My Soccer Ball/ Jersey Collection. Bonus: Olympiakos team autographed ball (red and white Puma ball) and a poster of Wayne Rooney doing a bicycle kick.

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Difficult Parents are…Difficult (Paul Cross)

Difficult parents can turn any season into an unpleasant one. I am not sure you will ever succeed 100% of the time when dealing with difficult parents, but the strategies and tactics below will put you in a much better position to have a successful outcome when dealing with difficult parents.

Let’s define a difficult parent:  a difficult parent is someone who is upset with you because of something you did or didn’t do or something that happened (you fill in the blank).  In addition, they can complicate the situation by not being a good judge of time and place.  That is, when and where to address the issue with you or anyone else.

A difficult parent can be upset with:

• Playing time (either their child getting too little or some other child or children getting too much)
• What position their child is playing vs. where the parent thinks they should be playing
• If a child plays for both a “club” and a “recreational” team at the same time or any multiple teams in one season; wanting preferential treatment because of talent and not commitment
• They believe there is unfair treatment when discipline is required
• Constantly berating officials as if they are entitled to such behavior
• Constantly “coaching” from the sidelines
• Generally not onboard with your “vision” of the season and your program
• So how do you deal with these issues and any other issues that you can share from your experiences?

I believe the simple answer is, EXPECTATIONS. As a coach of our youth it becomes your responsibility to envision what you believe the season will look like and share your vision with your parents, your assistant coaches and the kids on your team.

Word of Wisdom:  approach expectations from a positive standpoint.  That is, do not call a meeting and simply “dictate” how things will be done.  Do not come across as if this is your kingdom and you are the king or queen.  That approach undermines what you are trying to accomplish.  Your expectations may be well thought out and very helpful, but if they are delivered in a condescending tone or “it’s my way or the highway” tone, it comes off negative and you may have created more problems for yourself because some parents may be put off by your tone, your attitude and your delivery.

Pre-Season Meeting:  it is the beginning of the season and no one is in the heat of the battle.  This is the time to deliver you pre-season meeting with energy, enthusiasm and, above all, let the children and parents know that you and your assistants are in the trenches with them and that all the expectations apply to them as well as the children and parents.  Everyone is in the program together.

At your pre-season meeting lay out all of your expectations for you, your assistants, the parents and the children.  Share with them how you want them to communicate with you especially if a child is going to miss a practice or game.

However, if the issue is sensitive in nature or possibly emotional outline the following plan:

1. Parent or child, if you are upset about something, please give it a lot of thought.  I will give you the same courtesy if I am upset about something.
2. Cooling Off Period:  Please wait 24 hours before acting on your issue.  I will do the same.
3. Time and Place:  Let’s set up a time and place to meet (if not using a phone) and let’s discuss the issue.

The beauty of this approach is threefold and maybe more:

1. You have now set an expectation and put in place a process to cover just about any parent complaint and in some respect, you have defused just about any issue before it can become explosive.
2. All the parents attending your pre-season meeting will agree that this approach is reasonable and doable.  Why?  They are not in the heat of the battle.
3. You have calmly set the expectation and you have announced to all parties how you and they need to address sensitive or emotional issues.

Now a process is in place and if a parent or child abuses the process, you can say: “we have a process to discuss you concern; please honor that process.  I will do the same for you.”  It allows you to defuse the issue immediately and puts the responsibility back on the parent or child to address the issue (24 hours later) with an agreeable time and place for all concerned.

Coaches, this process works.  In addition, you can use it for any expectation within your program:  yelling at officials, coaching from the sidelines, playing time, commitment to the program, etc.  The overall goal is to give everyone a process to use and, at the same time, avoid on field or on court or on parking lot discussions which can become heated very quickly.

You may not reach every parent or child, but you will have made an honest effort to outline a process that everyone can use during the course of the season.  I truly believe that the success of most seasons start before a soccer ball is ever kicked.

Finally, give all parents and children a process to address you and your assistants, deliver your expectations in an upbeat manner and have you and your assistants follow through on your expectations with great consistency.  Have a vision. Share your vision in an upbeat manner. Create a process to defuse issues.  Reduce your problems.  Thank you for coaching our children!

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Bruce Reyes-Chow does an awesome job of summarizing some great suggestions from the sidelines. When I found this article, I just thought, “Bruce gets it.” The game of soccer is all about head fake learning – focusing on the bigger life lessons and how soccer can teach those lessons. And, as we always say, “What are you teaching your kids?” They are always watching our actions and hearing our words, so don’t be surprised when they emulate both your good – and poor – behavior.

Our collective goal as adults: Make it all about the kids and keep your perspective. Well done, Bruce! Here’s the original article:

All about the Kids (Photo: SFGate.com)

Before I launch into my semi-rant about soccer parents, I fully admit that I have crossed the line on each and every one of my suggestions below. I am just as competitive and excitable as the next parent, so this post is just as much of a reminder for me as it is for those out there who are slightly oblivious to their scary soccer parent ways.

All three of my daughters have played soccer at some point in their lives. My oldest daughter played through third grade, but soon discovered that she really didn’t LOVE soccer and moved onto other activities. My other two daughters love the game and will probably stick with it a little longer.  They are both on solid teams and we are grateful for another extension of our village helps them to grown and thrive.  And while we parents have had our differences about things such as time-commitment, coaching, etc., on all of these teams we have tried to hold in balance the need to keep the game fun, teach fundamental soccer skills and give the girls a healthy experience of competition and team play.

This past weekend one of my daughters played a game where I am confident in saying that the other team modeled ways not to be helpful soccer parents.  The other team looked like they had three coaches, which one could argue is a little overkill for 8-year-old soccer, but they were actually fine and it is well within any team’s right to have a coaching team. What I had a problem with was the army of parents who apparently thought their role was to act as de facto “assistant” coaches.  Sure parents, yell, scream and be obnoxious as you want, but at least do it from the place where the league has asked us to remain, on the designated sideline parent area.

The other team had three parents or grandparents in some rotation standing behind their goalie, constantly in her ear telling her what to do, and at one time chastising the other defensive players for making X do it all by herself. And yes, loud enough for the rest of us to hear. Then there were the five or so parents who decided that the rules about who could be on the team side of the field did not apply to them. Our coach has been very clear that only official coaches with a league coaching card are allowed to be with the team during the game. This makes a good deal of sense as it allows the team to focus on one person and one set of directions. Apparently the other parents did not hold this view as illustrated by the parental coaching cadre who strategically situated themselves on the team side of the field and offered coaching wisdom throughout the game.  The best part was when one of the other team’s parents was so bold as to walk right IN FRONT of our coach as he yelled out directions to his team.  Now our parents are far from quiet and reserved, but even from the official parent section on the other side of the field we were speechless.

But it gets better. After our coach realized what was going on she called him on it.

COACH – Excuse me, are you a coach? Only official coaches are supposed to be on this side of the field. Do you have your coach’s card?

PARENT – I’m not going to answer that.

Seriously? Did you just plead the Fifth Amendment at an 8-year-old soccer game?  Now unless your team is sponsored by Solyndra, I think this should be a clue that you might, just might, have crossed the line.  So, in order to avoid booking my own ticket to Crazy Soccer Parent  Town, let me offer a few reminders for us all . . .

• It’s just a game - After the game – which we lost - a few parents were talking about how it sure would have been nice to win this one. Of course, our girls were pretty oblivious to the parental sideline antics of the other team or our own reactions. They were disappointed by losing, but 10 minutes later had moved onto making plans to bake cookies when they got home. Obviously, I do not let such things go as easily.
• You’re not the coach - I have coached before and know that, even with the best of intentions, parental coaching is not helpful. Not only do you send mixed messages to the players, but you unintentionally chip away at the authority of the coach. It is important in team sports for the players to develop trust in their coach, for the coach to instill big-picture strategies and not have to deal with parents make matters more confusing. Parents can work on skills at home, help the kids process winning and losing and support the coach, but unless you really ARE the coach, you are NOT the coach.
• Competition can be healthy – Parents have to help their children to discover the joy of healthy competition. Sports is a great way to develop discipline, character and commitment, but competition taken too far, can lead to an attitude that everything is a competition, everyone is someone to be beat and worth is based on winning and losing. This shows up mostly in how parents act on the sideline. Do we give credit for a good play by the other team? Do we use language that is appropriate for the age group? Do we play by the rules that we agreed to? The list goes on and on in how we can teach our kids that winning really is not everything.
• “Taking a knee” is important – Whenever a player on either team is hurt, our girls place one knee on the ground and wait until the player is back up before clapping for them. This show of courtesy and sports[wo]manship is a crucial part of life and sports. No level of competition takes precedent over the health and well-being of another person. “Taking a knee” in life, politics and work even when our deepest professional or ideological enemy is in pain helps us to see everyone as a complex being and not as some anonymous humanoid on the other team.
• This should be fun – At some point we can push our kids too far. Yes, we all want our kids to thrive and sometimes they do need to be challenged to keep moving forward, but knowing the difference between parenting that sucks the joy from an activity and parenting that helps them improve in ways to unlock new experiences is crucial. I know far too many adults who, as children, enjoyed playing an instrument or participating in an activity only to lose all enjoyment because of parental pressures to succeed. Sometime, our kids just need to do things because it’s a fun thing to do.

Now I am sure there are many more tips we could offer one another, but this is a start.  Please feel free to share your own soccer parent story and/or offer up any more tips for healthy parenting from the sidelines.

Original Post: http://blog.sfgate.com/reyeschow/2011/09/26/words-of-advice-for-soccer-parents/

Soccer Classroom

Football Shirt Queens Park Rangers football Club will observed QPR is new one team in Premier League season 2011-2012. Last season is 2010-2011 Queens Park Rangers win The Championship and promoted up to Premier League this season 1st time in 15 years ago. Queens Park Rangers football Club had establish Club in 1882 nickname is the Hoops and Rangers Stadium is Loftus Road will capacity 18360 persons find at west London. The football shirt use particolor blue with white, pants and sock is white. Queens Park Rangers have Lotto make football shirt use in their team.

Revealed for the terribly first time in Hoops your official matchday programme QPR donned their new home football shirt for the 2011/12 season in the gap day clash with Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.The strip was designed football shirt and manufactured by Lotto Sport Italia QPRs Technical Sponsor and Official football shirt supplier since 2008 with both Lotto and the Club operating in close collaboration to produce the Rs new home jersey.

From a stylistic purpose of view, the football shirt sleeves is enriched by a sublime silver piping and therefore the Clubs emblem is presented on the chest in a high definition patch.

The home football shirt shorts are allwhite and enriched by the Clubs emblem on the front half and by the double diamond on each lateral sides. From a purposeful point of view, the football shirt combines lightness and breathability with a comfortable and ergonomic fit due to the Poly Double Mesh 10, an elasticated material ideal even in the most difficult phases of the sport. As per Lottos Brands, theres additionally nice quality and support attention to detail. the england flag sits inside of the football shirt and also the Clubs emblem is processed.

Football Shirt

Football Shirt Chelsea football Club or The Blues is a skilled football club in English Premier League. Chelsea football Club had establish on 10 March 1905. locate at west london England stadium is Stamford Bridge capacity 41,841 seats. Chelsea’s regular football shirt colors are royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks, the mixture used since the 1960. The club crest has been changed several times in makes an attempt to modernise or re-brand; this crest, featuring a ceremonial lion holding a staff, may be a changed version of 1 initial adopted in the Nineteen Fifties. The club has sustained the fifth highest average all-time attendance in English football. Their average home gate for the 2010–2011 season was 41,435, the sixth highest in the Premier League.

Chelsea football Club and Adidas unveiled the new away football shirt for the 2011-2012 season. Turquoise squares are set on a black background to form a putting design, whereas the shorts conjointly feature a turquoise strip and also the famous 3 adidas stripes in white. The socks include a revolutionary style that options anatomically placed cushioning and an Achilles protector.

The new football shirt are going to be worn for the primary time after we play Hong Kong champions Kitchee in our opening game of the Barclays Asia Trophy on July 27. The enjoying football shirt options the adidas techfit technology which will facilitate improve speed, increased endurance capabilities and enhanced awareness. This works by stabilising and focusing the muscles’ energy to generate explosive acceleration and deliver maximum power output. The replica football shirt incorporates adidas ClimaCool technology, a combination of heat and moisture controlling materials, ventilation channels.

Chelsea have always worn blue football shirts, though they initially adopted a lighter shade than the present version, and unlike today wore white shorts and dark blue socks. The lighter blue was taken from the racing color of then club president, Earl Cadogan. the sunshine blue football shirts were short-lived, however, and replaced by a royal blue version in around 1912. Chelsea’s traditional away colours are all yellow or all white with blue trim, but, like most groups, they have had some more odd ones. the first away strip consisted of black and white stripes and for one game in the 1960 the team wore blue and black stripes. Chelsea’s current football shirt sponsor is Samsung who took over the sponsorship from their mobile division in 2007–2008 until now.

Football Shirt

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Soccer Goalkeeper Jerseys

I coach the men’s and women’s  club teams at the University of Florida. The men are always good and so are the women. The men have had more success, as they reached a national final and two quarter finals in the last three seasons. The women finished in the quarter finals last year with a very good team. This year the women look amazing. I am always very humble with my expectations, because what you have on paper does not always translate to success on the field.

This year I have my work cut out for me, because if we fail it will be my fault. The team is so deep with talent that I honestly do not know who to take and who to leave at home. They are all good enough.

I have a former youth national team player on the team this year and the scary thing is… she is not the best player I have. She is probably number five. This should give you an idea of the talent pool. I looked at a Division one women’s game in Tampa a few weeks ago and I am sure we are at least as good as the teams I observed. We have a tournament this weekend and I will not be surprised if both teams meet in the semi- final or final.

I have been coaching for a long time and I have not been this excited about a group of players in a long time. The chemistry is fantastic, the girls respect each other and they collectively believe that they can beat anyone if they respect the principles of the game. The work rate in practice is fantastic.

There is a healthy competition at every training session. I will keep you posted on our progress. This weekend will hopefully test our character. This is the final piece to the puzzle, because Lord knows we are talented enough. Wish me luck picking the first team.

Related posts:

1. High School Soccer – Sometimes a Painful Experience
2. Better Soccer Team vs Better Soccer Players
3. Practice Players vs Game Players

Ultimate Soccer Coaching

The 30-minute soccer training session #9 is an Online Soccer Academy soccer training video you can do in your backyard on your own time, outside of team soccer practice.

Equipment Needed:
5 cones and a soccer ball

Soccer Training Session:
0-5 minutes:
Warm up with the ball. Dribble around the field doing moves as you go. Go slow, go fast. Mix it up.

5-10 minutes:
Set up 5 Cones going across in a small line. Then do different exercises challenging your skills to not dribble forward and hit the cones. You want to do side to side ball control exercises. Like Inside to outside basic and advanced version. Do each exercise for 30 seconds then switch, use both feet.

10-15 minutes:
Fitness. 5 minutes straight dribbling with the ball. Steady pace at about 65 to 70 percent.

15-20 minutes:
Set up four cones. You are in the center. Toss ball up high, control it in the direction of one of the four cones, dribble to the cone, get back in quick and then repeat. Check your shoulder when the ball is in the air to practice your speed of thought. Pretend you are taking a touch away from an on coming defender.

20-25 minutes:
Chip Technique work. Set up a target like a trash can or four cones in a square and practice your chip into the target. For tips on how to chip the ball search for our OSA training video called “How to Chip a Soccer Ball”.

25-30 minutes:
Finish with juggling. Feet, thighs, head. After a few tries then go for your record. Whatever your high score for the day is record it on your OnlineSoccerAcademy.com juggling chart.

*If you want to extend the training session time then add on time to any section you want extra work on.

*Make sure to finish with cool down and stretching. If you are up for it add on a few sit ups and push ups!

Soccer Classroom

In this soccer training videos series we have the 30 Minute Soccer Training Session #10. There is a big emphasize on passing, shooting and working on your speed of play in this Online Soccer Academy soccer training video.

Equipment Needed: 5 cones, a goal and as many soccer balls as you have! If you don’t have a goal then use a wall or fence.

Soccer Training Session:
0-5 minutes:
Warm up, Jog and stretch doing all the normal exercises like high knees, side shuffle, etc. Finish with some leg kicks.

5-10 minutes:
Passing exercise. Set up a cone where you will stand. Then set up two small cone goals 20 yards ahead of you. Pass the ball up against the fence, as it comes back to you check your shoulder, see your target either cone goal one or two, then take a touch forward and pass it through. Repeat with until all your balls are gone. Then repeat for five minutes.

10-15 minutes:
Same exercise as above except now put the cone goals 30 yards away and chip the ball in the cone goals. For tips on how to chip the ball search our “How to Chip a Soccer Ball” OSA training video. Repeat for five minutes.

15-20 minutes:
Fitness with the ball. 5 Minutes straight dribbling about 65-70 percent.

20-25 minutes:
Shooting exercise. Similar set up to earlier. Pass against fence, check shoulders, take a touch forward and hit a shot. Repeat until five minutes is up.

25-30 minutes:
Exact same shooting exercise as before. Except now add in a defensive cone. Receive pass, dribble at defender, do a move, then shoot! Repeat for five minutes.

Bonus Tip!
When you check your shoulders before you receive as pass you are looking for defenders, attackers, space, runs, maybe the goalie’s out, etc. Doing this every time you receive a pass will greatly increase your speed of play and comfort on the ball.

*If you want to extend the training session time then add on time to any section you want extra work on.

*Make sure to finish with cool down and stretching. If you are up for it add on a few sit ups and push ups!

Soccer Classroom

www.TotallySoccer.com When it comes to unique – look no further than the Copa Soccer Jerseys! These jerseys define awesomeness and are available in sixteen colors from Youth Extra Small to Adult 2XL – we can outfit any team. Bring it on! These soccer jerseys include free personalization of your team logo and back numbers. Guaranteed by game day!

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Soccer Goalkeeper Jerseys