Black: Make learning a lifelong process

A recent article in THE DAILY NONPAREIL
Dennis Friend, Staff Writer



The classroom is not the only place a child learns. Parents can be instrumental in instilling a love of knowledge in their children that will last throughout their lives.

"The parent is the child's first teacher," said Dave Black, school improvement specialist for the Lewis Central Community School District. "The family attitude about learning is very important. We can make a difference in their attitudes."

Black said a good learning environment starts with parental attitudes, good communication between parents and children and a belief that learning is not something that starts and ends in a classroom.

"We're modeling appropriate behavior for our kids, you see," Black said. For instance, at the Black home, "We sit and read as a family every night. We all do crossword puzzles before supper. We engage our minds."

The idea is to demonstrate that learning is a crucial part of an active life. He suggested reading books and magazines, talking to children about things that interest them or you and engaging them in everyday experiences that drive home a message about education.

"We're remodeling at our house right now," Black said. "We're putting in light fixtures, and you have to use math and do measurements. How do you decide where to cut a hole or where to install a light? Involve the kids in the conversation. These conversations can make math real."

He cites landscaping a yard or starting a garden as additional examples that can be used to draw students into real-life learning experiences. If a child is involved in discussions about how tall a plant may grow or when a flower blooms, "you are engaging with kids in positive talk about solving real problems. They will get interested."

Black draws another example from his own life. He has a son who is a Marine in Iraq and another son at home. The resulting conversations teach everything from geography and politics to social studies and government.

The key word is "conversation," said Black, meaning there will be two-way communication, as opposed to one-way lectures or monologues. Parents can talk about learning something interesting, then ask about what the child learned in school. A parent might also ask what a child is interested in or ask how they feel about something.

"The learning process doesn't stop when they graduate from high school," Black said. "It's a lifelong journey. And kids learn a great deal from us when we articulate our feelings."

Other tips to turn learning into a lifelong process include keeping books in the house, turning off the TV once in a while and having children keep a journal or diary. He recommended word games and logic problems. He also suggested letting them help with grocery lists and having them write thank you notes because "it helps their writing and spelling and builds confidence and social skills."

Black warns about pushing too far or too hard, because "it's possible to de-motivate a child by going to extremes. That's true in school or soccer."

Internal motivation is the most powerful, he said, and the ideal is to teach a child over time to take responsibility for his or her own learning. Asking questions and providing learning opportunities and resources will helps, because "you want to help them find the relevance. It's about more than just pleasing a teacher. Otherwise, when school ends, they no longer worry about pleasing the teacher, and learning stops."

It's also important to remember that everyone makes mistakes, mispronounces a word or messes up once in a while, Black said, and expecting perfection does not help. There's also the prospect of scaring a child away from appropriate risk-taking behavior simply because they are afraid to fail.

"Kids need to learn to go for it," Black said. "They should not be afraid of taking a risk, or they won't ever swing the bat for fear of striking out. Fear of failure can diminish the chance of success later in life. It we don't have anyone taking a risk, we won't have new knowledge later on."

"The world wants you to be literate, to solve problems, to make good decisions. When you graduate, you don't have to get an 'A' anymore, but you have to be accountable," Black said.

"And you have to be willing to do the right thing when no one is looking."

©SW Iowa News 2007

The Perils of Criticism: Positive reinforcement can do more than negative feedback

By: Craig Fisher, Ph.D.
When you consider all the barriers that athletes face in their search for success and then think of all the ways coaches assist athletes in reaching their goals, there is something that just does not fit: That is the major form of giving feedback to athletes. Negative feedback, commonly and accurately called criticism, far outstrips positive reinforcement as many coaches’ major communication style. Add a sarcastic flavor to the criticism and what you have is one of the prime factors destroying athletes’ self-confidence. The real tragedy is that nocoach intends to be destructive and would surely argue that this is not the case. Let me suggest that you withhold judgment on this matter until I have completed my essay on the perils of criticism.
Allow me to get you personally involved in the discussion by asking you to respond to a series of questions.
• Does being criticized ever leave you angry, resentful, belittled or feeling rejected?
• Do you sense you ever make others feel this way, even unintentionally?
• Do you ever hesitate to offer helpful correction for fear of offending someone?
• Have you ever heard an athlete claim, "The coach is on me”? In your days as an athlete, did you ever say that?
• Right now, can you recall three times in your life when you really appreciated being criticized?
These questions begin to put a different slant on criticism, I hope, because you can see the picture from the receiver’s side rather than from the myopic view of the giver of criticism.
Criticism was originally conceived as a neutral, objective appraisal of ideas and actions. To criticize meant that you communicated in a way that enabled others to use the information to their advantage and benefit. Criticism, then, was a tool to enhance personal growth and relationships. Does your experience match this description? Or might it be valuable to consider just how criticism works?

Sid Simon, prominent growth therapist, suggests that people are connected by thin gossamer threads along which communication passes. When a person (the giver) sends along some critical comment such as, "How many times do I have to tell you," the barbed arrow is acknowledged by
the receiver who immediately sends back an equally caustic reply: "What gives you the right to talk to me that way?"
The reply might be verbal or nonverbal, depending on the equality of power in the relationship.
The athlete typically would not throw verbal darts at the coach following critical feedback, but the nonverbal signs can be just as obvious. The important point is this: The receiver of the criticism
loses a little chunk of self-confidence because of the negative message and immediately responds by sending an equally harmful reply. Not surprisingly, criticism begets criticism and soon threads are so stretched or torn that communication ceases. But consider who loses the most in this exchange of criticism.
It is well known that success tends to beget success, whereas failure tends to beget failure.
Equally well known is the adage that sugar attracts more flies than vinegar. The cost to the receiver of criticism, basically negative feedback, is a loss of self-confidence, the opposite of what the coach intended.
But this is only the beginning of the criticism cycle. When the athlete’s self-confidence is threatened, a protective strategy (albeit subconscious) is to send the return message to the coach to “right the ship.” Overtly or covertly, the coach is bound to receive emotional backlash, either in the form of anger or silence. The critical coach ends up the big loser because he or she is labeled a critical person who may see how such an innocent and maybe nonthinking comment gets blown out of proportion (from at least the coach’s perspective). The intention is to be helpful but the criticism achieves just the opposite result.
Why is criticism so destructive? First, criticism tends to close paths of communication, not open them. Coach criticism is intended to be a one-way street; no acknowledgment is called for, only the idyllic hope that the athlete will internalize all that the criticism entails and be grateful. Interestingly, it is the coach who labels the criticism constructive because “after all, that’s my job and I want my athletes to achieve their potential.” Need I belabor the point by asking you to
consider if the majority of athletes see constant streams of criticism as helpful. Very few athletes believe that constructive criticism is that beneficial.
Second, as stated earlier, coach criticism is usually followed by the particular athlete’s self justified emotional response (shouting back, denial, silence, moodiness). If you think about your past experiences, my guess is that you have seen all of these responses. Adding this emotional layer to the failure experience prevents athletes from being able to sort out what might be helpful to them.

Third, most criticism offers no suggestions for improvement. Where is it written that athletes tend to perform better when they are told what they are doing wrong?
Where did we learn that highlighting athlete’s errors results in performance changes? Or, if it does sometimes, is it the best approach? Are we so naive that we believe athletes will thank us for our reasoned criticism and vow to be better next time? What little I know about the complexity of human motivation and behavior change suggests that athletes tend to be motivated more with positive reinforcement (e.g., praise, recognition) than by punishing criticism.

Last, criticism overlooks the larger performance picture. In reality, most athletes do more things right than wrong, but coaches often tend to focus on the errors. If we get extremely critical, we can even begin to criticize the random and inconsequential errors always present in imperfect performances. We end up criticizing and trying to correct mistakes that rarely repeat themselves in the same week or month.
Is it possible to recast performance feedback in positive rather than negative directions? More specifically, is it not possible to reinforce performance when it is correct or approximates correctness instead of constantly pointing out what is wrong?
Why is criticism used so much? With all the obvious drawbacks of a critical communication style, why would reasoned individuals continue the practice? It clearly is not because it has been well thought out and systematically planned. And maybe that is what makes it so unfortunate. We are slaves to the power of models unless we recognize and learn to break the cycle.
Everyone has heard it prophesied: We will teach as we were taught, coach others as we were
coached and raise our children as our parents raised us. What have we experienced and what
behaviors do we now model? For a large number of us the answer is criticism.
I am not suggesting that any of us intentionally set out to destroy our athletes’ self-confidence and
place unnecessary emotional hurdles in their paths, but nonetheless that is the reality. Coaches have their athletes’ best interest in mind when they direct critical comments their way. That is what makes the outcome so unfortunate; we mean to help but often we hinder. On a more castigating note, there is a certain inherent cheapness to criticism. It is possible to use
perfection as your frame of reference and judge each of your athletes against that standard. The reality is that there is no perfect performance; therefore every performance that you observe
affords the opportunity for your critical comments. I refer to this as cheap shot coaching because almost anybody can do it; it takes no talent at all. If, indeed, you sense you must always offer some feedback, then you will always have material for your evaluation. But, then, that is the mark
of the mentally lazy coach, one who cannot see the big picture of emerging success for the egregious performance glitch.
I suppose by this point you have decided either that my arguments have some validity or that I am out of touch with reality and know nothing about coach-athlete communication. Because, after
all, constructive criticism is the backbone of sport skill improvement. For those of you who are going to continue to use criticism, hopefully not as unthinkingly as before, I offer some guidelines.
Periodically, you need to remind yourself of the main purpose of your criticism — to get athletes’ attention and motivate them to change their behavior. Criticism then, being as sensitizing as it is, needs to pass some particular tests. To be effective, criticism needs to be filtered before and as it is given.
Following are suggestions to you as coaches as you consider the application of criticism in the coaching process:
• IS THE TIMING RIGHT? Is the athlete in emotional shape to hear the criticism? Athletes
who are frustrated with their lack of success are not good consumers of negative
feedback; they have enough negative thoughts of their own to process.
• DO YOUR ATHLETES NEED MORE PRAISE? Positives are more powerful agents of
behavior change than negatives.
• IS YOUR CRITICISM NOVEL? Or is it the “same old, same old” harangue? The latter is
ineffective because you have heard yourself say too often, “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
• ARE YOU POSITIVE THAT THE ATHLETE CAN MAKE THE CHANGE? Is the behavior
primarily under the particular athlete’s control or are others involved (e.g., a bad pass
needs both a passer and a receiver’s participation). Does the athlete have the skills and
confidence to make the change? Is the performance error due to inadequate skill or a
lack of effort? The latter is perhaps correctable; the former demands time on task. Do not
dismiss the significance of self-confidence because it lies at the heart of behavior
change. Only self-confident athletes will be able to internalize performance feedback if it
is layered with negative evaluation.
• IS YOUR CRITICISM CLEAR ENOUGH TO BE ACTED UPON? Does the athlete know
what needs to be changed? Nothing is more frustrating than being criticized and not
knowing what to do to make the criticism go away.
• CRITICISM OFTEN FORECLOSES THE POSSIBILITY OF IMPROVEMENT BECAUSE
THE COACH CRITIC DOES NOT LISTEN TO THE ATHLETE’S RESPONSE. You must
process how the information is being received to assess its effectiveness (e.g., frowning
brow, gritting teeth, no effort made to change). Be quick to recognize any changes made
in response to your criticism.
• NO HIT-AND-RUN BEHAVIOR IS GOING TO WORK. Unless you are prepared to be
systematic with your criticism and commit yourself to the length of time it takes to change
old behavior and consolidate new behavior, it’s very doubtful your criticism will be
effective.

THE LAW OF THE HARVEST AND SOCCER

“I’m so confused,” commented Jean, a high school soccer player. “It seems like every coach I talk to tells me something different about the game. So, who do I believe?”
Our statement for Jean is, “Learn to figure out more and more about soccer on your own.” Please understand that we are not reducing the importance of your coach. What we are saying is to take more responsibility for figuring things out on your own. In accepting that responsibility, here is something you will notice. Most people talk about personal
preferences rather than about facts or laws. Throughout your book we do our best to stimulate your thinking in terms of laws versus preferences. Here is one example.

From Coach Robertson
Fortunately for my days in sports, I grew up around farms and farming. I say that because it was on the farm where I learned The 1st Law of the Farm. Students….Have you ever crammed for a test in school only to forget most of what you learned the day after the test? Players…..Do you ever allow yourself to get out of shape during the off season, only to show up for the first day of practice trying to cram in getting into shape? What growing up around farmers in the Midwest taught me was that there are seasons and times for everything. Take for example bringing in the harvest. Harvesting a crop and getting the reward was great. Harvest time was part of the reward for all of the sweat and back breaking hard work. But I learned early in life that you couldn’t just do the harvest any more than a soccer players can just do reaching their potential. You can’t cram on the farm and you can’t cram in soccer. There is a time of the year when farmers have to work themselves silly just to get the fields ready for planting. Then they have to plant good seed and the right seed. They couldn’t plant pumpkin seeds and expect to harvest corn, nor can you plant bad seed and expect to harvest a good soccer crop. Then the real work begins! They have to weed the fields, keep the bugs out, water the new sprouts—they have to tend the crops. Sad to say, but I also learned that farmers weren’t always able to bring in the harvest they had planned on, or thought that all of their hard work deserved. I learned real fast that farmers couldn’t control the rain, the wind, the sun, the bugs—they could not control all of the elements that helped bring in the harvest, or destroy it. In like manner, you can’t control everything about competing in the soccer. There are too many factors outside of your control to focus simply on winning; the harvest. But when things do go right, when you have done your best, when you have given your all to those things that are under your control, and the harvest does come in, it’s a pretty exciting time!

Take a quick stretch break. Take 3 deep breaths. Stretch out for a minute. Now we are going to suggest how The Law of the Farm governs soccer just as surely as the law of gravity influences your movements, your arm swing, and ball flight.
• There is a time to prepare. When you miss the window of opportunity to prepare for the season, and before games, you diminish the harvest.
• You reap what you sow. Do not think you can practice without intensity and a lack of commitment then expect to play with the right intensity come match time. Bad habits produce other bad habits.
• Pay attention to the things you can control. Good farmers pay attention to the things under their control. The things they can control can never be at the mercy of the things they cannot control. Accomplished athletes pay attention to performance factors under their control, including the mind’s side of performance. They enjoy the moments of practice, rehearsal, competition, and the harvest.
• Learn from feedback. True competitors learn as much or more from what went wrong in practice as from what went right in their preparation and performance. Learning from feedback is your major method of improvement. Athletic intelligence includes learning from mistakes, reinforcing what you did right, and from continuously preparing, practicing, and performing at higher levels. Athletes who do not learn from their competitive experiences are destined, and doomed, to repeat the same errors and suffer the same fate time after time.
• Remember The Law of the Harvest.


“Laws are starting to make more sense to me,” said Kim (a HS Senior soccer). “It’s kind of like jumping off a 30 foot bluff into a lake. You can’t jump off the bluff, get half way down, change your mind, and stop falling. The Law of Gravity rules!”


LIFE SKILL
• Do you ever slack off on your homework, yet still expect to keep your grades up so that you can play soccer? It doesn’t work does it? The Law of the Harvest catches up with you.
• Think of rest, recovery, and adequate sleep as one of your “seeds” for playing and performing up to your potential in school and on the field. Do you ever cut your sleep short to party, stay out late, or talk too long on your cell phone, yet still plan on playing well in tomorrow’s big game or do well on your Biology Exam? It doesn’t work. You reap what you sow and The Law of the Harvest catches up with you.
• You got the point, but one more for good measure. You have the right serving technique, which is a great “seed” for success, but you don’t handle stress well. The same goes with your teachers and coaches. You make fairly good grades and listen in practice, but you don’t handle stress well. Putting in the extra time to develop the mental skills that help you control your stress on and off the soccer field are part of preparing for the harvest.

WORK TOWARD THE LAW OF THE HARVEST.

A Nation of Wimps

By: Hara Estroff Marano, Psychology Today
Summary: Parents are going to ludicrous lengths to take the bumps out of life for their children. However, parental hyperconcern has the net effect of making kids more fragile; that may be why they're breaking down in record numbers.

Maybe it's the cyclist in the park, trim under his sleek metallic blue helmet, cruising along the dirt path... at three miles an hour. On his tricycle.

Or perhaps it's today's playground, all-rubber-cushioned surface where kids used to skin their knees. And... wait a minute... those aren't little kids playing. Their mommies—and especially their daddies—are in there with them, coplaying or playby-play coaching. Few take it half-easy on the perimeter benches, as parents used to do, letting the kids figure things out for themselves.

Then there are the sanitizing gels, with which over a third of parents now send their kids to school, according to a recent survey. Presumably, parents now worry that school bathrooms are not good enough for their children.

Please click HERE for the full article.

Thoughts on Children and Soccer from Claudio Reyna, Former US Men's National Team World Cup Captain:

"For some reason, adults - some who can't even kick a ball - think it's perfectly okay to scream at children while they're playing soccer.

How normal would it seem if a mother gave a six-year-old some crayons and a coloring book and started screaming? "Use the red crayon! Stay in the lines! Don't use yellow!"

You think that child would develop a passion for drawing? Most important, parents must realize that playing sports is a way for children to express themselves."

Click the shirt and the image will get bigger...you can get this one on soccer.com

D.O.C. Message-It is Game Time!

It has been an exciting fall already; teams have been accepted to play in the Iowa State Cup tournament, the U13A team won the 2007 Elkhorn Fall Soccer Festival earlier this month, the unification of CBYSA and CBFC has produced an academy that has 70, under 10 boys, and 70, under 10 girls being trained by Brad Silvey, and other CBFC coaches, and everyone is finding success on the training and match pitch. It is a joy for me to be up on the Kirn fields 2-3 times a week and watch our coaches develop themselves and their players. There are many great things going on in this community and CBFC is one of them.

As I receive feeback from parents and players about their experiences with the club, it is generally positive and/or constructive and rarely negative. I applaud the CBFC families for understanding that we are in the developmental stages of building a soccer community that will endure the early stages for the good of the long term development. The hard part for us to sometimes grasp is that we have unpaid coaches that are trying to learn and develop at an accelerated pace. We forget that these are people that may have never played the game and are learning soccer for the first time through the experiences as a coach. I would like to remind everyone that the focus for now is to develop members of our community to be great coaches for years to come and not to hire coaches that are here for a monthly paycheck that may just get up and leave after a few years in our community. We are investing in the future by going through the bumps and bruises of the developmental years...so far, so good if you ask me. Sometimes we have a difficult time understanding why our coaches do what they do and to be honest sometimes we simply just disagree. This is healthy and good for our growth. It seems that everyday I open an email with a suggestion on how to improve the club, a coach or our vision. Honestly, it is discouraging at times. However, I have always invisioned that this club would take ten years to be a powerhouse in the metro area. We are barely past two years in to the process and I think we are beyond 30% of the way towards being where I saw us being in 2015. Back to the coaches developing over time and the soccer family learning to deal with different coaches and mentalities...

...I sent an article to all of our coaches titled "Game Day Coaching" by Pat McCarry. I wanted to share the article with you so you can compliment the "Game Day" experience by preparing your children for the day to "show off to mom and dad."

Focus: Coaching 0 Agcs: U-IS and younger
Game Day Coaching
The weekend contest should be viewed
as an extension of the weekday training sessions
By Pat McCarry
Director of Professional Development
U.K. Elite Soccer

The weekend soccer game at the youth level should be viewed as the second or third coaching session of the week, not as an independent entity It is a wonderful opportunity to observe how effective our training sessions have been up to that point, specifically those that have been delivered in the previous week. For example, if we have been working on passing and movement in training but see no evidence of it during the game then we know that we need to reinforce and supplement our work in this area. Thus our primary consideration is continual development.
With long-term development in mind, the coach should produce a flexible, season-long plan that ensures sharply focused timing sessions and continuity between sessions, Each practice should build on the previous ones — reinforcing what has already been covered, and the game should be an integral pan of that “coaching unit” (i.e. keeping possession). There is a temptation to coach everything on game day However, if the coach does not remain focused on this key unit, why should the players? If the players do not focus on the key unit, how can we assess learning?
Unfortunately within the frenzied excitement of game day it is all too easy to be caught up in the thrill of winning. The coach sometimes Feels judged on his/her record of wins and losses and this can undoubtedly affect their approach towards the game. This often manifests itself in a risk- free “kick the ball hard and chase” philosophy which may be supported by an unknowledgeable parent audience. Worse still, one may see the hysterical berating of young children which so often accompanies a results-driven approach. Of course, this strategy may win games in the short term but it will surely hinder the longer term development and enjoyment of the players.

Game day is an exciting experience for everyone concerned, but it first and foremost is about the children. Parents should have a simple but important role to play: they should constantly encourage and cheer for their team. Their role is to support, not coach, the players. This should be made clear from the start of the season; otherwise the children are exposed to too much conflicting, subjective and varied instruction.

THE WARMUP
On game day the players should arrive at a set time period before kickoff so that they can prepare physically and mentally for the game. The coach should find a suitable area — preferably Free of distractions -- and have the players perform some activities with a ball before they stretch a little. At the youth level it is not necessary to spend a great deal of time stretching, but a basic routine will educate the players in good habits.
Some teams like to have a set warm-up structure that includes some passing and shooting, while others prefer to tailor their warmup to the theme of the week, which may be defending, passing, shooting etc. Either way the routine should increase in intensity as game time gets closer. During this time the coach also should take the opportunity to talk to individuals as necessary with respect to their role for that game.

PREGAME INSTRUCTION
Before the game begins it is important to take five minutes to deliver clear, simple pre-game instructions.
During this time the players are notified of the starting lineup and are given three key points as to what the team will attempt to do. Any more than this will overload the young players. They also should be told to go out and really enjoy the game and to do their best for their team.

COACHING THE GAME
The first 10 minutes of the game should be used to observe as much as possible. Let the children play and get into the flow of the game. If you are over-coaching and too involved at this point, you will not be objective in your observation. Points to consider during this observation:
• Are the players attempting to carry our your instructions with relation to the theme of the week?
• Are they maintaining their basic shape as a team as they move up and down the field?
At a more advanced level you also would be looking at your opponent’s formation, style of play strengths and weaknesses. However, at this age the main factors for winning are typically not tactical but more linked to athleticism (speed and strength), basic skills and technique. With this in mind if a match-up between two players clearly is biased in the opposition’s favor, you may consider a positional change. A player often develops quickly when playing against someone who is slightly stronger, but loses confidence against someone clearly superior.
The temptation for most youth coaches is to over-coach during the game and give the players too much information to assimilate. They simply are too involved. This is particularly the case when the player in possession of the ball is being coached. The coach should never address this player or be making their decisions for them (though it can be tempting!). For instance, there is no educational value in shouting “Pass! Pass to a player dribbling up the field. If he or she passes after our dictate, what does that tell us about the learning process? We will be more effective by speaking calmly and concisely to players who are not immediately involved in the play or after they have just made a play. It also can be good practice to instruct players when the ball is out of bounds. In this way they are listening to you and understanding you rather than making every single play based on your demands.

Throughout the game it is essential that the coach remain positive with the players despite any frustrations. The children are at a sensitive age and seek the approval of adults. Negative, discouraging comments will adversely affect their level of enjoyment. This is not appropriate. Neither is it appropriate for the coach to direct negative comments toward the officials. The referee has a tough enough job without being criticized by the coach. Coaches should try to respect all decisions of referees with a sense of calm detachment, which will then be followed by the players.
The coach is without doubt a role model for the children whether he/she likes it or not. The choice is whether to be a positive or negative role model. Whichever way the children will begin to emulate the coach’s behavior.

HALFTIME INSTRUCTION game may give the player an opportunity to develop his/her all-round

At halftime it is important to give the players a couple of minutes to take a drink, rest and compose themselves before speaking to them. Your instructions can be a combination of what the team is doing well and what the team should look to improve upon. At this point you also may choose to address some of the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses — with a view to encouraging problem-solving. Again, he careful not to overload the players. Individual coaching can take place immediately before the players enter the field for the second half. Send the players out with a positive, motivational statement, not an ultima tum. Remember, they should he playing for fun and development.

SUBSTITUTING PLAYERS
At this age the players all should be receiving playing time and also should at some point during the season have opportunities to start the game. This ensures that the weaker players have the necessary time to develop and retain a healthy degree of confidence. When substitut ing players, ensure that those going into the game have been warmed up and spoken to regarding their role and how it relates to the team’s objectives.

Those coming out also should be spoken to regarding their perfor mance. This is best done after they have taken a drink and have com posed themselves. Begin with a positive statement, give them feedback as to what they may have done better, then end with an encouraging comment. This form of communication has been termed the “feedback sandwich.” It is designed to improve the player while keeping self- esteem and confidence intact.

When considering a substitution policy, it should be remembered that it takes time to adjust to a position. Playing two positions during a
game. However, to place the player in more than two positions during one game can be very confusing at this age, or indeed at any age.
THE ROLE OF THE BENCH

There is a temptation at this age for the players to completely “switch off” when they are not involved in the game. This behavior can range from complete disinterest in the game to acti’ities that are distracting to coaches and players alike. The children should be encouraged to take a drink after being substituted and then stand to. gether on the sideline, near enough to the coach that he/she can speak to them about the game. Their role should be twofold: first to take an active interest in the game and second to cheer for their teammates. The coach could even give them a specific area to focus on, e.g. what is the highest number of consecutive passes that our team makes before losing possession?
Active observation will develop the children’s understanding of the game and also will foster team spirit. If this is implemented, their rest time will be well spent.

POST-GAME COMMZNTS
After the players have shaken hands with the opposition, sit them down and allow them to compose themselves and take a drink. Take this opportunity to address the successes and weaknesses of the game, especially relating to the theme of the week. Most of all send the players away with some positive comments and a smile on their faces. Enjoyment is paramount.

CONCLUSION
The most effective youth coaches:

Do Not...
Become negative
Command players without explanation
Substitute without thought or reason
“Pigeon hole’ players
Berate officials or players
Look to blame anyone
Let frustrations show
Coach players in possession
Presume players know how they performed
Measure achievement solely by results

Do...
Remain positive
Guide players
Have a substitution policy
Vary positions
Respect opponents
Speak to substituted players
Coach players without the ball
Keep things in perspective
Enjoy themselves
Accept decisions calmly for events on the field
It is essential that we understand that in soccer, particularly, the game is the best teacher. Vie, the coaches and trainers, are facilitators whose main work is predominantly done in practice and certainly be fore the game begins. The perfect team performance that we strive for will rarely occur, so let’s be realistic and celebrate the smaller successes as they unfold, regardless of the final result.
Soccer journal September/October 2007

I also find it worthy to note that by having the parents know what is expected of the coaches on game days will help our coaches be accountable for proper game day nurturing and tradition. It also allows the parents to take note in how much the coaches truly care about their players development as well as their own maturation as coaches.

Lastly, I would like to remind all of us that the coaches are to coach at training and allow the players to perform what they have learned at training. The best example of what it should be like is this:

Assume that your child is preparing to be in a play. They have practice and recitals and practice some more. The child does not learn their entire part in one practice, nor does he/she learn a single part perfectly in one practice. But we let the instructor instruct and patiently wait for the big openeing day. Even then the child might miss some lines or steps. The instructor does not get up and yell at the kid, but instead briefly helps them remember their line after they have tried on their own. I think we would all agree that a play would loose its attraction if the instructor was hopping around on stage and telling the kids their lines and where they need to be all of the time. The same is true in soccer, it is free flowing, they players are to repeat game like situations and skills in training until they are so familiar with them that it comes natural to them in games. The sport is not a coaches sport, the coach should sit back, relax and make substitutions and adjustments by briefly reminding players what their goal is that day. Or reminding a player of a simple rule when there is an infraction. "Game Day" is the big opening day and more importantly the last "game day" should have the same feel because every training, scrimmage, juggle and game has led up to the last game day. Our kids are doing well, can their be improvement? YES! That is the beauty of soccer, you are never done improving. The true hope is that these players and coaches grow over time so their final performance is well reheased and remains magical.

D.O.C. Message - Soccer Time!

It will not be long until we are playing matches and representing ourselves, the club and the South Western Iowa community in CBFC green. The club has its' two first premier teams (U18 Boys & U18 Girls), has doubled the amount of boys teams (from two to four)from a year ago, has an A and a B team for three age groups (U11 Girls, U11 Boys and U13 Girls), has six players attending Iowa Soccer Association's ODP camp this month, has had two players (U14G Tara Nelson and U18G Alex Bohnet) training and competing with their respected ODP pools. In so many ways we have progressed and evolved as a soccer community. Who would have thought three years ago that CBYSA and CBFC would be joined in an academy program? Or that there would be 12 USSF 'D' licensed coaches and three USSF 'C' licensed coaches?

We are proud of what we have produced but the point of recognizing the progress stated above is not to brag or boast, but to remind us that even though we are developing a stronger and more unified soccer community we are still battling for recognition, legitimacy, and respect from, not only the metro area, but from the very city that we represent. Please remember that we are to represent our community in the finest fashion possible. Allowing the parents and fans to cheer, our coaches to coach, the referees to officiate and most importantly letting the players PLAY. The game is so fun when the objective is to showcase ones individual and team development learned in training. The players in CBFC are becoming more technically sound and learning to be more soccer savvy that in return has been developing a passion for soccer not only with the player, but with their families as well.

I leave you all with a challenge; to continue to develop a passion for the game as well as further your knowledge of the game. The best way to do this is by watching soccer. There are so many opportunities now days to see some high level soccer. Below are some ideas:

Watch MLS matches on ESPN on Thursdays Saturday and Sundays
MLS Schedule


Get tickets before August 6th to see Beckham play in Kansas City Thursday, September 28th.
Questions & Reservations Contact Beth Kuck
Home: 388-9169
Work: 636-6494
Cell: (402) 740-1475
email: Beth@Bluffsonline.com

Catch a free preseason friendly match at Iowa Western Community College
IWCC Women's Schedule
IWCC Men's Schedule
Other Metro Area College Schedules









Or cheer on the U.S. Womens National team during the 2007 the women's World Cup this month
U.S. Soccer T.V. Schedule

Enjoy soccer, it is beautiful!

D.O.C. Message - Down time...take advantage of it!

The summer is an opportunity for families to spend time together and for soccer to take a back seat! PLEASE let it take a back seat! Soccer is a very important PART of life to many of us. But it is not the most important part. The summer is a great time for coaches to relax, players to get rid of their tan lines caused by long soccer socks and for parents to drag their children to where THEY want to go instead of a soccer field 200 miles away.

As my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in Fairview, Utah last month there was not a soccer ball in sight! My brother (pictured with me in the cabin we stayed at in Utah) and I spent very little time discussing soccer. My brother recently was hired as the Executive Director of Utah Youth Soccer Association. We briefly discussed the miserable season Real Salt Lake is putting us through and then never brought up a single soccer topic again. Instead we discussed our parents retirement, the character differences between all of my nieces and nephews, drove four wheelers, sang karaoke, played pool, fussbal and horseshoes (FYI in 20 games, I never lost...love the shoes!) We spent time trying to convince our sister who lives in Barcelona with her Spaniard husband to buy a home in the U.S. so we can get them to live closer to us. We had family and friends from all over the world visit my parents in this very remote town in Utah. It was such a blessing to see so many faces and share old stories as we created new memories.

The summer is a time to spend with your family and friends, forget team training sessions and go on vacations for a weekend, or go to a summer camp with some friends. Myself, being a soccer junkie, I hope that each CBFC player has developed a passion for that soccer ball so when he/she has no friends or family around to make memories with you, tey will head outside with a bottle of water, strap thier boots on and try to keep that ball in the air as long as possible.

Now that IWCC camps and CBFC tryouts have concluded it is time for me to go home to California, spend 5 days with my parents. No plans, no expectations, just time with my mom and dad.

Most of you believe that to me, "soccer is life." The truth is, soccer is nothing if you have no one to pass to. Sometimes we all get so involved with so many things and fail to recognize what is truly important. So lets all make sure that we are using our down time this summer to spend with family and friends.

I leave you with a quote that, as far as I know, I made up. I cherish it and hope that it makes sense to each of you.

"Soccer is life; make life beautiful, just like the game."