The Soccer coaches thread

Sport
42

Its great watching kids play ball. They develop so so quickly. Coaching kids is the best part of my week.

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43

We might have discussed this before but how seriously do ye take the winning and losing of the games and at what age does that come into it?
Gaa is all about the participation, no score counted, mixed ability teams etc up to 12 I think. Anecdotally heard soccer was different but mine donā€™t play that yet.

44

Pro vs amateur mate

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45

I find the soccer lads all of a similar level, working on technique and spatial play. Whereas gaa is a free for all. You could have one lad eating dirt and sticking cones down his jocks while another lad runs the length of the pitch and sticks it over the bar. Itā€™s a frustrating side of gaa coaching but can see penny starting to drop with players this year. Numbers is a factor too. 13 kids soccer training is a big difference to 65 doing gaa where in some cases parents/coaches have never played the game before

46

I honestly think teaching kids not to give out to refs or not to get hung up on the refs mistakes is an absolutely massive element of coaching. When reffing at training Iā€™d always say ā€˜yeah I probably got that wrong but you have to get on with itā€™. they will be putting up with refs making mistakes for as long as they play far better for them to be able to park it and move on.
Obviously easier said than done in the thick of a competitive match!

47

Definitely. But itā€™s the same kids playing in a lot of cases so interesting to see how parents and kids playing find the two different approaches. Can see the pluses and minuses of both myself.

48

Soccer streams earlier. Its a policy decision. There are pros and cons to it. And kids all develop at different rates. Growth spurts, learning to kick a ball properly, finally getting heads up for spatial awareness. The lads who are good now might not be the lads who are good in 5 years. Best thing is to have them out kicking ball all day every day. The 2 hours a week we do with them is nothing compared to that.

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49

On the winning losing thing, we dont mention it much. Zero emphasis on it. But the kids keep track. Our lads lost once and refused to believe it. Literally insisted it was a draw.

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50

Also, @Arthur get your kid playing football asap you madman.

51

Heā€™s too much of a madman

52

A fine way to channel his madness. What age is he?

53
  1. He has ā€˜challengesā€™. And not of the two footed type. Yet!
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54

@mickee321 do you guys play in a kells tournament in august? Any good? Think weā€™re gonna enter teams this year.

55

hey Juhy
sorry i havent been around of late.
ok yes

  • this a huge tournament played out in the wilds of North Meath
  • we won this last year for u7s
  • its incredibly well organised with an app that you can track results ( i know ā€¦ tracking results for kids that youngā€¦ hammerings are capped at 5-1 instead of 25-0 on the tracker anyways)
  • so last year for 7s we were allowed one team in so we came loaded as is the way in soccer- not exactly go games ethos here
  • our group was kells, howth celtic, portmarnock, drogheda boys, we won that easy enough, think kells in the semi and we beat Torro in the final
  • i think the 7s had 8 teams - 2 groups of 4
  • we are putting in 1 team i think this year also only for the 8s, AFAIk now SKBs Bohs are in this- we will be stong, Torro will be good

there is also a tourament in Torro June BH, PM me for details there and we have a tournament going also the week b4 Kells but weā€™ll have 4 mixed teams in

coaching league break thank god this BH weeked anyway

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56

Ta. What year are your kids? 2013?

57

2014 - U8s now this season in NECSL

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58

And there was a portmarnock team in your group last year? We are the 2014s but our lads didnt start matches til sept last year? Must have been our 2013s. Think we are thinking of 2/3 teams.

59

these are great days tho- the competition is ferocious , im wasnt really a fan of it tbh at the start, but for the kids who are stronger its a challenge that they just cant get in coaching leagues, like we bring in restrictions, my fella for example, i make him pass on 3rd touch in some games, but you cant have that all the time either.
we had a game friday that got so lopsided 5v5 - we went 4v8 and still too strong
in that regard the GAA have better maybe in go games with a 4 game 12 min rotation instead of 1 dedicated 45 min game every friday night

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60

sorry not portmarnock- black and white team- palmerstown

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61

organisers will prob dictate that tho id say, there could be teams from NI at this also

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