I have worked with so many age group squads and teams where the coaches lost sight of their purpose: developing players. It wasn't helped by administrators being unclear in their purpose.
England Golf told their coaches to only select players for the under-16s who would definitely play at senior level!
They then said recruit early, so they were in the 'system' for longer: meaning that girls has young as 12 were thrust into that environment.
I resigned after seeing so many girls crying with the pressure and so many parents being forced to drive for hours and spend money they didn't have on fuel/accommodation.
Fun was never mentioned.
The best age-group coaches had a clear vision of what they were trying to achieve. Physical markers are rarely relevant as they can all be developed, especially pre- growth spurt.
I agree with co-ordination and rhythm being better indicators of potential than how much someone can bench or squat. Yet, guess what are measured more often?
They measure bench and squats because those are more easily measurable. I'm a teacher and this week we are doing our State Testing. I am not against Testing but in education, we often test the most easily measurable skills because we need "data" rather than the skills that students will need for the rest of their lives such as collaboration, reflection, etc because those are much are more difficult to measure.
I have worked with so many age group squads and teams where the coaches lost sight of their purpose: developing players. It wasn't helped by administrators being unclear in their purpose.
England Golf told their coaches to only select players for the under-16s who would definitely play at senior level!
They then said recruit early, so they were in the 'system' for longer: meaning that girls has young as 12 were thrust into that environment.
I resigned after seeing so many girls crying with the pressure and so many parents being forced to drive for hours and spend money they didn't have on fuel/accommodation.
Fun was never mentioned.
The best age-group coaches had a clear vision of what they were trying to achieve. Physical markers are rarely relevant as they can all be developed, especially pre- growth spurt.
I agree with co-ordination and rhythm being better indicators of potential than how much someone can bench or squat. Yet, guess what are measured more often?
They measure bench and squats because those are more easily measurable. I'm a teacher and this week we are doing our State Testing. I am not against Testing but in education, we often test the most easily measurable skills because we need "data" rather than the skills that students will need for the rest of their lives such as collaboration, reflection, etc because those are much are more difficult to measure.
They spend more time weighing the pig than fattening the pig...