Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 practices a week. One day is the parent volunteer coach alot of time is spent on conditioning and scrimmages. We hired a coach for $1200 (8 sessions) to work on technique with the boys U12. Its a good balance - conditioning drills are easier for many parent volunteers with no soccer experience. The paid coach has the soccer background. The hard part has been getting the buy in from the parents to pay the extra fees.

This is unbelievable --- for rec?! We pay $1600 for an entire year of professionally coached Travel! No wonder your parents aren't 'buying in'!

I'm assuming the 1200 is total for the coach for the 8 sessions, and is divided among the 10 or so players. If that's the case, its $150/session total for the coach (or ~$15 per player per session) which does not seem totally unreasonable assuming the coach knows what s/he is doing.

Any coach who knows what they are doing would charge $30/kid per session.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 practices a week. One day is the parent volunteer coach alot of time is spent on conditioning and scrimmages. We hired a coach for $1200 (8 sessions) to work on technique with the boys U12. Its a good balance - conditioning drills are easier for many parent volunteers with no soccer experience. The paid coach has the soccer background. The hard part has been getting the buy in from the parents to pay the extra fees.

This is unbelievable --- for rec?! We pay $1600 for an entire year of professionally coached Travel! No wonder your parents aren't 'buying in'!

I'm assuming the 1200 is total for the coach for the 8 sessions, and is divided among the 10 or so players. If that's the case, its $150/session total for the coach (or ~$15 per player per session) which does not seem totally unreasonable assuming the coach knows what s/he is doing.

$150 per session is way too expensive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 practices a week. One day is the parent volunteer coach alot of time is spent on conditioning and scrimmages. We hired a coach for $1200 (8 sessions) to work on technique with the boys U12. Its a good balance - conditioning drills are easier for many parent volunteers with no soccer experience. The paid coach has the soccer background. The hard part has been getting the buy in from the parents to pay the extra fees.

This is unbelievable --- for rec?! We pay $1600 for an entire year of professionally coached Travel! No wonder your parents aren't 'buying in'!

I'm assuming the 1200 is total for the coach for the 8 sessions, and is divided among the 10 or so players. If that's the case, its $150/session total for the coach (or ~$15 per player per session) which does not seem totally unreasonable assuming the coach knows what s/he is doing.

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 practices a week. One day is the parent volunteer coach alot of time is spent on conditioning and scrimmages. We hired a coach for $1200 (8 sessions) to work on technique with the boys U12. Its a good balance - conditioning drills are easier for many parent volunteers with no soccer experience. The paid coach has the soccer background. The hard part has been getting the buy in from the parents to pay the extra fees.

This is unbelievable --- for rec?! We pay $1600 for an entire year of professionally coached Travel! No wonder your parents aren't 'buying in'!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not hire a coach for rec. just have parents rotate the overseeing responsibilities of practice and at games and allow everyone similar playing time. $15 book w some drills and do your best to have the kids try them at practice and have fun.

My husband, a foreigner from a no soccer country ended up,coaching when no one else did. I did the managing job. If we had to do it again, we'd pay a high school student. We were ill equipped and needed someone with at least a bit of knowledge.

I think rotating the parents is a terrible idea.

Do not hire an expensive coach. A teen is fine. Have the kid's responsibilities include teaching you the drills.

This is good advice. Teens who play at a decent level and are willing to take on the job are much more likely to be able to teach kids real skills and a good approach to the game than a well intentioned parent with no soccer background.

Thanks. I stress that I would have part of the job teaching the willing parents how to coach....

So if you are in DC. Just do this. http://www.dcyouthfutbolclub.org

They work on developing age appropriate skills for the kids. You can go once a week - 10 sessions for $150 or 2-3 x week for $250(older kids). The program is really good. They work on ball control in small spaces, getting a lot of touches, passing, etc. You will want the Youth Academy Program. It's open to everyone. So your whole team could go there.

We have a great parent, European man, who takes care of our team in the stoddert league. A couple other dads help out, all volunteers. Trouble is some of the moms are really into him!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not hire a coach for rec. just have parents rotate the overseeing responsibilities of practice and at games and allow everyone similar playing time. $15 book w some drills and do your best to have the kids try them at practice and have fun.

My husband, a foreigner from a no soccer country ended up,coaching when no one else did. I did the managing job. If we had to do it again, we'd pay a high school student. We were ill equipped and needed someone with at least a bit of knowledge.

I think rotating the parents is a terrible idea.

Do not hire an expensive coach. A teen is fine. Have the kid's responsibilities include teaching you the drills.

This is good advice. Teens who play at a decent level and are willing to take on the job are much more likely to be able to teach kids real skills and a good approach to the game than a well intentioned parent with no soccer background.

Anonymous wrote:Do not hire a coach for rec. just have parents rotate the overseeing responsibilities of practice and at games and allow everyone similar playing time. $15 book w some drills and do your best to have the kids try them at practice and have fun.

My husband, a foreigner from a no soccer country ended up,coaching when no one else did. I did the managing job. If we had to do it again, we'd pay a high school student. We were ill equipped and needed someone with at least a bit of knowledge.

I think rotating the parents is a terrible idea.

Do not hire an expensive coach. A teen is fine. Have the kid's responsibilities include teaching you the drills.

Sorry, I meant "any parent" in the above paragraph.

Twice a week practice for Rec? Or did I read that wrong? I think that's a great way to squash any joy the kids could get from playing a game that they are casual about, at best. Because frankly, at 9, if they wanted to be serious, they'd be part of some academy team or a higher level house league like MSI Classics. Rec is supposed to be fun. I played in college but at that age, literally parent can go on YouTube and learn some passing drills.

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 practices a week. One day is the parent volunteer coach alot of time is spent on conditioning and scrimmages. We hired a coach for $1200 (8 sessions) to work on technique with the boys U12. Its a good balance - conditioning drills are easier for many parent volunteers with no soccer experience. The paid coach has the soccer background. The hard part has been getting the buy in from the parents to pay the extra fees.

Conditioning Drills? Why? All their conditioning can be accomplished by just playing the game with the ball at their feet. You're better off just letting them play pick-up and you make sure they don't hurt each other. You want them to be faster, ask them to run faster with the ball at their feet. You want them to build endurance and last all game, have them scrimmage longer during practice and ask for a high tempo. Seriously, like a PP, buy a $15 book pick 2 drills, have them attempt it, and then scrimmage. They will get more out of it and have fun vs "conditioning drills".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People hire coaches for rec leagues?! Sad that no parents are willing to step up and volunteer.

What if there is no one with soccer experience? Paying a coach who actually understands the game and can teach some basic skills isn't that much of a stretch at age 9.

When my kids played rec league hardly any of the dads had soccer experience.

There are lots of places that you could pay for training and get better training than the likelihood of finding a good coach to bother with a rec team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People hire coaches for rec leagues?! Sad that no parents are willing to step up and volunteer.

What if there is no one with soccer experience? Paying a coach who actually understands the game and can teach some basic skills isn't that much of a stretch at age 9.

When my kids played rec league hardly any of the dads had soccer experience.

Anonymous wrote:People hire coaches for rec leagues?! Sad that no parents are willing to step up and volunteer.

What if there is no one with soccer experience? Paying a coach who actually understands the game and can teach some basic skills isn't that much of a stretch at age 9.