A few years ago I was explaining the concept of soccer to my little girls and now I am getting ready to train my older one for the youth soccer program in summer. As a special needs kid she may need me in the field more than others to keep up. I played field hockey in school and college and have been coaching the middle school teams for several years and this is the first time I will be coaching soccer.
Since I signed up for coaching soccer this summer, I was invited to attend the US Youth Soccer Workshop that was fortunately held in Boston this year. As the workshop was being held at Hynes Convention Center, I expected it to be presentation style coaching sessions but I was wrong. The big halls in the 2nd and 3rd floor of the convention center were converted into playing fields with attention to every little detail. They looked exactly like soccer fields with full size goal posts on both sides and padded carpeting. In fact they laid out green carpets in the 2nd floor to make it look like a real field. Those settings kind of really changed the expectations and the mood and from there on it was a sheer joy watching the training sessions for boys under 10, girls under 17 and kids with special needs.
Small Plays Make Big Difference
This hands on session had smaller fields (maybe 25 yards long) and smaller teams with focus on finer skills like ball passing and player positioning. The kids were divided into teams of three with 3 attacking 1 (and other 2 stationed in goal) or 3 attacking 2 (and 1 stationed in goal). It was quite evident that the communication from coach to players, understanding tactics by players and demonstration by coach were far more effective in this small play setting as compared to larger field. I definitely took away a few things that I will apply to my soccer and field hockey sessions later this year.
Soccer For Special Needs
The Youth TOPSoccer program is designed for kids with special needs. Special needs kids with physical or mental disabilities need special programs as they may not be able to compete with regular kids and would likely be lost in regular programs. Sports is very powerful and immensely beneficial to all kids with or without disabilities. Sports doesn’t have to be competitive all the time. Kids with disabilities learn so many communication and social skills from programs like this. These kids may not be the next Jeremy Lin or David Beckham and thats totally fine but we need to provide them an opportunity to learn, socialize and maybe affect their behavior in a positive way.
As we are seeing the autism epidemic spread all over the place and my own personal story, this was an important session for me. Over the years I have learnt to manage my expectations but I was not exactly sure how to teach kids with varying skill levels and disabilities. Even though my kid, having made some amazing progress, would be joining a regular soccer program this summer I know she would need help along the way and I want to be ready for that.
Here are a few things that I learnt:
1) Are you the right person for coaching special needs soccer?
As I watched the special needs class, it looked like a complete chaos to naked eyes. However, it was more of a controlled chaos to a parent of special needs kids. Some kids were doing there own little thing while others needed help and many were not the perfect athletes. It could be frustrating for a coach to not see the most responsive kids or the most competitive kids in their program. I know it because I have a special needs kid and I have learnt to manage my expectations over the years.
Loosing your calm means you lose the opportunity to modify a kids behavior. So, think again if you want to be running a special needs soccer class or just any special needs class. It’s not for every one and that’s totally ok.
2) Have good buddies
This program is as good as the buddies or aides or shadow helpers. As a kid is having melt down or needs attention, the aides can provide one on one attention to the kid and that keeps the flow going. For example, a loud whistle may be problem for some kids and the coach needs to know that before the game. The coach may never get 100% compliance from the kids as each one of them may have different strengths and weaknesses and it’s important for the coach to learn that in advance. So, the coach will need lot of aides to successfuly conduct a session.
3) Plan ahead
All the equipments (at least 90%) need to be in place when the game starts. If they are not, the coach can easily lose kid’s attention. With special needs kids managing transitions is one of the most important elements and the coach cannot be organizing things in between. So, it is always good to keep planning ahead.
Using frequent water breaks helps but but keep them short maybe 60 seconds only. Some kids are fixated on colors or patterns, so make sure that all the balls are exactly the same.
4) Lot of common sense
No amount of training can prepare a coach (or a parent) for every situation. So use your patience and common sense to deal with it. For example, many kids like to hug and some people may not be comfortable with that depending on the kids age. Transitioning hugs to high fives is always an option.
Kids kick the ball from their toes all the time and they may not understand when asked to use the side of their foot. So rubbing inside the foot might be more effective in some cases.
I hope to have wonderful time coaching my kid this summer and better yet that she still loves me.
