7/1/2004

Dear Parents (and players),

I am excited to be working with your children, and  I am committed to their development as players.  They are at an age where rapid development is possible.  They are highly motivated and receptive to coaching, are developing rapidly physically and mentally, and have minimal social distractions.  With commitment and hard work, I have the ability to develop them and the team to the highest level of competitiveness.  This takes time and your help as parents.

We need a high level of player and parent commitment to do well and to ensure your child develops at a competitive rate.

I will communicate with you on a regular basis explaining my expectations for each season. This will include setting team and individual goals for each player, an evaluation of the player's strengths and weaknesses, and an evaluation of how the team and player did in meeting the goals.  Part of my job is to also educate you on the game, my coaching philosophy, my philosophy of playing the game, and on how and why I do things the way we do.  You are welcome to observe the training sessions.  I encourage you to speak with me about any concerns or suggestions you have.  

Winning isn't everything, but making the effort to is.  We will do this in a fun and challenging way.

John Clayton

Parents Guide

The role that parents play in the life of a soccer player has a tremendous impact on their experience and development.  With this in mind, here are some helpful reminders for all of us as we approach this season:

1. Let the coaches coach: Leave the coaching to us. This includes motivating, psyching your child for practice, after game critiquing, setting goals, requiring additional training, etc. You have entrusted the care of your player to us and we need to be free to do our job. If a player has too many coaches, it is confusing for them, and their performance may suffer.
2. Support the program: Get involved. Volunteer. Get to know the parents.  Help out with logistics, field setup, car-pool, taking game pictures, web-site help, team manager, anything to support the team.
3. Be you child's best fan: Support him unconditionally. Do not withdraw love when he performs poorly. He should never have to perform to win your love.
4. Support and root for all players on the team: Foster teamwork. Your child's teammates are not the enemy. When they are playing better than your child, he now has a wonderful opportunity to learn.
5. Do not bribe or offer incentives: Your job is not to motivate. Leave this to us. Bribes will distract your child from properly concentrating in practice and game situations.
6. Encourage your child to talk with us: If your child is having difficulties in practice or games, or can't make a practice, etc., encourage them to speak directly to us. This "responsibility taking" is a big part of becoming a big-time player and claiming ownership of all aspects of the game.
7. Understand and display appropriate game behavior: Remember, your child's self esteem and game performance is at stake. Be supportive, cheer, be appropriate. To perform to the best of his abilities, a player needs to focus on the parts of the game that they can control (his fitness, positioning, decision making, skill, aggressiveness, what the game is presenting them). If he starts focusing on what he cannot control (the parents, condition of the field, the referee, the weather, the opponent, even the outcome of the game at times), he will not play up to his ability. If he hears a lot of people telling his what to do, or yelling at the referee, it diverts his attention away from the task at hand.  Let your child make his own decisions and mistakes, and NEVER criticize the referee or other team.
8. Monitor your child's stress level at home: Keep an eye on the player to make sure that they are handling stress effectively from the various activities in his life.
9. Monitor eating and sleeping habits: Be sure your child is eating the proper foods and getting adequate rest.  Lots of milk, protein, and vegetables - less soda and fatty foods.
10. Help your child keep his priorities straight: Help your child maintain a focus on schoolwork, relationships and the other things in life beside soccer. Also, if your child has made a commitment to soccer, help him fulfill his obligation to the team.   TV, video, and online time could be better spent.
11. Reality test: If your child has come off the field when his team has lost, but he has played his best, help him to see this as a "win". Remind him that he is to focus on "process" and not "results". His fun and satisfaction should be derived from "striving to win".
12. Keep soccer in its proper perspective: Soccer should not be larger than life for you. If your child's performance produces strong emotions in you, suppress them. Remember your relationship will continue with your children long after their competitive soccer days are over. Keep your goals and needs separate from your child's experience.
13. Have fun: That is what we will be trying to do! We will try to challenge your child to reach past their "comfort level" and improve themselves as a player, and thus, a person. We will attempt to do this in environments that are fun, yet challenging. We look forward to this process. We hope you do too!

Coaching Philosophy

Each season we will assess the strengths and weaknesses of the individual players and the team as a whole, set goals for improvement, and create a coaching plan to most efficiently reach those goals.  Elements of the coaching plan will include:

Training sessions will be centered on a technical or tactical theme, possibly including a standalone topic that does not fit into a theme but needs attention.  A technical training session allows the player to learn and practice the mechanics of a skill in a situation that starts with no pressure and progresses to match condition pressure.  A tactical training session allows the player to learn a tactic and recognize the visual cues needed for correct decision-making, in a situation that starts with no goal or direction and progresses to play with 2 goals/directions.

You may have concern about adverse health effects from heading.   Proper heading technique will help minimize any risk.  At this age we teach proper heading technique starting with light practice balls.  Heading skills will become increasingly important as the players get older.

This is a transition age for trying out and getting comfortable with different positions.   We will be having players try several positions, but will also be having them play most of the time in positions they are most comfortable with and that best match their skills and the team's need.

Offside and Other Rules

The offside rule is a source of confusion for many parents.  At this age it will not be a significant factor in our games, as we will not be playing an offside trap on defense.  Our forwards will just need to make sure that they make their runs with timing and direction so that they are not past the last defender (other than the goalie) at the moment the ball is passed to them.  Note that offside is judged at the moment the ball is passed, not when the player receives the ball.  Note also that a player is not penalized for offside unless they are actively involved in the play. 

Soccer is a contact sport.  Aggressive, physical and fair challenges are a part of the game.  To be fair, a challenge must be directed at the ball or "shoulder-to-shoulder" in an attempt to win the ball.  A tackle for the ball must make contact with the ball first.  Subsequent contact with the player is okay.  Challenges must not be reckless, use excessive force, or endanger the player.  A player shielding the ball may be contacted but not pushed off the ball.  A hand ball is only called if it is intentional - "the hand plays the ball".  The rest of the rules are common sense for fair play - no tripping, holding, kicking, pushing, obstructing, jumping at, etc.