Preventing concussions in girls soccer

PARENT

   Several years ago, a college acquaintance told me about her daughter's battle with multiple concussions while playing soccer in high school. Although her daughter was expected to make a full recovery, the healing process was a slow one, involving substantial medical attention over many months. Not knowing much about concussions, I remember being surprised at the magnitude of the injury's effect on my friend's entire family.

Over the last few years, we have all become more aware of the potential long-term consequences of youth concussions. Many sports parents are interested in knowing how best to protect their child.

Wendy LeBolt, PhD has written a series of articles about concussions, and more specifically, concussions that occur for girls who play soccer. You can find these articles at her Fit2Finish website. Also, there's an excellent video where Wendy demonstrates a series of exercises that can possibly help girls avoid concussions from heading the ball.

Copyright © 2012 Jeffrey S. Rhoads. All Rights Reserved

If you enjoyed this article, you may like my book:
The Joy of Youth Sports: Creating the best youth sports experience for your child (Amazon $8.95)

(Kindle Edition $2.99)

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One Bad Apple—Coaching the "Problem Child" in Youth Sports

COACH

   Sometimes you are confronted with an older child or teenager whose behavior consistently disrupts your practices. This child may talk while you’re talking, mock other players (or you), execute drills half-heartedly, or constantly joke around. This type of behavior is often contagious and can ruin your practices. You may only have one practice per week, so maximizing your use of practice time to instruct and develop your players is critical.

So how do you handle this situation?

Carrot or Stick?

Let’s first consider your youth sports environment and the available options. In a participation-oriented youth sports program, you are often assigned players and have no control over their selection. You are also typically required to provide each player with a minimal, if not equal, amount of playing time. You cannot “cut” or “sit” a player. Your options to reprimand player misbehavior are mainly limited to raising your voice, reasoning, and possibly leveraging some peer pressure by having your entire team engage in a less-desirable activity (e.g., drill, sprints, etc.).

If the above conditions describe your youth sports program, understand that your ability to effectively coach and develop your players is largely dependent on an implied contract between you and your players. If written down, a condensed version might read as follows:

“As your coach I promise to instruct each of you on how best to play and enjoy this sport, including developing your individual skills and understanding of teamwork and team play. My primary goal is to teach you. I am not your babysitter. For your part, I expect that you are playing this sport because you want to do so. You want to learn new skills, increase your knowledge on how to better play this game, and have fun in the process. You understand that you are participating in a team sport and that you have a responsibility not only to yourself, but also your teammates and coaches. You will respect your teammates and coaches by attending practices and games whenever possible. You promise to conduct yourself in a manner that does not disrupt team activities or otherwise hurt the development of other players on your team.”

Try to communicate these principles to your team and problem child. You may get good results, depending on the child’s nature. Other players on the team may help support you by following these principles. When a single player misbehaves in practice, having the entire team run a few sprints or Suicides can often get everyone's attention and help restore order.

You will also benefit in these situations from having an assistant coach. When the player misbehaves, you have a second set of eyes and voice. Your assistant can pull the player aside and either talk with him or do some other activity separate from the team. You will isolate the problem and can still effectively instruct your other players.

Of course, you have more options in a competitive youth sports program. As mentioned above, you can reward good behavior with more playing time. "Select teams" are just that—you have control over which players are selected to play on your team. And in some cases, you can more strenuously discipline your kids.

Provide Emotional Leadership

In any youth sports program, competitive or not, it's important that you provide emotional leadership. Sometimes, you need to shepherd your kids to where you want them to go. Setting a crisp pace in your practice activities and avoiding downtime will help keep everyone engaged. Preparation is an important part of running these types of practices.

In my experience, middle school boys are typically the most disruptive and difficult to deal with. But at any age, there are groups of kids who listen and learn, and others that try your patience. You will eventually coach a team that includes a mix of players and personalities that will frustrate you and prevent you from accomplishing your teaching goals. Do your best. On every team, there are individual kids who will benefit from your instruction.

Do you have any tips on how coaches in youth sports programs can deal with problem kids?

Copyright © 2012 Jeffrey S. Rhoads. All Rights Reserved

If you enjoyed this article, you may like my book:
The Joy of Youth Sports: Creating the best youth sports experience for your child (Amazon $8.95)

(Kindle Edition $2.99)

Read more...

Control Your Conversation During the Game

PARENT

   As discussed in this blog and elsewhere, some parents are too involved in their child's youth sports experience. At games they yell at the officials and call out to their son or daughter during the play. Most of us cringe a little when we're sitting near an overzealous parent.

But toward the other end of the spectrum is another type of spectator that can also test our patience. These are the parents and other individuals who constantly talk throughout the game.

Of course, sharing the game experience with others is a big part of what makes attending a game fun. But if you like to talk during the game, you need to pay some attention to when and how often you do so. Many parents attend these games to support and watch their child play. Other fans are there to enjoy the contest itself. Too much talking can distract and annoy these individuals—sometime to the point that they would just as soon see someone show-up to escort you away.

If you're more interested in socializing, try to locate a section in the stands where others share the same interest. Otherwise, try to keep your talking to stoppages in the game and quickly discontinue any conversations when the action resumes.

Also, be careful when making critical comments about a player, as the child’s parents may be sitting near you. I attended a local high school basketball game recently and heard one player’s father comment loudly after another player lost the ball out-of-bounds, “You’ve got to hold onto the ball!” Almost immediately, the player’s mother on the other side of me shouted, “Stop yelling at my boy!” to which the father responded “I yell at every player!”

Although I found this humorous, I don’t think the two parents did. It’s better not to talk critically about other players during the game. But if you must, speak quietly and make sure that the other parents aren’t sitting behind you!

Do you have any good spectator stories to tell?

Copyright © 2012 Jeffrey S. Rhoads. All Rights Reserved

If you enjoyed this article, you may like my book:
The Joy of Youth Sports: Creating the best youth sports experience for your child (Amazon $8.95)

(Kindle Edition $2.99)

Read more...

Stuff Happens Away from the Ball

PLAYER

   When you’re first learning how to play sports, it’s natural for you to focus your attention on the action around the ball (or puck in hockey). Your first instinct is to either move toward the ball to make a play or prepare yourself to receive a pass. It’s all about the ball—where it is, how to get it, and what to do when it’s in your hands. Even as you gain experience, you may still tend to focus much of your attention on what’s happening around the ball.

You need to understand, however, that you don’t need the ball in your hands to help yourself and your team. Opportunities to make plays and gain advantage without the ball are available elsewhere on the field of play.

Creating Opportunities Away from the Ball

To recognize these opportunities, you need to direct part of your attention to what’s going on away from the ball, how it’s affecting the game, and what you can do to influence the game without necessarily touching the ball. These opportunities to gain advantage away from the ball fall into one of two categories:

1. Ones in which you initiate actions to create an opportunity.
   
2. Ones in which you react to an opponent’s mistake.

Let’s take a look at an example that illustrates both of these types of opportunities. In basketball, you can potentially create a scoring opportunity by setting a screen for the player who you pass the ball to. The player receiving the pass can use your screen and either drive to the hoop for a layup or pull up for an outside shot. (This “on-ball” screen also sets up a possible “pick and roll” or “pick and pop” play.)

But as the diagram below illustrates, you can also move away from the ball to set a screen for a teammate on the other side of the court. In this instance you are initiating an “off-ball” action that will create a possible scoring opportunity (X3 uses your screen and receives a pass from X2 for a layup).

But sometimes another option presents itself in this situation—one that falls into the second category of reacting to an opponent’s mistake. It’s less obvious, but may be more effective in creating a scoring opportunity.

Imagine you’re the left guard (X3) and you see your defender looking away from you toward the point guard (X1) dribbling the ball at the top of the key. If your defender makes this mistake, you can cut “backdoor” toward the basket, receive a pass from your point guard, and score a layup. In this case, your defender has momentarily forgotten about you, and focused too much attention on the ball. (Note that the backdoor play is used not only in basketball, but also in several other sports including soccer, lacrosse, and hockey.)

Other sports present similar opportunities to gain advantage when a defender’s center of attention is solely on the action around the ball. In football, for instance, ball fakes and deception work because some defenders focus too much of their attention on getting to the ball and not enough on the subtle movements and other clues away from the ball that indicate a play’s true nature. (The actions of the offensive lineman, for instance, will often tell defenders whether the play is a pass or a run.)

Other Opportunities (Clearing Out Space)

Let’s take a look at a couple of other ways in which you can proactively create an off-ball opportunity to gain advantage. Against man-to-man defenses, you can sometimes do so by simply moving to a different spot. This will empty the space you previously occupied and enable a teammate to move into, and take advantage of, the same space. For example, a teammate with the ball can drive into an area you just “cleared out”, one that is closer to the goal and provides a better chance to score.

Still another possibility to create advantage in the above situation is for the X2 to take his or her defender away from a spot and then quickly return to it. This is especially effective when an offensive player wants to receive a pass in a specific spot, but is aggressively defended in a way that denies the pass or the desired position. A basketball forward who wants to set up on the “block” near the basket may first need to take his defender away from that spot. The forward then returns to the block, ideally with the defender trailing behind. Likewise, a guard who wants to receive a pass within his or her shooting range might first need to drive his player toward the basket and then V-cut back to the desired spot on the court.

There are many things you can do without having the ball in your hands. To improve your play, try to raise your awareness of the entire “world” around you. Always be aware of the plays you can make away from the ball and try to recognize all aspects of game situations. When you’re on defense, of course, the same principles apply. But in this case, you want to recognize your opponent’s tactics and deny the advantage he or she is seeking away from the ball.

Copyright © 2012 Jeffrey S. Rhoads. All Rights Reserved

If you enjoyed this article, you may like my book:
The Joy of Youth Sports: Creating the best youth sports experience for your child (Amazon $8.95)

(Kindle Edition $2.99)

Read more...

Take Responsibility for Your Coaching Mistakes

COACH

   Just as players make errors of judgment along with other mistakes, expect that you too will experience the same—especially if you’re new to coaching. How you handle these moments will often affect the way in which your players view you.

Should a poor play occur, typically the player is at fault. These errors are handled as “teaching moments” or in other ways suitable to the individual player and nature of the mistake. But if a player’s mistake is in any way related to your instruction, or possibly caused by poor communication on your part, what should you do?

Demonstrate Responsibility

A youth coach who is in it for the kids needs to look beyond his or her ego and immediately redirect the fault away from the player. In these instances you should step up and accept full responsibility—clearly stating to your player that the fault lies with you.

Should you fail to do so, you may damage the self-esteem of less confident players. You may also lose the respect of your team. On the other hand, taking responsibility for your occasional slip-ups will demonstrate accountability—a positive characteristic that you want to instill in each of your players. When your players see you stand up and take responsibility, they will likely also feel an increased sense of loyalty to you and the team.

Create a Lasting Impression

In my youth, I played organized football for eight years, mostly at the quarterback position. I had a number of good coaches, but one of my favorites was a man named John Cashmore. When I think of him now, all that I can recall is one specific memory along with an overall feeling of warmth toward him and his coaching style.

As to the memory, it's of a single play in a close game. After driving my team down to our opponent’s two yard line, I called a timeout and went to the sideline to discuss our next play. For some reason, Mr. Cashmore called a pass play—even though it was first down and we had been running the ball well. I questioned him about the call, but he just told me to get back out on the field. When we ran the play, I made a poor decision and threw an interception. As I walked back to our sideline, I was visibly upset, blaming myself for making such a stupid mistake.

Without hesitation, Mr. Cashmore pulled me aside, put his hand on my shoulder, and forcefully told me that he had no idea what he was thinking about when he called that play. He admitted that we should have run the ball, and that he should have listened to my suggestion. Although he could have chosen to blame me for making a poor play, he instead took upon himself the responsibility for all that happened on the field.

How do you want to be remembered by your players?

Copyright © 2012 Jeffrey S. Rhoads. All Rights Reserved

If you enjoyed this article, you may like my book:
The Joy of Youth Sports: Creating the best youth sports experience for your child (Amazon $8.95)

(Kindle Edition $2.99)

Read more...