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Post by Robo10 on May 30, 2012 12:00:36 GMT
I shop here mate - best shop on the internet for football kit - keep a keen eye on the clearance section! www.newitts.comOn the pitches, the High School (who have now got high fences around the pitches) dont allow weekend football (or wanted a shedload of money from memory), they had tens of thousands spent on the pitches when they became a sports college (which the Tories have removed I think), got a decent 3G pitch where the old teachers car park used to be, all the sports hall has a top of the range wooden floor down etc - our teams pay a fortune to use the 3G and indoor facilities, nobody plays on the grass pitches Woodhouse allowed me to play there last season, marked me a pitch out for a voluntary contribution, but do have 3 kids size 11 a side pitches not in use James Bateman (Park Middle to me and you) had a fantastic 3G pitch put on the back of the school (where the hockey pitch was) but again its not for public hire, and since the Meadows school burned down nobody has played on the grass pitches down there - they are waiting for somebody to develop on it I think Lots of pitches there that are not used and a terrible waste, while all those teams try to cram onto 8-10 pitches around the town (inc 2 mini soccer pitches!) |
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Post by Not_Nick_H on May 30, 2012 12:15:53 GMT
I shop here mate - best shop on the internet for football kit - keep a keen eye on the clearance section! www.newitts.comOn the pitches, the High School (who have now got high fences around the pitches) dont allow weekend football (or wanted a shedload of money from memory), they had tens of thousands spent on the pitches when they became a sports college (which the Tories have removed I think), got a decent 3G pitch where the old teachers car park used to be, all the sports hall has a top of the range wooden floor down etc - our teams pay a fortune to use the 3G and indoor facilities, nobody plays on the grass pitches Woodhouse allowed me to play there last season, marked me a pitch out for a voluntary contribution, but do have 3 kids size 11 a side pitches not in use James Bateman (Park Middle to me and you) had a fantastic 3G pitch put on the back of the school (where the hockey pitch was) but again its not for public hire, and since the Meadows school burned down nobody has played on the grass pitches down there - they are waiting for somebody to develop on it I think Lots of pitches there that are not used and a terrible waste, while all those teams try to cram onto 8-10 pitches around the town (inc 2 mini soccer pitches!) - Great shame about all those pitches not in use - glad Woodhouse (my old school) helped for a bit. The pitch down on the very bottom field was always a small one - good for 7v7 - if I remember rightly? Newitts are ace - discovered them when my lad played rugby for a bit (similarly, how f*cking hard can it be for places to stock the right sized balls?!). I've been there for footie stuff as well since. |
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Post by dutchstokie on May 30, 2012 12:38:19 GMT
Some very interesting views from Rob and NNH...
My girlfriends lad has just joined a district team in Amsterdam and has been given a football skills dvd from the KNVB (FA equivalent) and football nutrition handbook (whatever one of those is ), together with a logbook to mark and monitor his own progression. I have to fill this in with him and when training resumes in July give this to the coach of the team.
Lets be honest in saying that most kids think theyre good at nogger but when it comes to actually playing its a different story.
I think the rationale behind the logbook thing is to see what standard theyre at and the coach will have a reference point for the future and the kid can see how hes progressing...
A genuine question to any of you coaching.... do you or your relevant leagues bodies provide materials for kids to help them train?
It seems incredibly well organised from what Ive seen over here in Holland....
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Post by Not_Nick_H on May 30, 2012 12:53:00 GMT
Sounds like the Dutch FA are a few streets ahead of us as usual.
I'm not a coach, so I don't kow what material, if any, the FA provides. Is it Holland where the kids play small sided games up to 13/14 and there is no emphasis on winning until then?
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Post by Robo10 on May 30, 2012 13:01:14 GMT
Leagues give you the basics, but most require that at least one member of the coaching staff (manager or coach) has at least the FA level 1 qualification or equivalent (there are specific youth modules now alongside the level 1)
Its not difficult to pass to be honest, but just having attended 3 weekends and being 'coached' by a pro instructor and how to hold sessions, rules, theory (ie dont let an exercise run to long, short sharp bursts, involvement for all etc) really changed my approach, then after passing you are given all the course material with training drills etc on
I also attended a Coerver session at Stoke a few weeks back to see some different techniques, really enjoyed it and will be taking some of that into my sessions next season - you can view all of that for free on YouTube or via their website - they want people to take their diplomas (which you do alongside pros and ex pros, plus managers!), but its a bit costly for me
I will prob do my level 2 at some point, dont think I would bother going any further (UEFA B is the next step) - the level 2 is more expensive and is over several weeks so you need a bit of dedication and free cash to do it!
This is what Stoke have bought into to create their own future talent - doesnt focus too much on defending or the basics, but is great for skills and attacking play
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Post by dutchstokie on May 30, 2012 14:06:49 GMT
Sounds like the Dutch FA are a few streets ahead of us as usual. I'm not a coach, so I don't kow what material, if any, the FA provides. Is it Holland where the kids play small sided games up to 13/14 and there is no emphasis on winning until then? The league that he will be playing in is an 8 team 'mini league'. From what I can see on the boys season sheet is each club HAS to have 4 pitches to qualify for the league, but this used by many age groups within the specific club...much like the UK I would think. Each pitch is calved in 2... effectively giving you 8 pitches. Each weekend the round of games being played rotate through each of the clubs. Say for example the league consists of stoke, Leek CSOB, Alsager Town and Kidsgrove Athletic and 4 others, each week all the clubs would go first to Stoke and play against each other in a round of matches, the following week would be Leek CSOB and so on. Instead of home one week away the next...at least I think thats how it works so youre only evr at 'home'once if you follow.... and the games are 20 mins each way. At the end of each game weekend they have a fun skills competition...summat like keepy uppy seeing who can do the most... or who can do the best diving header just silly stuff but it certainly keeps the kids encouraged to the end of the games as they can 'show off' a little bit It is competitive in terms of winning medals and cups and stuff but the infrastructure in place is really good. CHanging rooms, physios, club house, community football schemes, nutrition sheets, kit maintenance, muscle structure and fatigue ...loads of stuff and educational at the same time Soemthing theyre also bringing in next season is some sort of ''respect the ref' scheme but Im not too crash hot on the info surrounding that BUT teaching them at that age about discipline can only be a good thing |
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Post by Robo10 on May 30, 2012 14:35:58 GMT
Thats the way the FA are heading I think.
In my league we all belong to a branch but operate as seperate teams - my branch had 4 teams in my age bracket, and along with the other branches (Biddulph, Kidsgrove, Leek, TrubshawX, Stoke) there were 24 teams in total split into two leagues based on ability
I came from a different league so they chucked us into the top 'red' league where the previous seasons better teams were placed, while a lot of the new or weaker teams from the previous seasons went into the 'yellow' league
After that though it was pretty much like normal football, home and away all through the season (in mini soccer you play each other twice on the day, two lots of 30 minute games with a half time in each, 6 points up for grab on the day)
So in total our league of 12 saw us play 44 league fixtures between September and May, and also included an Area Cup (where all 24 teams could draw each other), and a branch cup where our 4 teams played semis and a final at the end of the season - altogether we played over 50 fixtures.
As mentioned above, we came bottom of out league (just about - a win in our final game would have seen us finish 3rd bottom), nobody got thrashed every week, it was a good old competitive league
The team that won it did so at a canter, but were not undefeated
My team beat a few of the top teams, scoring then hanging on and defending like troopers, which was ace to watch if a little stressful! Just couldnt do the same against the teams around us from the middle to lower end of the league - lessons to take into next season.
All good though, I really enjoyed this season as did the kids.
Half of mine are all off playing cricket together now, they have built up friendships (from 2 or 3 different schools) and hopefully lifelong social skills through playing sport, which is ace - back in my day you barely know kids from other schools at all bar reputation!
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Post by andylgr on May 30, 2012 15:36:53 GMT
I may be talking at a tangent here but I think the plan to introduce a standard coaching practice and game format for all age groups is something that is long overdue, especially if we want to try and improve the players as they develop. But theres the issue of who decides how we play or is it just going to be a general coaching standard adopted nationwide?
There was a documentary a few years back that discussed the state of German football. The gist of it was that their governing body decided on a format they wanted kids to play and that was coached all the way through all age groups. Not only in terms of game formats and pitch sizes but also how the team played. They believed it improved players coming through into the clubs, which in turn should lead to improvements at international level because they were all doing the same stuff.
But as already pointed out how does that filter down to the kids who are playing normal ladsndads on a sunday. How are they supposed to improve? Are their club coaches expected to try and implement similar coaching techniques too?
I've seen things from both sides. My lad was playing ladsndads until he was 11. He was then picked up by Vale and is still playing for them 3 years later. As things stand its hard enough anyway for a trialist to come in and be signed by a professional club, but if professional clubs begin to start working to some kind of national standard then would that potentially make that gap even bigger between the professional and amateur clubs? How much extra work would be needed for amateur coaches?
An even bigger problem though is the parents. Having seen both professional and amateur, the difference is massive. At academies / centre of excellence the parents are asked not to shout and coach their kids and this is mainly abided to. However at amatuer level the pressure put on kids from parents is in my opinion is much worse than I see now academy games. Its akin to hysteria from a lot of parents on the touchline. To the point where I'm sure some kids just forget any training and whack the ball anywhere when their red faced, veins bursting dad is screaming 'kick it out' at his lad. The pressure to win a game seems like all that is all there is over any kind of player development. And thats another issue, can the pressure to win be overtaken by the desire to improve players. Especially when the vast majority of players don't even get the chance to play for a professional club, so winning games on a sunday is all that matters to them. But equally theres also the fine line of wanting to instill a will to win as well in players.
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Post by Robo10 on May 30, 2012 16:00:00 GMT
It is tough Andy, I'm pretty lucky to have a good set of parents and I barely have to say anything about shouting (although I do if required) - the majority of teams in our league were the same so perhaps the 'Respect' campaign is starting to become effective - certainly the barriers we have to put up to keep parents standing together (from both sides in our league) and a good 6-8 ft from the touchline
In the league I used to play in though the same couldnt be said, possibly due to the teams we were playing against (or even the ethos of the coaches of the teams) - I had never encountered such arrogance or sheer win at all costs mentality (hence switching to LnD)
Ive found this year, bar one game where there was a heated exchange (caused by a parent coaching his kid from behind the barrier non stop up and down for 60 minutes, crying for every foul or decision...) between a couple of adults, its been a really pleasant experience, and I had nice emails and texts from opposition teams about how well my boys had battled or how organised they were (in defeat and victory) which was nice.
Only a few ruin it for the majority, it only takes one parent to wind 5 others up and cause a storm in what really is a small teacup - kids football!
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Post by Robo10 on May 30, 2012 16:05:52 GMT
As for coaching, you are right, I dont know how you can want an England team that plays like Barca if the kids at 7-8 are being coached on best endeavours by thousands of coaches who either played at different levels (some ex pros, some ex Sunday pub players like me, some who never even played the game (which shows sometimes....)), and have different outlooks on how the game should be played
I try to make us difficult to beat, I havent got a team of world beaters or Lionel Messis, and if we tried to play like that every week they would be thrashed and disheartened - better to turn up and give teams a game and pull off the odd victory, and even in defeat making them work hard for it?
I dont mean kick it long at every opportunity, we play some nice stuff at times, but there is a time and a place on the pitch for it!
Defending seems to be going down the same route as tackling, but for me there is nothing wrong with being a good defender without necessarily being a good ball player!
We strive to improve always, but if some of the kids in our league were that good and comfortable on the ball, they wouldnt be playing in our league...
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Post by andylgr on May 30, 2012 16:28:51 GMT
Exactly right about the coaching, it would be much easier in principle to introduce standard coaching practices across professional clubs as most of their coaches do it for a living. I guess that would be where the FA would look first. But when it comes to amateur clubs I think it becomes more difficult to implement.
I think the ideas of reducing kids pitch and team sizes within certain age groups is ideal. But within that you still need to be encouraging/coaching them to keep the ball and learn them to be comfortable on the ball. It doesnt matter how big the pitch is if they just kick it anywhere. After all isnt that the point of making the pitch smaller for them?
I still dont see how making the games non competitive, will mean the parents become less competitive though. Incidentally I see the same issues with parents at my daughters football too, she plays at an amateur standard, where you would think girls/womens football would be less pressurised but thats not the case at all.
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Post by Robo10 on May 30, 2012 19:57:27 GMT
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Post by pickins on May 31, 2012 21:34:48 GMT
Some parents get as carried away during training sessions as they do during competitive matches! The FA do show you a dvd at the ' Safeguarding Children ' evening which is quite amusing. We do have a couple of them at our club but we praise the kids up for positives so they don't take too much notice.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using ProBoards
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Post by Nick1984 on Jun 24, 2012 21:50:42 GMT
Bump
Hope this is the solution, otherwise I give up.
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