Open letter to HS and club soccer coaches

E

E Dykes

BRONZE
Its time to team up and work together. I currently work with both a So Cal HS and a So Cal club and what I'm hearing going on within some programs is breaking our kids so lets get to it.

HS coaches- lay off the conditioning on Thurs & Fridays until the club season is over. As a club coach I have kids running 4/5 miles on Friday with their HS team and then they are asked to play top tier soccer with some playing 2 game that weekend. Not healthy for kids. I'm in charge of strength and condition at the HS I work at. I go light with mainly upper body work and mobility late in the week.

Club coaches- Be aware that MANY HS teams are running heavily right now in prep for their season. Don't run them again. Train tactics. Most HS coaches aren't even touching a ball right now.
- I'm not a fan of running them for miles at a time but its happening and its happening a bunch- so don't make it worse.

HS coaches- Many of your training methods are hurting your kids ability to play the game and are causing injuries. Old school methods are not a good way to train today's year round soccer players. Running their butts off 5 days a week is easy for you as you stand around and yell that them but it is not healthy. You have access to weights, build strength, mobility and SOME conditioning. Know many of these kids are training 3 night a week for another 6 hours. They are running at their practice too even if its not conditioning. When they are dragging at your practice it doesn't mean they are out of shape its more often they are over training and breaking down.

Club coaches leave your ego at the door. Know its easier for you to adapt your training instead of asking coaches from a dozen high schools to adapt to you.

Coaches- communicate with each other. You care about your kids but you are inadvertently over training the kids and hurting their bodies in the long run. Coordinate the best you can.

I'm proud of our our HS and the team I work with effort but is rare and kids are getting injured and burnt out
 
E Dykes said:
Its time to team up and work together. I currently work with both a So Cal HS and a So Cal club and what I'm hearing going on within some programs is breaking our kids so lets get to it.

HS coaches- lay off the conditioning on Thurs & Fridays until the club season is over. As a club coach I have kids running 4/5 miles on Friday with their HS team and then they are asked to play top tier soccer with some playing 2 game that weekend. Not healthy for kids. I'm in charge of strength and condition at the HS I work at. I go light with mainly upper body work and mobility late in the week.

Club coaches- Be aware that MANY HS teams are running heavily right now in prep for their season. Don't run them again. Train tactics. Most HS coaches aren't even touching a ball right now.
- I'm not a fan of running them for miles at a time but its happening and its happening a bunch- so don't make it worse.

HS coaches- Many of your training methods are hurting your kids ability to play the game and are causing injuries. Old school methods are not a good way to train today's year round soccer players. Running their butts off 5 days a week is easy for you as you stand around and yell that them but it is not healthy. You have access to weights, build strength, mobility and SOME conditioning. Know many of these kids are training 3 night a week for another 6 hours. They are running at their practice too even if its not conditioning. When they are dragging at your practice it doesn't mean they are out of shape its more often they are over training and breaking down.

Club coaches leave your ego at the door. Know its easier for you to adapt your training instead of asking coaches from a dozen high schools to adapt to you.

Coaches- communicate with each other. You care about your kids but you are inadvertently over training the kids and hurting their bodies in the long run. Coordinate the best you can.

I'm proud of our our HS and the team I work with effort but is rare and kids are getting injured and burnt out
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Ohmygod. Thank you! If I could rate this "Winner" a thousand times I would.

As a parent of a kid playing high level club with 3 practices a week PLUS keeper training, and who plays HS ball, my DD is at her absolute physical limit trying to meet the expectations of her two coaches. The running is f*$king INSANE. She's going to get injured if she keeps this up, but she's such a competitor and such a good soldier, she won't beg off any of the activities for fear of looking like a weak link or lazy.
 
I agree with the sentiment of the thread but isn't the bigger question, "why are HS coaches running/conditioning club players many of whom are in mid-season shape?". Surely save the running for the players who don't play club....

Not to mention the fact they should be using a ball at all times on account of this being soccer not track....
 
E Dykes said:
...Most HS coaches aren't even touching a ball right now...
Click to expand...
Why is anyone doing conditioning without the ball? It's not even old school. It's no school... After a warm up lap or two, all conditioning should be done with or off the ball. Running just to run doesn't condition you for playing soccer because at no time during a soccer game does anyone just run in a straight line, or do wind sprints or whatever. You always have to know where the ball is and where the spaces are.

End bad coaching rant...
 
When you say running are you talking about jogging miles at a time? Running laps is a sure sign of a lazy and uncreative youth coach. Running wind sprints without the ball isn't much better.
 
HS coaches want kids to be playing HS the whole year. Club coaches don't want their players to play HS.
Until those people put their differences aside and start actually caring about the well being of the players, nothing will change.
 
Eagle33 said:
HS coaches want kids to be playing HS the whole year. Club coaches don't want their players to play HS.
Until those people put their differences aside and start actually caring about the well being of the players, nothing will change.
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What do you think is the best solution? Not just you, anyone on the thread. My kids are a few years away from HS, but this is something I think about because one of them is DA and may not get to play HS at all...
 
E Dykes said:
Its time to team up and work together. I currently work with both a So Cal HS and a So Cal club and what I'm hearing going on within some programs is breaking our kids so lets get to it.....
Click to expand...

Nice but not all high schools have their teams selected (have not had a tryout yet), much less training 5 days/week. My kid's HC is also a local university HC and all the other coaches at the HS soccer (both boys and girls) are his players. They are in middle of their season so there is no HS activity.

Any given team probably has some that are practicing HS and some not. There is no consistency.

The thing to do, imho, is not to condition and run them to death at HS as it really is not in season. Work on teamwork, chemistry and skills that do not require physical demands.

Rather than saying club coaches should work on tactics only, why not back off on HS side physically. Many clubs have their curriculum for during the season and have their own priorities. Cleary, they backoff and let HS soccer take priority during CIF season.
 
futboldad1 said:
I agree with the sentiment of the thread but isn't the bigger question, "why are HS coaches running/conditioning club players many of whom are in mid-season shape?". Surely save the running for the players who don't play club....

Not to mention the fact they should be using a ball at all times on account of this being soccer not track....
Click to expand...

The truth is that some of these kids in their eyes are not in shape. My hunch is that a few are not but many are under preforming due to over training
 
mirage said:
Nice but not all high schools have their teams selected (have not had a tryout yet), much less training 5 days/week. My kid's HC is also a local university HC and all the other coaches at the HS soccer (both boys and girls) are his players. They are in middle of their season so there is no HS activity.

Any given team probably has some that are practicing HS and some not. There is no consistency.

The thing to do, imho, is not to condition and run them to death at HS as it really is not in season. Work on teamwork, chemistry and skills that do not require physical demands.

Rather than saying club coaches should work on tactics only, why not back off on HS side physically. Many clubs have their curriculum for during the season and have their own priorities. Cleary, they backoff and let HS soccer take priority during CIF season.
Click to expand...

I agree with your post but that is not happening at many sites AND the strong high schools have access to weights etc that can be very beneficial for all players. A well planned strength program is something that most clubs cant implement and would benefit both programs
 
watfly said:
When you say running are you talking about jogging miles at a time? Running laps is a sure sign of a lazy and uncreative youth coach. Running wind sprints without the ball isn't much better.
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depends on the school. MANY are just running. Mile after mile etc. Others are crushing bleachers etc. depends greatly from program to program
 
watfly said:
When you say running are you talking about jogging miles at a time? Running laps is a sure sign of a lazy and uncreative youth coach. Running wind sprints without the ball isn't much better.
Click to expand...

Lap running lacks any creativity and simply lazy as you said. Sprints ramping up for season is sometimes necessary, but usually I see those coming as punishment for not listening or kids goofing off. Kids run enough, if they are engaged, in practice. Given all the kids are different, preseason training needs to be geared at the individual level. Kids who need to run, should run. Kids coming in fit, dont need to be run to death. Smart coaches and trainers can group the kids or run training that focuses on their individual needs. Some kids might even need to run on their own, away from training grounds. Coaches I know have talked to parents and had them on running schedules as needed. To run everyone for miles and just watch is straight poo.
 
timbuck said:
Is this a CIF loophole? If a soccer player isn't allowed to participate in club soccer and high school soccer games at the same time, why are they allowed to "practice" for both? Does the fact that there isn't a ball involved with this conditioning give them the right to practice?
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6th period PE...only a hour during school so ok

When you're in multiple sports, AP classes, and also work your schedule can be brutal.

Yesterday our daughter: trained vball for 4 hours at school 2-6pm, got a quick bite; club soccer: 6:30-8pm, showered, hit the books unitl 10:30 and will repeat the next day but maybe work the 4 hours instead of the training when she doesn't have double days. Not for everybody but she manged to stay on the presidents list, get some scholarships and accepted into a college she wants to attend next year but won't be playing college sports since she doesn't see them as a long term play or career.
 
I am happy my kid is now at the DA and will not be playing HS her senior year. The training load on her in the fall until Thanksgiving time was insane. Now she will get a nice one month break and we can finally take that family skiiing/snowboarding trip over the holidays.
 
Simisoccerfan said:
I am happy my kid is now at the DA and will not be playing HS her senior year. The training load on her in the fall until Thanksgiving time was insane. Now she will get a nice one month break and we can finally take that family skiiing/snowboarding trip over the holidays.
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Her coach lets her ski/snowboard?
My daughters team has had games every weekend from the middle of july through early december, including labor day and thanksgiving weekends, as well as 2 out of state tournaments.
Crazy how much they play and train.
 
focomoso said:
What do you think is the best solution? Not just you, anyone on the thread. My kids are a few years away from HS, but this is something I think about because one of them is DA and may not get to play HS at all...
Click to expand...

Players (and families) must be prepared to prioritize one or the other and respectfully say “no” to requests that are not in the best interest of the player.

Club soccer has made my player into a player that a high school or college soccer coach might see some value in. High school soccer has been a very fun and rewarding social experience. She has had to say “no” to each coach at different times, but for the most part club has been the priority.

A good DA experience may make this easier for your player to do when the time comes. Good luck to her!
 
focomoso said:
What do you think is the best solution? Not just you, anyone on the thread. My kids are a few years away from HS, but this is something I think about because one of them is DA and may not get to play HS at all...
Click to expand...

The only solution I see is to get all those club and HS coaches in the same room and don't let them out until they figure out how to communicate and look out for player's best interest.
DA is one way not to play HS soccer, but you don't have to be in DA to do this. You can simply play other sports and enjoy the experience. All the DA players I know actually would love to play HS if US Soccer would allow it.
 
Aren't most players who are playing club coming into HS season already fit? I know after last last HS season for my DD's team there was an issue with several players who returned to club really out of shape after HS season. Go figure.
 
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