Well, I started this (very) occasional blog as a direct consequence of starting to coach a new team, back in July 2009.
Well the ‘season’ came to an official end today with the boys playing very well against a team who also tried to play positive, expansive football. The team I coach ran out winners in both games of mini-soccer, but football itself was definitely the winner today.
Both teams’ supporters congratulated good play from both teams and genuine smiles of delight, applause and appreciation from all sides of the pitch, accompanied our goalkeeper’s shot and goal, fully the length of the field, in unusual circumstances.
Our opponents had a corner and even sent their goalie forward to see if he could score. A good corner, it must be said was swung in, but our goalie called for the ball, caught it well and, recognising their goalie was in our team’s penalty area, ran to the edge of the area and struck a cleanly hit volley over their last defender in a flat trajectory that saw it carry over the line for his very own ‘goal of the season’ !
He was duly mobbed by his team mates with broad grins all round - a true ‘magic moment’ of football.
Prior to this season, I had coached, exclusively, women and girls for the last 9 years. I had never coached recreational boys before - I had coached at Centres of Excellence for both boys and girls in the past - and I did have some concerns as to what the atmosphere would be like.
I tend to use a couple of coaching message boards (Footy 4 Kids at www.soccercoachingforums.com and World Class Coaching at http://www.worldclasscoaching.com/wccforums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=1 ) and so had been fully aware of the potential for ‘nightmare’ scenarios with WAAC (Win At All Costs)coaches / managers, overly “exuberant” parents, vocal abuse of referees and so on that seems to exist in mini-soccer and junior football circles.
Now, having said all that - it has been an absolute delight to coach and manage players in our league (Sussex Sunday Youth League U10s).
The parents of the players in the team I have coached have been outstandingly supportive and also very helpful in erecting mini-soccer goals for games, running our tea bar and so on.
But the opposition coaches and parents have been a credit to the game as well. Encouragement and support has been the order of the season and I have genuinely not heard any verbal abuse of players, opponents and so on. It’s exactly the way the FA is after.
Coaches have been friendly, approachable, and all round good eggs - they all seem to value development, enjoyment and participation over winning at all costs and a sort of shared experience seems to have brought us together.
So, for all the negative stories that abound about kids’ football, this is one to redress the balance - a positive and wholly enjoyable experience throughout the season.
I feel privileged to have been invited to coach the team and to have observed their individual and collective progress during the course of the last 9 months or so.
Although we are at the end of the official season, we still have a couple of friendlies and one or two of the usual summer tournaments to enjoy, so there will still be some fun to be had yet!
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Football In A Foreign Land
Well, it's some while since we were on holiday, back in the summer of 2009, which, given the snow, seems even longer ago than it would otherwise.
We went to the beautiful island of Corsica and whilst there I managed to persuade the family that they were desperate to attend the French Ligue 2 game between SC Bastia and Laval.
Now, Bastia have some impressive history - they came runners up to PSV Eindhoven in the 1978 UEFA Cup and were French Cup winners in 1981. However, they are currently in Ligue 2 and have a bit of a mish mash of a ground. On one side there is the impressive Papi Tribune which, whilst a bit concrete, is relatively new and quite grand. On the other side is a small stand reminiscent of your average undeveloped Ryman League stand.
However, they were very helpful and open when we went to purchase tickets for the game and we were invited in to wait for service and were left to view the striking Trophy wall which carried original and replica trophies from current and past local achievements.
Anyway, the point was, that seeing the impressive Papi Tribune hove into view as we approached, it struck me that I still get a frisson of excitement whenever I stumble across a football ground in a foreign land. It's almost as though I recognise a piece of myself, the recognition of being a part of the international brotherhood (and sisterhood) of football.
I mean, we all KNOW that everyone (or nearly everyone) plays, watches and enjoys football, it's just the physical representation of that which brings home to me how much a part of so many lives that it is and how football is very much a part of the local community.
In Bastia's case, the game didn't go so well - they lost 1-0 at home and by the end of the game, the home supporters weren't too happy !
But the different style of game (from the English equivalent), the passion of the supporters and the experience of Football In A Foreign Land, made for a memorable experience. And the view wasn't so bad, either !
I aslo perceived a much less aggressive / intensive approach to the officials by players from both sides. Any disagreement with a decision seemed to take the form of a casual enquiry from a player or two with a brief explanation from the referee, a shrug of shoulders all around and they just got on with the game - how refreshing !
From Bastia, I can go back around 12 months when were fortunate enough to go to Sardinia. We stayed close to a town called Budoni which had it's own football team - a club with a newly developing ground and playing in, roughly, the equivalent of Blue Square South, I estimated.
A club formed as recently ago as 1973, this club had a 3G astroturf pitch on which to pay its games to save any real turf from the extreme heat of their summer. A nice new main stand / tribune, modern store room, gym and changing rooms were impressive for the standard.
I managed to get myself invited to watch the first team squad practice one evening and I was able to see a session constructed mainly around a pattern of play in a 4 3 3 system.
Attached images show how this relatively small club is again at the heart of the community.
And way up in the mountains of Sardinia, was a small community called Brunella - again with its own, albeit much more modest stadium, but still with dugouts and floodlights for evening practice.
So, the passion for football is apparent in many places and just the sight of a small, large, modern, antiquated, stadium or patch of a ground with a pair of goals, just makes me feel a part of the game, no matter where I am.
We went to the beautiful island of Corsica and whilst there I managed to persuade the family that they were desperate to attend the French Ligue 2 game between SC Bastia and Laval.
Now, Bastia have some impressive history - they came runners up to PSV Eindhoven in the 1978 UEFA Cup and were French Cup winners in 1981. However, they are currently in Ligue 2 and have a bit of a mish mash of a ground. On one side there is the impressive Papi Tribune which, whilst a bit concrete, is relatively new and quite grand. On the other side is a small stand reminiscent of your average undeveloped Ryman League stand.
However, they were very helpful and open when we went to purchase tickets for the game and we were invited in to wait for service and were left to view the striking Trophy wall which carried original and replica trophies from current and past local achievements.
Anyway, the point was, that seeing the impressive Papi Tribune hove into view as we approached, it struck me that I still get a frisson of excitement whenever I stumble across a football ground in a foreign land. It's almost as though I recognise a piece of myself, the recognition of being a part of the international brotherhood (and sisterhood) of football.
I mean, we all KNOW that everyone (or nearly everyone) plays, watches and enjoys football, it's just the physical representation of that which brings home to me how much a part of so many lives that it is and how football is very much a part of the local community.
In Bastia's case, the game didn't go so well - they lost 1-0 at home and by the end of the game, the home supporters weren't too happy !
But the different style of game (from the English equivalent), the passion of the supporters and the experience of Football In A Foreign Land, made for a memorable experience. And the view wasn't so bad, either !
I aslo perceived a much less aggressive / intensive approach to the officials by players from both sides. Any disagreement with a decision seemed to take the form of a casual enquiry from a player or two with a brief explanation from the referee, a shrug of shoulders all around and they just got on with the game - how refreshing !
From Bastia, I can go back around 12 months when were fortunate enough to go to Sardinia. We stayed close to a town called Budoni which had it's own football team - a club with a newly developing ground and playing in, roughly, the equivalent of Blue Square South, I estimated.
A club formed as recently ago as 1973, this club had a 3G astroturf pitch on which to pay its games to save any real turf from the extreme heat of their summer. A nice new main stand / tribune, modern store room, gym and changing rooms were impressive for the standard.
I managed to get myself invited to watch the first team squad practice one evening and I was able to see a session constructed mainly around a pattern of play in a 4 3 3 system.
Attached images show how this relatively small club is again at the heart of the community.
And way up in the mountains of Sardinia, was a small community called Brunella - again with its own, albeit much more modest stadium, but still with dugouts and floodlights for evening practice.
So, the passion for football is apparent in many places and just the sight of a small, large, modern, antiquated, stadium or patch of a ground with a pair of goals, just makes me feel a part of the game, no matter where I am.
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