Youth Basketball: Teammates Facing Teammates

Hot dog gets an early lesson to leave the mustard at home.

My daughter is the point guard for her 4th grade school team. Sometimes she likes to dribble with the ball out in front of her in taunting manner. She wants the defender to reach for the ball. When the defender reaches for the ball she does a crossover dribble and beats the defender to the left. It works quite often.

Game 146

On Friday night, CC baited her defender but the defender was very quick and took the ball from her. This happened two times in a row. I yelled to CC that this girl is too good. Protect the ball and stop fooling around!

This was an important game. First place was on the line and CC's new select basketball coach came to watch her newest players. (CC and CC's best friend Rachel both made the select team)

CC was matched up against a really tough guard #25 and Rachel was matched up against a really strong post player #10. CC and Rachel led their team in scoring with 6 points each. #25 and #10 from the other team also led their team in scoring.

CC's team lost. The big difference in the game was that CC's team had 10 players and the other team only had 8. All the players must play 50% of the game, so CC and Rachel could only play 2 quarters each. The other team had 8 players. #25 and #10 played the entire game and the other 6 players played the required 2 quarters. Without Rachel and CC on the floor to slow down #25 and #10, CC's team could not keep up.

After the game, I introduced my wife to CC's new coach. I told the coach that I was impressed that she came out to see CC and Rachel. She told me that she also came to see #25 and #10 who are going to be CC's teammates on her new select team.

The Main Point

Never underestimate your opponent.

Youth Basketball: Trying Out for a Select Team

I have given advice on how to make select teams. I have given advice on how to make a travel or select baseball team and on how to make a select or travel soccer team. Much of the advice for making a soccer team is valid for basketball. I have listed the relevant points below, see the soccer advice post for the details.


1) Get to the tryout early and show off your skills. 
2) Wear something that will standout in a crowd.
3) Stand out with individual moves. 
4) Take advantage of water breaks to stand out during the tryouts. 
5) Make sure your kid works very hard when the evaluators are looking and conserves energy when they are not. 
6) Introduce yourself to the head evaluator after the tryout. 
7) Go to all the tryouts even if they say only one is required.


My daughter wanted to play for one of the top select basketball programs in the metro area. Her best friend played for the organization in the winter of 09/10 and was trying out again. The tryouts were scheduled for September 25th and Oct 2nd. 


My daughter, CC, violated rule #7 above. She could not go to the first tryout because she had 10 girls scheduled to celebrate her birthday with her on that date at that time. Her best friend went to the tryout and showed up at the party late. This obviously was not an ideal situation. It demonstrated a lack of commitment and limited the amount of looks my daughter would get.


We planned to go to the second tryout on October 2 at 5:30. Unfortunately, CC had a soccer game scheduled from 4:30 to 5:30 in the next state over. The soccer field was 45 minutes from the tryout gym. CC wanted to skip the soccer game, but I told her that that was not an option. She made a commitment to her soccer team and she needed to honor it. CC scored a goal and her team won 3-2 against the top team in the league, so it was a good decision.


I had called the coach of the basketball team to explain our predicament. I asked her if it would be possible to hold a private tryout. The coach informed me that about 30 very talented girls were participating in the tryout process and she believed that she would be able to form a solid team from this group. The short answer, no. She did ask me about my daughter. I told her which teams she played on and described her style of play. CC had played against the coach's team during summer league. The coach told me that she knew exactly who my daughter was and encouraged me to get my daughter to the last 30 minutes of the final tryout. 


Luckily, rain poured down on the soccer field and the refs decided to start the game early and reduce the amount of time between halves. As a result, the game ended fifteen minutes earlier than projected and we were able to make the last 50 minutes of the basketball tryout. Still a violation of rule #1 but better than we had expected.


I guess that is all CC needed to impress the coaching staff because she got an offer to play on the team the very next night. My daughter was thrilled. 


Her new basketball team is a year round commitment, winter, spring and summer with lots of travel. Before we accepted the offer, we made our daughter choose between select basketball and softball. (She will continue to play select soccer.) He understood that she would need to drop softball to play basketball on this team. It was an easy decision. She wants to hoop it up all year round now.

The Main Point

I believe that the advice I give to parents to help their kids standout at tryouts is valid, but at the end of the day, talent is what will separate your kid from the others. 

Youth Sports: How Do Single Parents Do It?

My wife was away on a women's religious retreat so I was riding solo this past weekend. This would not be a problem normally, but my two athlete's had a very busy schedule.

Crazy Youth Parents Series

Here is the crazy schedule that I managed this weekend.

Friday - Golf match and basketball tryout for my son and soccer practice for my daughter.
Saturday - Basketball game, soccer game and select basketball tryouts for my daughter and basketball tryouts and baseball game for my son.
Sunday - Basketball game and soccer game for my daughter. My son, thankfully, had the day off.

Ten athletic events in three days for two kids with one parent. I know parents who have 5 or 6 very active kids. I know single working parents who somehow keep up with today's young athletes. I applaud you both.

The Main Point

Being parents of athletes is not easy. Being a single parent of athletes is nearly impossible. The responsibilities are seemingly endless. This past weekend I did the following tasks to prepare my kids for the weekend of sports. I washed uniforms, tied shoes, searched for and found missing equipment, practiced with the kids in the yard, shopped for new basketball shoes, arranged for rides, drove teammates home, went online to download directions, drove 250 miles, cooked meals, prepared water bottles, watched games, practices and tryouts, encouraged my kids, talked to coaches, consoled and cheered for my kids. To handle a schedule like this you need to be prepared and you need help. I made a chart of all the activities and I worked deals with other parents to carpool.

I had a great weekend. I saw a win and a tie in soccer against some really tough competition, I saw a heartbreaking loss in a basketball tournament final and a blowout win, and both my kids made the select teams that they tried out for.

Youth Sports: Being an Individual on a Team

The definition for uniform is having one form. This seems to be an issue for my kids who like to stand out for some reason. Both my son and my daugther tend to find a small way to set themselves apart. 

For example, In baseball, my son often wears one pant leg up and one down. Last week, I had to talk him out of buying bright yellow basketball shoes for his black and red team. He eventually bought black Adidas Adizero Basketball shoes. These shoes come in three options - all black, black / red and black / green. Despite playing for a black and red team, he opted the the black and green. He said, "dad the black is for the uniform and the green stripe that doesn't match is for my personality."

My daughter is no different. She decided to put on a pair of crazy socks for one game. She wore one all red sock and one black and white striped sock. 


Her coach thought it was a hoot, so he bought the entire team crazy socks. He placed 10 completely different pairs of socks with red, black, white or grey in a bag and had each girl reached in a picked out two mismatched socks. He even wore a pair of crazy socks himself. My daughter was proud that she started this. I wonder if she likes being a trendsetter more than standing out. Time will tell.


The Main Point


Kids can be individuals while being a good teammate.

Youth Basketball: Bad Call for a Good Reason

Sometimes I wonder why I write this blog, but on Saturday I was reminded why by a beautiful event. A good ref made a terrible call for a good reason.

My daughter, CC, had a basketball game today. The championship game of a CYO tournament for 4th grade girls. We got to the gym early hoping to warm up, but the 5th grade girls semi-final game was in progress. I looked up at the scoreboard to see how much time was remaining. Ugh, I thought to myself. The game was only in the 2nd quarter. A bright orange team from a parish about 10 miles away was playing the 5th grade team from my daughter's school. The orange team was winning decisively.

My daughter spotted some friends and took off. With nothing better to do, I watched the action on the court and I am glad I did.

You could tell that the orange team was well coached because the ball was moving around so effectively. Every girl knew where to go and knew almost instinctively where help was if needed. It was so fluid. It so was beautiful.

There was one girl on the court donned in orange and thick glasses who was following the beautiful flow of the game, but she was a few steps behind everyone else. She always knew where to go, but she was just a little slow to get there. Her teammates would always patiently wait for her to get into position. They would pass the ball to her on occasion even though they probably knew that there might be better options. The girl donned in orange with think glasses was behind, but not left behind.

As the game progressed, the black team from my daughter's school chipped away at the lead and made a game of it. Still the coach of the orange team did not make any adjustments to the line-up late in the game. He trusted his talented guards to control the final few minutes and protect the lead. He trusted the girl in orange with think glasses to get into the right position.

With 7 seconds on the clock, the orange team held a 7 point lead. The speedy guard from the white team had the ball and was cutting across the court from left to right. The girl with the think glasses was cutting across the court right to left. She was concentrating so hard on getting into position that she did not know where the ball was. The two girls collided.

It was an obvious foul on the girl in orange. She was not trying to defend, she was just desperately trying to get to her position as coached which she eventually did and stood there as if nothing had happened.

The ref reached for his whistle. He hesitated. He looked up at the clock. 3 seconds left. He looked at the foul situation. Few fouls had been called so neither team was in the bonus. He then blew the whistle.

He turned toward the scoring table and yelled, "Foul on white #10" It was a bad call for a good reason. Although it was not a shooting foul, he put the girl in orange on the line to shoot free throws.

No one complained. Six girls jogged to the basket and lined up white, orange, white on either side of the lane. Two girls in orange and one in white took their positions at the top of the key. The girl with the thick glasses wearing bright orange stood dutifully in her defensive position on the wing. The position she was so desperately trying to get to when the play started.

The tall skinny ref with grey hair walked over to her and bent down. He said something to her. He handed her the ball and walked her to the line. The girl knew what to do and did not hesitate at all. The ball flew through the air on a beautiful arc with the school's Prayer for Athletes blue banner hanging in the background.

You could feel all nine girls on the court, the six or so girls on the both benches, the coaches from both teams, the two supposedly impartial refs and the one hundred plus fans praying for the ball to go in.

The ball bounced off the back of the rim.

A teammate rebounded the ball and gave it to the ref. The ref bounced it to the girl on the line. Again, without even a moment of hesitation, she launched the ball up toward the hoop. Again the ball had a beautiful arc, but again the ball bounced off the back of the rim. She was a little too close or a little too strong. A loud AHH came from the fans, the players, the coaches and the refs.

After the game, I wanted to shake the hand of this great ref. I approached him hand extended and told him that he made a great call. He smiled proudly. He told me how he hesitated in making the call. He told me that he was concerned that someone would get mad. Then he told me that his daughter has down syndrome too.

My daughter's team took the court.


My daughter's team played in the finals of a CYO tournament against the other team from her school. CC's team dominated the game and outshot the other team 34 to 12, but the ball would not fall in the hoop for her team. The game turned out to be a defensive low scoring game. The lead changed back and forth all game.

With 7 seconds on the clock, a play was called to free up CC for a final winning shot. Her best friend got her the ball and CC did a nice cross over dribble move to the left. A pick worked perfectly to free CC up for a shot. She pulled up for a 10 foot jumper.

The ball went on a beautiful arc toward the hoop. The blue Athletes Prayer banner hung in the background.


Let competition make me strong, but never hostile.


The ball hit the back of the rim and bounced up.

If I know victory allow me to be happy. 


The ball hit the front of the rim and bounced up.


If I am denied keep me from envy.


The ball fell to the side and CC's team lost.

The Main Point

The second line of the Prayer for Athletes says, Help me learn something that matters once the game is over. I did thanks to a ref who made a bad call for a good reason. The prayer concludes with If through athletics I set an example, let it be a good one, Amen.

 Ref, sir, you set a good example. 

Youth Football: Parents Brawl

CBS news reported an ugly scene on a pee-wee football field in Texas. 

Crazy Youth Sports Parents Series

During a Pee-Wee football game in Texas, coaches and parents fought on the field and the sidelines as horrified young athletes watched. Passions run deep in youth sports in America and this is a prime example of how passion for sports leads to pathetic behavior.

The Main Point

In this video-cam in hand world, it is not a good idea to get into a fight at a youth sports event. The fight was appalling, but what I found most shocking is that no one faces any criminal consequences. Not even the guy in orange above who sucker punched the guy in blue. If America wants these things to stop prosecute the meatheads who fight at youth sports events. They have no gun and no drug zones around schools. They should create no fighting zones around youth sports facilities.

Youth Basketball: Getting Ready for the Season

My son used to play football and was in top physical condition prior to basketball tryouts each year. The last two years my son has played on the golf team. He can walk 18 holes over a 5 hour period carrying clubs on his back, and he can swing a club 200 times (range work, practice swings and actual shots) with no problem, but golf is not exactly an intense aerobic workout.  


I have been wanting to get into better shape and my son wants to prepare for the grueling basketball season, so we decided to do the Couch to 5K program together. This is a program designed to help new runners get off the couch and onto the roads. The goal after nine weeks is to be able to run a 5K or about 3 miles.

I downloaded the app on my iPhone. This app makes management of the program easy. Much easier than the running. The program is a three day per week regimen of walking and running and the mobile app helps you track of your progress.


For example, the first run consists of a 5 minute warm up, followed by a 60 second run and a 90 second walk. You repeat this 60s run/ 90s walk combination 8 times. This is followed by a 5 minute cool down walk. This equates to 8 total minutes of running and 22 minutes of walking. 


The app tells you when to walk and when to run. You can listen to your ipod music while you are running. I just listen to my son talk about life and the lady on the app who tells me what to do.


I have to say the first day and the second day were surprisingly doable. I am still skeptical that I will eventually be able to do the 5K after the 2 knee surgeries that I have endured, but I am hopeful.


I am also tracking my weight, caloric intake and exercise (calories burned) on www.livestrong.com. My business partner started doing this and lost 24 pounds in 8 weeks, so I have first hand knowledge that it works. 


The Livestrong site lets you pick a weight loss goal. I picked 2 pounds per week. It then calculates the amount of net calories you can consume each day to reach your goal. At my age, weight and normal activity level, I can eat 1309 calories per day and still lose 2 pounds per week. It is really easy to track.  Their data base has all the food options and exercise options and the associated calories. I am finding that it is not easy to eat only 1309 calories per day. 


The program certainly makes you aware of how many calories are in certain foods and the exercise needed to burn it off. It does note seem fair that it takes Many people are not disciplined to track their food each day, but if you do it for two weeks the learning will benefit you.


The Main Point


Technology can help you live a more healthy life. The healthier you are the more likely you will be able to keep up to your athletic kids.

Youth Soccer: Field Size Matters

The size of a soccer field can have an impact on the outcome of the game.

My daughter plays U10 elite soccer. In this area, elite soccer is played 6 v 6 on fields 40 yards wide by 60 yards long. There is a loop hole in the rules that says if a club cannot provide a field of the recommended size then the field size may reasonably vary. What does reasonably mean?

Game 134

On Sunday, my daughter had an away game. The game was suppose to be played on a grass field. The field that was prepared for the game was much smaller than recommended for league play at about 30 yards wide by 50 yards long. The smaller field benefits more physical teams. Our coach complained that the the field did not meet the standards. He was trying to get the game played on an adjacent field that was regulation size. The opposing coach saw an opportunity and asked if our team wanted to play on the turf field. Our coach accepted thinking that the girls would benefit from the experience. What he did not know at the time of the decision was that the field is 60 yards by 90 yards. This size field benefits teams who are fast and physically fit and teams with lots of subs.

I believe that the coach of the other team selected the small field to control the game with his physical players, but changed strategies when he saw that we only had one sub. He seized the opportunity to move up to the turf where his team would have an advantage because they practice on turf and because they had two more subs than our team had.

Our team controlled the entire game but could not score. The passing lanes were too long to execute the team's normal passing combinations and our team was two tired to make the long runs necessary to score. My daughter played goalie and only touched the ball twice. Most of the game she stood bored 60 yards from any action at all.

She played goalie for the entire game because her ankle is still black and blue and purple and green from her injury last week.

Lonely goalie on a field too large for 6 v 6

From the official league rules

THE INTENTION OF THE RULES BELOW IS TO ESTABLISH ONES UNIQUE TO TEAMS PLAYING 6 v 6.

FIELD OF PLAY:

Size: The field size shall be forty (40) yards wide by sixty (60) yards long. However, the ability of each club to dedicate fields of various sizes for the various ages is not the same, so the field size may reasonably vary from the preceding.

Center circle: Radius of the center circle shall be eight (8) yards.

Corner arc: The corner arc shall be a quarter arc having a one (1) yard radius.

Penalty area: The penalty area shall extend twelve (12) yards along the goal line from the inside of each goalpost, so it shall be thirty (30) yards wide, and shall extend twelve (12) yards into the field from the goal line.

Penalty mark: The penalty mark shall be midpoint between the goalposts, eight (8) yards from the goal line. An arc of a circle having a radius of eight (8) yards from the penalty mark shall be drawn outside the penalty area.

Goal area: The goal area shall extend six (6) yards along the goal line from the inside of each goalpost, so it shall be forty two (18) yards wide, and shall extend six (6) yards into the field from the goal line.

Goals: Goals shall be eighteen (18) feet wide and six (6) feet in height. However, if goals of that size are not available, larger ones may be used.

The Main Point


There's a lot of strategy and gamesmanship in the game of soccer. Good coaches will take advantage of the field and field conditions to create an advantage. My coaching mentor gave me some great advice one day. He told me to survey the field before the game. He told me to walk the entire field and look for areas that have holes or rough ground. He had me look for areas that maybe down or uphill. He said to look for puddles and determine if the wind and sun will play a role. He told me that soccer is a game typically won and lost by one goal that happens in a few seconds of action. He said know the field and its physical features and then use the knowledge to your advantage because it just might impact those few seconds of action that make a difference.

Youth Soccer: Foot Injury

Kids love travel soccer tournaments. They love being with their friends and running around the hotel just as much as they love the competition. They love swimming in the hotel pool and pressing all the buttons on the elevator just as much as they love scoring a goal.

Friday night, we drove to an elite tournament in Columbus, Ohio. My wife drove up with my daughter, CC and son, Nic. I followed from work alone because we needed two cars. My son had a baseball game back home on Saturday. I was about an hour behind my family. As I turned down the road where the hotel was located, I called my wife. She answered the phone, "I can't talk CC just got hurt. We are in room 213. Bye" She hung up before I could reply. I got to the room just a few minutes later to find my daughter crying on the bed with a swollen foot.

CC had jumped on an elliptical exercise machine after swimming with friends in the pool. She got the momentum going on it then her wet foot slipped forward. She was off balance and the machine tossed her 63 pound body forward. She caught her self with the support bars but could not clear her foot before it got caught by the moving parts.

The foot did not look good. It was bruised on the top and back on the achilles heel. It was swollen on the side. On of the parents is a paramedic. He looked at CC's foot and said that it could be broken, but most likely is not. It was too late to go to an urgent care center and we did not want to sit in a city hospital emergency room all night, so we iced it up, went to bed and hoped for the best.

Game 129 and 130

Nationwide Children's Hospital Foot X-Ray

The next morning, the pain, swelling and bruising had not subsided at all. She could not put much weight on it.

We skipped the 8am game to go to the urgent care center of Nationwide Children's hospital instead. As she was getting x-rays her team was lost 2-0.

Fortunately, the x-rays were negative, no breaks. This gave her confidence to put more weight on the foot, but she could not bear much. She did not play in the second game and the team lost 3-0.

The Main Point

I never missed a game in my life until I was blew out my ACL playing adult softball at age 26. I played my entire senior year of lacrosse with a painful hairline fracture of my shin. I needed to get my dad to sign a school release to allow me to play with the injury. My mom wouldn't sign it. I wore a soccer shin pad and took lots anti-inflammatories to get through the season.

My wife had never missed a game in her life either.

We half expected our daughter to jump out of bed and play through it the next day. She didn't. She couldn't.

As I was wheeling CC through the hospital I saw a little kid who looked very ill. His parents were holding back the tears. I thought to myself even if the foot is broken things could be a whole lot worse. So what if she misses a game or two or ten. Ironically, this is the same advice I gave my sister in the post about her injured son last week.

Youth Golf: Substitute Coach

The head coach of the golf team had a conflict and was not available to coach the match last Wednesday. He sent an email out to ask for volunteers, even though it was my birthday I answered the call.

My duties were simple. I made the pairings. I handed out score cards to the players. I walked the course between my first and second team to spot balls and answer any questions regarding the rules. I collected the cards at the end of the match. I then verified the individual scores on each card. I selected the four lowest scores from the six players on each team. I added up the four scores. I compared my results with the coach from the other team. We announced the medalist (the lowest individual score) and the winning team.

The only coaching I did was with the number two player on our team. He started off (+7) on the first four holes. He was uncharacteristically spraying the ball all over the place. On the fifth hole, he hit a monster hook into an area loaded with trees. He immediately looked away in disgust and did not see the ball rebound perfectly down the fairway. Head down, he walked into the woods to look for the ball. I caught up to him and showed him where his ball was. I told him good drive. He looked at me strangely and did not say a word. I said, "Listen to me it looks like a really good drive by a really good player. Sometimes you just need a break to get on a roll." I looked him in the eyes, "This is your break. You are a good player, run with it." He calmed down and finished 10 over.  His score was good enough to be in the top 4.

Game 126

Conversely, my son, Nic, started off just one over after the first 4 holes. On the fifth hole, he hit what looked like a great drive down the right hand side of the fairway. Unfortunately it clipped a tree limb and got knocked down. Instead of punching out into the fairway, my son tried to thread the needle. He again hit a tree. His third shot hit more trees and he ended up just short of a green-side bunker. Unfortunately for his fourth shot, he had have one foot in the bunker and one foot out. Despite the awkward position, he tried to flop the ball just over the lip of the trap to a pin nestled right beyond the bunker. His shot did not clear the lip and rolled back into the bunker. He ended up with an 8. I watched the debacle from afar while I was with the number two player. I could not get over to him to offer advice.

Nic was pissed. He wanted desperately shoot low on my birthday. He could not calm himself down and started to struggle. With each shot he became more upset. While he did not throw clubs, he did start taking full John Daly-esque practice swings even for short chips. I did not get on him because it was my birthday and I did not want that as a memory. He finished with an 11 over and his score did not count.

His team won the match 162 to 176.

Game 128

The next day. He struggled again. This time he could not contain himself and slammed his sandwedge into the rock hard ground (It has not rained here for weeks) and bent the club. It's lesson time now. He is without a club until he finds a way to get it fixed with his own money and problem solving skills.

The Main Point

No matter how good you are at golf, golf is a frustrating game. Every golfer, regardless of handicap high or low, wants to play great every round, hole, shot.

The best golfers contain their emotions 99% of the time. My son contains his emotions about 80% of the time. 80% is a huge improvement over the last couple of years. If he wants to excel at golf he will need to continue to improve on that.

Youth Football: Injuries Part of the Game

My nephew is lighting fast and incredibly strong. He is a threat to score a touchdown every time he touches the ball. When you see him play, you know, everyone knows, that he is the best player on the field. He just stands out. Stands out so much that he is being recruited by Division I college programs.

On Wednesday he got a letter from a famous coach, on Friday, he was injured. He hobbled off the field with what looked like a sprained ankle. X-rays revealed nothing, but a specialist determined that it was a rare lisfranc fracture.

He will miss the remainder of his junior year football season. He will miss his entire junior year of basketball. He was expected to be a star as the team's point guard and shut down defender. He will likely miss next football season too. My sister, my brother-in-law and my nephew are devastated.

His highlight reel is short but very impressive. A college coach will take a chance on him with limited data and be rewarded.

The Main Point

All athletes need to prepare for a life without sports. It may be because you are just not good enough anymore. It may be because you get hurt. It may be because of the politics of sports. It may be for financial reasons. Regardless, athletes need to prepare for that day and have a back up plan. The best backup plan for young athletes is excelling in school.

On the same night my nephew was injured, a local high school kid was skateboarding home late at night. He was hit by a car and was killed. That is devastating. That puts the injury into perspective.

Youth Golf: It's a Team Game

Before the golf match, the coach told the team that every shot counts. He told them to keep their cool and do not let one bad shot lead to more bad shots.

Yesterday, my son's team came in second in a big regional tournament. They lost 285 to 287. They lost by a meager two strokes. 

There are six golfers active on a team during a match. The final score is made up of the four lowest scores among the six golfers. Yesterday my son shot a 77 and had the 3rd best score on his team. He shot a 77 despite getting a 9 on the 8th hole. He shot a 46 on the front (Par 35) and a 31 on the back (Par 27). 

After the match, two of the players were needling my son about his 9 on number 8. They reminded him that if he did not blow up on that hole they would have won. The two players needling him the most were the two golfers whose scores did not count at all. 

My son laughed it off while he reminded them that the team would have come in second if they did not even get out of bed. 

The Main Point

During a golf tournament every single player can look back at his or her game and find one or two shots that they could have played better to save a stroke or two. It might have been a errant drive that went OB. It might have been a short putt that lipped out. Of course every player can look back on their game and find one or two lucky shots saved a stroke or two. I might have been a shot through the trees that did not hit a single limb. It might have been a 40 foot putt. Golf is a team game.

Game 122

I walked and watched the entire 18 holes of Nic's match. Well actually, I missed the 8th hole. It started to rain and I ran back to the car to get an umbrella. That's the hole he blew up on. The 8th hole is a tricky par 4 hole with a huge tree that blocks the left side of the green and OB that runs down the right side. The green can be reached in one, but target golf is probably the better play. My son is aggressive at this stage of his golfing career.

He approached the tee with a driver in his hand and rain dripping off his visor. He approached the hole with the intent to put the ball near the green. He pulled his first aggressive drive OB into the woods. He got mad and tried to make up for it with an even bigger drive. He again pulled the drive into the woods. He ended up getting a 9 on the hole. He did not heed the coach's advice and let one bad shot turn into two. He almost let two bad shots turn into three.

He approached to par 4, 236 yard 9th hole still seething. The hole is a dog leg right with trees protecting the green. I was standing under my umbrella next to the green, I did not have time to get to the tee after my run to the car. I got down as low as I could to see Nic on the tee box from under the trees. I could see the swing and then I could hear the ping of the ball making contact with the driver. Then I could hear the ball clipping the top of the trees. I scattered to avoid getting hit with the ball. The ball landed 10 feet to my right and darted passed several trees trunks and rolled up to the green. He was about 10 feet short of the green and 20 feet from the pin. It was a good shot. It was a lucky shot. He later told me that he swung his club as hard as he could still angry about the 8th hole. I told him to remember what his coach had said that every shot counts. He calmed down and had one of the lowest rounds on the back nine.

Youth Soccer: Over Zealous Coaches

I have a novel idea for youth sports coaches who want to improve. The idea came to me while I was watching my daughter's soccer practice. Coaches should video themselves. Coaches both learn and teach from video that captures the action on the field. Similarly, coaches could learn a lot from watching video of themselves on the sidelines during games.

Crazy Youth Sports Parents Series

Yesterday, during my daughter's practice, I was completely distracted by the antics of coach who was working the sidelines of a U9 boys soccer game on an adjacent field. The guy was loud and animated. He was both encouraging and demeaning. He was both optimistic and pessimistic. He was both nice and mean. He would clap and raise his hands in support as often as he would throw his hands down and turn away in disgust.

"Good play David! Good play!"
"Johnny what are you thinking?! You are so much smarter than that"
"YEAH, Andy. YEAH, YEAH that is exactly how we want you to do that. PERFECT!
"Really Jason! That's the best you can do. We all know you can do better!"
"Run Cameron, Come on you are faster than that!"
"Way to get back Josh. Awesome!
"Get up of the bench Jack and get Billy out of the game. I am tired of watching him walk around."

I was thinking to myself. I wish I had my video camera with me. I would love to video tape this coach and show him that he is acting like a complete jackass. (My iphone was not charged at the time.)

I also realized that when I was first coaching that I was more like him than not. I was not as negative as this coach, but I was way too animated. I mellowed over time when I realized that the good coaches do not act like this. If this coach just looked down the sidelines at the opposing coaches, he would have realized that they did not shout out a single command, yet their kids were controlling the game and ended up winning 1-0.

The Main Point


There are a lot of well intentioned dad coaches who need coaching. I am sure that this coach thinks that he is encouraging. I am sure that he would be appalled with his own behavior if he could just see it. Obtaining coaching training and a soccer coaching license is recommended. During the licensing process  learn a lot about how to act as a coach.

Youth Soccer: Elite Level Soccer

Not all select soccer tournaments are the same. There are some tournaments that are very selective. Meaning they select the best select teams from all the applicants. The following comes from the FAQ on one of the best tournaments in Ohio, the Mead Cup it illustrates my point. 

My team has an excellent record, so why can't we be in the FiveStar (top) Division?

With over 40 State Cup Champions and almost 20 State Cup Runnerups in the U12, U13, & U14 Age Groups you can clearly see that the level of competition is extremely high. This occasionally means a few teams are surprised when they are not in the FiveStar Division. The Tournament Committee does an extensive review of the applications we recieve, and seeds teams based predominantly on their performance record (occsasionally geographical diversity factors in). Although you may not agree with our assesment, we assure you that we try to give it our best possible effort based on the information that was submitted by each team.

Games 118, 119 and 120

My daughter's team competed in the U10 Girls Five Star division. Her team competed hard in pool play winning 1 and losing 2. They did not advance to the elimination round.

The Main Point


There are levels within the levels. Soccer players move up to select from rec. Select players are then placed on E level, D level, C level, Premier and Elite teams. My daughter is only a U10 Elite level player, when she is a bit older she will have even higher levels to reach if she continues to develop as a player. The top select players move on to CUP level and ODP (Olympic development). There are also super regional teams. Parents need to understanding the levels within the levels if they want to help their kids reach the highest levels of soccer.

Youth Soccer: Respect the Ref Video

Crazy Youth Parent Series

This is a great video produced by TheFA.com called Ray Calls for Respect which clearly and effectively illustrates just how ridiculous crazy youth parents can behave on the sidelines. Verbal attacks toward the referees and their own kids can be so damaging to the kids involved and the game as a whole. It is a powerful video that all parents regardless of the sport their kids play should watch.

The Main Point

According to the video, it is getting harder and harder to find people willing to referee. I can believe this because I would not want to subject myself to the barrage of insults and complaints from crazy youth sports parents. The video correctly states that there would be no games if there are no referees. 

The other point that the video makes is that players improve by learning from their own mistakes. I have seen it in all sports where parents unrelentingly find faults with their kids performance and do not hesitate to make it public by yelling from the sidelines. Kids of parents like this eventually play tentatively. When this happens a kid starts thinking too much about what to do and not do that they do not react instinctively. A slight moment of hesitation can be the difference between success and failure. The best line in the video: How is your son suppose to learn if he's not allowed to make mistakes.