|
||||||
|
|
||||||
ZenFooty Blog Archive - October The Home Stretch: The Most Important Part of the Season!!Published on Wed 10/29/2008 | 18 total comments We are here baby!! Primetime!! Pre-season got us all going, the mid-season tournaments were fun, and early league play was great. But its the end of season run...the primetime....that separates the women from the girls and men from the boys. Who has something left in the tank? Who is still making it to training on time? What teams are sticking with their training curriculum? What clubs have figured out how to manage burn-out and keep the game fun and exciting? Who has peaked too soon and who is still on the rise? Where do you stand? Where do your players stand? ZenMaster says that this is where good coaches and trainers earn their money (or reputation as volunteers). Sure they teach the skills...but can they keep the kids laughing, joking, on their game, constantly improving, talking soccer after the training and games, playing in the basement, and going 1-on-1 with the dog. The great coaches and trainers step in when it is cold, wet, and dark and bring the light and the heat of motivation into the souls of our little machines. It is a critical time, as the high school seasons wear down, our club soccer is still going strong and it is the good trainers, coaches, and parents that keep the quality high and the enthusiasm higher. Is it all coming together for your player and club? Are you seeing the tactics flow, the technique grow, and the faces glow? Or is it all falling apart? What say you? « comments » Is Indoor Soccer Missing the Point? ZenMaster Says…...YES!!!! Published on Fri 10/24/2008 | 19 total comments Folks, I am really worried that we are trying to use indoor soccer to extend our outdoor season. It’s a bad practice and should be stopped. We need to change out mindset!! If you continue to play games in the same format throughout the year and never take the time out to build your skills, your game WILL go stale. Trust me, I have seen this happen. Good players lose ground to exceptional players during the winter because exceptional players are working on their skills and good players are only playing on indoor teams. The beginning of the indoor season should be used to review the technical needs of the player, put a plan in place to address those developmental needs, and get the kid into skills training. Now, if the player needs tactical training, I still argue that playing full sided indoor soccer does not develop tactics as well as small sided indoor soccer or group technical training. It just doesn't have the same focus!! The entire game of soccer can be taught in 3v3 and 4v4 formats. I would not recommend anything more than a 6v6 format; even for the older players. Indoor is about getting touches on the ball, improving quickness, elevating skill levels, and gaining confidence in tight spaces. The more we try to mimic the outdoor game indoors, the less we will focus on skills development. I guarantee that if the boys and girls are playing indoor as a team, they are playing to win. While it may start out as fun trying new positions, the bottom line is that in any team activity we play, the kids will wind up back in the best position for team success. This does little for the player. When it comes to indoor, I speak for the individual players....help them grow. What say you? « comments » Rough Play and Dirty Play - Is There a Difference? ZenMaster Says Yes! Published on Mon 10/20/2008 | 57 total comments There is NO question that soccer is a physical game! Newcomers may view this game as a non-contact sport. At some of the younger ages and club levels, contact is frowned upon. I say watch out!! Contact is good and the earlier the better! If a player does not develop an understanding and a skill set that can deal with the physical game, they will have trouble growing into an elite level player. Period! You see, physical play is NOT dirty play. Its clean hard play with shoulder charges, slide tackling, body shielding, forearms on shoulders in the air and so on. Dirty play includes things like tripping an opponent away from the ball, clipping the Achilles with your studs as a player runs by, stepping on your opponent as you get up from a legal tackle, leaving a tripping leg in the air as you fall to the ground when losing possession, and coming into a tackle studs up. Oh, did I mention spitting..hate that one!! That kinda crap is bush league. Do we see it...sure we do!! I will tell you however, if your highly skillful player does not develop an ability to deal with on-field bullies that play just within the limits of the game, he or she will quickly be identified as someone who can be "pushed" off their game. Once that occurs, there is trouble because your player will be "lit up" with contact until they crack and lose confidence. What I say is train with contact, use legal upper body force in your activities, and teach players to draw the bullies out of their comfort zone by taking them out to the flank if they are central players or dragging them to the middle if they are flank players. There are also some excellent contact avoidance techniques such as the "pass and jump" that every fine player should learn. What say you? « comments » Qualification or "Seeding" Tournaments are Losing Relevance: We Need a Fix!! Published on Wed 10/15/2008 | 14 total comments There is something inherently wrong about a tournament set up to place its participants in the proper division of a league when not all of the league teams actually participate! This is especially bad when new teams do NOT participate and get placed in a lower division than where they should be. These teams come in and kick the "snot" out of true entry level teams that are placed properly and discourage the kids from travel soccer. Flat out nonsense. Likewise, it is equally frustrating when a team attends a seeding tournament and does extremely well only to find that they can not be placed in the top division because they are behind a couple of teams that did not participate in the tournament. Too political for my blood!! Another good example is when a great team has a poor seeding tournament because they took the summer off or two players were on vacation and the team gets relegated or stuck in a division well below their standard of play. Hogwash....hurts player development!! These boys and girls will not see the proper level of competition for another entire season!! Here is the ZenMaster's view: The performance of a team in league play for the prior season should be taken under heavy consideration and a formal promotion/relegation process should be used just as it is in England and in other advanced soccer countries. That is, the top two teams move up and the bottom two move down (doesn't have to be 2, could be 3 or 4 depending on division size). Now, where there are new teams of high quality coming into the league, they MUST play in a qualification tournament amongst other "new" teams. This would be a "play-in" tournament. The league should invite the two teams that have narrowly escaped relegation from each division to the placement tournament to defend their position in the table for the coming season or face automatic relegation along with the bottom two. These teams would be the barometer or measuring stick for how the new teams should be placed. Based on how the new teams do against these mid-table teams fighting for their spot, they should be placed into the division accordingly. Some may say; "Why not invite the top teams?" NO, these teams have already earned their place in the table through performance and beating them does not necessarily place a new team in the "Thick" of any division. We are looking for parity. Existing teams finishing the prior season in the upper potion of the table can volunteer to sign up for the placement tournament to fight for a promotion or opt out. If they choose to participate, they put their current standing in the table at risk. If they opt out, they remain in their current division unless they have been promoted or relegated based on the league rules for moving up and down. Let's get this right folks, what say you? Have you ever found a season to be less than "stellar" due to poor placement? « comments » The Wonderful Poverty of Soccer Prevails in this Economy - Long Live the King! Published on Fri 10/10/2008 | 12 total comments These trying economic and intense political times have nothing on the game of soccer. Sure, we will hear that some of the luxuries of soccer are no longer affordable. But the game, the real game, remains untouchable by the Stock Market, Job Market or Housing Market. We have seen in Europe, some of the main club sponsors are starting to back away from their investments in the Premier level teams. But down at the level where the game is played, below the business crap, soccer is the release, the freedom from worry, one of the saving graces of our existence. The ball is cheap, the grass is free, and the friends come with just a phone call or text message. Poor, unadulterated, naked soccer.....remains beautiful and undaunted. Long live the King!! Long live Soccer!! Our challenge as parents is to keep the fun in the game and keep the socio-economic woes out of it!! Perhaps the current times will drive us back to the pick-up games, back-yard juggling, and one-on-one with mom or dad. Today's climate will also show us just where soccer is on our own list of priorities and how important it is to the development of our youth. And how badly our children want this experience!! I know in my family, the soccer programs and sports in general will be the last thing I drop from the budget. Kids need that outlet and the child development that comes with it. What say you? « comments » |
|
||||||
|
|||||||
| Contact Us Become a Member Guiding Principles Meet the Team Advertise Investor Relations ZenFooty Jobs |
| SUBSCRIBE TO OUR EMAIL LIST | MAKE ZENFOOTY YOUR HOME PAGE © 2007-2008 ZenFooty.com |