All posts in Kids’ Sports

Four Tips for Coaching Kids Sports

By | February 3, 2011 | Coaches, Kids' Sports | 3 Comments

Many of us here at Draft Day Suit are not just snarky writers, we’re also parents. We are parents with kids in sports, and some of us coach. So to all you parents/coaches/volunteers out there, here are the things you need to know about coaching younger kids (between the ages of, say, 4-11) that won’t get you the bad review at the end of the season and not chosen to take a team for next year.

  1. Teach all children equally. These kids need to be taught the fundamentals of the game. “Hit the ball” is not adequate instruction. Repetitive drills are great and with this thing called the internet you can find hundreds of skill-specific drills that are geared toward the age/skill level that you are coaching. When I coached 6 year old boys in soccer I found a drill that they loved: Hit the Coach. The sole goal of the game was to hit me with the ball. They thought it was hilarious and they got practice in ball handling. It quickly became the end-of-practice favorite.
  2. Play all children equally. Assuming that we’re talking about just-for-fun leagues here, you should be playing all children an equal amount of time, regardless of skill. Take time to make your game plan. Rotate players so that the two kids with two left feet are not playing at the same time. Believe me, it reduces frustration on everyone’s part. Rotation actually teaches a few things: a) each person on a team is valuable, b) even the best players need to sit out once in a while, and c) every player gets a chance to be a hero. By the age of about 8 or 9, the kids who aren’t good at a sport usually know it, but shouldn’t, at this age, be made by the coach to feel like less of a player — or a person — because of it.
  3. Push all children equally, according to ability. Be appropriately competitive, for the age and level of the team. A cut-throat screamer at a five-year-old beginner’s team? No. A yeller with 11-year-olds who could go to the playoffs if you win this game? Maybe, if you’re also following the next rule…
  4. Love all children equally. We all know it’s hard to be the coach of your own child, but don’t play favorites on the field, even if your kid is the best player on the team. If you’re being encouraging to all of your players and passing out accolades to all of the children equally, not just the most talented of the bunch, you’ll also be the best loved coach in the league whether you’re winning or not.

Hat tip to Janis for inspiring this article with hers for coaches of older kids.

Kendra can’t wait for drinking baseball season to start. Two weeks, baby.

image

Back In MY Day, We Learned Sports in School

By | November 9, 2010 | Kids' Sports | 6 Comments

Yes that’s right. Sports, in school. While I am old enough to be able to cheekily quip “I remember when they played MUSIC VIDEOS on MTV”, it never really occurred to me that I would ever be old enough to say I could remember when they used to teach sports in school.

I admit, I grew up in the land of Hoosiers. If you didn’t have a basketball in your hand by the time you walked, they might send you for an evaluation. But, I remember distinctly from first grade on, that each six week-period in physical education was devoted to one sport. Basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis….each six weeks we learned the fundamentals of a basic sport and the last two weeks of that time frame we actually played games.

Competitively.

I learned this weekend at a birthday party that this isn’t the case anymore. My son was involved in a game of kickball. At the age of eight I was a kickball ninja. My mom actually got a call from school regarding whether or not it was appropriate how vigorously I played kickball in a dress.  My cheery 8-year-old walked up to the plate, grinned at me in the stands and said “I don’t know what we are doing!” – at which point all the other parents stared at me.

I’ve had him in a couple of organized little guy-level sports. Nothing that competitive, nothing that hardcore, because he’s little.  I might’ve been a little more aggressive in getting him into something if it had occurred to me that he wasn’t learning anything at all in school. I guess that those parent-teacher conferences I have been going to haven’t actually covered this so I am remiss in not asking.

I muttered something about “Why didn’t they he learn this in school?” and was informed by the other parents that our county doesn’t teach competitive sports in elementary school.

Uh, what?

I suppose this is part of the society that gives “participation” ribbons and has cap and gown ceremonies for kindergartners like it’s some sort of accomplishment.  But it’s not.

Here are a few words from an old ball kicker about sports and kids:

Kids have to learn to lose. It helps them learn how to win. Kids have to work hard and be achy and sore. It teaches them that anything worth accomplishing isn’t easy. Sports and competition can hone character and determination. They can teach us drive and desire. No one gets a “participation ribbon” in my world. You either won or you did not. If my kids get one, I tell them that those are for kids whose parents have no expectations of them.

Kids have to learn that it’s okay to lose. Nothing is handed to us. Competition pushes us to improve ourselves. Sometimes we fail, but sometimes we succeed in ways that we never even thought of.

I realize now that I’ve failed the boy. I fell into that trap of thinking that the school was covering things it covered when I was a kid. So while I am perusing the local parks departments to see when team signs ups are starting (basketball – January) I remind myself that he’s only 8. He’s not a Manning.

But no one in THIS house is going to third grade without knowing how to play kickball.

What Sports Are Really About

By | October 21, 2010 | Football, Kids' Sports | Comments Off

From the “That’s what it’s really all about” files I give you Dylan Galloway:

Galloway is the Arkansas teen with cerebral palsy that scored a touchdown for his high school. A life long dream of his, he had been bugging the head football coach, Toby Doke, all year. In the fourth quarter of an already lost game, coach put a helmet on Galloway and sent him in. He took the hand-off from the quarterback, took a left, and rolled his wheelchair in for the touchdown. According to reports the entire stands stood up and cheered. Including the opposing team’s stands.

“Thank you for giving him a chance to be a part of something,” said his mother, Liz Galloway to the Jonesboro Sun. “He really likes football, and this is like a little dream come true for him.”

Like the triumphant touchdown run of Ike Ditzenberger that we shared with you earlier this month, Dylan’s story reminds us that sports should be about these moments:

helping each other, supporting your teammates no matter what their abilities are, rooting for the kid that needs the support, everyone having fun and feeling good in the process. This is what we should be teaching our kids; this is why they should participate in sports. I realize that pro sports are a money-making gig but if you haven’t started here, with these moments, with these kids, these coaches and teams, then there is no place for pro sports. These moments matter more than what the pros are doing because there is no amount of money that can replace what these kids learned in these touchdown moments.

Kendra wants more stories like this, and fewer instances of athletes behaving badly.

Source Source Source

Kids These Days… They Aren’t All Bad

By | October 12, 2010 | Football, Kids' Sports, Legends | 3 Comments

Every Sunday morning I start out the day reading the paper. It’s my favorite way to start/end the week. This Sunday I read an article about a local high school football team that had me in tears. Normally I can’t stand the little high-schoolers, but these kids may have restored a little bit of my faith in people and hope in the future.

My husband threw away the article, but I need to share it with you even if I have to paraphrase, because I know you will appreciate it too.

So there is this kid, Ike, and he attends a local high school. His parents were starting to worry because he wasn’t his usual shiny happy self for a while. His parents approached the football coach and asked if he could be a part of the team. They thought it would help his self-confidence and feelings of self worth.

Normally, that would be a crazy request, but because Ike was born with Down syndrome they made it anyway. The coach said yes and Ike was welcomed with open arms by players and coaches alike. The team even came up with a couple of plays called the “Ike Special” that they run once a game so he can have a chance to be on the field.

We come to the team’s game against their division rivals. They were getting blown out. The score was 35 – 0. Their coach, Perry, calls a time out to get ready to run the “Ike Special”, because win or lose, they were still going to run it.

Perry had already discussed the play with their rivals coach. The opposing coach was okay with it. Perry went out to talk to the opposing players and asked them to let Ike run 10 yards or so before they tackled him. He told them they deserved their shut-out so just a few yards would do, and thank you very much for letting him run.

Here’s what happened:

Sometimes it’s how you win, lose and play the game.

If Everyone Wins, What Do We Lose?

By | September 20, 2010 | Kids' Sports, Soccer | 6 Comments

My son Oliver decided to try soccer this season, and he loves it. He’s also pretty good. Being fast and motivated serves him well, not to mention having a basic grasp of the game.

There are more rules for parents than for the kids, though. There is no yelling of your kid’s name or any “instructions.” (In our case “Go brown!” is about all I can say.) No keeping score. No winners. No losers.

That would be easier if Oliver were not a bit of a fiend when it comes to numbers and statistics. I once wanted to be the statistician for the Boston Bruins so the apple has not fallen far from the tree. It’s how his brain works, and he’s proud of his accomplishments.

Knowing this was starting to be an issue, I talked to Oliver over the last few days about being a good sport and having fun at soccer. He agreed with me that if he had fun and tried his best, he won. He agreed. After today’s game I asked him if he learned anything. “I learned not to keep score,” he answered, but his face looked like he’d been gut-punched. He said exactly the right thing. I know he’s only 5 but it still felt wrong.

Rewind to a couple of weeks ago. I was at work, chatting with one of the faculty. We were bemoaning the inability of our students to do as they are told, to follow the simplest of instructions, and to do anything that does not involve them being handed everything they need on a silver platter. I asked him how he thought we got here, or why these kids are the way they are. He circled a little bit until I asked him how we keep our own kids from ending up this way. He didn’t have to think very hard before saying the whole “everyone gets a trophy” mentality wasn’t helping.

That conversation reminded me something from the Women and Sports panel at BlogHer. This very thing was discussed and though I didn’t speak up, I sided squarely with those who argued against “everyone gets a trophy.” GoonSquadSarah put it best.

Getting back to my conversation with the faculty member, are we preparing our students for the real world, the very competitive real world, if we only spoon feed them? Do we give them the chance to shine if they never have to figure out how to get from point A to point B on their own, without a detailed map? Would it be any different if they had more opportunities  to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat?

I don’t have any good answers but I can tell you how I’m feeling a couple of weeks in to the soccer season. I don’t want to go anymore. He’s having fun and loving it, so I’ll keep going, but I’m trying to pay less and less attention to what is happening on the pitch. It’s better for everyone.

ClumberKim also posted this on her own blog. It was edited slightly before it landed over here.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin
Newer Entries →