BornStriker wrote:Although i don't condone abusive behavior to kids, officials or opposing coaches, i think we can go too far in the opposite direction and 'baby' these kids, not preparing them for senior football and beyond. A dressing down from a coach with a few expletives is part of the game and as long as the comments aren't personal attacks on players or officials, i don't have a problem with them.
As for teams dropping down individuals to win games, there are two sides to it. Yes, it may not directly be focusing on player development for that particular game. but overall ensuring the players remain in the 'A' Division and continue to apply their skills against the other elite players in the state, is very important to their development. There may be 4 or 5 top level players per team at u14 level, in which clubs are very keen to keep hold of considering these players may be pushing first team in 2-3 seasons. How many of those players would stay if their 'A' teams were relegated to lower divisions?
What level 1st team football are you refering to that if they don't get sworn at in juniors they won't be prepared for later on?
I have it on good grounds that when Ad.City were in the NSL under Zoran Matic, there was a ban on any player swearing during games or trainings put in place by the coach. Players had to come up with other words to express their frustrations. Hence why you will hear people like Serge Melta saying Fritz and Sauce in the heat of the moment rather than swearing.
You can't justify swearing, regardless of the situation, but even more so around children. A few years back I witnessed a coach at NAB yelling at an U/10 player asking him if he was performing so poorly because he had a big night the night before... U/10 player... what was the expected response...?!?!
"Yeah I had a few mates around from Out of School Hours Care, and there was a Justin Bieber concert on in the city and it finished at 9:30 so I was up way past my bedtime, and we all drank Red Cordial till we were hyper and sick..."
Should we show them all porn and graphic violent behaviour too... just to make sure they are ready for adulthood?
Coaches have no need to swear and carry on. That just shows a lack of discipline and control of ones self. Is the need to win and boost the coaching resume that great, and is the prestige of winning a junior competition as a player or coach some much more valuable than being a good person and role model?
Seriously, how anyone can justify this type of behaviour is just silly.
Just focus on the football your team are trying to play. Don't blame all the external factors you can come up with. Maybe you've lost cause the players haven't been coached properly...? Maybe you shouldn't even value a win or loss at junior level at all, regardless of what the federation sets up for junior leagues.
Focus on the long term future of the PLAYER, not your short term future as a coach (though having the title doesn't confirm you fit the definition).
Coach techniques and philosophies the players can use all the way through their career. Anyone can win one game doing something, only the right coaching will produce a consistant performance as a by-product of the methods.
