Addressing Our Referee Shortage
You challenged me to come up with a solution to the referee shortage. This after I commented on an article, “TWO SOLUTIONS,” suggesting using a 2 man system of refereeing. While that idea does offer a short-term solution to covering more games with fewer referees, it still doesn’t address the underlying issue causing the shortage. […]
Referee of the Year – COMMENTARY
How/Why did you become a Referee? When I was 13 years old, my soccer coach, Russell Gonzalez, introduced me to refereeing. He informed my team of the opportunity to become certified by attending Pat Ferre’s class. I decided it would be a great first job because of my interest in the game. I had no […]
Answering the Question
Reactions to my article, “Words Communicate More Than Information,” gathered a gamut of responses. Here are two of them … I hated “drills,”, and so did every child I ever coached! It goes beyond buzzwords. As you said, it denotes a mindset on how we coach and train kids. I VAGUELY remember my childhood, but […]
TEN BASIC PRINCIPLES
START BY DOING WHAT’S NECESSARY THEN WHAT’S POSSIBLE AND SUDDENLY YOU ARE DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE St. Francis of Assisi If one could learn and implement these Ten Principles in their coaching life, success will stand an excellent chance of succeeding. These principles operate all the time, much like the principle of gravity. When you drop […]
SIDELINE ETIQUETTE
Let the Coaches Coach! Suppose you are telling your son or daughter – or any other player for that matter – to do something different from what the coach is asking them to do. You may create confusion for the player. Let the Kids Play! If they have been well-coached, they know what to do […]
READERS’ RESPONSES
Ric’s ideas fit right in this ‘Belyi’s Chart’: I do have a modest proposal. Rather than assigning the presumed best coaches to older age groups, why not scatter them across all age groups, emphasizing ages 3-9? Rich Jablonski Most clubs do not (and many should not) offer programming at the crucial 3-6 age group. That […]
Bridging the Gap
So many talking points in the article, “We Are Woefully Lacking in Qualified Coaches” here are my ideas where to begin. *The quality and content of coaching education are not what they should be. *We SHOULD deploy our proven, experienced coaches with younger age groups as one means of developing and retaining kids. *We SHOULD […]
WE ARE WOEFULLY LACKING IN QUALIFIED COACHES
We are woefully lacking in coaches that really know how to coach the game well in the US. Most coaches say, “I want to teach my players to love the game.” That’s a great goal, but how do you do that? First, you must know that you can’t “make” your players love soccer. Just like […]
The Development Gap in the USA Soccer Pyramid
Great topic and article, ‘Players Path to Proficiency.’ I agreed with the Kontributors’ comments especially resonated with Werner Roth. He wrote, “The most critical elements in building those players mentioned… Early childhood development starts when the kid leaves the crib with their ball at their feet, dribbling it wherever they go. Growing up in […]
