 Posted 14/11/2007 10:04:14
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| After reading this weeks email from Dwyer i was interested in the point he raised about whether he should mix his 2 teams up rather than have a stronger team and a weaker team. I think that having a strong team and a weaker team could be used to the advantage of the coach and all the players. It can be used as motivation for everyone in the weaker team to play better and help them improve if you point out to them that if they play well then they will have the opportunity to move into the stronger team. It should also encourage the stronger players to keep trying there hardest if they know that they will get moved down because they will want to stay in the best team. As long as everyone gets there chance if they play well then i dont see how it wont work, of course no-one wants to play in the second team but it can be used well as motivation.
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Posted 14/11/2007 10:40:51
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| Being a coach of a mixed ability team, i have found that the 'weaker' players do seem to improve by playing with good players. Sometimes i find it hard to explain to parents when their child is'nt playing because the 'weaker' player is on in their place, that the results dont matter as much as the development of the child. Before anyone says 'Yeah, right, results dont matter, i will admit that i like winning, losing is not good (i'm human!), but sometimes giving little jimmy more time and losing the match makes me more proud. About the stronger-weaker teams, scenario in my experience 2 of our 'weaker' teams (Rossendale United Jnrs) have faired better than the stronger teams in the leagues (my U10 inc.) So really i would say that at a young age u cannot split the kids because as always they develop at different stages, we now try to mix the teams at the u8 lvl (as much as we can). Its a difficult one. My opinion is try to be fair and mix!
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Posted 14/11/2007 16:52:33
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| I went through a similar situation a few years back with my U9 team. I started my strong team, went up early on the opposition, then put the weaker team in and watched our lead evaporate. Then put the strong in and got it back only to watch it go again on the next switch. So I tried mixing, and found there was no cohesion, team play fell apart, and we all (the players, parents, and myself) got frustrated. The next week I mentioned my frustration to the coach we were about to play and he expressed the same problems. We got together, and each seperated our strong players from the weak players, then put the strong players together and split them in half and did the same with the weak players. We then played a game strong v strong, then subbed and played weak v weak.(I need not mention we didn't call them that, but it was obvious to at least most of the parents what we were doing, although, suprisingly, most of the players didn't clue in). The end result was amazing. Our stong players were challenged by similar skilled players, but they also could pass, give and go, etc because their teammates were of equal skill. Equally suprising was that the weaker players played the same way.Why? These players were not intimidated by their teammates, nor were they afraid of making mistakes because they were playing with equal skilled teammates. I was impressed because I now saw skill and confidence in these players that they had not previously shown in games, although I knew they had it from watching them in practice. These players could not rely upon the strong players to carry the team, they had to do it themselves. The other bonus was that the strong players on the sidelines were making comments about how good certain players looked, and they gained new found respect for them. The rest of the season, we enjoyed success as a team, but more importantly, each individual player grew. (The disparaging comments between good players about weak players disappeared, and they were actually helping them improve with their techniques etc.)
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Posted 14/11/2007 18:25:13
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| At this age it is difficult apart from a few exceptional players to say who is better from one week to the next. The big thing is their confidence and team spirit. I feel this is always going to be better in a mixed unstreamed enviroment.
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Posted 15/11/2007 16:07:11
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| I see this on each of our games. In our league we are required to play each child for 50% of the game. of my 8 girls (U8 we play 4 v 4) I have 3 that are well ahead of the others, 2 or 3 that are not as strong but are trying their best and showing improvement, and then I have 2 or 3 that do not put forth the effort in practice, usually ask not to play, and are the first to ask to come out. Given that mix I try to balance the team based on the opposition. If we are playing a weak team and find that we get out ahead of them by 3 goals or so then I try to play a strong and weak team so that the weak girls have a chance to get their confidence up. With the strong girls I restrict them to minimum number of passes, left foot shooting only, and max number of touches.
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Posted 16/11/2007 17:52:17
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| Its an interesting question and challenge, and obviously one that we have all faced or are facing right now. For me, it started early this season when we went in to the league for the 1st time. Ever since I started with an U7 squad I have kept a strong team and a weaker team philosophy...why ? Reason is quite simple..... my stronger players simply are too strong for the weaker one's and when it comes to playing a league match, they will tend to bypass the weaker one's as they can;t play at the same pace. The weaker one's fel left out, don;t develop and don;t enjoy. When the weaker players play in the same team though, they all shine as they are a similar level - they enjoy the game (win or lose). During training sessions however, its a different story.... I mix teams up and find it does bring players on. I also hate it when a team plays a weaker team against my strong team just so that they can get points in the other fixture.... what does anyone learn from winning 15-0, then losing 10-0....nothing.
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Posted 04/12/2007 10:27:55
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| This is all very interesting and we've had many discussions about this in our squad. We've even had a show of hands at a parents meeting to decide upon 1st and 2nd teams versus mixed ability squads. The latter won. In reality, you will never please everyone all the time. That's one thing I've learned in football coaching! But there are some fundamentals here that do need to be addressed. The FA allows clubs to choose children at the age of 8 for their academies. They begin training at 6 in them and are signed at 8! So talent identification seems to be possible at an early age. On a personal level, I'd prefer a 1st and 2nd team. This would enable us to win matches against clubs who hold this philospophy (ie those that have 1st and 2nd teams). Otherwise, we lose out to good clubs because we're trying to include our poorer players. In our squad, the good ones seem to be going from strength to strength and the gap between them and the weaker ones seems to be steadily growing. I prefer a winning philosophy yet realise that this is very non-PC!
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Posted 07/12/2007 12:05:05
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| I've never really believed in stronger and weaker teams, just in the sense that I would rather mix it up so that weaker players, play beside the strong ones during matches. At the moment my team in benefitting from "like for like" substitutions which another manager had pointed out. He was impressed that whatever substitution I made, it didn't weaken the team and they slotted in well. This came from playing players in every position during last season. Everyone knows how to defend, pass and score. I try to play the weaker players for a whole game against the weaker teams and sub the stronger ones. The good thing is you can give responsibility to the more experienced players to coach the weaker player during the game. I've seen this work well with a new girl in defence. Within 25 mintues they were giving high fives! I'm definately for mixed ability. I don't want children to just turn up for training, I want to give them as equal an opportunity on the field as the rest of them.
Cheers
Coach Sandy
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