Calling All Soccer Moms.....
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive September 2005:
Calling All Soccer Moms.....
DD is signed up to play Soccer this year. It's an all girls team of 4-5 year olds. DH wanted to coach, so he called and called about it, but never heard back from anyone.
Well, last night they called to tell us DD was all signed up and then proceeded to tell me that DH was HEAD COACH! Huh? Ok, now, I called him to tell him and he doesn't mind, but geez, someone could have called us! (Fortunately, he played in HS and a little in college when we started dating.)
So, my question is what is the coach responsible for? (Someone from the Y is meeting him on the first day to give him the rosters and shirts for the girls along with a playbook with drills they can run) Should I bring something to drink and a snack for the girls on the first day?? And then we can figure out with the parents what everyone needs to bring??
Nothing like planning all of this way ahead of time! Gosh! It starts Wednesday. DH is out of town until tomorrow! I'd love any ideas you may have. 
When my kids were on soccer teams. On game day a snack and drink were provided by the parents. The team mom made a list, and each parent had a week to bring snack/drink. On practice days, we were not required to bring anything. Of course each parent brought a drink/water bottle for their own child.Normally one mom volunteers to be the team mom, make up snack list, and call parents if practice/games were cancelled etc...Coaching a team of 4-5 yr old girls wont be too hard. Elizabeth was ona soccer team at 4 yrs old. What I noticed alot was, that the kids got very distracted, excpecially if there was a playground nearby.Some kids have never played, so alot of practices were very basic, and very basic about taking turns and waiting for help.Of course, then there are some kids this age, who are wonderful at soccer. It will be alot of fun though.
We always send a drink with the kids for games and practices. Then for games each week a parent will bring fruit for 1/2 time during the game.
I think your DH will like coaching and I hope Syd enjoys soccer as much as my 2 DS's has.
Good Luck
Eve, my kids didn't play soccer, but Jeff played T-ball, coach-pitch and little league. When you are dealing with kids that age, the Coach is not expected to know and be able to teach everything. Pretty much at this age, it's teaching them about being part of a team, teaching them the game of course, but kids this young are easily distracted and don't necessarily *get* the whole concept of playing the game.
Bringing water and snacks the first time will be a nice gesture, but MAKE SURE you get the other parents to all take turns bringing them from there on, or you WILL get stuck and it gets expensive.
When you get a schedule of practice and game time and dates, make sure each parent has one, make sure you have a list of each family's name and phone number and that each one has that also, and be VERY proactive in recruiting assistant coaches and another mom to help you organize this stuff. And make sure you get the other moms to sign up for bringing the water/snacks!!!! I'd stay away from soda, when they are running around and getting hot, I'd bring water or 10K or something, plus a snack. But keep in mind, they don't get the snacks until AFTER practice or the game is over.
You may want to look into getting one of those huge coolers that you can fill with water or 10K or something and use disposable cups. That's what we, as a team, did.
We always had a team mom who made up a snack schedule too. Every family got assigned a game to bring orange quarters & water for during the game and a snack for the end of the game.
I would not supply drinks/snack for the practices. The parents should send their child with a water bottle. They shouldn't need a snack during practice. You might want to type up a hand out with the practice and game schedule on it and a reminder about what to bring for practices/games.
Thanks, everyone. At this age, they don't have schedule games. They have practice for a 1/2 hour, and then 1/2 of game time. I'm not even sure how it's really going to work. Like I said, we never got a chance to go to the meeting! No one called us back and we didn't know where it was! LOL
Great idea for the team Mom. My neice is staying with us and she said the same thing. It sounds like I'll go ahead and bring a cooler with juice boxes and water and then a snack and we'll go from there. I'm sure there are other parents who have some experience that will have some ideas.
Thanks again! My DD is SO excited--she was "practicing" yesterday.
Okay when we have played y ball it works like this:
The coach picks a team parent, makes a snack schedule for games and holds practice.
If he want to be over ambitious you could take a water jug and cups for practice. But what we did is we were told to bring water bottles to practice and we did not have snacks at practice.
For game day we used 2-3 parents for each snack, one brought halftime oranges, cut them in quarters and put them in baggies, 1/2 orange per kid. One brought aftergame snack, cookies, chips, whatever. And another drinks. You could have someone do all three, or just aftergame. We did a preassigned spread sheet when we passed out the roster and said if your date doesn't work, swap with another parent and then let me know.
ROFL, Eve...you two know how to jump into this sports thing! ;) Definitely have a team mom to organize snack schedules. Tell J to expect girls turning somersaults and catching butterflies during the game. LOL. They will also all bunch up and go for the ball at once. If he can get them to understand which net they are to shoot at, he will have had a successful day. LOL.
It's very cute at this age, but it shouldn't end up being a lot of "coaching" if you KWIM. I am sure it will be a lot of fun for all of you!
Eve, my dd played in a Saturday league like that. The first 30 minutes was practice and the next was the game. You should still assign a snack mom for each game day.
And ditto Melanie about the goal! LOL Our coach would stand all the girls together after each time out and say 'which one is our goal?' and make them all point! LOL
Eve, our town starts at age 5, one day a week for one hour. The parents provide water and snacks for their own children. The coaches didn't bring that stuff, or at least the ones we had didn't. Personally, I preferred providing snacks for my own kids due to their allergies.
Now that B is older (7) she has soccer practice on Thursdays from 6-7 pm and a game every Saturday morning. Parents provide water for their own child(ren) and we all take turns bringing in orange wedges for half time during the games. Our coach provided a schedule of practices, games and contact info. He had us fill out a roster with phone numbers and e-mails in case of cancellations, etc..
Be sure to bring camping chairs or blankets to sit on. Also bug spray! I'll let you know if I think of anything else.
Just thought I'd throw this in, I don't know what the field is like in your area, if you guys get a lot of ants, etc. Down here it's like wild kingdom of the insect world and I swear, we are built on top of a huge underground anthill.
Years ago, one of our T-ball moms taught us to keep a can of spray deodorant in the car - her 2 y/o got into ants while the 5 y/o's were practicing, and she whipped out a can of Right Guard and sprayed it on the bites. She said she always brought one to games, etc. because something in it (sorry, can't remember what, I have senior brain here!) cuts the swelling/allergic reaction/stinging.
We had soccer for the first time. So cute.
Everyone brought their own snack and drink.
At the end the coach gave them a snack too. The kids liked that.
You had to sign up for the stuff at the beginning if you wanted to help with awards at the end or
be an asst coach or coach.
I would bring a big cooler w/water or gatorade. I would not even start w/snacks - especially if you don't know about potential allergies. Ds has played soccer for years and no one has ever provided snacks for anyone other than their own child. Good luck and I hope you all have a great time.
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