Chapel Hill United

A division of Rainbow Soccer

Coaches Corner

Notes From Grant: Coaches Training

Fall 2010 Coaches Training Sessions

When:  October 9th 

Where: Rainbow fields ungated side.

Who:  ALL Rainbow and CHU coaches

Coaches - please plan to attend. Regards Grant Underhill of Chapel Hill United / Rainbow Soccer (919) 225-9088 / (919) 967-8797

Please encourage any players to attend and everyone is welcome. Coaches - please plan to attend. Regards Grant Underhill / Lynn Tomkins Chapel Hill United / Rainbow Soccer (919) 225-9088 / (919) 967-8797

Chapel Hill United Rules of Play

• The non-kicking team pulls back to midfield on opponent's goalkicks.
• The refs are instructed to blow an early whistle on all goalkeeper possessions. We need to protect the goalkeepers, especially on the ground. Instruct your players to play longer rebounds, but not to challenge or charge goalkeepers in or near possession. We need everyone to support disallowing goals and shots that result from challenged goalkeeper possessions.
• No penalty kicks under any circumstances. Anything inside the box will come outside box and proceed as indirect. We advise no walls for safety reasons, plus it's actually an advantage to let the goalkeeper have an unobstructed view of the play. Defensive players should "man-up" and challenge the player with ball after the first touch is taken--but in a safe manner as instructed by coaches.
• A goalkeeper punt that is first touched in the opponent's penalty box is a goalkeeper possession or an indirect kick from the top of the box going the other way. This will help the goalkeepers and players to learn to distribute and play from the back. Punts to the opponent's penalty box will be played, essentially, as if they were offside, if they enter the penalty box untouched.

Balanced Matches

Part of your job is to "manage" the results of the matches so that no one team dominates another with a lopsided score. The ideal score in a youth development league like ours is probably a 3-3 tie. We have found that some balancing techniques work, while others are ineffective. Putting restrictions on players this age such as "five touches before going to goal" or "play keep-away only" does not work and can serve as further embarassment to an opponent.

Let's manange matches more actively by adding and subtracting players more regularly to make the game compelling and even. We don't necessarily need to wait until a four-goal differential to start making these adjustments--especially if the goals are coming fast and early in the match or if the game is being played only in one half of the field. You can always readjust if the match returns to balance. Allow your opponents some forward flow. Don't allow a match only to be played at one end.

We have had some success with the options below:

1. Stronger team pulls one player--this team would now have GK plus four field players.
2. Weaker team adds player--this team would now have GK plus six field players.
3. Combine 1 and 2 together.
4. Dominating team sits stronger players more than normally would. (Be careful here, of course, in terms of appropriate/equal playing time. But this can be done when explained to player thoughtfully, and it can turn into positive sportsmanship lesson and a chance for team leaders to encourage others).
5. Organize the stronger team into its least effective attacking line-up. This is a good opportunity to then prompt the less experienced line-up to improve attacking capabilities.

As coaches, one of our primary responsibilities is to help teach the players to appreciate and respect the game. Lopsided games are really no fun for anyone, and are counter to our primary aims.

Uniform Uniforms

We want to tighten the way our teams look on the field. Please help us achieve 100% on tucking in shirts, shinguards under socks, matching socks, no jewelry, tight laces, etc. Looking sharp rather than sloppy definitely impacts a player's focus and sense of teamwork--it's the first step in getting mentally prepared for a competitive match. If each player on the team is "uniform," the team as a whole will look and play much more uniformly and effectively.

Coaching Resources

US Soccer publishes a very nice overview of "Best Practices" (PDF format) for coaching youth soccer. It's a quick read, nice refresher, and effective key-note for a new season. CLICK HERE (PDF format) for a link to the document. The first twenty or so pages are appropriate for our age group. This document puts in writing many of the points I tried to make in our pre-season coaching clinics.