Hi,
I had a pretty unhappy parent write me a letter, as she wasn't happy about aspects of her child's session on saturday.
TST is to a large extent works using this approach : Coach the child before the sport. So whenever a child is really upset after a session then we need to find out if this process has failed. If a child is upset that the session is too easy or too hard, then we can move them and fix the problem. This way we are still looking after the child.
However, if a child is upset due to the coach forgetting about the 'child's experience' then the process has failed. Read the letter I got from a parent after Saturday's session. I am not looking to point fingers, but just ask that we take note of the parents issues and make sure we are all on the same page when it comes to how we interact with the players, and what we do when we join in and play.
Hi Darren,
I just wanted to reiterate our support of your program and the joy our children have attending TST Sessions.
Unfortunately, and for the first time since we have been attending TST, I observed some coaching behaviour on Saturday that was a concern to me. To be honest I was fuming and have resisted sending this email until I had calmed down a little.
On Saturday, my child's class was merged with the class next to them for the final 20 minutes of the session for matches.
The 3 children in the other class were of a higher skill level than the children in my child's class and it was not a fair match-up, but, specifically, the coach of the other class paired up with a player and they played against my child and another player. Long story short, they thrashed my child's team. The coach was not showing any professionalism by continually yelling out the score each time they got a goal as well as shouting “this is too easy” to his team mate over and over again (and loud enough for me to hear on the sideline). Huge credit to my child's team as neither of them gave up and they continued to attack and defend but the coach was relentless, not even giving the young kids a go. Instead he used fancy footwork to evade them - this was almost bullying.
I’m not sure what the lesson for the kids that were thrashed or for the kid that was paired up with the coach was but I don’t think it was appropriate for any of those children to experience being thrashed nor thrashing younger players with the assistance of a coach nor hearing an adult make comment of how easy it is to thrash a young players My child was disheartened and devastated by the experience which could have been avoided with a little common sense and fair play. Thrashing young kids and commenting about how easy it was at the end of an otherwise good session was unnecessary and unprofessional. It is not befitting of TST and your organisation. We need to encourage kids, to participate and train with enthusiasm. This experience did the exact opposite.
I don’t believe that this is what TST is about, I have never seen children treated like this at TST in all the terms we have been coming.
If it were my business, I would want the customer to let me know, so that such poor behaviour could be corrected. Like I said, we are big fans of TST and support it as much as possible, but Saturday has left a sour taste in our mouths.
##############################
I just wanted to reiterate our support of your program and the joy our children have attending TST Sessions.
Unfortunately, and for the first time since we have been attending TST, I observed some coaching behaviour on Saturday that was a concern to me. To be honest I was fuming and have resisted sending this email until I had calmed down a little.
On Saturday, my child's class was merged with the class next to them for the final 20 minutes of the session for matches.
The 3 children in the other class were of a higher skill level than the children in my child's class and it was not a fair match-up, but, specifically, the coach of the other class paired up with a player and they played against my child and another player. Long story short, they thrashed my child's team. The coach was not showing any professionalism by continually yelling out the score each time they got a goal as well as shouting “this is too easy” to his team mate over and over again (and loud enough for me to hear on the sideline). Huge credit to my child's team as neither of them gave up and they continued to attack and defend but the coach was relentless, not even giving the young kids a go. Instead he used fancy footwork to evade them - this was almost bullying.
I’m not sure what the lesson for the kids that were thrashed or for the kid that was paired up with the coach was but I don’t think it was appropriate for any of those children to experience being thrashed nor thrashing younger players with the assistance of a coach nor hearing an adult make comment of how easy it is to thrash a young players My child was disheartened and devastated by the experience which could have been avoided with a little common sense and fair play. Thrashing young kids and commenting about how easy it was at the end of an otherwise good session was unnecessary and unprofessional. It is not befitting of TST and your organisation. We need to encourage kids, to participate and train with enthusiasm. This experience did the exact opposite.
I don’t believe that this is what TST is about, I have never seen children treated like this at TST in all the terms we have been coming.
If it were my business, I would want the customer to let me know, so that such poor behaviour could be corrected. Like I said, we are big fans of TST and support it as much as possible, but Saturday has left a sour taste in our mouths.
##############################
Not a great read but an easy fix. All coaches have no doubt felt the urge to let their 'little messi' out when joining in with young players, so I get it, but moving forward common sense is required (keep your little Neymar locked away) and remember that it is all about all the players' experience.
In this scenario, when I need to join in, I always go with the weakest player/team and balance out any mismatch (sometimes it is necessary to join in to help a weak team even if the teams numbers are even). The team I would help never win, but i always keep it close. I make sure the opponents are having to play intelligently (I defend in a certain way but I never intentionally win the ball)..... and I make sure the way I play gives my 'weak' team mate as many opportunities to interact with the ball as possible, and i do this as efficiently and simply as possible to maximize their experience, and I never score.
As i said. This is a quick fix. Super confident the parent who wrote me a letter will send me a really positive one next week.
Darren