Interesting headlines in the papers today.
It probably won't surprise you to hear that I am particularly happy about the resignation of the villainous horndog Paul Wolfowitz from the Presidency of The World Bank. Having said that, Wolfowitz isn't the subject of today's post, as a Special Guest Blogger will be talking about him on Sunday.
Today, I want to talk about my soccer team, rather, soccer girl's soccer team. After last night's practice, I have decided that I am going to coach a team of my own, next season, rather than continue to serve as an assistant coach. Read on to learn why.
As I have mentioned, I have been running our team's conditioning program. Which means that I make the girls run. I also do the substitutions on the field, during the games, as I can be rather loud, at need, whereas coach D doesn't quite have the same amplitude.
Anyway, although we are parishioners at the same church, we are coming into conflict over strategy, and the conflict is such that I don't really want to work with her next season. Here's why: I like winning.
As I mentioned a week or so ago, I'm not a win-at-all-costs sort of coach, but I think that if my team works harder, plays better, and shows strength and skill, they deserve to win (if they outscore the other team, that is). My fellow coach, however, is all about playing girly-games instead of practicing like a group of young athletes.
Last night, she attempted to cut short the running that we do in the early part of the practice session, so she could talk to the girls about strategy. She proceeded to talk for twenty minutes! Twenty minutes, to a bunch of 8 year olds who stopped paying closed attention after about three minutes!
I was more than a little annoyed. I made sure that the girls did lots of running while coach D set up various drills (which weren’t terribly successful).
Throughout the practice, she kept yammering on about how good the team is that we are playing Saturday! Worse yet, she kept intorducing new things to them one after the other... I can't help but think that she actually wants them to lose. I countered by telling our team that they were they strongest, toughest, fastest team in the league, and that all they needed to do was to play as hard as they could for the whole game, and they would get the results they deserved.
Anyway… I don’t think our coaching styles work well together. A coach should be that. A coach. Not a den mother.
GF
6 comments:
There were many dads and a smattering of moms who coached some of my daughter's teams. Of the various styles represented among them, my daughter reacted better to those who stressed, conditioning and shooting.
I think it is acceptable to teach girls that winning is ok and they (we) needn't apologize for it.
Good Luck. :)
You would LOVE me as a coach. As you may recall, I told a crying 5 year old to "play hurt"! And he did.
Thanks, TOD... I said the very smae thing to a colleague, today, vis a vis girls can play to win, too.
SMID,
Last night I got this:
Weepy Child: "coach gunfighter, Poppy knockd me down!"
Gunfighter: "Soccer is a contact sport. Get up and play"
We're going through the same thing in baseball.
Winning isn't everything, but the kids know who wins and they enjoy playing a whole bunch more when they do win.
I think you've got the right idea. Coaching your own team seems the way to go.
I wouldn't touch a coaching job with a ten foot pole. Then again, I don't even have a ten foot pole. Do you? ;)
If I did, I'd be deformed.
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