You Know You're a Player's Parent When
By Donna Olmstead
You know you’re a soccer player’s parent when ...
You keep Icy Hot, Ace bandages and cold packs in the trunk of your car.
Your calendar revolves around P & G (practices and games)
You spend more on cleats than you do on your own shoes.
Your drawers are full of tournament T's.
You know what MCL and ACL stand for.
You can carry a canopy on your back and a lawn chair in each hand.
Your cooler has wheels.
There’s more Gatorade than beer in your refrigerator.
You can’t see an orange without wanting to cut it in quarters.
There’s a soccer ball hanging from your rearview mirror.
You actually know what “offside” means.
You dread the day when your soccer player grows up and leaves you with empty weekends.
(Florida resident Donna Olmstead has been involved in soccer through both her children and her grandchildren, as well as housing professional players and owning and running an indoor soccer facility.She is a freelance writer and spends weekends trying to remember at which tournament she's supposed to be cheering.
From Soccer America:
Perhaps no man has had as great an influence on as many American coaches as Manfred “Manny” Schellscheidt, who retired in 2011 at age 70.
Back in 1970, he became the first person to earn a U.S. Soccer Federation “A” coaching license. He coached at every level of the U.S. men’s national team program -- but last year his 13-year tenure as head of the U-14 boys National Identification Program came to an end. He also retired, after 24 seasons, as Seton Hall University head coach.
Knowledge and Wisdom from one who lived what he loved,"The Game"
Manny Schellscheidt on Soccer:
"The game is the best teacher. The coach is really a substitute voice. We want the players to hear the silent voice, the game. The game is actually talking to you."
“Judge players by their talents, not their faults.”
“Soccer without ideas is boring. Players with skill and imagination are fun to watch.”
“We don’t lose by making a few mistakes, we lose for the things we never did.”
“No kid ever steps on the field and says, 'Today I'm going to lose.' They're naturally competitive. We should be concerned about the players' performance, not the final score.''
“There are always shortcuts that you can find to win the next game. That doesn't necessarily mean you'll be winning five, six years from now.”
"The great players lead with their minds. How do I make space and time? How do I take it away?"
On coaching youth with small-sided games: "It needs to be small enough so positions don't matter. That's the best solution. If coaches would have the patience to graduate their kids from really small numbers, one step at a time, that would be the most natural and the most potent education the players could possibly get. They would learn to deal with time and space, and how to move around and have some shape. The problem is we go to the bigger numbers too early."
On screaming orders from the sidelines and shackling players to areas of the field: "It destroys the children's natural instinct of being part of the game.”
On the difference between team development and player development: “There's such a difference. … You can divvy up the field, make players rehearse what they're supposed to do in their small areas, and as far as team development it works fine because they can find a quick way to get results. It's a short cut to success, but the kids don't become good players."
“The language of the game is body language. It's universal.”
On technique … "I don't believe skill was, or ever will be, the result of coaches. It is a result of a love affair between the child and the ball."
“All the questions will come from the game and so will the answers.”
