coachKidsSports.com

The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands. - Benjamin Franklin

As a coach it's your job to teach, so if you're going to be a better coach, you need to be a better teacher.  Here are five things you can do at your next practice which will make it — and you — more effective.

Take a knee – Especially with the youngest players, getting down on one knee when talking to a player helps get your point across.  Bring yourself to their level, maintain eye contact and talk directly to the kids.  Taking a knee helps maintain eye contact.  It's easier on you than bending at the waist, it also allows for a more natural conversation between you and the player.

Ask more questions — You're the coach, you should have all the answers, right??  Maybe so, even if it's only 10 seconds before the kids know the answers, but that doesn't mean the best way for kids to learn is for you to tell them the answer.  Ask questions — lots of them.  Challenge the kids to remember what you've taught them.  Challenge them to understand game situations.  Get them thinking as they are practicing.  Scrimmages are a great time to ask the questions.  During any short break, announce the game situation then ask one or more players what they should do.  "Runners on second and third, second base, where do you go with the ball if it's hit to you?".  "Red throw in.  Red team, where should you be?"  Sometimes you aren't looking for a verbal answer, you just want to see the correct action.  Other times you'll want the player to answer so you know if she understands the concept.  Either way, resist the temptation to give the answer.  Sometimes they will surprise you with a different perspective on the situation.

Smaller is better — Practice in small groups.  I try to divide my teams into four groups with three practice stations.  That leaves two small group activities and one larger activity.  Assign the coaches depending on the level of attention the drill requires.  Many times I'll have one assistant, so I recruit (forcibly draft) a parent from the sidelines.  I ask them to monitor the drill the team is most familiar with and requires the least intervention from the coaches.

Fundamentals are fundamental — If you've ever watched professional sports you have heard an announcer lament that today's players have poor fundamentals.  Of course, this has been an epidemic since the Roosevelt administration — Teddy — so the announcer is probably remembering a time that didn't exist.  But that doesn't mean fundamentals aren't important.  When kids master the fundamentals they enjoy the game more.  Chose one or two fundamentals to concentrate on for the season and build your practices around mastery of those skills.

Tell 'em, show 'em, then tell 'em again  –  Introducing a new drill can be a difficult experience.  You have to take a lot of time to explain the drill then three times as much time correcting the players as they try the drill.  Next time try a three step approach; Verbally explain the drill, physically demonstrate the drill, then reiterate the first two by going over the drill again.

1. Explain the drill — do not demonstrate the drill or turn your team's attention from your words in any way.  You want them concentrating on what you are saying, visualization will come next.
2. Demonstrate the drill — do not talk during the demonstration or otherwise divert attention from the physical demonstration of the drill.  All attention should be on the demonstration.
3. Explain the drill again — bring the first two parts together.  Reiterate what was said and what was shown to allow the kids to process it further.

This three step approach gives the kids more time and more ways to understand the drill.  You'll have an easier time introducing new drills and getting them to actually work.

I think nothing of rules as such. - Thomas J. Barnardo

No, it's not the same as the first rule of soccer … luckily.  But it is something I've touched on before, a couple of times.  The first rule of coaching is you are a teacher.  You are there to make your kids better; better at the fundamentals of your sport, better at understanding the game, better at acccepting a loss, better at accepting a win.

I don't say teaching is important because I believe winning is unimportant.  Rather I believe that winning is the player's job, not yours.  As a coach you have very little control over winning and losing once the game starts - some might say after your roster is set.  What you do have control over is how you prepare them.  The rest of this week I will give you ways to become a better teacher at practice so your players will learn better — and do their job better…

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Don't worry football coaches, I haven't forgotten you… The other day I profiled a free resource for soccer drills , today it's time for some pigskin action.

USA Football has assembled a ton of information on the coaching section of their website.  Out of all of that information there are two areas I want to send you to.  The first is the Coaches Guide.  The guide is set up like a play book with tabs for Overview, Philosophy, Getting Started, Practice , Game Plan, Techniques , Offense, Defense , Special Teams and Health & Safety.  Many of the tabs are further broken out into sub-categories and they have some meaningful information.  For example the Techniques tab contains six sub-categories including one on tackling.  There are two drills in the article and they are detailed as to purpose and technique.  Remember, stay true to the purpose of the drill , cut ANYTHING that doesn't support the purpose.  If you're looking for some insight or just a couple of extra ways to get your kids to make the play, check out the coaching section of USA Football.

The other are I really liked on the site doesn't have it's own tab and is easy to overlook.  At the bottom of each page of the Coaching Guide is a link that looks like this:

From this link you choose from a list of dozens of offensive, defensive and special teams plays.  After selecting a play, you can see the alignment and hover over each position to see that player's detailed assignment on the play.  Once you understand the assignments you can run the play to see how it looks in action.  The animated plays are a coach's dream, the offensive plays all end with a touchdown and the defensive plays all result in a loss of yardage, but your mileage may vary…

The other areas on the site are a little sparse.  Few of the Featured Articles are recent, but there is still some good information in there.  I like the "Calling All Coaches"  and "Parents as Resources" articles, but then I would…

If you are a football coach, check out the Coaching section and the Interactive Plays before you spend time rummaging around the rest of the site.  There are interesting nuggets throughout the site, but most of the gold is in those two areas.

Competition helps people figure it out. Brian McBride

OK coach, the soccer season is about to start, do you know what you're practicing this year?  Even if you have decided on the one or two fundamentals you will concentrate on this season and have a few drills planned, a couple extra ideas can't hurt.

About a month ago I came across a website where you can find a couple of those ideas.  The site is www.WorldClassCoaching.com .  Although it is primarily written for advanced level soccer teams, it still has several areas suitable for recreational teams.  

The discussion board has several interesting topics and, most importantly, it's frequently updated.  Out of the 30 active topics on the first page (out of 67 pages!), all have activity within the past two weeks, most within the last two days.  If you post an issue, someone is going to see it quickly.

You can find some great training ideas in their training sessions archive.  The drills are broken into three levels with the first level appropriate for the youngest and least experienced players.  I found some of the Level 1 drills to be a little advanced for the youngest players because they involved several steps.  But it is possible to take out some great ideas to build age appropriate games if you find the kids have trouble following the steps.

About three weeks ago I signed up for three of the free newsletters they offer.  A few times a week I get an email with a new drill.  Today's was a 4v4v4 passing game that would be great for a 10-12 year old team.  Two of the teams pair up basically to play keep away from the third team.  When the defenders gain possession, they switch with the team of the player who made the give away.  This drill could scale down to 2 or 3 on a team and to a 20' or 30' square from the recommended 40'.

Another drill was a three sided passing drill.  The three players start in a triangle, player 1 passed to a player and runs between the other two players.  The player with the ball passes to the remaining player and runs between where player 1 is now and the remaining player.  The trio repeats this moving the triangle down the field.  I'm sure you can see how you can add to this drill as the kids improve.  Limit the touches a player has before making a pass or break out the stopwatch and see who can set the record.

Both of those drills are from the WorldClassCoaching.com email newsletter.  I have to wade through a few sales pitches for training sessions, DVDs and books, but that's why I love my scroll wheel mouse…

Are there any resources you've found with interesting practice drills or games?  Share them in the comments.

People don't give Buffalo enough credit… - Mats Sundin

Welcome everyone coming to CoachKidsSports.com from the Buffalo News .  According to my family there is no bigger honor than getting your name in the Buffalo paper, so I guess I've reached the pinnacle…

I want your feedback and input, so please leave comments on individual posts or send me an email with general comments.

On the left side of the page you can subscribe to the RSS feed for the site, or you can have every article delivered via email the morning it's published — just like the Buffalo News!

This site works because I get to talk to lots of youth coaches.  Help introduce me to a wider range of coaches — and help your favorite coach get some well deserved recognition — by nominating him or her for the Coach of the Month.  Each month I profile a new coach and we get to learn their secrets.

I'd wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't mention, and encourage you to visit, a true Buffalo blog, the guys who gave me the mention that resulted in the article - BfloBlog.com.  Their Sabres coverage strikes the right tone and, if you're a 24 fan, you have to read the weekly live blog.

Although I haven't lived in Buffalo for many years, I still consider it home.   From my days playing hockey at the Leisure rinks for Bert's Bicycle and Hockey shop, to playing baseball at the Legion Field in Hamburg, to getting more stitches than Frankenstein at Mercy Hospital, Buffalo is always home regardless of where I reside.

We have deep depth. Yogi Berra

With the exception of football, baseball becomes a specialized sport earlier than about any other.  In most other sports, at least until at least junior high, it's easier for kids to plug into several positions.  They can move around soccer positions pretty easily — a fast kid is just as valuable defending as striking; except for the exceptionally short or tall kids, any position is open on the basketball court and if you can skate you are valuable anywhere on the ice.

But in baseball, the two or three hardest throwers get slotted in as pitchers fairly early.  But according to USA Today there is a new rule under debate at the Little League Board of Directors.  If it is passed, it will be time to expand the rotation.

Little League's 22-member board of directors will meet Aug. 25 and could vote on new limits that would be based on the number of pitches thrown and could apply in all games, beginning next season.

The obvious implication is you will need more pitchers if you are in a Little League sanctioned league.  However, even if you aren't, you still should groom a couple more kids as pitchers.  If you coach a younger team, now is the perfect time to teach kids proper technique.  While everyone is impressed by speed - Greg Maddux wouldn't have been a second round pick if he could throw 95mph - accuracy is at least as important at the younger levels.

Even if you aren't in a Little League sanctioned league, this rule may be coming your way.  According to Tim Hughes, Little League Board Chairman, the agenda gets set in Williamsport and other leagues follow.

Oftentimes, what Little League baseball does, the other youth baseball leagues in the nation do. They look to us for the leadership role, and we take that very seriously."

Current rules limit a pitcher to six innings per week, regardless of the number of pitches.  The proposal calls for a pitch count limit of 85 per appearance and mandatory four days rest for any pitcher throwing over 61 pitches in an outing.  The USA Today article does not indicate if there are maximum pitch counts per week for a player, but I imagine they wouldn't leave a loophole allowing a kid to pitch as often as possible as long as it was fewer than 60 pitches an outing.

I'm usually hesitant before I jump on a bandwagon like this.  It seems like every month there is a new warning about how something is too dangerous to even think about, let alone allow your child to do.  But in this case I'm convinced lots of innings for most of the year is harmful to young arms.  The issue was first raised when I was talking to a local physical therapist.  He had worked in Tampa for several years and noticed many of his clients were young kids with over use injuries.  When he asked them how many months they played baseball out of the year he was surprised to hear most of the kids played nearly year round.  This rule doesn't mandate an off season, but every kid's arm needs one.  After all, isn't that way Dr. Naismith invented basketball??

But the best reason to endorse this proposal comes out of Birmingham, AL.  If you follow baseball you know the name Dr. James Andrews, and you probably cringe if you read that name in an article about the ace of your staff.  If your ace is in to see Dr. Andrews it usually means he's done for at least the season,  because Dr. Andrews is the leading shoulder and elbow surgeon in the country.  

Research by the Birmingham, Ala.-based American Sports Medicine Institute, run by noted orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, who has treated a who's who of amateur and professional athletes, sparked interest from Little League. Andrews concluded that the sixfold increase he has seen in arm injuries that required surgery had roots in youth baseball.

"The statistics all point to the amount (of pitches) as the No. 1 factor," said Glenn Fleisig, research director at Andrews' institute. "A lot of arm injuries are showing up in teenagers and 20-year-olds. We're seeing the number of overuses per game, per year … add up to injury down the road."

What does it all mean?  If your team is still young you can get ahead of the game by grooming a few more kids as pitchers.  If your team is already in Little League — well, you have the off season… 

Nobody's a natural. You work hard to get good and then work to get better. It's hard to stay on top. Paul Coffey

Recently I spent the afternoon at the Chicago Bears training camp.  Besides seeing sixty large sweaty men beat up on one another, I also had a good reminder of a coaching fundamental.  Every drill had a specific purpose and nothing that didn't contribute to that purpose was allowed.

The Bears were practicing a swing pass, actually they were practicing the blocking scheme on the edge.  The running back lined up in the backfield, the guards lined up on the line and the linebackers lined up on the defensive side.  When the play started, everyone ran to their position, but instead of having a QB throw the pass, a coach was kneeling near the spot the running back would make the catch.  The coach tossed the ball to the running back who turned up the field with the ball following his blockers.

A quarterback could easily make the swing pass.  Even if it isn't a QB on the roster, any coach could make that toss easily enough.  But the pass wasn't the focus of the drill.  The focus was getting to the right spot and making the correct read.  Even if only a couple of passes were dropped, that is time not spent learning what the coach wanted from that drill.

When you are putting together your practice remember the drills don't have to look exactly like the game.  You can — and should — make changes that allow you to focus on the important pieces.  I'm sure on another day the Bears had the QB's and RB's doing nothing but running the swing pass for 30 minutes.  But the guards and linebackers were off doing something else.  Determine exactly what you want to accomplish with each drill and ruthlessly remove anything that doesn't contribute.

Kindness in ourselves is the honey that blunts the sting of unkindness in another. - Grantland Rice

I'm sure most of you have heard or read about the 9-10 PONY league championship game played in Utah earlier this summer. If you haven't, the best overview comes from the local paper — The Salt Lake City Tribune :

Here's the setup: The two best teams in Bountiful's 10-and-under Mueller Park Mustang League - the Yankees and Red Sox - met in a championship game, played the last Friday night in June. The undefeated Yanks were in the field, up by one run in the bottom of the last inning. With the tying run on third, two outs in the books, and the Red Sox' best hitter, Jordan Bleak, coming to the plate, Yankees coaches huddled and decided to do something they hadn't done all season: They told their pitcher to intentionally walk a hitter. An absolute anomaly in a low-key recreational league in which regular-season games were governed by competitive limitations, such as a maximum of four runs allowed in an inning. Those limits had been suspended for the championship game.

Bleak already had nailed a three-run homer and a triple.    "It was a baseball move," says Shaun Farr, one of the Yankees' coaches. "These kids wanted to win."    

Romney was the only thing that stood in their way. 

I'm not sure you can surf the net without seeing someone's take on the issue .  The opinions range from "How dare they pick on a cancer survivor" to "How dare they question good baseball strategy."

When you look at the situation, both opinions have some merit.  The kid's a 10 year old cancer survivor, ordering an intentional walk to get to him is like the lion ordering the weakest gazelle off the menu.  On the other hand, Romney is a part of the team and he wasn't looking for any special treatment.  Walking a strong hitter to get to a weaker one is part of the game.

While I'm not one to criticize anyone's desire to win, I can't see where anyone benefited from this situation.  Yes, the Yankees won the game, but did they get any better by winning it that way?  Did the pitcher figure a way to get past a strong hitter?  Did the fielders have to make a good play to end the game?  Did the coach help his team understand the game better by going after the weakest hitter?  The last point is debatable, but I say no.  Instead of building up their team they effectively told them "Sorry kids, you're not good enough to get him out.".  That's not coaching, it's stage managing kids for your own ego.

Contrary to what the coaches are saying, trying to win isn't the crime here.  What I see as the problem is they confused their primary responsibility to the kids.  Most of the justification centers on the belief that a coach's primary responsibility is to win.  I agree — but only if the game has any chance of being remembered in two weeks by someone not related to a player.  Otherwise the primary responsibility is improving each player. 

This doesn't mean the coaches couldn't win.  Pitch to the next kid in line.  Hit, walk or out, those are the cards you were dealt.  If Romney's turn in the order came up as a natural progression of the game no one outside of the 25-30 families involved would have heard about this — unless he came through.  But by ordering an intentional walk the coaches crossed the line.  They preyed on a weakness rather than count on the strength of their team. 

Yes, if you keep score the object is to win; otherwise why bother to play.  I have no argument with a coach doing what he can to put his team in position to win.  But I do have a problem when adults - coaches and parents - make winning more important to themselves than it is to the kids.

My son's soccer team won the league championship in the spring of first grade.  On that team were twin brothers — Peter and Paul, the two most competitive kids I know (with my son only a shade behind).  They would be ecstatic after wins and inconsolable when we lost.  In the championship game Paul controlled the game whenever he was in and Peter played goalie for a half (pitching a shutout) and scored the winning goal in overtime.  Absolutely a Hollywood ending, capping an undefeated season for the team.

I started practice the following fall by gathering the team around me.  I had visions of John Wooden and Joe Paterno congratulating their teams and telling them to get back to work…  I said, "This is a new season, you did well last year, but this is the last time we'll talk about last year — Congratulations Champs!"  I was looking right at Peter when I finished and he had a puzzled look on his face, then said "Oh yeah, we won last year."  The one kid who valued winning - especially that victory - more than anyone else on that team had completely forgotten about the biggest game of his young life in the span of a summer. 

I realized there that it doesn't take long for everyone to forget — or care — if you win a championship.  For the kids, victories are nice when they happen, but then they fade into the background as the next baseball game, swim meet and sleep over happens.  When you coach kids winning is fleeting, it's the lessons you teach, physical skills and sportsmanship, that last.

The way to succeed is to double your error rate. - Thomas J. Watson

Go to just about any practice and you'll hear the coach preaching to his players about the value of taking care of the ball.  You'll hear her talk about limiting mistakes.  "Champions don't make the same mistake twice!!" is an article of faith among coaches.  After all, if you don't make a mistake you make your opponent work harder to score.

But, what if we turn that bit of conventional wisdom on it's head?  John Wooden credits his coach Piggy Lambert with instilling in him the belief that the team which makes the most mistakes often wins the game.  How can that be?  How can a team make more mistakes — consistently — yet win more games??  When I read that in Wooden's autobiography, "They Call Me Coach", I was puzzled.  It just didn't make any sense.  But, since John Wooden has 10 more NCAA titles than I do I decided to take a little more time before I decided he was wrong…

Reading further I began to understand his point.  The team that makes the most mistakes is usually the more aggresive team.  They are the team that is prepared, understands what each player is supposed to accomplish and has the confidence to take some chances.  Preaching "No Mistakes" breeds a conservative style, but it can inhibit players developing a sense for the game.  And, isn't that why the games are played?

One way you can start coaching with this philosophy is to start asking the players questions.  If a player is out of position, ask the player where they should be. Then ask why.  If no one can answer then you probably never told them — at least not in a way they remember.  A favorite tactic of mine is to explain the situation, then ask to the team "Where should you be??"  for example, in a soccer practice before a throw in I'll announce "Red team throw in, where are her team mates?  Blue team where should you be to defend?"  The younger the kids, the more you have to repeat yourself, but even a 6 year old learns to get behind the ball when the other team is throwing it in.

Give your kids the answers by asking questions.  If they are thinking they will see opportunities sooner and make a few of those mistakes Piggy Lambert valued so highly. 

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. - Gilbert K. Chesterton

CoachKidsSports.com is now two weeks old and I want to take a short break to thank everyone who has made it successful.

Most importantly, thanks to you for reading this site, already making it a go to destination for ideas and information on coaching kids sports.

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The list of people responsible for getting this site off the ground is long. But it wouldn’t be what it is without the guidance of Mike Marusin. He’s the genius behind Marusin.com, among other sites. If it weren’t for Mike I would still be trying to set up WordPress.

Thanks also to my friends Kevin and Mark at BfloBlog.com and Eric McErlain at OffwingOpinion.com for their positive comments and links.

Make BfloBlog part of your web reading if only for Mark’s weekly 24 recap, in season of course. You’ll see that it is worth twice the price of admission. I read the site every day, but then I’m a sucker for great coverage of my beloved Buffalo Sabres…

There isn’t much more to say about Eric McErlain and OffwingOpinion.com that hasn’t already been said. If you aren’t a regular reader, go and read through his archives. In fact, go to this entry to see that he has the attention of important people in sports, including Ted Leonsis, the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards owner.

Coaching kids is challenging. Trying to get a bunch of kids moving in the same direction is never easy, then throw in a couple nuerotic parents who are planning for the 2016 Olympics and you have a strange brew. It’s that volitile concoction that fuels this site and will give us plenty to use up the bandwidth over the coming months and years. Thanks for coming on the ride with me.