February, 2010
Archive for February, 2010
Recap of Soccer Camp: River City Boys (Memphis)
Awesome trip to Memphis last weekend for the River City NPDC. I can’t thank the University of Memphis and head coach Richie Grant enough for hosting. The facilities were tremendous, only outdone by the great group of athletes and coaches who came together for a weekend of mental training and development. River City is known for its BBQ, and I hope the campers managed to get some quality ribs in after a hard day of work on Saturday. Coach Ian Collins came all the way over from Kentucky to join us, and with him and Richie heading up the field staff, there was never a dull moment.
Can’t say enough about some of the younger coaches who showed a great enthusiasm throughout the event. Clint Brown (Christian Bros), Mark Franklin (Memphis), Paul Conway (Lambuth), and Tom Foley (James Madison) helped deliver that 1 on 1 player coach environment that truly fosters development through closely watched games and instant feedback to players. Brian Jones (Southern Illinois Edwardsville) provided the keepers with keeper-specific training. Judging from the smiles and laughs at the end of camp, there is little doubt that the hard work by the coaches was much appreciated.
A shout out to Julio Prieto for winning the Sunday Dutch Street Soccer Contest. Awesome performance and deserves a shout out as the competition was stiff and he persevered.
All goals were accomplished in Memphis, and I look forward to next year. One of the top priorities of the NPDC is to provide players with an environment to receive personalized and direct feedback from top coaches, and with a Player/Coach ratio in Memphis of 5/1: Mission Accomplished.
Differences between Genders and Implications for Coaches (first presented at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention)
Last week Ralph presented some of our research on the psychological, biological, and physical differences between female and male athletes as it relates to their youth development. This is the second year that we presented at the NSCAA Convention (last year we shared our research on pitfalls in the female soccer player development). I wanted to share a few key points from our research with you. For a copy of the full presentation, please contact us by going to the Contact page.
- Empathy is a more important trait for coaches when coaching girls than for boys. In general, girls are more sensitive to nuances in social interactions, and are more likely to withdraw or stalk away when they are confronted aggressively.
- The rate of physical development between girls and boys differs in a way that it impacts their soccer commitment. Girls usually begin puberty at an earlier age than boys and the physiological changes occuring during puberty amplify emotional reactivity. Furthermore, during this time girls begin to take an emerging interest in adult-like social activities, which can detract from soccer commitment. Therefore, it’s important for coaches to ensure all girls on the team feel a part of the team and the community.
After identifying some of the key differences and issues, we discussed tactics to improve the coach-athlete relationship and sustain their motivation. We advocated the R.U.L.E. principle, which is actually a principle common in health intervention and used by many medical professionals. R.U.L.E. stands for Resist the Righting Reflex, Understand the Person’s (Athlete’s) perspective, Listen, and Empower.
For the full presentation or more information, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We love this stuff and it’s part of our mission to continue studying how to help coaches coach and improve their athletes’ development as youth both inside and outside of the game of soccer.
