Every year we have new adults join our club as volunteers or spectators. Whatever one’s involvement there are certain core behaviors the club expects from all adults and players when at an ORVFCsponsored event. The descriptions below are designed to pass along the lessons that have others have experienced before you by those who have already traveled this path in earlier years. So consider this a passing of the torch to the next generation of families. Also, adapting to these behaviors is a learning process. Parents will slip-up occasionally. That’s OK. However, there will be some who just won’t agree with these guidelines or they will not be able to adhere to them. If so, we welcome your decision not to be a part of our club or your willingness not to attend events as a spectator. Our club might not be for everyone. Our goal is to help document our behavioral expectations as clearly as possible to help each family clearly understand what is expected of them so they can hold themselves accountable to these expectations throughout the season.

Sporting events are meant to be exciting. That is why we attend. However, there is a difference between a sporting event at the collegiate or professional level and one amongst a group of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, etc. year olds. The younger players are still developing their motor, spatial and decision-making skills. So the source of the excitement one feels as an adult when watching a sporting event is not the same as the source of excitement felt by young children that are participating and still trying to form a self-image and identity of who they will be when on the field.

The process of developing one’s athletic abilities amongst one’s peers under the tutelage of a “new adult”, the coach, is a very big deal. Everything the adult says or does is a data point that imprints itself on one’s development. So we need to choose our words and tonality carefully. Don’t forget that“pickup” sports don’t occur very widely anymore and that used to be the primary training ground for our youth. So the time we spend with young, developing players on the field now is even more critical because the shaping process that used to come from pickup sports is absent.

Please keep this in mind as you read through and digest the information below. If there is anything you do not understand, please contact your coach, team manager, program coordinator or Division Manager to ask for clarification.

Thanks for being a part of the Sentinel program. We are working very hard to make it the best volunteer-based, youth athletic development program possible and need your support and input to be successful.

When at matches, use cheers such as “Go Sentinels”; “Great job”; “Keep it up”; “Well-Played!”; Keep the cheers at the “team level” as much as possible. Cheers should be selectively used and not on every single touch of the ball.

I know it sounds a little simple and generic but player’s are trying to make decisions under pressure and a lot of yelling just clogs up their thought process and slows down their ability to make their own decisions. This is where “micro coaching” or “joystick coaching” becomes a problem. If a player is always listening to someone tell him/her what to do that player will never learn how to make his/her own decisions on the field. Independent decision-making is one of the most critical elements of soccer that must be nurtured. As a parent this is even more critical because each child hears one voice on the field – that of his or her parent. The desire by a parent to be overly vocal is very natural. These are your kids and it is unnatural not to be affected by watching one’s child make mistakes or play successfully on the field.
However, remember that each child no longer has “pickup” to make lots of mistakes in a non-adult observed environment. So the fact that you see every mistake they make is not lost by the child. This puts a lot of hidden pressure and performance anxiety on the child. So the reaction by the adults is critical here. If you want to coach – then volunteer to do so. We need you. But if you are not the coach – don’t provide direction to the players while they are playing. Let them figure it out. You might also be encouraging them to do the wrong thing! This gets back to the idea that for many kids this is the first time they are following the direction of another adult and if you send a message that is different from what the coach is telling your son or daughter – well you get the idea. If you have feedback you want to provide or you want to better understand something the coach is doing, call or visit with the coach on another day to talk about it in a calm exploratory fashion.

When watching or playing in a match - Never, Never, Never - criticize the referees. When coaching a match - ask for clarification but do not criticize the referees even if you disagree with the call. After a match if there was a questionable performance from a referee then call our Referee Assignor. This is not a professional league. There is not big money at stake. So please relax and remain calm.

This one is easy to explain. Unless you get certified and actually try to referee a game, one has very little idea on how hard it is to do. I recommend every parent watch a match and just try to call which side gets the throw-in on every out of bounds. And then start watching for all the other calls. It is not easy. This issue is accentuated by the fact that most of our referees are under the age of 14. So imagine an 8th grader coming to the field to referee a game and a couple of parents start yelling at him or her that they don’t know what they are doing. It’s not a lot of fun. It is easy to see why we don’t have enough refs. So unless you actually get certified and referee games for us – no one in this club has the right to yell at our or any other club’s referees. There are no exceptions on this one.

That said – some games are called poorly. In that event, the coach can ask for clarification and then contact our club Referee Assignor after the match to provide the feedback. Our Referee Assignor will contact the other club’s Referee Assignor to discuss and work through any issues that need to be resolved.

Western Pennsylvania has a shortage of qualified referees. 84% of these referees are under the age of 14. They are learning how to do this role just as the players are learning how to the play the game and our parents are learning how to be spectators in a developmental environment.

So everyone is learning here – let’s take it easy on our referees.

Developing players requires a partnership that involves the coach, the player and the parent. Each person fulfilling a role requires clear direction and honest, sincere, unemotional feedback.

Players are trying to learn what to do on the field. This is simple and hard at the same time. Coaches need to calmly try to direct players on what they need to do during practice, encourage the players and be patient until it finally happens. In the younger ages – winning is only important for the motivational impact. Players don’t want to lose every game and they get bored if they win every game. So a .500 season is a good season from a developmental standpoint. Often times the skills you teach during practice are attempted during matches and the players fail at performing the skill. That’s OK. Encourage them to keep trying. The player will never learn how to achieve the skill successfully under pressure if you keep changing coaching direction in order to just win the match. Again back to the lack of “pickup” – the kids don’t have a chance to perfect these skills in an unstructured environment so it takes a lot longer to develop the skill. We see the players for 2-3 hours per week. If we could work them 5 days a week for 60 minutes each day the results would be different. So for coaches, players and parents it is important to adjust expectations. Without more practice it will take longer to develop the skills and that is OK. Teach the right skills to make them better players over the long-term and give them time to develop.

After the match, the car ride home is the most dreaded part of the match for many players as the parent deconstructs the game for the player. Most players know exactly what they did right and what they did wrong. The coach is supposed to set the direction for the player and ask the player to discover his/her own performance around the direction. The parent needs to check the pulse of the player – “Do you understand what you are supposed to do on the field?”, “Have you talked with the coach about what you don’t understand?”, “Are you having fun with the other players?”, “What do you think you learned from today’s match?” and then provide feedback to the coach. Personally I love to hear feedback like “John doesn’t have clue what you are telling him to do” as a coach because it gives me a data point on my efforts to teach. When I hear that type of feedback I know what I am doing is not working and I need to try a different tact. But if I don’t even know then everyone gets more frustrated.

The point here is that each of our sons and daughters are forming their own self-image as to how they will define themselves as athletes. If a player stays with the sport s/he will have many coaches with different styles that the player will have to adapt to in order to keep playing. The child plays the sport until about 14-15 because the parent wants the child to play the sport. At 14-15, the switch begins to happen and the player plays the sport because s/he wants to play the sport. We lose many players at this point because the players haven’t learned how to manage the coach-player role on his/her own because of too much parent involvement along the way. The role of the parents and coaches is to provide clear direction, appropriate reinforcement and unconditional support for our kids to help them develop the tools to make this transition.

There will be games when one team or the other will dominate. It is a constant challenge for all clubs to group players into teams at the appropriate playing level. If a Sentinels team looks like it will dominate a match – DO NOT run up the score. There should never be more than a 7 goal differential during a match.

It can be hard to control the score of a game. Sometimes, a team will be ahead by 3 goals and suddenly that team scores 2 goals back to back. It is a fact of life caused by the organizational design chosen by PAWest Soccer Association.

That said, if a Sentinels coaching team finds itself in a situation where it is starting to dominate there are several things the coach can advise the players to do in order to slow down the scoring:

• Players must have 4 - 6 consecutive passes on the ball before they are allowed to shoot on goal (the kids are not allowed to count out load)
• All shots on goal have to be from the far left or right corners and they need to be crosses where the players in the box have to head the ball in to the goal
• Shots have to be taken from the half-way mark on the field
• Identify that only a player who hasn’t scored yet can score a goal
• Players have to work on their individual 1v1 moves and then play a game of possession for 4 passes until they attempt to score

What we are trying to do here is slow down the scoring by working on the continued skill development of our own players. Soccer is all about performing skills on the field at varying levels of pressure. Games we dominate offer an opportunity for the players to work on these skills in a lower-pressured environment. This is a great thing because it helps build confidence to try the same skills in a highpressure environment in the future.

Our goal is not to humiliate the other team and coach in an observable way. This is all about development and perfecting skills. It does no good for anyone to win a game 14-0.

Spectators need to be careful here. Don’t start shouting at the players questioning why they are not scoring. Watch how the players are working on their skills. Notice how hard it is to perform these skills. It is best at this point to enjoy this process and forget about the score. The kids and parents on the other team know what is going on and they want to see their team try and learn how to fight back. The winning team will still want to win but what it is learning how to do is control the game without scoring. The losing team is trying to figure out how to organize itself and overcome the disappointment of being so far behind. This is development. This is what we are here to do.

Also remember this – there have been times the Sentinels have been on the losing end of this scenario.

We expect the other team to do what we expect our own coaches and spectators to do above.

This might not always happen.

In such a case, we need to finish the game and get off the field. The Lead Coach for the Sentinels will inform the Division Manager of the Sentinels after the game and the failure of the opposing coach to slow things down will be dealt with by his/her own club.

Why do all players where the same style of uniform across all ages of the club regardless of team?

Ours is a community-based club. For that reason we serve children of varying levels of ability and commitment. Each separate age group by gender will average somewhere between 80-100 children each year in our community. Of those children, roughly one-third will play soccer during any given season. Furthermore, it is not the same third that plays from one season to the next. Players will register to play in the fall but not in the spring and vice-versa. This is not a bad thing – we actually promote this because we feel it promotes the multi-sport, well-round athlete.

However, this type of variability makes it very difficult to form a single team that stays together season after season. It can also be persuasively argued that it is not always in the best interest for the players to have the same teammates, the same level of competition or the same coach season after season.

Player development does not occur in a straight line across the whole team at the same time. Players struggle while others achieve mastery of skills and move to the next level.
Club organizers need to be flexible and place players into different situations (teammates, coaches and competition) to help each player have as many opportunities to progress as possible. This flexibility is supported when all players in the club have the same uniform. It is very easy to move a player from one group to another if the club doesn’t have to worry about getting a new unique uniform for the player.

Most importantly, it helps the coaches promote the idea that the players are connected to the club - not a specific team. It discourages the notion that one team is better than another or that a team is a select team based on social connections.

The club policy is that the club determines the uniform selection for all players. No coach, manager or non-club individual is permitted to acquire separate uniforms for any given team. If an individual would like to volunteer to serve on the Uniform and Equipment Sub-Committee of donate funds to the program they should contact the Division Manager for ORVFC to be put in contact with the appropriate people. We will gladly accept your generosity.

One concern we often hear from the players is that they would like a way to indicate to their friends which team they play upon. Maybe a group of players within an age group had an outstanding season where they really bonded, progressed and played wonderfully. We think that is a legitimate observation and we plan to handle that by awarding badges to players that represent different levels of play through the years. Players can collect those badges and keep them on a badge ring that attaches to their backpack or sew them onto a Sentinels coat.

Please make sure you plan your commutes to arrive at the appropriate times for training sessions and games. Your child will be embarrassed if s/he always arrives late. We all get caught in traffic and we are all trying to coordinate these crazy schedules we live within in this day and age. That said all the members of our club need to make choices that increase our chances of being on-time.

This goes for both drop-off and pick-up.

Set the tone of the program with your children about the program. Being a part of the program is something special. When they come to the field they need to be ready to play the game, listen to the coaches and participate with enthusiasm. They should not plan to disrupt the activities with mischief or speak while the coaches are speaking. If they do not want to play and they have no choice but attend, they should plan to come and sit on the sidelines until their parents return.

Notify the coach and team manager of any anticipated absences. Keep your manager’s cell phone number in your cell phone! Make sure the Team Manager has your cell phone number. Even if you unexpectedly miss a practice or match and you have not been able to contact them beforehand, then do so afterwards. They are volunteering their time to help facilitate an environment where your child can develop athletically and it is disrespectful to them not to communicate. Let them know what you know. Schedules change and sometimes can’t be controlled. What you do control is the ability to keep your coach and manager informed.

The Club offers a telephone message system where you can check to see if there are any last minute cancellations for your event that day. Dial (412) 741-0171 and Press 1 for U06, 2 for U08, 3 for U10 Boys, Press 4 for U10 Girls, Press 5 for U12 Boys, Press 6 for U12 Girls, Press 7 for U14 Boys and 8 for U14 Girls. Do yourself a favor – if the weather is bad and you have not received an email or telephone call from your Team Manager, call this number just in case. If you are still in doubt make sure you keep the cell phone number of your Team Manager and/or Head Coach handy and give them a call. It is your responsibility to confirm whether the event is on or not.

Read through the desired parent behaviors for match play. Internalize the explanations for why we are supporting these behaviors. Translate them into your own behavior. Being a parent that supports a youth athlete is a learning process. Even if you played multiple sports as a youth and adult that does not give you a “pass” to being an experienced parent supporting youth athletics. It is a different role and there are different expectations. This is about the children having a chance to experience all the joy and consequences that comes from being an athlete. Let’s not complicate it by inadvertently re-living our own history at the same time.

If you have observations that you would like to pass along – make sure you talk to the coach, manager, age coordinator or club president. Don’t let the observations fester. Talk to us about them. We are not perfect and we are always experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t work. We only know the results if parents are constantly querying their children about how it is going and passing along those answers to us. Some of this feedback will involve basic parenting decisions to be made by the family but the program design or its execution might also need to be addressed. So be sure to let us know what you are thinking. On the Contact Us section of our website is more direction on how to provide feedback to the club.

Support your child in the maintenance of their equipment and kit bag (see Expected Player Behavior). Each child needs to bear responsibility for this but they will need your help until they are able to take full ownership for their own preparation.

Register for the program before the deadlines. We are all volunteers and numerous late registrations make it more difficult to execute the program. During matches it is a strict rule for all spectators to sit on the side of the field that is opposite the coaches and teams. Spectators are not permitted to sit with or near the players during a match.

Please observe the rules for parking at our fields. These rules are posted for each field on our website under Field Directions. We do not own nor are we the primary tenant of our fields (except for the Fields at Bell Acres). The landlords give us strict rules to follow and if we fail to adhere to their mandates we run the risk of being removed permanently from a field. We expect you to become familiar with the parking rules before you arrive and to adhere to them.

Each player needs a bag to carry his/her equipment. This is optional for the U08s but a requirement for U09s and older. A recommended list of items that player should have at all times at both training sessions and matches:

• Soccer cleats and/or indoor shoes; street shoes
• Shin-guards
• Club Jersey, Shorts and Socks (the “kit”)
• Water bottle(s) – buy a 3-4 re-usable water bottles with your name on them
• Properly inflated soccer ball; Size 3 (u08); Size 4 (U09-U12); Size 5 (U13 and older) – please write your name on the ball with a Sharpie pen
• Mouth guard and/or soccer head gear (optional)
• Band-aids
• Inclement weather gear (slicker, warm-ups, hat, gloves, etc)
• Towel – to wipe off wet grass and mud off the players legs
• A large garbage bag – so when it is raining they can put their back-pack in the garbage bag
  to keep it from getting soaked when it is raining
• Sun screen
• Bubble wrap and tape (if the player has a broken arm in a cast)

Players need to arrive at the field in street shoes/sandals. They can be wearing their jersey and club shorts but should plan to put on their socks, shin-guards and cleats at the field. The same is true before they leave the field – they should take off their cleats, socks and shin-guards and leave wearing their street shoes/sandals. Wet and dirty cleats can be stuffed with newspaper to draw the moisture from the leather and placed in a plastic bag to avoid bringing all the debris into your car.

A ball is properly inflated when a player can squeeze the ball and create just a slight bit of give to the ball. It is not so inflated that it is as hard as a rock but not so deflated that one can easily indent the ball by squeezing it between two hands.

Please make sure your child is wearing some form of appropriate athletic underwear.

No jewelry, necklaces or rings are allowed on the player during practice or matches. So be careful – if your child is going to get their ears pierced do not expect the ref to permit your child to keep the stud in the piercing during the game to prevent the piercing from closing. Your child will probably sit the game. It can be frustrating to sit a game for this reason after a 45 minute commute to the field.

Players need to arrive at the field and should become focused on playing soccer. This is not babysitting or a free play event. The players are there to learn the game of soccer and perfect their skills. Each player should arrive at the field at least 15 minutes before the start of practice and 30 minutes before the start of the match (unless the coach instructs otherwise). During training sessions and matches, the coaches are in charge of all player and parent behavior for those associated with the club. Players will listen while the coach is speaking. Players that are too tired to play or do not want to play soccer on that day will be asked to sit on the sidelines quietly and watch until their parents return.

Players will naturally identify which players are the stronger and those which are the more novice oriented players in a playing group. This will partially form their relationships on the field. In addition, players will form their own relationships with most of these players during the day at school. A child that might be intimidated by another child at school will bring all the same feelings this evokes in school to the soccer field in the early evening. These interpersonal relationships are all a part of growing into an adult. While members of our program, we expect our players to demonstrate respect to each other while on the field by working as hard as they can to perfect their own skills, to communicate openly to each other while playing and to play with the appropriate pace and force dependent upon the activity. We will identify inappropriate play as such and after a warning if the offending player is unable to make an adjustment we will ask that player to sit on the sidelines until the coach can speak with the child privately. This might require parental support for which the coach will solicit help from the parents.

Sometimes players behave inappropriately. We define inappropriate behavior as:

• Talking while the coach is talking
• Criticizing other players
• Deliberately hurting others or destroying property
• Stealing the property of others

We are trying to create environments for children to learn how to play the game of soccer. We are not here to punish children nor are we here to baby sit any child. We understand that children make mistakes and we will remind the children when a behavior is inappropriate and ask them to stop. If the child continues with the behavior, the Head Coach will contact the parents and request that one parent attend subsequent practices and matches to assist. If the behavior continues, the player will be asked to sit with his/her parent until they are able to behave. Then the player is welcome back into the play.

If there are any instances of deliberate theft or destruction of property, we will notify the authorities and ask them to investigate and advise us on any appropriate actions on the part of the club.

Provide clear, simple, age appropriate direction on what you want the children to do on the field. This is very hard to do! You must think through how the child will handle your direction before you speak. Remember that a child’s brain is not able to make as many decisions or multi-task as an adult might be able to do and most of their energy is spent trying to control the ball. So constantly strive to keep it simple.

Use calm, structured tones when communicating with the children. Don’t lose control on the sidelines. If you see a player doing something that needs to be corrected, sub the player off the field and speak to the player one on one. Then sub that player back in. Try to resist the temptation to scream across the field. Utilize question and answers to guide players through process of selfdiscovery. Resist the urge to coach every touch of the ball. It is highly ineffective as a form of coaching because players don’t here what you are saying and they will tune you out whenever you open your mouth. Just let the kids play and remind them about what to be thinking about when they are off the field.

Start learning how to separate your own competitive spirit from the win/loss record for your team. This is very hard to do in one’s first years of coaching. Most coaches were athletes in their younger days and it can be hard to remember that you are not on the field anymore. As a coach, our focus should be on each child and the work s/he needs to do in order to improve individual technical skill. The competition is only happening now to provide them a learning situation of how to play under light pressure. Don’t forget – our kids don’t play pickup anymore. We need to give that back to them and an adult obsessed with winning or losing takes away that experience.

Enjoy what you are doing. Have fun, smile and encourage the kids when you see them try to do those things that you have asked them to do – like “Don’t kick the ball away, keep it”. The kids read your body language and whether you want to be there or not. If you don’t want to be there, they won’t want to be there either. If you feel it is really the wrong role for you – contact your Age Group Coordinator and we will find a replacement. Don’t stay in the role if you don’t want to do it.

As a coach, you will have very little impact on the players overall long term development. You work with the players for very short periods of time and they are impacted by many other factors beyond your control during the week. At the end of the day, the player is responsible for his/her own development. You will provide some basic instruction, you will help enforce rules and expectations, and you will create situations that hopefully maximize the player’s opportunities to develop. You are doing your best to shape the instructional and motivational environment within which the players can develop. Whether they choose to develop or not is up to them. That won’t happen for all of them at the same time. For some it won’t happen at all. That is ok. You need to focus on preparing the environment. That is your learning experience and what you should take pride in as a coach. If you want to be the one that has total control over molding players, you need to find a place where you can coach them 5 days a week for 90-120 minutes per day and then work with them during matches on the weekend.

Arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of the training session and 30 minutes prior to the start of each match. Many times, goals or benches might need to be moved to accommodate the field size for the match. Coaches may have to solicit the help of other adults to move their goals. Make sure you have placed at least one sandbag on each goal after moving to the new location. Do not leave any goals unanchored at any time.

Plan what you want to do at practice before you get to the field. We have tons of resources under the Coach Resources page of our website.

• Remember, all kids should be working with a ball as much as possible.
• If you want them to run, have them run with a ball within a confined space so they work on control. If you want them to work on a specific skill have players pair up and work together to work on skills simultaneously.
• Always avoid single lines where one player performs the skill at one time.
• When in doubt, break the kids into groups of (6) and play 3v3. If we did nothing else in our program – but simply played 3v3, our players would dominate the competitions on the weekend. All the strategy, formations and set plays do not matter at these young ages. Being able to gain total control of the ball on the first touch and to pass and receive a pass accurately are the most important things that need to be learned and that only comes from playing over and over again in small-sided games like 3v3.

Managers will take care of the all the logistics on running the team. This frees up the time of the coach to think about planning training sessions, observe players responses to different situations and brainstorming different environments that help the children learn, have fun and motivate them to develop their skills. To do this, coaches need to spend some time going to PAWest Coach Training sessions, read books and watch DVDs on working with children on the soccer field (info is available with the club)

Lead coaches should dress for practices and games with the Sentinel’s coach shirt. Soccer shorts, training pants, sneakers or cleats are all preferred. By dressing for the session it models for the kids the importance of wearing the right gear (helps reinforce “kit management”). However, it is definitely understood that volunteer coaches don’t always have the chance to change after work and that is fine. Do the best you can.

Communicate feedback about a child only to that child or the child’s parents; do not speak about one child to another parent. The exception to this is if communicating with other coaches. Sometimes we need to bounce ideas off other coaches on our observations to validate and seek other opinions.

It is the philosophy of the club for coaches to help guide the progression of entire grades of children. For example, our 5th grade girls might have 3 teams with 6 coaches. The team comes together for the season and plays with a subset of the 5th grade girls managed by 1-2 coaches. We will try to have all 3 teams train together and we will mix up the teams from season to season. The point is the 6 coaches are responsible for helping to develop all the 5th grade girls and not just his/her team. We de-emphasize the team and emphasize development and playing for the club.

Assistants report in to the Head Coach. The Head Coach is responsible for the behavior of the parents, players and assistant coaches at the games. If you see something you think should be dealt with then report it to the Head Coach. Do not address the refs, the other team or the other parents. There is a strict protocol on the field and it all channels through the Head Coach.

If a player is behaving inappropriately (talking while the coach is talking, teasing or intimidating other children, physically hurting another player), contact the family and request that a parent attend the subsequent training sessions or matches. Advise the player what is correct and incorrect behavior. Incorrect behavior will result in his/her being asked to sit on the player sidelines with the parent until the child is able to behavior correctly. Again – keep it simple. The rules need to be black and white so the children understand. Please look over Player Expectations to see a list of what is considered to be inappropriate behavior.

There are instances when a child is unable to control his/her physical reactions on the field. When an incident is observed that appears beyond the normal interactions that occur with children playing a physical game (violent action with the intention to deliberately hurt another player), the coach should immediately separate the children involved and ask the player having difficulty controlling his/her reactions to sit on the sidelines until the child can control him or herself. If another incident occurs that same day or in the weeks thereafter, the coach should issue an email communication to the Age Group Coordinator and Club President describing the incidents. In those situations, the coaches for the age group in which the child is participating will be asked to provide feedback on how this behavior is affecting the safety of the other children and any possible recommendations on how to prevent this type of reaction. The Club President will review the feedback and determine the appropriate action. In some instances the Club President will ask a player to step away for the season and if so the Club will offer a full refund to the family. This may not be permanent requirement of the club. Sometimes a child just needs time to develop and mature. That same player might be able to participate without inappropriate responses in future years. For this reason, the Club always reserves the right to invite players into the program or to ask players to leave the program at any time.

We want the players to play equal time. Do the best you can. It doesn’t have to be exact but strive for this. No child should be sitting for the entire half but don’t count every minute. There is a rhythm to the game and try to follow that rhythm.

Do not let players tell you where they have to play (“I always play defense”). Move them up and back. Toss them into the Keeper position. Let them learn all the roles. If you prefer to hold set positions for an entire game – that is fine – as long as you switch their positions in the subsequent game. Players need to learn all the roles so that when they get older – they can adapt quickly to different roles on the field. This learning process will take years.

This is developmental soccer. Mistakes are supposed to happen. Games are meant to be lost. Players will sometimes get hurt. As an Assistant or Head Coach or as a spectator, it is important to keep your emotions in check. Personally, I have found it helpful to be more clinical in my view of the game. I view the match or the practice as an experiment in human behavior and I am always wondering why certain behaviors happen while on the field. If that works for you – great. If you need to take a valium before the game, then that works too. The game is for the kids to development and that only happens when there are mistakes and emotions on the field among the players. We are the adults and we are supposed to remain calm. This is true even if the non-Sentinels team you might be playing has poor behavior. We control our players, our coaches and our parents. If ever you feel the team is in physical danger, then pull your team off the field.

We are bringing professional coaches to run sessions so you get a chance to see different ideas and drills on what to coach. This helps supplements the taking of coaching courses which we have yet to require of our coaches. If you are interested in taking coaching courses, go to our Coach Resources page on our website. There is a link to a course listing offered by PAWest. These courses are very good and we highly recommend coaches to take as many as they can.

Referees are learning too. 85% of our refs are under the age of 14 because the older kids get sick and tiered of coaches and parents screaming at them. I strongly recommend all our coaches try and call a game sometime. Better yet – take the required course that all refs attend in order to get their license. I guarantee you will have a new appreciation for refs once you do. Remember – this is development soccer. The players are learning, the refs are learning, the parents are learning and the coaches are learning. Please remember this before your face turns red and you let one of them have it.

Always recruit assistant coaches and a team manager. We need trained managers as much as we need trained coaches. Please communicate with your age group coordinator on those parents who are showing an interest and volunteering so we can communicate with them

All U10 players and older need to wear complete uniforms to the match. Please remind your players and parents about this. If they do not have a complete kit, they should plan to order the missing pieces at the start of each new season. Head Coaches should also wear a Sentinels Coach Shirt. If you do not have one just let your Coordinator know.