No such luck here. We had a lad down hurt at in the second half so as I was out there I said to him just to double check you have us at 1-16.he took a good while to count the ticks and said no 1-15, it wasn’t far past half time and one of forwards was beside me and we both said no we’ve definitely four scored not three. He said no thats the way he had it. As I mentioned the game was out of control constant roaring between players and benches late hits etc he was out of his depth. He admitted to me after he might have made a mistake but that was what he had written down. I didn’t cop it til I walked off that it wasn’t that he had not given us a tick it was that he had given it to them, turning a two point win into a draw. I know at least it wasn’t a loss but I’m still sick over it.
Agreed, I look in on it every couple of weeks for a few new drills/games to keep training sessions fresh for the young lads.
Wasn’t sure where to type this, so here we go.
There’s nothing worse than hearing your own supporters cheering when a young lad gets sent off in an underage game. It’s shameful.
He had to go
Can someone post up some decent articles for and against the concept of streaming/competitive matches for 11/12 year olds, specifically girls if possible? I know there were loads floating around a few weeks ago
Any articles on this lads or personal opinions?
Trying to get my head around the pros and cons of it before a coaches meeting. We’ve about 40 girls at u11 moving to u12 next year. Turnout for matches around 30 so entering two teams. Question is - is this an A and B team or two mixed ability teams. The team one year ahead of us streamed, the team two years ahead mixed at u12 then streamed at u13.
Even if you are doing mixed abilities you are effectively streaming yourself…even if not as obvious to kids …that’s the approach I’d take but likely unpopular with the stronger players
What do you mean effectively streaming yourself? I think the u13s had one D1 team one D4 team at u12 and played mixed ability.
I’ve been down this road twice and tried both options. I would strongly recommend streaming at this age. Weaker players get a chance to develop as they get more touches of the ball when the stronger players are removed from their matches. Stronger players get to develop quicker by playing at a higher standard and not getting things their own way as much.
Having a flexible and clearly communicated system for regular movement of players between the panes after streaming is also very important.
It’s a tough one alright,but its all about retaining players for as long as possible.Both ways have merit.I think it all depends on the kids themselves too,some will be happy just to get game time while others want to win every match.We have started getting matches for the U10s and it’s been great for them as some of them mightn’t touch the ball or sliotar in the U 11 matches even though they all get game time.
Yeah, from what I’ve seen the players on the b and c teams are generally happy enough as they tend to know their own abilities, Most of them are happy with the level they are at. Some make a concerted effort to improve enough to move up to the next level. These lads need to be fully supported and when the time comes moved up to the next level.
Well you are deciding who is good and not so good and placing them in teams accordingly
Our first year streaming at u9 this year and has gone mostly well. The improvement especially in hurling with the Cs has been a joy to watch. Lads who were happy to stuff a cone down their jocks now mad for action and coming on really well technically. Had one parent not happy their kid wasn’t on the As. He’s borderline A/B but has some behavioural issues - cursing and lashing out at lads that would be increased if roughly tackled, which would happen at A.
We would normally have mixed ability teams for the u7 blitzes, to allow you rotate the teams and play a number of matches on the day. However we organised our match against a local club recently and we streamed the teams and played the same teams against each other the evening.
The lads on the “weaker” team got way more out of it. So i think for the rest of year we’ll mix it up between streaming and mixed ability depending on the blitz and who’s involved.
I’ve coached a few of them down the years. For no apparent reason they are almost always named Iarla or Siofra.
My fear is that the B team girls are absolutely hopeless and need another year really of just focusing on skills before being cast into the big bad world of playing on their own. I’m also not sure are the As at where they need to be. They all only started u8 really and their first two years were completely interrupted by covid.
Would the lower ability half of the A team not suffer from not getting on the ball as much? Whereas they would be the strong ones in a mixed team.
Jack. Fucking Jack
They are all reasonable concerns. Getting the A team in the correct division is important. If that means losing a lot of matches to get to their actual level so be it,
Regarding the second point regular rotation between the lower standard A players and stronger B players should theoretically give you the best of both worlds.
Finally I’m almost certain a lot of the B players will surprise you by stepping up when they are not in the shadow of A players. They often just let the stronger players on their team have the ball when unstreamed.
Communicating with the parents on this is key. I can dm you some old emails/presentations we used when we started streaming if you are interested in going down that road.