Good coaching and development

[Anonymous]

I know this is a million dollar question but how would you define good coaching and development?

Parents get upset at clubs pulling in other kids from outside and not developing their own players. But a kids inability to develop - how much of that is the coaching and how much of that is that perhaps the kid isn’t good enough or hasn’t put in the work outside of practices?

FWIW, we are a family that moved from a small club to a more established club. Kid is a starter on the first team and his new club and plays almost all game. They are not the best player on the team but in the top third. We moved because we didn’t think our kid was getting coached well anymore. At the new club, kid has gotten even better and i feel is being developed. But he’s getting the same coaching as all the players who had been around a while.

Isn’t it a given that some kids are just going to hit the ceiling on developing at their club unless they’re doing something else? I would say that the top players on my kids team, including my kid, do quite a lot on their own, either training by themselves, with a sibling, and/or private coach.

[Anonymous]

DD plays on a high level team. It's kind of expected by the club and the norm that all the players do outside training, plus strength and conditioning, plus individual work. I wouldn't say the club is big on development. Recruiting new players is ongoing. The only way players can keep up is by doing extra development on their own. Team trainings are more about tactics, positioning, working together. Part of me understands they are trying to build a culture of self improvement, but part of me wishes they aided more and gave more individual development.

[Anonymous]

A good coach should motivate players and foster an atmosphere of competition that gets all the players working hard! Bad coaches lecture, talk to the kids in a negative way and don’t get them going or inspire them too much. If you see the kids working hard and having fun, that’s a great sign. If you see them standing around the coach while the coach lectures or if you hear the coach constantly asking kids why they are doing things the wrong way, that’s a poor coach.

[Anonymous]

Love those signs. Unfortunately we’ve seen mostly joystick or yelling to call out players type of coaches.

While our club experience is better than most we hear about, I wouldn't call it great development. We have had a similar experience as the 2nd poster above:

top team at the ‘pre-ecnl’ age group of the club. Limited practice time dedicated to skill and speed development, most tactics and small sided games (good).
Lots of coach sarcastic questioning players in practice and games. Most players are doing outside work and athletic trainers. Paying for additional club camps and sessions. New players trying out each week, most from outside club.

Team is very skilled though only about 4-5 ‘developed’ from ‘futures’ academy

[Anonymous]

I've been around travel soccer for ages. Many of my friends have kids in travel soccer and I know 7-8 travel soccer coaches.

1. Coaching matters. Unless a kid has the inner motivation to practice at home everyday and develop, coaching is what really develops a kid into a quality soccer player.

2. Skill set. Some kids are more athletic and it's a big factor. I've seen gkidsrls age 8-9 who have never played soccer before try out for a travel team and make. These are large clubs where a good 30-40 girls were declined. But, these kids are very athletic. They can run, sprint, move their feet, etc. Being a natural athlete is a major advantage.

3. Mentality. A lot of kids don't have an aggressive personality. This is why you seen many kids stare at the ball, not push it forward, always kicking it away, always reaching for the ball instead of going after it with the body, etc. Passive kids have a harder time than aggressive kids.

4. Personal motivation. A kid will never develop well without training at home - ever ever ever. Any kid who only training during practices and games will never develop well. All it takes is just 15 minutes at home 4-5 times a week and a kid will develop faster than 90% of the rest. But, either the parent has to push this or in rare cases the kid has the motivation to do it.

That said, the team itself is very important. I've seen good players on bad teams play poorly because of their surroundings. Many kids play to the level of the kids around them. So, it is very important to get your kid onto a team where the other kids and parents are on the same page (coming to all practices, games, not being late, etc). If all 9, 12 or, 16 kids are practicing hard and play hard....your kid will play and practice hard. If the kids are socializing too much or practicing at 50% game speed, your kids will do the same and be weaker.