SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Pounding Theses Into the Red Door

so which is it - lack of coaching for the girls or lack of players to train with? a perceived contradiction there.

i also wouldn't say that most of the trainers in all of SC work with the just the boys. it depends on the structure and mission of your club. perhaps this is the case in charleston/summerville, but i can assure you that this is not the case everywhere.

<<I believe that your underlying belief system may lay at the root of why Columbia area girls soccer has underperformed;>>

Do you mean that there is a fundamental, gender-related difference between boy soccer players and girl soccer players (that I don't understand)?

Can you explain this to me? Also, how should a girls program be run differently from a boys program? Is it not the same equation of fields, coaches, players and parents?

definitely a lack of players on the girls side does not help their situation...As far as coaching goes...Say you have ten boys teams at your club.Ten different coaches, but not all the coaches are at the same level. Challenge,Classic and rec.Let's say you only have four or five girls teams with coaches at different levels.I believe that the girls chances of getting a quality coach are quite less.My son was rarely without excellent coaching or a coach that could fulfill his needs and he plays at the Classic level.My daughter plays at the Challenge level and finding quality coaching can be quite hard at times.I am not saying that it is like this everywhere.I can only speak from our experience.I think as a society that we feel girls or women are willing to accept less.Let's just say to get the coaching she desires, I spend alot of money on personal training...and for our area of the state I see alot more girls getting personal training than I do boys

CHT:

I think you are correctly describing a situation that is a result of numbers (not primarily gender). If this is a correct assessment, then I guess the question is how to get more, better coaches for "low-number" player groups.

Clubs have tried paying more money. My experience is that sometimes this works, sometimes it does not. I've seen great "volunteer" coaches (no pay) and lousy, highly paid coaches.

It helps if the parents are active in the process of finding coaches. Don't sit back and rely only on the DOC to find coaches. Help them identify and recruit good coaches. Teams with supportive (but not insane) parents tend to find good coaches.

My gut feel is that over the next five years, there will be more high quality coaches available for low-number groups, because more of the folks that grew up in the 1990's and early 2000's will be at the stage in their lives (school over, etc), where they have the time to take on a team.

I am not saying I have the answers. I clearly don't. These are just my thought.

Tom,
thanks for the advice...we have been able to find
some solid coaches and you are right there are some highly paid lousy coaches and solid coaches doing it for the love of the game.I hope you are right about the next generation of coaches coming up.I know everyone wants what's best for the girls and I think eventually it will all work out.
I think girls numbers are always going to be somewhat lower than boys but we need to get quality coaching for these girls so they will stay interested in the game.

Pietras, Is that how necsa and csc attracted their coaches? Shocking. I would bet that if parents are allowed to attract and secure coaches, they are probably involved in getting rid of them as well. Get over yourself.

Truth, 1 coach per team? How long have you had cell phone service where you are?

Yeah my dad used to coach me for the love of the game, and he was terrible. Give me a break.

Pietras,
So if a person grew up in the 70s they should be able to coach and produce some Earl Anthony's? Nice theory.

Pretty Ricky,
Actually a good number of coaches here coach more than one team and on game day a team may have a different coach than the one that worked with them during the week..It seems apparent that you have everything you need within your club..so how about a positive statement on finding quality coaching for a low number of players

>>[Chico] I believe that your underlying belief system may lay at the root of why Columbia area girls soccer has underperformed; but that's just my opinion and I absolutely respect your right to take your position.<<

>>[thomaspietras] Do you mean that there is a fundamental, gender-related difference between boy soccer players and girl soccer players (that I don't understand)?

Can you explain this to me? Also, how should a girls program be run differently from a boys program? Is it not the same equation of fields, coaches, players and parents?<<

There are fundamental, gender-related differences between boy and girls soccer players beyond the physical differences. Girls, particularly girls in the deep south, are socialized and pressured from an early age by many influences to be less competitive and to view themselves as second-class citizens athletically (e.g., you throw like a girl, be a man, etc.) This can potentially put them at a life-long disadvantage when they enter various aspects of life (i.e., the workplace) that are intrinsically competitive.

Title IX was intended to help with this, not just with regard to athletics but societally as well. Title IX applies to recruitment, admissions, educational programs and activities, course offerings and access, counseling, financial aid, employment assistance, facilities and housing, health and insurance benefits, marital and parental status, scholarships, and sexual harassment. In the 34 years since it was passed, there have been significant changes in the profile of not just college athletics but high school as well; currently it's reported that over 40% of high school athletes are female while in the early 1970's that number was 1%.

Youth soccer clubs have had to decide whether to try to "get in front" of these changes, simply ride the wave of changes, or try to ignore these changes. The dominant youth soccer clubs in South Carolina on the girls side are those that don't just talk about the importance of girls soccer, they make sure that their most visible employees (DOC's typically) are those that either have an excellent reputation in girls soccer or that have a burning desire to earn that reputation.

For example, Andy Grist earned much of his reputation with his excellent Fusion teams in the past few years. The fact that he's in a leadership position at CUSC helps that club earn and keep a reputation as a great place for girls to train and play. Andrew Hyslop has certainly had success on the boys side; but his reputation was earned as one of the only two coaches to take a South Carolina team to nationals (the other is Justin Rhodes) -- and Hyslop is the only person to take a South Carolina girls team to nationals. The fact that Hyslop is a co-executive director of CESA helps CESA earn and keep a reputation as another great place for girls to train and play. This goes beyond just winning -- when you look at the current Division I girls players, you find that Grist and Hyslop have helped a lot of their players move on to the next level.

The question isn't how a "girls program should be run differently" -- the question is how a club should be run differently to ensure that the girls program isn't run differently. The answer isn't ensuring you have a lot of parents on your board who have sired female players; the answer is to prioritize the girls program such that your executive operational leadership consists of people who have a strong committment to girls soccer at the highest level.

Thank you Chico...For a wonderful and informative
post.My child plays for Andy Grist..Who I consider a saint for girls soccer