Grassroots soccer: Message from the front lines

I want to share a great letter with you. It's all about kids having more fun than they've ever had playing soccer, and developing better skills at the same time.

The letter comes from a friend at Cochrane Minor Soccer (CMS) just west of Calgary, Canada. Her association has eliminated league play at U6 and U8 in favour of a "festival" style format along the general lines of FIFA Grassroots. Not surprisingly, for many parents at the club, it's a radical change from soccer programs they have known before.

Under the new program, the kids show up at the field, the coaches divide them into groups, and the players rotate through different stations to practice different skills before playing small-sided games. For the games, the coaches simply create impromptu teams using coloured bibs or "pinnies". The teams are different every week, even though the kids are always the same.

Sound wacky?

Why don't the kids simply play "real" soccer on "real" teams in a "real" league?

Well, apart from the fact that it's a bit nutty having U6 and U8 kids competing for league standings, CMS has seen how the festival approach is as real as it gets when it comes to delivering skill development and engagement for their younger players.

The association typically only has a few dozen kids spread between each age group, so it has always been a bit of a stretch to build sustainable recreational and competitive programs at each age. Ironically, they have even had to turn kids away occasionally and cut them through tryouts when the numbers haven't added up to form a "real" team.

Furthermore, the competitive teams have typically had to drive an hour to get to most of their games in greater Calgary. This has meant that 7-year-old kids have often spent two hours or more in a car just to play one hour of soccer. (And mom and dad have burned through buckets of gas through the course of the season.)

How was CMS developing soccer players by cutting kids and turning others away? How were the players learning skills by spending hours on the highway? CMS decided they could do better.  

CMS picked up a few new directors in 2013 who embraced the precepts of Long-Term Player Development (LTPD). After some animated discussion with the membership during the winter of 2013-14, and some consultation with external advisors (including this coach), they began implementing the new festival-style program in May 2014.

Suddenly, the entire universe had shifted. Kids at CMS were spending more time on the ball than they were in minivans.

What would happen to these poor kids? Where would all of this lead them? Here's a letter that pretty much says it all:

* * * * *
Hi Jim,

Just a quick email. My son played grassroots soccer tonight and it was the most entertaining and amazing evening of soccer! The skill development of the kids is wild - all U8 athletes. Coach Yo (one of our paid tech coaches who coaching our game this evening) took the ball at one point and threw it up in the air for fun. It bounced once and one of the boys did a World Cup roundhouse kick from midfield and the ball flew perfectly in the air and arched into the net. It was amazing - even Yo was shocked. The kids on the field all nicknamed the boy “Rocket Boy” for his amazing kick. Wish we had it on video as it was so amazing.

We had another play where my son kicked on net and the goalkeeper (a girl as we play coed) stopped the ball with her face. She was laughing after, and I praised her for the fact that she always steps in front of the ball.

Watching the fall athletes really does put things into perspective. We have these amazing athletes who are learning such great skill development through ETS’s (our tech company) tech drills, and they have so much fun putting it all together in a game.

The kids were having so much fun that no one on the field even kept score - the kids were so excited about all of the incredible plays that I didn’t hear one child comment on the score. Every child shot on goal and every child stopped a shot as they rotate all positions. Great passing and amazing soccer. 

The other thing I loved is when the coach yelled for a water break, all the kids ran off the field for water and ran back onto the field because they couldn’t wait to get back into the game. Awesome!

The future of CMS is very bright!

Best wishes,

Catherine

Contract for soccer parents

Some soccer parents are especially noisy on the sidelines at youth games. A rare few are even verbally abusive towards players, referees, other coaches, and other spectators. This is plain bad and wrong and there's not much more to say about that.

A far greater number of parents commit the simple transgression of shouting instructions at the players. While the coach often watches slack-jawed with dismay. Especially when the instructions show a gross ignorance of the strategic complexities of the game, the cognitive capacities of the kids, and everything the coach has taught them for the preceding three months of training.

Whether the instructions are well-intentioned or not, it's just wrong to do it. I won't get into it here. Most of my readers are already aware of how shouting instructions interferes with the ability of the kids to develop their own decision making capacities for the long term.

In recent discussions about "silent sidelines" in soccer (great concept), I mentioned to a couple of coaches that I have had good success with the parent contract that I get my team parents to sign at the start of every season. I call all of the parents to a meeting before the season begins, I hand out the contracts, I provide writing implements for signatures, and I get the parents to read through the contract line-by-line with me before collecting their signed contracts.

Asking for their signatures may seem a bit over the top, but trust me—when people have to provide their signature on a contract rather than simply "read over" a sheet of polite recommendations from the coach, they really pay attention. 

A couple a coaches have asked to see the parent contract that I use. I reproduce it below. Please note that this is an amalgam of my own writing and an excellent parent contract created by a young coach named Evan Peterson in Victoria a few years ago. He's an urban planner now but we'll forgive him that. 

Parent Contract

Conduct at Soccer Games & During the Season

As a parent spectator at my daughter’s soccer games, I will:

·       Remember that my daughter plays soccer for her own enjoyment, not mine;

·       Praise and emphasize my daughter’s effort, development, and skill over winning;

·       Relax and enjoy my daughter’s soccer games, regardless of the circumstances and the score;

·       Promote the emotional well-being of all players, and not simply the well-being of my daughter;

·       Make my comments and cheering supportive, as players already feel enough pressure;

·       Never yell a negative remark at any player, including my own daughter, for any reason;

·       Acknowledge good play from both my daughter’s team and the opposition team;

·       Never shout remarks that question the judgment or honesty of a referee or assistant referee;

·       Let the coaches do the coaching at every game and every practice;

·       Never shout instructions to players from the sidelines, under any circumstance:

o   For example, I will not shout "Shoot it!", "Pass it!", "What are you doing!?", "Kick it away!”

o   This even includes “intelligent” instructions such as "Go wide!", "Keep your head up!", "Cover her!", "Get back!", and "You’re offside!"

·       Offer simple, positive, supportive comments such as:

o   “Great passing!”, “Way to work, girls!”, “Great shot!”, “Nice try!”

·       Understand that young players need opportunities to practice decision making during games.

·       Recognize that the best way to learn decision making is to be permitted to make decisions, including “incorrect” decisions;

·       Understand that players do not develop their own decision making when I shout instructions;

·       Understand that professional athletes get yelled at all the time, but it is a negative distraction and arousal that they face in the context of having signed a multi-million dollar contract.

Furthermore, I will:

·       Speak first with the coach regarding any concerns I have about my daughter or the team, before I vocalize them on the sideline or to another parent;

·       Wait to discuss any concerns with the coach away from the field of play or outside of practice;

·       Feel free to approach the coach with any concerns regarding my daughter’s soccer. 

[Signature line for parents and guardians with date]  

* * * * *

There you have it. It can probably be tweaked and improved, but I can report that it has worked well thus far. 

I also like the idea of silent sidelines. I know there are some parents, and some youth club cultures, that really struggle with stifling inappropriate comments from the bleachers. Silent sidelines costs nothing and promises great outcomes. 

(Once the kids get into their mid-late teens and have developed the cognitive skills to filter some of the nonsense shouted from the stands, perhaps we can rejoin the screaming and yelling—if we still think it has any value.) 

Copyright © 2014 by Jim Grove. All rights reserved.