offers goalie clinics that typically run on Mondays at Lorenzen. Very few travel players will have had any significant time in the goal in the rec league. They often do not want to play goalie or have no clue as to how to play the position. The classes are fun and very instructive and often the players on the new U9 and U10 teams who choose to play some goalie, and attend the full program, will be the players that show the most progress during the first year. You will be invited to select a two or three players from your team who have indicated an interest in playing goalie and have them attend these clinics, or otherwise determine you how you rotate members of your team through these clinics (depending on how crowded these clinics are in a given year, there may be room for additional players from your team to attend if they wish to do so – ask your Commissioner).
Memorial Day Tournaments
The better Memorial Day tournaments start to fill up in February and March. You should do your research early, ensure that parents block out this weekend, and apply as soon as you can. Typically a Memorial Day tournament would involve traveling to upstate New York, New Jersey, Long Island or Connecticut (there are also tournaments in Pennsylvania and further away but these might be a bit much for your team's first tournament experience). They can be one, two or three day affairs, with the multi-day events requiring an overnight stay at local hotels. For a first Memorial Day tournament for a young team, a one or two day event in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut is sufficient. It is important to make sure that any tournament you choose is appropriate for your team - some tournaments are aimed at Division 1/A teams, and others at non-Division 1 or less competitive teams. The East Fishkill, NY, Randolph, NJ, Massapequa (Long Island) and Scarsdale tournaments are popular and well-run (East Fishkill and Scarsdale are "B" tournaments, and Randolph and Massapequa are "A" tournaments), but there are many others to explore on the Web (and Tournaments). Remember, if you enter a tournament out of New York state, you will need to complete the Permission to Travel Form.
You should be mindful that many of the players will also be baseball, hockey and basketball players as well. The baseball little league has its All-Star games every Memorial Day Monday and some teams may have a number of players who are likely to qualify. Try to look ahead to identify and schedule around potential conflicts.
Team Equipment Needs
You might wish to consider purchasing training jerseys for the team (white is a good color). For tournaments and the regular season, at a minimum you will need to have pinnies that are a different color from the blue and gold Larchmont jerseys, since in the event of color conflicts, one team is assigned the responsibility of changing colors. Some teams instead purchase training jerseys of a different color (with the same number for each player as his/her official jersey number). Some teams buy reversible training jerseys, so that at practice it is easy to divide the players into different teams for certain drills, and still others put the last names on the back of the jerseys (this can be very helpful to the trainers who have to learn many different new names). These types of jerseys not only provide great functionality, but they are also another way to foster team spirit and an element of “professionalism”.
There are two other pieces of equipment you should consider obtaining before the season. First, you should have a good first-aid kit to bring to games and tournaments. There are lots of places to find sports-oriented kits, including online (for instance, SafetyCentral). Second, bringing a big tent or shelter to tournaments can be a smart way to keep you and the players out of the sun or rain when the team is not playing. See Tournaments for a longer list of suggestions for what to do in advance of, and what to bring to, tournaments.
Other optional but useful equipment items include a heavy-duty magic marker (for labeling balls if players have not done this themselves); a portable pump for inflating balls; a stopwatch; a whistle on a lanyard; cones or disks to help with pre-game or practice drills; and a clipboard with team roster, etc.
In addition to local stores (Active Sports and, particularly, Kapp's in Mamaroneck), Eurosport is a good source of such equipment (for example, small-size pinnies and inexpensive practice t-shirts with club logos and numbers). Practice jerseys can also be designed and ordered from Printwear Plus in Mamaroneck at very reasonable prices.
The First Spring Season
Seedings
Prior to the spring season, for new teams the Commissioner will send into WYSL his/her proposed seedings (i.e., placement in one of the five or six divisions in the relevant age group). Near the end of February preliminary seedings will be distributed and, after further discussion, final seedings will be set. The objective is to find a division which tests the team and makes for competitive soccer. Inevitably some teams will be seeded too high and others too low, and this is adjusted the following season based on each team's performance. As a new coach on a new team, it is important to keep a long-term perspective regardless of how the season goes. Winning too many games in too low a division is as unhealthy for development of the team as winning too few in too high a division.
Note that while many towns start their new teams in the fall, the LJSL starts its new teams (U9 and the third U10 team) in the spring. This means that, for the most part, you will be playing against teams that have played a whole season together and have practiced all winter. This is something to keep in mind in terms of your and your parents' expectations for the first season.
Schedule
There is an LJSL travel coaches' meeting on the Thursday evening prior to the start of the season. At that point the actual game schedules (times, locations, opponents) will have been set and distributed. You can then send these details to the parents. The schedules are often available on the WYSL website one or two days before the meeting. You should also familiarize yourself with the LJSL Program Description and Policies.
Pre-Game Preparation
As you will learn in the WYSL orientation course, it is a good idea to call the opposing coach mid-week before a game to discuss directions, color conflicts and field conditions (particularly, for away games, check that goals are bolted or weighted, as to which see below).
It is also a very good idea to spend some time during the week mapping out teams positions and a rough guide to substitutions. This is helpful for several reasons. First, you and your co-coach(es) may have different views on these things, and differences are better reconciled during the week than at the game. Second, being organized before the game means at the game you can focus more on what's happening on the field and less on the logistics of player combinations and permutations. This is not to say one has to stick rigidly to the pre-game plan, but having one certainly minimizes inefficiency.
Finally, while we all might wish that one notification to the parents at the beginning of the season would be sufficient, it is a good idea and a fact of life that, to minimize last-minute hiccups, the manager should send out during the week reminders of game time, required arrival time, and location.
Goals
Beginning coaches may not realize that smaller goals are used for younger ages (prior to 11v11 play). On fields where there are two sets of goals, make sure to use the smaller set for U9 through U11 games.
Inclement Weather and Pulled Games
The WYSL rules have many details about rainouts with which you should familiarize yourself. The basic principle is that you should assume the game is on unless you hear from an appropriate party to the contrary. An appropriate party is not a friend, or even the coach of another team, since different fields have different drainage and other characteristics, so not all get pulled at once. Only the Field Master, Commissioner, or opposing coach are appropriate parties. There is typically a recorded announcement on the LJSL Hotline at 834-4582 after 8:00 a.m. on rainy or “iffy” Sundays. You can also check the LJSL homepage, but this cannot always be updated in time.
The only exception is that if you are at a game during a thunderstorm, you, the opposing coach and the referee all have a duty to immediately get the players into cars or other forms of shelter for their protection. If the thunderstorm passes quickly, play can commence or continue. If not, the game is pulled.
If you are playing away and have any doubts, call the opposing coach. If you are the home team and a field is pulled, it is your responsibility to notify the opposing team and, if you cannot reach them in time, to turn up at the field 30 minutes before and wait until 15 minutes after game time, so you can send them home.
If WYSL cancels all games on a Sunday due to countywide weather or field conditions, that week's schedule will never be made up. If only particular games are cancelled, there are specific WYSL rules about how to re-schedule a game. You need to attend to this promptly both under the rules and for logistical reasons. Make-up games tend to be on Saturdays (never Sundays) or, occasionally, during the week.
Game Procedures, Equipment and Paperwork
There are certain items without which the games cannot be played. The new coach's nightmare is traveling to a game, with a team full of players and parents, and then not having what is necessary for the game to go on. Here are the essentials (covered in the required WYSL orientation classes) which must be brought to EVERY GAME:
• Passes for players and coaches
• Filled-out WYSL line-up form (downloadable from the WYSL website)
• Proper equipment – uniforms, socks, shin guards, soccer cleats (all mandatory). No jewelry. See WYSL Rule Book for rules regarding casts, glasses, headgear, etc.
• Goalie shirt
• Game ball (if you are the home team)
• Corner flags (if you are the home team)
You should also have a first-aid kit and the medical release forms for each child with you at all times in case of an accident. It is a good idea to have a plastic sheath (or ziplock bag) to keep all of these papers since there will be many a rainy day game.
As noted above, you must have an official WYSL team line-up form. These are available on the WYSL website. It is a good idea to fill it out once at the beginning of the season (with player names, numbers and as much other recurring information as possible) and then make a number of copies for the balance of the year. You will need to fill out which team you are playing and at what field, sign the form as coach and, for U9 and U10 teams, appoint a Sporting Director from among the parents (the Sporting Director is responsible for controlling the sideline behavior of the parents).
At the start of the game the referee will ask for the line-up form (signed by the coach and Sporting Director, if applicable), ask you to line up the players, and will inspect the game passes, shin guards and cleats. The referee will take the passes and return them after the game. If the referee does not remember to return the passes you should make sure you (or one of the parents whom you assign) remember – otherwise you will have to track the passes down in order to play the next game!
The referee will also typically ask each side to provide a linesperson. You should choose a willing (or unwilling!) parent. That person's job is to run the sideline and raise the flag when the ball is out. The linesperson is not tasked with indicating which team has the throw-in, nor to indicate offside – those are entirely the responsibility of the referee. You should therefore explain to the parent you have volunteered that the only qualification for this job is mobility. He/she does not need to know the laws of soccer, except as to what constitutes “out” – i.e., the ball must be entirely outside the line, on the ground or in the air, before he/she raises the flag. Also, the linesperson should refrain from cheering or coaching.
It is critical to place player safety as a top priority. In that respect, you should walk the field before each game to ensure there are no dangerous objects on, or parts of, the field. Most importantly, you should inspect the goals to ensure that they are either bolted into the ground or weighted down with sandbags (all Larchmont goals should have sandbags). Falling goalposts are a significant hazard to players, and WYSL and LJSL take this very seriously. The prevailing guideline should be that unless you are satisfied about goal post stability, or other safety aspects, you should refuse to play the game. The referees have been instructed not to officiate if this concern is expressed and is legitimate. Technically the home team would forfeit in this instance, but safety should come first and LJSL will sort out the forfeit issues with WYSL later.
Sideline Behavior
Many new coaches are surprised by the passions evoked by the travel team experience. Properly channeled, this is one of the best things about participating in this program. Care must be taken, however, to avoid the pitfalls that can arise from these very powerful emotions.
This starts with the coach and his treatment of players and, of course, referees. Mistakes are to be expected of both. A coach who keeps things positive and acts as a teacher rather than a fan sets a good example for all. There are many resources available for youth coaches (of any sport) as to how to coach young athletes, and you should avail yourself of these. You should keep in mind that the game belongs to the players, not the coaches or parents. This means that you should encourage fun, hard work, participation, dedication, focus, teamwork and support, rather than take a “win at all costs” approach. Too many coaches and parents tend to live vicariously through their kids' sports. There are plenty of adult sports leagues, which are the appropriate outlets for coaches' or parents' aggressive “only winning counts” mentalities. These should not be brought to the kids' practice or games.
For some players, interpersonal skills and sportsmanship must also be taught and are perhaps the most important lessons that the team experience offers. For instance, not all players can play forward. It is important for them to learn that defense is as valuable, or more valuable, than offense. Even the best of them will find things much more difficult with the higher level of competition. It is important to insist that everybody be treated with respect on the team (zero tolerance for defenders blaming goalies for goals or goalies blaming strikers for misses etc.). It is important to make the players think like a team, to be willing to play and learn every position, and to be supportive of each other. This is a continuing process and will take time, but it should be focused on starting early in the first season. The same rules apply to practices. In fact, if you can instill these attitudes at practices, you will find it less of an issue at games.
The game is not the time to be yelling out detailed instructions to the players. First, it is doubtful they will hear you unless they are close-by. Second, the player with the ball has enough on his/her mind, and a very short time to make a decision, so that your input is most likely unhelpful, even if technically correct. Third, you cannot expect youngsters to be able to process as many things mentally and physically as older kids or adults, either at all or in the split second they have to make a play. Fourth, part of learning the game is learning to think – we don't want to create automatons who can only react to instructions vs. figuring out things for themselves. The best advice is to coach at practice, pre-game, half-time, and post-game, and generally let the kids play during the game. Mistakes will occur, but remember, they are at the beginning, not the zenith, of their soccer careers, and they are only nine or 10 years old. Moreover, soccer is a very hard game to play – try it and you'll see!
With respect to referees, remember they are human, generally unbiased and also (for the most part) learning their trade. “Bad calls” lie very much in the eye of the beholder and, in any event, are as much a part of the game as an unlucky bounce or a missed kick. The coach should articulate, practice and enforce with parents and players a zero tolerance standard for criticism of referees. Referee feedback should be reserved for the form available on the WYSL website – and it is a good practice to rate the referee every week, particularly if there are good things to say. This information is fed back to the Westchester Soccer Referee Organization and used to try to correct issues with particular referees for the future.
Sideline behavior by parents is very important and should be addressed at the first parent meeting – parents can be more vocal and more likely to cause an issue than any of the players. During the season, many parents will also detail for you their concerns about their child's playing time and positions, as well as team strategy and its win-loss record. However, if you consistently emphasize your long-term goals for the team and the players, and “walk the walk”, most parents will quickly appreciate your approach. There may be one or two individuals who consistently bring down the standards on the sideline and who must be spoken to repeatedly. In addition to yourself, try to involve other parents in this effort. Experience shows that the earlier these problems are addressed, the better – no one likes to confront such individuals, but waiting only exacerbates the problem. In extreme or chronic cases, the coach can request that such individuals not attend games if they are unable to control their behavior.
The WYSL gives sportsmanship awards at the end of every season. Sportsmanship exhibited by the players, coaches and fans is rated by the referees for every game and the results are tabulated for the season. Focus on that award with the players and parents (and yourself!), make winning that award a goal of the team, and you will be helping the players with lessons that will be valuable for the rest of their lives.
Playing Time and Positions
Not surprisingly, kids join teams to play in games as well as practices (as important as practices are). For younger teams, the WYSL incorporates the U.S. Youth Soccer Laws, which require that all players play at least half of the game. For older teams, the LJSL guideline is at least one-third of the game, subject to proper attendance at practices, behavior, etc. See Program Policies.
Frankly, not a lot of coaching acumen is required to identify the best players on your team, or, often, to identify a player's “natural” position, at least at a given point in his or her development. It can be more challenging – but the essence of your job – to bring along less developed players, and to make each player as well-rounded a soccer player as possible. Some of you may have heard Winston Buddle of Golden Touch ask players whether, when they reach high school and are told there is an opening on the team only at left defense (precisely the opportunity offered to Brandi Chastain, with well-known results), they plan to tell the coach that they've played their entire soccer career on the right side in attack.
You should arrive at each game with a plan (preferably, written down) about who is starting the game where and what the likely substitutions will be. Not all coaches make the strongest players their “starters”, and it is probably best in any event to avoid such designations for a new team. It is also a good idea for one of the assistant coaches to keep track of the time elapsed –with a count-down timer or stopwatch – and playing time afforded individual players, and remind the head coach to make substitutions (on your side's throw-ins or either side's goal kick). Try to be as consistent as possible in your approach. Communication with the players is important too so that they know what you expect of them.
The issue of positions can be tricky. Clearly, it is not desirable to make specialists of nine or 10 year olds. At the same time, kids need a certain amount of stability and predictability in order to develop a level of comfort and confidence. Many coaches use a “major/minor” approach, in which one position is played more regularly but one or two alternate positions are also introduced over the course of the season. It is important for all players to learn how to play defense, midfield and offense. It is also important for players to learn to play on the left side, and a comfort level on that side can be a very valuable attribute as they move up in soccer. Finally, it is important to give your goalies playing time on the field. While some kids may be natural goalies, and may like to play this position a lot, it would be a rare youngster who only wants to play in goals, and our program is designed to build good all around soccer players. Besides, if you don't share the goalie time around, that could be a problem if your regular goalie misses a game, or leaves the team.
Mid-Season Parent Meetings
The occasional parents-only meeting, e.g., midway through the season, can be helpful to allow parents to express concerns that they might not want to discuss with their kids present. This forum can allow you to “air out” any issues, to remind people of your goals for the team and explain why things are being done the way they are, and to let parents realize that there may be differing viewpoints and priorities among different team members and their parents.
This is also a good time to alert the parents to some of the upcoming matters such as the potential for movement of players between teams, the end-of-summer soccer camp, and Labor Day and/or Columbus Day tournaments.
FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES OUTLINED. You must report the scores for the weekend games by 6:00 p.m. every Sunday. You will NEVER remember on your own so do appoint TWO parents to fulfill this task. And make sure you appoint TWO parents since even the most conscientious parent will forget once during the season and the score reporter for the LJSL (who must report to the WYSL) would rather have two people give in the score than none. You do not want to carry the guilt of making the score reporter track you down on a Sunday evening (or worse, the anger of your spouse who took the call from an irate score reporter!).
Field/Goal Responsibilities
Please read the section on field and goal rules very carefully. It is essential that teams follow these rules in order to keep the fields in good condition and to ensure that the municipalities continue to give LJSL access to their fields.
Corner Flag Responsibilities
Each team is given a set of corner flags for the season. For each home game, teams are responsible for setting up the corner flags prior to their game and removing them directly afterwards. If your team is the last to use a home field, it is also your team's responsibility to clean up the field. You will be sent an e-mail reminder a few days before the game. In this case, bring a garbage bag!
End of Spring Season Matters
Player Evaluations
Near the end of the season, it is worth spending some time with your co-coach and trainer evaluating each player's strengths and areas most in need of improvement. You should then try to spend a few minutes with each player communicating, in as positive a fashion as possible, how he or she has done this year and what he or she should try to work on in the following season (note: memories are short, so you also might want to remind each player before the fall season of what was said). You should then summarize this discussion in an e-mail to each player's parents. Kids and parents appreciate feedback if specific and constructive.
Tryouts
As the end of the spring season approaches, you may hear a lot of discussion about tryouts for the older teams, which are held in mid- to late June. A number of the older teams need to run tryouts prior to the fall as they are moving up an age group (your fall age group is one higher than your spring age group) and the playing format is expanding, so that they need more players on their squad. U9 and U10 play 7v7, but U11 plays 9v9 and U12 and older play 11v11.
For U9 and U10 teams, should there be players leaving your squad (which happens as people move away from this area, or simply decide to drop out of the program), you will need to think about running tryouts too for the open positions. Accordingly, at some point in late May (or, for instance, at the mid-season parents' meeting), you should ask the team's parents if there are likely to be any kids not returning in the fall. You need to know early enough to be able to make a decision (with your Travel Commissioner) as to whether to hold tryouts (if only one spot is open, you might decide it's not worth it) and to publicize and organize them. You should advise the Commissioner by early to mid-May if you have an opening or openings on your squad, and he/she can assist you in setting up the tryout.
Movement of Players Between Teams
For the U9 and U10 age groups, LJSL re-evaluates the distribution of players between the Gold, Blue and White teams (White does not apply to the U9 age group) at the end of the spring season. Since U9 and U10 teams, at least, will be practicing with the other squad(s), it is worth watching the development of the other squad's players. You should also get to know the other squad's coaches -- a lot can be learned by sharing experiences with them on an ongoing basis.
When movement between squads occurs, the utmost care and attention must be given to the players involved. Although the LSJL is involved in this process (see Tryouts), the coaches appropriately bear the communication burden. While few players are happy to “move down”, this is not a tragedy (nor a reflection on their personal worth), and many players can profit and develop from time spent at a less challenging level. Coaches are often personally uncomfortable in giving or dealing with “bad news” – you must put this aside and make sure that the child is being dealt with appropriately (don't assume – or hope – that someone else is doing it). Whatever the “direction” of the move, time and attention by the coaches of both teams involved must be devoted both to welcoming players to a new squad and to easing their transition from the more familiar situation of the old.
The decision to move players should be a joint one between the Gold, Blue and White coaches. While your discussions should start in early June, and you should solicit the input of your trainers, communication of movement should not take place until after the season is over. In general, it is desirable not to cause anxiety or disruption during the season. Once the season is over, it is best to immediately communicate the moves to the players in question first, and then the rest of team. The sooner it is done, the older the news is at the start of the fall season.
LJSL recognizes the particularly difficult situation facing Blue and White team coaches whose job it is to propose movement “up” off their team of their strongest player(s). However, the LJSL's firm policy is that if movement is appropriate, it is not a sufficient excuse that the coach would prefer to keep the team together.
End of Season Party and Communications
Many teams decide to hold either after the last game, or soon thereafter, an end of season party for kids and parents prior to the inevitable dispersion of the team over the summer.
At this point you might choose to remind the parents of matters such as the end-of-summer soccer camp, Labor Day tournament, Columbus Day tournament, etc. The other way to communicate key aspects of the upcoming fall season is through an end of season letter to the parents. Hopefully this won't be the first the parents have heard of these matters -- since summer and fall plans tend to be made well in advance, you should have notified parents of these events earlier in the season.
Player Registration
Near the end of the season you or your manager will need to collect from the parents registration materials so the players can be re-registered for the new season (the WYSL season begins in the fall and runs through the spring). This can be a big rush to get completed documentation, but there is a deadline of late June which must be respected.
State Cup
The ENYYSA runs a pan-region elimination tournament starting in the fall, for U10 and above age groups (starting with U12, some of the tournaments do not begin until spring). This runs in parallel with the regular season and continues into the spring (see State Cup). However, registration is due in late July for U10 and U11 and some U12 teams, and can be done on-line. You will be notified of this by the Commissioner. In general, this is a worthwhile experience to consider. It gives your team the opportunity to play more games, and different opponents from all over the region.
Pre-Fall Season Matters
Pre-Season Preparation
During the late spring or over the summer you will need to begin preparation for the fall season. The two most important matters to organize are a pre-season soccer camp and a Labor Day tournament.
It is highly recommended that you get the team together in the last week of the summer for daily practices (two hours per day is sufficient). The Field Coordinator will take requests in the early summer for field time in late August, which you can use for this purpose. Many teams hire their trainer to run this daily camp. Since most players won't have played much soccer over the summer, without this type of preparation you will find that the team will be fairly “rusty” in the first game or two of the fall season.
In addition, in order to refresh the team's competitive and team spirit, participation in a Labor Day tournament is also recommended. While two and three day tournaments are an option, a one day tournament is probably sufficient in terms of balancing pre-season preparation and allowing players' families to enjoy their last weekend of the summer. See Tournaments for some suggestions on Labor Day tournaments. Don't forget you will need a Permission to Travel form for tournaments held outside of New York State.
Fall Practice Requests
Sometime over the summer prior to the fall season you will be asked by the Field Coordinator to submit preferences for weekday and Saturday practices for the fall season. You should bear in mind that by late October darkness comes very early, and this will lead to the cessation of 6:00pm practices. Accordingly, you might want to consider requesting 4:00pm practices on weekdays for the fall, or organizing for some indoor training time once Daylight Savings ends.
Columbus Day Tournament
There are no league games scheduled over Columbus Day weekend. This is a good mid-season opportunity to enter the team in a tournament, of which there are many in the New York area. The better events fill up rapidly, so it is recommended you sign up for a tournament in the late summer. It is particularly important to participate in a Columbus Day tournament if your team did not play in a Labor Day tournament since, as outlined elsewhere, tournaments are an essential part of the travel soccer experience. See Tournaments for some suggestions on Columbus Day tournaments. Don't forget you will need a Permission to Travel form for tournaments held outside of New York State.
End of Fall Season Matters
Player Evaluations
You should provide feedback to each player at the end of each season. See End of Spring Season Matters – Player Evaluations above for more details.
Tryouts and Movement of Players Between Teams
Please see End of Spring Season Matters – Movement of Players Between Teams above for a relevant discussion of player movement, which also applies at the end of the fall in conjunction with tryouts, as discussed below.
At the end of the U10 fall season, the LJSL will be holding tryouts to form a third U10 team for the spring. These tryouts can attract 20-40 rec. league players in each gender. The third team will require at least 12 new players from that pool. However, the tryouts are also the time to fill in any gaps on your existing team due to players leaving the program or being moved to one of the other teams. Accordingly, prior to these tryouts you should obtain confirmation from each parent on your team as to whether their child will be staying in or leaving the program, so you have an accurate count in terms of new players to be selected from the tryout pool.
The Gold and Blue coaches will be involved in running the tryouts with the LJSL. Typically the first round of tryouts will just be for the rec. league players who have been invited to try out. The second round of tryouts will comprise the current travel players and the rec. league players, which will be your opportunity to compare your players against the new talent.
Winter Activities
It is fairly standard for teams in WYSL to continue playing or practicing through the winter. One alternative is to participate in the winter indoor league at the Sports Underdome in Mt. Vernon ( www.sportsunderdome.com ). There are two sessions, each of which runs for eight weeks, which provide the opportunity to play once a week (typically Saturdays for boys, Sunday for girls) from December through April. Another alternative is a similar program run at Armonk Indoor Sports Center ( www.armonkindoor.com ). Both of these fill up fast, so you should think about registering in October.
The LJSL also secures blocks of time at the Underdome for teams to practice. In November, the LJSL's Winter Indoor Coordinator will contact all coaches and ask for preferences on dates and times within the blocks available. Typically no local gym time is available except for the new teams. Thus if you want to keep your players sharp over the winter, you should do either or both of a winter indoor league and practice.
There are other indoor training places available too, such as the Omni facility in Pelham.
End of Season Party and Communications
In addition to some form of get-together after the last game, you should take the opportunity to outline for the parents and players the proposed winter activities. Many players will have other commitments over the winter (basketball, hockey, family skiing vacations, etc.) and the more notice you provide, the easier it will be to manage conflicts. Key winter activities for the team would include winter league play and/or practices (see Winter Activities above), and pre-season tournaments in February and March (see First Things First – Organizing Yourself and Your Team Over the First Winter -- Pre-Season Tournaments above).
LJSL Committee
After coaching in different Larchmont rec leagues, you may be surprised by the rules and red tape of the WYSL, which inevitably trickles down to the LJSL. The procedures may rival the Soviet state but there is no getting around them. There are many different jobs in the LJSL, often with different people doing them. It can be overwhelming to figure out who is who at first. Over time, you will realize who they are and come to appreciate what they do. The volunteer efforts made by LJSL people, from the Commissioners on down, is enormous. Sometimes these people may seem stressed out, but that is only because they are stressed out, and if you multiply your particular concern or question by each coach and manager in the league you realize how tough their job can be. Most of these people will be very helpful, will attempt to be flexible if they can, and will guide you along the process, but try to make their job as easy as possible and please be polite even in those stressful situations since theirs is no easy task.
The Longer-Term View
It is difficult for a coach to focus on the long-term development of his or her players and not get overly concerned with wins and losses. Yet this above all else is something that we owe to our players.
From a strictly soccer perspective, as emphasized in the WYSL coaching courses, tactics that win in the early years – e.g., kicking the ball forward and “forechecking” – quickly lose their effectiveness, and players who can control the ball and pass it accurately (as well as position themselves appropriately off the ball) begin to dominate after only one or two years. You must accept yourself, and teach your players to accept, the mistakes that will come from playing a more deliberate, possession-oriented style – passing back to the goalie is an example of a common tactic that coaches and kids are reluctant to try, but must be mastered for the 11 v 11 game.
You should ensure prior to each season that you give some thought as to what you want to achieve in the coming season in terms of development of individual skills and teamwork. Be careful to make sure that your objectives are realistic given the age of the kids and the variance in abilities on the team. Your professional trainers can assist in development of these objectives, and there are plenty of good soccer books, videos and resources on the Web to help you too. During the season, you should try to stick to the plan you develop pre-season, and fight the urge to run practices each week based on what happened in the most recent game (although if it is clear that a specific skill is lacking, e.g., the kids do not know how to properly take throw-ins, that is something worth correcting immediately). You will develop better soccer players in the long run if you focus on key objectives and not on the win-loss record. Don't expect to run a practice regarding a concept and then see it perfectly executed in the next game. These kids are fast learners, but not that fast! They will all learn at their own pace, and the best you can do is repeatedly teach and preach the key aspects and let them experiment in games.
If you are a new coach you will initially be playing 7 v 7, but you should keep in mind that over time the format will be 9 v 9 (for U11s) and ultimately 11 v 11 (for U12s and above). This means not only that tactics will change but that players must be developed and retained to fill those extra slots on your squad. Not everyone on your U9 or U10 team will be playing travel soccer at U12 or U13. Investments in players – keeping an extra player on your squad, giving a weaker player playing time, giving players experience at different positions – are essential, and well worth the momentary disappointment of a close loss that might be blamed in a misplay by one of your young “subs”.
Don't Forget the Fun
Travel soccer takes the players and coaches to a new level of competition. The parents are very involved and it is easy to get caught up on the win-loss records and the training. It can be hard for the players (let alone the coaches and parents!) to make the necessary commitment when so much else is going on. The players are terrific athletes, but they are terrific child athletes. They will not improve and perform well, and may not stick with soccer, if they are not having fun. Make the practices fun. Make the games and tournaments fun. Avoid burnout. Most of the players are very proud to have made the team. Build on that pride, make sure they are enjoying the game, and they will play soccer for years to come.
Getting Further into Soccer
The travel soccer experience should be a great learning experience not just for the players but the coaches too. The LJSL, WYSL and higher-level state, regional and national organizations strongly promote the idea of travel coaches staying with the team over a number of years, and growing into more seasoned coaches of older aged teams. Above a certain age, teams are eligible to play in premier leagues and eventually to compete in broader regions than just Westchester .
In many countries around the world, soccer is part of the culture. Players and coaches grow up living and breathing soccer. With the competition from so many other professional sports in the U.S., it takes a little more effort here to truly “soccerize” yourself. However, there is a seemingly infinite array of resources available to improve your coaching abilities and soccer knowledge.
Some of the things you can start to do early on include:
• Begin watching as much professional soccer as you can. You can learn a lot from observing how the game is played at the highest levels. Locally, the New York Red Bulls play at Giants Stadium, and tickets are relatively cheap and always plentiful. Major League Soccer games are televised on ESPN during the season (April through October). For an even higher level of play, the European season runs from August through May, and many games are shown on certain premium cable channels such as FOX Soccer Channel (Channel 142). In addition, YES (Channel 70) shows a lot of Manchester United games, both current and classic.
• Explore the Web for coaching resources. There are many places to find coaching discussion forums, drills, news on what's going on in the soccer world, etc. The LJSL site lists some of these but the list is much longer. Consider joining the SOCCER-COACH-L mailing list, which provides a global mailing list for the discussion of soccer among coaches. On the US Youth Soccer Association's Web site, you can join “Coaches Connection” for regular discussions, drills, etc.
• Purchase a book or two on coaching youth soccer. Even if you are not running any of the drills at practice, you need to understand what they are for, and also how to coach game strategies. Most good books will also cover a broader range of topics of interest to coaches, including motivating young athletes, progressive instruction and team management.
• There are a number of good videos available, for example at Eurosport. Coerver's “One – Two – Three Goal” is a good place to start. Also consider a video about playing goalie, for your own education as well as that of your goalkeepers.
• The WYSL offers “D level” and more advanced coaching courses from time to time. The NSCAA also offers regional coaching courses from time to time.
• Get hold of a copy of FIFA's Laws of the Game (either buy them or download a copy from the FIFA Web site) and read and learn the laws of soccer. There aren't many laws, but getting to know them better helps you better appreciate the game and understand and impart strategies and tactics. At some point you could consider taking an entry-level referee course too, which is offered several times a year by the Westchester Soccer Referee Organization.
• Buy a copy of “The Double-Goal Coach” by Jim Thompson. This is a well-written book on positive coaching tools for honoring the game and developing winners in sports and life.