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Coach Jim McGannon
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(616) 402-1600
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"Mentors are available at all stages of your life- early, middle and late. Seek them out and listen; absorb their knowledge and use it."
Coach Wooden
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This newsletter is published quarterly. Many of the topics are parent-driven. Feel free to put forth any topic you would like to see addressed. Coach McGannon
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Our Committee for Coaching Excellence is an outstanding tool for area coaches, parents and athletic directors interested in an approach to the game that is based in fact, hard work and sustainability.
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Excerpts from "Game On": The All-American Race to Make Champions of our Children by Tom Farrey (ESPN Books).
While the subject sport is SOCCER, you can pretty much replace that with BASKETBALL and it will still ring true.
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"What we have in the U.S. are parents trying to get their kids into game environments as soon as possible" says Randy Huffington, coordinator for sports science for USA Track and Field and a consultant to elite athletes. "We are slotting kids way too early into positions and over-controlling the game and their development. Soccer is the worst offender."
It's often the first sport that kids sign up to play. Parents figure- What's it take? Running? Kicking? Any little kid can do that. They're urged on by the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), which knocked DOWN their starting age from 5 years old to 4 in 2004, for no other reason than to build customer base and keep kids from trying other sports. Problem is, rarely do volunteer coaches at the lower levels have enough knowledge to create a practice session that hits on both fun and fundamentals. Often, formal games are scheduled, which inevitably promotes the assigning of positions, tactical play and parents on both sides screaming instructions that kids can not appreciate.
Sports sociologist Jay Coackley notes that parents and volunteer coaches often plead with their children to "STAY IN POSITION!" or GET BACK WHERE YOU BELONG!" without realizing kids brains are just not formed that way. Understanding the concept of positional play asks that a participant do three things simultaneously:
Most children do not fully develop these skills until age 12. Adults mistakenly think their children are not concentrating or trying hard. This frustrates children who are doing the best they can at their level of development. Many of the frustrated kids quit the game.
"A coach of a team of 8 to 10 year olds might have great intentions, but what's the first thing they feel they need to do? Organize and manage. That's NOT what the kids need at that age. These well meaning adults feel like they have to manage things so the other team doesn't score on them. They plant a defender 18 yards from their goal and have him kick the ball down field. That may work when kids are young, and his team might even get a trophy. But the players don't learn how to move forward. After a few years, they may be fast and physical but there's that lack of comfort with the ball."
"Go watch a high school game and count how many times the ball turns over. These kids have been playing for 10 years but what have they learned? They can't control the ball. Everyone all the way up the line is affected. The better everyone is with the ball, the tougher it is to stop a team, so the defenders get better, and the game evolves in terms of sophistication. Everything gets racheted up."
U.S. Soccer is starting to recognize that its grass can only grow so high if the roots are over-watered with adult-style competition. In 2006, the organization published a paradigm-shifting, 70-page document compiled by Jenkins that essentially BEGS coaches to turn the game over to the fertile minds of children. Called "Best Practices for Coaching Soccer in the United States.", it attempts to find a place for loosely structured play within the society's need for adult oversight. "Coaches can often be more helpful to a young player's development by organizing less, saying less, and allowing the players to do more." the document advises. "Set up a game and let the kids play. Keep most of your comments for before and after practice and during water breaks. Comments should be kept short and simple. Be comfortable organizing a session that looks like pickup soccer."
No lines, no laps and no discussions about "commitment." One game a week through 4th grade, no tournaments and rosters small enough to allow for close to 100% participation ALL THE TIME. No assigning players into specific positions until the teenage years.
If this sounds familiar, it should. In 2000, Aime Jacquet, manager of the French team that won the 1998 World Cup, was flown in by Adidas to speak with The U.S. Youth Soccer Association. The esteemed coach laid out the philosophy and architecture of the European system. He helped give shape and support to notions that had been percolating within the U.S. coaching community for decades. Those ideas would continue to languish as U.S. Soccer's focus during the Bruce Arena era was on the national teams, the elite of our (MODEST) elite.
Arena resigned after the 2006 World Cup and was replaced by Bob Bradley. The new coach has taken a more direct role in youth development. Clubs must agree to shift the emphasis away from game play and toward effective training- a response to the nation's TOP HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN telling shocked U.S. Soccer coaches that they are already tired of the sport. The program, called the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, starts at the U-16 level although Jenkins and others hope its philosophy trickles down to those working with younger kids.
"We have a tendency to over-coach kids in this country, and part of that is the culture. The idea that the game is improvised from moment to moment is alien to most people who grew up on football and baseball, sports that are less chaotic and less player-driven. Maybe the easiet way to win at an early age is to punt the ball downfield, have some big kid cross it, and another big kid head it in. But that doesn't develop a player. When I coach my kids' teams, people look at me like I'm crazy because they know I'm involved in pro soccer and yet I'm not trying to impose structure on the kids. I don't insist on positional play. I want them to work it out."
If you are considering our AYBT teams or another competitive/travel league, this newsletter will define the terms your son or daughter must deal with in order to succeed. In my estimation, roughly 10% or FEWER players are actually ready to compete in these leagues.
Here's why.
Put these 4 elements together. A sport that is played on a relatively small surface by big, strong and fast players where the ball is possesed by each team for only a few seconds at a time and only 5 can play at once??? THIS EQUALS PRESSURE.
Not only is there is no time to think, there is no place to hide.
Basketball Basics builds competitive habits. What does this mean? The only way to compete and win in this pressure packed game is to have the skill to make plays under pressure. It is astonishing to me how simple this concept is, yet is lost upon so many coaches and parents. In order to succeed when pressed (and pressure is constant at the more competitive levels), the players must execute the game's primary skills quickly, efficiently and basically with NO THOUGHT. There is no time to think, only to DO. This is the definition of a habit. Or as Webster says "an act repeated so often by an individual that the act has become automatic in its execution."
"....repeated so often by an individual that the act has become automatic in its execution...."
This is not rocket science. In this comment lies the key to winning basketball and why leagues, travelling, competition 1st is not only frequently ill-advised, it is MANY TIMES counter-productive. Players often get worse. This is not hard to understand. If a player's skills are not very sharp and they are thrust into a competitive game or league, what do you think is going to happen? Does anybody really think their kid is going to improve or benefit from getting run over by more athletic players? They will become frustrated and many kids quit. (to be exact, 75% of players ages 13 and OVER have quit organized athletics altogether, a stunning number)
Many of the basic drills we offer your kids EVERY DAY are done so with NO PRESSURE. These developing players must be able to execute the skills with some precision with NO PRESSURE before they have any chance of doing so WITH PRESSURE. This is common sense. The competitive and travel leagues force the vast majority of unprepared players to do something they are incapable of doing.
Unless your son or daughter is an ADVANCED player, don't sign them up for a competitive league. If you are not sure how advanced they are, time them in the Mikan Drill for 1 minute and see what their number is. (be honest, don't fudge the score) You may also register for a 1 on 1 session or Shooting Clinic and I will give you my honest assessment where they should be placed. See frame of reference below.
We don't even do the drill BEFORE 5th/6th grade, meaning don't sign your kids up for competitive leagues before this age. GREAT photo ops ("Look how cute they are?"!!), terrible for building basic skills and competitive habits. If your 3rd/4th grade son or daughter can achieve the 5th/6th numbers (or older) below, play them UP. 95% of the time, a 3rd or 4th grade kid who is being registered for AYBT or some competitive league is being set up for failure. It is too early. They are not ready. (They're still cute at 5th/6th and older!!)
Competition is NOT the pre-eminent form of skill development and game preparation. Closely supervised repetition is. If you hope to position your son or daughter for competitive success in ANY sport (particularly the CHAOTIC sports like soccer, basketball, volleyball, hockey, others), release the game to the fertile minds of your children. Give them the tools with strong local instruction, and then let them play the game on their own. One of the things we do very well at Basketball, Volleyball and Soccer Basics is TEACH the skills with NO PLAYS and basically NO RULES. We do not teach plays, we teach the players how to play.
Only the best players will continue to work at it, many think they are past this basic skill development and sharpening. Good photo below shows 3 area HS players continuing to work at shooting, this was Janaury 2012.
