Adventures in Soccer Coaching

I'm not sure what I envisioned this experience would be like before I jumped in with both feet, but it actually seems to be going ok. I was up front with the parents about my lack of experience, and so far they have all been really supportive.  I think they're just thankful it's not them.

My team includes an age range from 10-14.  Yes, that is a big range, and there is a huge range in the sizes of the girls. We have tiny girls that could pass for third-graders, and girls that are nearly my size. However, we are one of the bigger teams.  The twins play in the same division and their team is much smaller than ours.  And the team we played last week was much smaller.

But they still beat us.  Because my girls are worried about hurting the smaller girls. So in our team scrimmage at practice this week, I put the biggest girls up against the smallest girls and talked to them about how size doesn't matter and your job is to keep the ball away from the other team no matter their size.  In fact, the best player on our team is one of the smallest.  She's a little powerhouse.

And then we played reverse dodge-ball--because all of the girls were ducking whenever a ball came sailing toward them.  So I let them chuck balls at each other and the goal was to stop it without using their hands. (I had to text my SIL to ask how to stop a ball with your chest without hurting your boobs.)

And we worked on throw-ins because I hadn't covered that before our first game, and we kept getting called on improper throw-ins.  Oops. Who knew the soccer rules were so dang specific about how you can throw in the ball.

So, I am definitely not the best soccer coach in the world, and our team is not going to be taking home the World Cup anytime soon, but we're having fun and the girls are doing great, especially considering the incompetence of their leadership.