It's been a mixed week for me so far - summer select wise anyway. The reason the title of this entry reads as above is because, unfortunately, I have had very contrasting summer select practices with my U10s and U13s. Now, I'm completely okay with this as it is normal. A coach is always going to have one bad session with his players - it's a fact. On Wednesday, my practice session with my U13s was probably the worst one I have had with them - I was actually quite disappointed at the end and I told them so. For some reason, the players were just not listening to me. I'd be trying to explain or show something and there would be some kids either not listening or fooling around. The U13s are a great bunch of players - they really are and I have immensely enjoyed working with them thus far. It was just an off day. The fact I was so disappointed, I think, shows how much I have grown into them - working with them twice a week and getting to know them as individuals. They are all very capable and, generally, very nice kids. I know our next session will be good as they always respond - fingers crossed anyway!!
On the other hand, I ran a practice session with my U10s this evening and, put simply, they were absolutely brilliant - they really were. I was so pleased with each and every one of them. I brought them in at the end and I just said to them, "Thank you". You know what they said back? A nice, hearty "Your welcome". Is that not great? For me as a coach, the main factor is that the players are enjoying themselves. I'm a firm believer in enjoying when you are learning - it's the way forward! The U10s actually had quite a bad session one week ago and I asked them to come back to the next session a lot better and they did.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the progress of both my teams. I'm noticing improvements constantly, which as a coach, is what I want to see. Not only are the kids great, but the parents are as well - very nice and friendly people. It's all one, big, happy family over here! The next tournament is next week but, thankfully, we have managed to arrange a friendly scrimmage for the U10s with the Parsippany club on Saturday. Hopefully it goes well. I'll be sure to let you guys know how it goes. I'm pretty exhausted now so I am going to head to my queen size bed (I am 6ft 7 in remember!).
Have a lovely weekend everyone! Bye for now.
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Why the 'queen' size bed? I think you have been frequenting those certain bars in the Big Apple too much. But well done on the coaching - early days, but it seems it is going in the right direction. And you are obviously being very diplomatic with your team selection. Winning is one thing, but being lynched by a mob of angry parents whose kids did not get to play is another. Very sensible ...
ReplyDeleteI am a parent of a kid on the u-13 team. My son mentioned this after the practice. He said it was an awful practice- that the kids were terrible. Of course, he claims to have had no part in it (after all, what else is a 13 year old kid going to tell his mother?!) but he did say in general that it was a bad practice because of the kids behavior. My apologie to coach Gareth for this! Not exactly a warm welcome to the US!
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, coach Gareth, all 6'7" of him, was once a 13 year-old himself and did his own share of messing about when he should have known better. Boot's on the other foot now, eh, Gareth?!
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