10 Ways to Manage High School vs. Club Conflicts
Posted May 21, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010 10 Ways to Manage High School vs. Club Conflicts
By Chris Hummer
Whether you're a coach or a parent, below are 10 things to think about (because everyone loves lists) when it comes to handling the high school vs. club conflict. These are areas where I see the most mistakes in helping over-worked players get through the season healthy.
1. Unnecessary Running
The kids are playing every day -- they’re already in shape. You don’t need them to run sprints to help win the next game, or worse -- threaten them with running if they don’t win. You need them to be rested, so they have the energy to perform when it counts. If you're going to “run” them at all, use a ball.
2. Shorter Practices
If the pros can do what they need to do in 90 minutes, so can you. Anything more than 90 minutes means you’re not efficient enough in progressing through your practice plan (usually because there is no plan). That extra 30 minutes (or more?) saved from the more typical 2-hour sessions is valuable time players could be using for homework among other things.
3. Manage Playing Time
Every coach likes their best players on the field, but you need to manage their minutes. A two-goal lead in the second half should be more than enough cushion for a good coach to give their best players a rest. And so is being down three goals against a team that is clearly superior. The minutes add up, and tired legs equal more chance to get injured.
4. Injury Recovery
We all have players who will chew their own foot off to stay in the game. We also all have players who think a slight twinge is an ambulance-requiring injury. The trick is knowing your players, and knowing when it’s OK to get them back in the game. But the last thing you should do is ignore a trainer's requests, or discourage your players from seeing a doctor because you’re worried the doctor will only tell them to stay out of the game longer.
5. Team Tactics
I rarely see a team that doesn’t chase the game full speed, the whole way to the opposing keeper, every time they don’t have the ball. This can be effective for winning when you have unlimited subs and/or an opponent who turns the ball over constantly in its own end. But it’s tremendously taxing on the players, and also creates enormous gaps in your team shape if not done properly. A lot of times it’s much better to let the teams come to you while you rest, letting their backs come up to midfield to create space behind them. Then, when you do get behind them, your forwards will have the energy to win the race and put the ball in the net.
6. Too Many Rules
Making a lot of rules about what players have to attend, or what they’re allowed to do often places players in a position where you force them to lie to you. You can’t be a high school coach and say “you guys are too tired, no one is allowed to play club this weekend,” and expect your players to skip their state cup games. You also can’t be a club coach and say “This practice is 100 percent mandatory,” because odds are some players have a high school game, or have 4 hours of homework due the next day after spending the last three days on a field, on a bus, or in a car. In the end, your credibility as a coach is undermined more by your inability to actually enforce your punishments -- just so you can have 11 players on the field -- than it is by being flexible with your players’ unique life situations at the risk of some players feeling like you’re playing favorites.
7. Overscheduled
Team building is a must. Watching film is helpful. Accepting a last-minute weekend scrimmage invitation on a artificial turf field when your league game is rained out is too good to pass up. And fundraising is a necessary evil. But think twice about too many pasta dinners, group outings, meetings, or community service. These are all great things, but the kids already have no extra time. Coaches who try to dominate their players’ schedules are usually just creating busy work so they can feel like they’re in control. During the high school season, do what you need to do away from the practice field, not what you want to do.
8. Rest and Recovery
Some scenarios to think about.
* Next time your fields are closed due to rain, cancel practice.
* Your last high school game was Friday, and your next is Wednesday, so on Monday you plan to work the team hard. But you forgot most kids just played two club games over the weekend.
* Club teams that have weekday practices know their players just came from at least a 90-minute practice at high school, but you still work them hard and yell about doing more.
Any of these sound familiar? Players have to rest and recover. (See above for ideas for resting.) The recovery starts on the final whistle. After every game and practice, players should be static stretching their big muscles for several minutes. Their feet should be in the air so the blood circulates through the heart. And recent best practices from the U.S. Soccer Federation say you don’t need the “cool down run,” because they just got done running. The sooner the players get stretching, the less chance of the lactic acid building up and the sooner their muscles will start to heal.
9. Nutrition
You wouldn’t put milk in a Ferrari as ask why the engine didn’t start. So why do so many coaches completely ignore proper athlete nutrition and hydration? There’s an entire industry surrounding sports nutrition, so I won’t go into too many details here, but if you’re not thinking about it and putting it into practice, you’re not doing everything you can to help your players – let alone win games. The cheat-sheet version: only eat what you can buy at Whole Foods and drink water till your pee is “light” in color (assuming you’re not on any medication or vitamins, which will change the color).
10. Injury Prevention
Lots of what was discussed above helps with injury prevention. In fact, preventing injuries is pretty much the whole point of this article. The more you can prevent injuries, the more you’ll get out of your players. It’s that simple, yet one of the best ways to both prevent injuries and win soccer games is completely ignored or misunderstood by so many coaches. Active warmups have been common “best practice” knowledge for many years now, yet most teams I play against or see preparing for games – especially in high school – still have players in big circles doing static stretching before the game. This is a huge mistake. Same as nutrition, look it up and you’ll find many articles and books. The cheat-sheet version: Run to get the muscles warm, then stretch them “actively” in motions that will be used in the game.
These are all drawn from experiences, observations, classes, and stories shared with fellow coaches and industry professionals. I’m not perfect. I’m not always right. And, I’m probably missing some obvious points. But hopefully these will help everyone who reads them find a way to put the players' well-being higher up on their list of priorities. The secret message to the "ego coaches" behind all of these suggestions is in the end, they’ll help players win.
(Chris Hummer, a longtime player, coach, and soccer business executive, is the editor of the PotomacSoccerWire.com, where this article first appeared. Hummer, who has a USSF B license, is the assistant director of coaching for youth club FC Virginia and head coach of the Potomac Falls High School Girls team in Sterling, Va.)
Bryan Weather
18th April, 2024
Overcast Clouds
73.29°F71.62°F
Wind: 6.91 miles/hour