Report on Mass Youth Soccer Workshop 2017

Workshop Schedule Sessions covered a variety of topics useful for Coaches Parents Administrators Referees Some presentations (marked with *) are available at https://app.box.com/s/9jt277fqcdoaa9ofow4v83vsmq6x123c Presentations were videotaped, but have not been posted

Performance Analysis for Individuals and Teams * Interesting points: Retained info after 3 months: Told = 10% & Show = 32% & Player input = 65% Feedback is key to development and visual feedback is best We are not effective observers and our recall is error prone To introduce player self-analyze, consider a team meeting with parents included Questions: What video analysis software does SYSA have? Do we need/have permission from parents to videotape games or practices?

ACL Injuries: Anatomy, Risk Factors and Prevention * Interesting points: Presenter is willing to meet with teams to screen players for risk of ACL and/or knee injury > 65% of ACL injuries are non-contact Females are 10x more likely to have non-contact ACL injuries than males PEP and F-Marc+11 programs can provide significant reduction of ACL injuries WHEN administered by skilled personnel PEP and F-Marc+11 are good, but not enough - not progressive; not intensive enough; need to be part of training Important to start education early (before middle school?)

ACL Injuries (cont.) There are many sites with information on preventing ACL injuries, for example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3435901/ which verified effectiveness of the following http://sportsmetrics.org/ http://smsmf.org/smsf-programs/pep-program https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4413741/ which verified effectiveness of F-Marc+11 (aka FIFA 11+)

Creating a Winning Environment Only attended briefly, but like the idea of using the following to motivate training: What you can’t control Opponents, Referee, etc. What can you control Effort, Training, How you react to what you can’t, etc.

Massachusetts Small Sided Games Diploma – 9v9 One of 3 sessions for earning a Massachusetts NSCAA diploma Not sure which diploma this is since NSCAA development courses are 3 hours minimum Not as helpful as US Soccer F License (or even the old G License) Main point was that formation doesn’t matter – what matters is understanding how to use it

Communication with Parents * Interesting points: VCR - Validate (e.g., "I feel badly that this is happening"), Challenge (e.g., "I wonder if there is a better way to ..."), Request Apologize when appropriate and be sincere - Validate, Take Responsibility, Explain why it happened, Why it won't happen again, Apology From Coaches’ Discussion: 24 hour cooling off period after games before any game discussions. Social media rules A list or a discussion of common issues (and how to respond) might be helpful

Mental Warmup for Youth Soccer * Interesting points: We consider a physical warm-up important, why not a mental warm-up to get players ready to execute mental skills ? Done after physical warm-up Presentation includes link to an sample mental warmup script Part of warm-up could be each player picks their objective Cues used during a game to re-focus players – “let’s play our game”, “control the controllables” – can be worked into the mental warmup. To counter roadblocks: Integrate into what you already do - “make it your own” "Elite teams do it“ Start simple and progress

Nutrition and Hydration for Health and Performance * Standard (and useful) info and includes the following to get athletes’ buy-in: What are the favorite foods on the National Team's menu?

Get the Knowledge Pass it on by The Coaching Manual * Motivations for development of this online product include: The game, and older players, is no longer the teacher.   What are the implications? For example, terminology and the game understanding it teaches, is lost. I wonder if, the amount of structured play and training has reduced players’ tendency and ability to be creative and to train on their own.

Miscellaneous Coaches’ Discussions Were part of 2 sessions I attended and were very enjoyable and helpful Are there ways for SYSA to encourage such discussions?

Questions or Comments?