Mentality of Players

[Soccer_dude]

Coaches Im wondering the mentality of players on your team. Do your players care about tactics, next weeks opponents, standings, structure or style of play your team plays? Or is it in one ear out the other for your players?

I can't speak for msl or BCPL, but at the gold / div 1 & under, I don't really see a serious approach outside of maybe 2-3/4 players. Most of these players I think play to be around friends, socialize etc. I don't necessarily see keen players that want to learn.

What are your thoughts?

 

[LFC]

Coaches Im wondering the mentality of players on your team. Do your players care about tactics, next weeks opponents, standings, structure or style of play your team plays? Or is it in one ear out the other for your players?

I can't speak for msl or BCPL, but at the gold / div 1 & under, I don't really see a serious approach outside of maybe 2-3/4 players. Most of these players I think play to be around friends, socialize etc. I don't necessarily see keen players that want to learn.

What are your thoughts?

So true , the mentality of players in Canada when it comes to Football[soccer] is really bad. The BCSPL and higher level Metro teams are more tactically aware but Divisional players don,t really care or bother to learn tactics, style of play or how their opponents play and many don,t really want to learn to become better player. They would learn just by watching higher level U21 , Open games and games on TV. I don,t really see a real love/passion for the game like we had as kids in England.
However , All players right down to house level do check their standings

 

[easoccer]

My experience is the same as ops.

- many players want to play higher levels but are doing so for the badge mostly and not for what it entails.
- its hard to teach tactics on 1/6 to 1/8 of a field.
- dedicated players who want to be at every practice or game, who listen and work to get better without complaint, who go to work on skills or fitness outside of practice are very hard to come by.
- its hard to find players who havent been affected by an impatient or lazy coach who passed them off rather than develop them.
- a love of the game is not being fostered in the young when many at micro age are not getting playing time because parents and coaches are already putting the emphasis on winning.

 

[4_the_kids]

I will echo these thoughts. I have a div 1 team. Out of 17 players maybe 2 or 3 watch the game of soccer, maybe 4 or 5 have what I consider to be the appropriate mentality or approach to practice and games ( come to learn and prepared with full effort) .It is frustrating as for me I do not think of Div.1 as purely recreational , because of this there is a disconnect between by expectations and what i actual get. I am struggling trying to find a way to lower my expectation while trying to continue develop the boys. Further adding to my frustration is there is opportunity for these boys to move up if they want as I have a strong relationship with the metro team, the metro coachs feedback has been these kids just don't get it for whatever reason.

But enough about me, the larger concern is if at a tier 3 level there is already no drive , passion , motivation how in the world is Canada every going to develop true soccer talent...there is nothing pushing the top tier...

 

[rich]

Differs from team to team. On my Div 2 team, I have 8 or 9 players who regularly follow the pro game, be that MLS or Europe. Of those I would call 4 hard core soccer fans. Those 8 or 9 are regularly out on the turf on their own time, knocking a ball around.

I'd say 4-5 of my players continually ask tactical questions - "what run should I make when..." "When they do X, should I do Y" that sort of thing. The other half of my lads..well..they understand the difference between striker and fullback, and for that, I am thankful.

Meh. It's Div 2. I want them all to be playing at U18, and want them all to keep playing as adults.

 

[rich]

But enough about me, the larger concern is if at a tier 3 level there is already no drive , passion , motivation how in the world is Canada every going to develop true soccer talent...there is nothing pushing the top tier...

We will out of our current U8-U12 groups. There is more knowledge / understanding / touch per capita there than in the older groups. More of those kids are more steeped in soccer...at least that's what I see. World Cup 2030, baby!

 

[4_the_kids]

We will out of our current U8-U12 groups. There is more knowledge / understanding / touch per capita there than in the older groups. More of those kids are more steeped in soccer...at least that's what I see. World Cup 2030, baby!

yes ,we will see i guess. The most important thing we can do for that age group is making sure we are fostering the love for the game...all the technical ability and practice in the world means nothing without a passion for the game.

 

[rich]

Yup. If they love the game, who knows what can happen. I had a player at U11/U12 years ago...I had no idea what to do with this kid. Shy, quiet, didn't want the ball, would kick it away in any direction to get rid of it. At U16/17 he was my team captain and starting centre midfielder. He loved the game...

 

[TKBC]

Players in Div 1 generally are playing the correct level - either due to mental, technical, or physical attributes. MSL and BCSPL players are more serious, and have a higher level of mental, technical, and physical attributes. These things we all know.

In watching the Whitecaps u18's this weekend - they were superior athletes thus enhancing their technical acumen. In speaking with a kid on the team, they are also all very serious and have professional aspirations.

I'll suggest to you our kids with a lack of commitment/determination etc are a product of their environment. They come from clubs that don't make a very clear distinction from competitive and rec soccer. They play on teams with volunteer coaches who have no clue how to teach these kids how to train, nor any idea how to teach knowledge acquisition. They are children of parents who use sports as babysitting. They attend schools that insist on participation awards, and parents that pay kids to do their homework.

Coaches cannot teach determination. It comes from the home environment/genetics or it doesn't. This isn't to say you spend all day forcing your kid to train. You spend your time educating your child about work ethic and determination. If your kid doesn't have that, why would you put them in a competitive sport (ie, div 1+)?

I can assure you there are plenty of kids, like was noted above, that play MSL or BCSPL simply for the "prestige" not because they are "serious" footballers.

 

[Soccer_dude]

I will echo these thoughts. I have a div 1 team. Out of 17 players maybe 2 or 3 watch the game of soccer, maybe 4 or 5 have what I consider to be the appropriate mentality or approach to practice and games ( come to learn and prepared with full effort) .It is frustrating as for me I do not think of Div.1 as purely recreational , because of this there is a disconnect between by expectations and what i actual get. I am struggling trying to find a way to lower my expectation while trying to continue develop the boys. Further adding to my frustration is there is opportunity for these boys to move up if they want as I have a strong relationship with the metro team, the metro coachs feedback has been these kids just don't get it for whatever reason.

But enough about me, the larger concern is if at a tier 3 level there is already no drive , passion , motivation how in the world is Canada every going to develop true soccer talent...there is nothing pushing the top tier...

This whole post is completely bang on. Great response.

 

[Soccer_dude]

I think as a coach, the preparation (key word) that goes into a practice or game is a lot & when maybe half of the team is fooling around & the whole group is entirely not "into" it while you're delivering an important message or lesson, it becomes frustrating. Goes back to the "serious" mentality. You'll have the serious one say "guys listen up" out of that group of 15 or so, how many actually are paying attention & really care about the message being said?

Gone are the days of these players outside of training going to play at the park on there own. To the post above about the Div 2 players asking questions & playing on there own time......you're very fortunate cause I think that's a rarity.

 

[Legend]

I will echo these thoughts. I have a div 1 team. Out of 17 players maybe 2 or 3 watch the game of soccer, maybe 4 or 5 have what I consider to be the appropriate mentality or approach to practice and games ( come to learn and prepared with full effort) .It is frustrating as for me I do not think of Div.1 as purely recreational , because of this there is a disconnect between by expectations and what i actual get. I am struggling trying to find a way to lower my expectation while trying to continue develop the boys. Further adding to my frustration is there is opportunity for these boys to move up if they want as I have a strong relationship with the metro team, the metro coachs feedback has been these kids just don't get it for whatever reason.

But enough about me, the larger concern is if at a tier 3 level there is already no drive , passion , motivation how in the world is Canada every going to develop true soccer talent...there is nothing pushing the top tier...

From my experience, you should do the opposite and raise your expectations. They (player and parent) will wake up and show your serious. You might be surprised of the outcome after 9 months. Keep in mind, its ten times more work once you do this.

 

[ABBYSOCDAD]

I've seen that no matter what a coach tried to do there were serious practice players and then there were game players. Two players on our current team play hard and fight all game long, yet when it's practice time during the week they goof off and have poor attitudes. Just how they are. Meanwhile two other boys are deadly serious, it causes some strife amongst the players. My son takes both seriously, but I must admit do to his carefree personality can get caught up in the shenanigans of those others in practice. The hard approach of taking game time away just does not work for our team as the practice slackers are two of the better players and they need to play in order for us to compete. So our coach just continues to stress the importance of getting better and skills each time out hoping the message sinks in.

It's s shame because these two players could go far, but I feel any Metro coach even seeing their skills would not choose to have them on their team do to lack of "coachability". So my question to those involved, would you choose highly skilled hard to coach or very good and easy to coach?

 

[TKBC]

I've seen that no matter what a coach tried to do there were serious practice players and then there were game players. Two players on our current team play hard and fight all game long, yet when it's practice time during the week they goof off and have poor attitudes. Just how they are. Meanwhile two other boys are deadly serious, it causes some strife amongst the players. My son takes both seriously, but I must admit do to his carefree personality can get caught up in the shenanigans of those others in practice. The hard approach of taking game time away just does not work for our team as the practice slackers are two of the better players and they need to play in order for us to compete. So our coach just continues to stress the importance of getting better and skills each time out hoping the message sinks in.

It's s shame because these two players could go far, but I feel any Metro coach even seeing their skills would not choose to have them on their team do to lack of "coachability". So my question to those involved, would you choose highly skilled hard to coach or very good and easy to coach?

Very good and easy to coach - those are the kids that will reach "the next level" most likely. You may be able to squeeze one talented, but undisciplined player in a team because peer pressure will generally bring that player in line or the majority of kids will be able to more easily ignore them. You can also more easily bench one talented player to make a point, than if you had multiple.

 

[Soccer_dude]

Of course the answer is very good & easy to coach but....what do you do when you have players in practice who seem to grasp the concepts, understand what you're saying but just can't seem to execute in game situations or lack the enthusiasm in games vs a talented, game breaker player in actual games who probably doesn't want to be at practice & shows minimal effort at practice, but in games, performs.

 

[TKBC]

Of course the answer is very good & easy to coach but....what do you do when you have players in practice who seem to grasp the concepts, understand what you're saying but just can't seem to execute in game situations or lack the enthusiasm in games vs a talented, game breaker player in actual games who probably doesn't want to be at practice & shows minimal effort at practice, but in games, performs.

Well there's a saying "if you want to ruin a practice just invite Guy LaFleur." So there is always an argument from both perspectives.

If players are not producing in games the concepts they appear to be grasping in training that tells me the concepts are not being acquired in training for whatever reason. Typically players require unopposed-to-opposed, conditional games, and unconditioned games rinse-repeat training to acquire a skill/tactic.

 

[rich]

First team I ever coached I had two of those players...couldn't practice their way out of a wet paper bag. Everyone went right, they'd go left. It drove me NUTS. One of them was my 'keeper. Couldn't stop a slow rolling beach ball in practice.

Saturday morning rolled around - completely different kids. Focused, on task, competitive level through the roof. 'Keeper caught everything that came near him...would do whatever it took to stop a shot.

You can't shoe horn all the different personalities into one or two comfortable "boxes". Then you don't have a team, you have the Borg Collective (nerd alert, nerd alert...) Just have to find a way to fairly integrate them into the group.

Beer helps.

 

[Admin]

 

[easoccer]

I talk about Iverson with my players all the time, trying to be funny. They look at me like I looked at my mom talking 'bout ELVIS.