WOFP for kids - especially 7th and 8th grade

I had this conversation with someone about 6 weeks ago that a lot of parents, and its more typical of the American culture than ours, try to live through their kids. The Dad was a college QB and then burnt out so puts the son through the wringer to be as good as he was and then go on past him. Invariably, they live through the kids and end up burning the kids out. I don't think we suffer from that in NZ but we do tend to have a mentality of 'Well that's my kid and I know what's best for them'

When I coached my son many years ago, there was a massive battle with the kids and parents because you would give the kids instructions but because the parents had gotten in first, they listened and acted on their recommendations because 'well that's what mum/dad say'. Its an absolute cure for a coach. With the benefit of hindsight, I can actually say I am a far better coach from the couch than I am in execution and I did a truck load of things wrong. Recognising that (and its never easy to admit failings) I've stayed away from coaching and it sounds like this plan for the kids is a better way of doing it. Its not how I would do things but then times change and if we were still doing what I wanted, kids would not hooning in cars nor wearing pants around their ass or others that have them so tight that it stops the oxygen hitting their balls/brains. Things change though.

Your Questions Answered

5 Where did you get the ideas and framework?

This plan is the result of three years spent researching best practice from football organisations around the globe. We studied programmes in the UK, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Australia and Japan to find out what works.  We also reviewed over 30 other football associations and national organisations, both domestically and internationally. Great ideas and programmes from around the world have been adapted and developed to fit the needs of the game here in New Zealand.

I've coached at a number of clubs over the years (here and in the UK) both kids and adults and have used the WOFP for a couple of years now from 8 through to 12 year olds and although I back WOFP 100% there is one word to describe why I think it will fail and that's 'adults'.

All the kids I have coached have loved it. They love the games, they love the focus on skills and technique, they love the team building and they love being part of something made enjoyable for them.

But in my experience there are too many parents who know FA about football who are not shy with their opinions. 'What does playing tag have to do with football', 'its useless without goalkeepers', 'my 6 year old is a striker not a defender', 'in my day we ran for 10 miles with no shoes on', 'we need to win', 'why arent we winning', 'get rid of it', 'kick it away', 'our defense is rubbish' etc. I've heard it all, some of those just yesterday.

Many have no intention of educating themselves about the program, and of those who do, too many dismiss it as PC nonsense.

Sadly there are too many coaches who feel the same way. I've seen coaches at fun football refuse to have their kids retreat to halfway at goalkicks, refuse to stop their kids from yelling abuse at 'lesser' skilled kids and many encourage physical dominance over skillful play. I've seen coaches and parents at older games encourage their kids to 'do' their opponents and have had to physically restrain two coaches from attacking parents whilst another had a 9 year old in tears after only 2 minutes of their game after a volley of abuse !

Politics in clubs sees players chosen for teams they don't deserve to be in (if that club chooses to stream players them so be it), whilst more deserving kids are left out because of who's parent is on the committee.

I love the game and love coaching kids but I absolutely hate having to deal with all the crap from those who have no intention of learning what it's about or any idea of how difficult it can be to plan over a season to improve a group of 11 year old boys who are all going through the things 11 year old boys go through !

Either support me and let me get on with it or put up or shut up and coach a team yourself.

Don't get me wrong, I've had some fantastic parents over the years and I have some now. I thank them wholeheatedly for their support but everything else just sucks the enjoyment out of it and who will suffer in the end ? The kids will, because I will quit and there will be no coach. Because when the call goes out for someone to put their hand up suddenly the loudest go very quiet.

Someone commented WOFP was too rigid. I see WOFP as a 'framework', something I can use, change, improve and learn from. You are not fixed to doing a specific game for a warm up, if you want to change it, do so. But don't think you can do a better job by ignoring it completely. Having played football to a high level as a kid I think I can see improvements just based on my experiences.

Somethings work, some don't. I'm not against asking the kids half way through a drill if they think its worth continuing if they don't get it. But ultimately I've learnt a massive amount from it and I'd like to think so have the kids I've coached. We've certainly been successful by playing some good football.

IMO the WOFP is brilliant for the mum or dad who thinks they know nothing about football but want to learn and have a go. For them it's great. For anyone who has played or coached previously, it's a refresher to remember its for the kids, not the adults.

Qwe123...this x 1,000

Absolutely! What a fantastic summary.

Just to add to the issue adults cause, at my 12yo girls game yesterday the opposition coach when reffing didn't give a handball as "it only touched her nails and doesn't count." Also told one of our team to "bloody well listen to me" - just a shame that the minority can make the biggest impression

One more thing. 

Think of what the WOFP is teaching the child for future years. It's about having fun and learning the basics about dribbling without knowing it. If a kid doesnt love the game what are they going to do at college when the pressure is on? They will walk away.

The amount of kids I get at 11/12 who cant dribble with the ball, cant pass with both feet, or can only play in one position is staggering. I have to teach them the basics all over again when I should be concentrating on more technical skills simply because they aren't comfortable on the ball. 

There is a significant rise in 'pressure to perform' from parents at this age too (11/12's I mean). In my experience a kid who has been taught to pass the ball from an early age just ends up panicking and hoofing the ball away when they are under pressure because they aren't comfortable in their own abilities to retain possession. You can tell this with the distinct rise in 'just get rid of it' calls from the parents.

If anything at 7/8 I would drop it to 4v4, same size pitches with no goalkeepers. But I would have a ref/coach/parent on the field to help them when the ball is out, who's kick it is, where they should stand, etc. Leaving those decisions to 7/8's wastes an awful lot of playing time.

Great thread. Bloody parents!

I've coached Jr's teams for some years but as he got better , he needed "better " coaching than I could offer. I now coach my daughter's team and have as much fun  , if not more , than I ever did coaching him.

I've been lucky in that the parents I have are fabulous. I meet them at the start of the season , tell them how I would like to try things for a while and see how it goes. I like the WOF for this group. It gives the kids  a bit of structure  , especially with training sessions. Drills are fine but the kids want to play games. SO I drag Jr along and often play 5 vs us 2. It gives them a chance to practice team patterns but I let them play as they see. But I like the WOFP game plans where they play "games" based around a drill but they don't know that's what they're doing. Tell them we're going to spend 5 minutes dribbling round cones- they're bored. Tell them they're playing " monster vs aliens"- they're motivated and take to it really easily. 

Hate reffing though. Got called a cheat by 2 parents today for calling up a team for sea gulling.

Last year I focussed on making sure the girls could kick without doing toe pokes. THis year , we do focus on movement , and yes , passing comes into that. But that's all we're worried about this year. Scrum football still happens but the girls are now seeing there is another way. But if they leave practice with smiles on their faces ,leave the game with smiles on their faces then I don't really give a crap about anything else.

What we devised in the 1980s and 1990s for the 7th and 8th grades in Wellington was a well thought out scheme based on the best available international practice, concentrating on skills and not on winning.

WOF is a well thought out scheme based on the best available international practice, concentrating on skills and not on winning.

So which is best? Wandering round our local park on a Saturday morning and watching WOF, I just can't see that it is teaching the children more skills and making them happier than our 1980s-1990s scheme. But hey. It's way better than nothing 

Ermm, I believe "Dibs!" is the requirement for that, so, "Dibs!"

lol

P.S. I also call Wellington as qwe123s home town...

bugger!

It might be a great idea, but I am shocked at the drop off of players who have had two years of WOFP and decided coming into 8th grade that they would go play another sport (here in Eastern BOP) rather than a 3rd year of the same thing.

Thanks :)

Ha, someone will need to explain this to me.

The difference I see now is that training is more about games which keep it fun and teach the kids whilst they dont know it and Saturday is just for them to have a run around.

From the age of 10 and playing schoolboys football in England I was involved in 3, sometimes 4, 90 minute games a week on a full size pitch with another 5 two hour training sessions a week. If I didnt have a love for the game I wouldn't have stuck that out! How many of today's teenagers do you see who will to do that ?

I'm not saying thats the only way, but in England football is in your blood, everyone grows up 'just knowing' how to play 4-4-2, but in NZ we need to grow a love for the game to keep kids involved no matter how good or bad they are.

Those who are committed will reach the top regardless of the obstacles, but whilst I have some cracking players in my team at the moment I need to give them all a love for it.

There should be no criticism of what was 'best practice' 30 years ago because it was exactly that 'best practice' at the time. Times change though and I'd like to think my sessions now are a lot more interesting than the two hours sessions I had running around the outside of the pitch with 1 meaning touch the ground with your right hand, 2 your left, 3 jump and head straight etc.

This is really interesting. I pulled my boy from Little Dribblers and 7/8 football because he was too good. Seeing him cry every week because the coach kept taking him off was too much, he just wanted to play. My daughter however just loves get out on the pitch and running around to show her dad :)

I encourage all my kids to try other sports. What is important is they do something. If I've done my job and they love football they will come back....hopefully :)

It's also up to the clubs and coaches to keep it fresh and keep training interesting. That's hard work.

If there was a way to wrap all those into one post, please let me know :)

Some great posts there qwe123.

Also as seen on The Walking Dead.  It didn't end well.

One thing I do agree with is that zombies should never be allowed to coach kids football, even if they have the correct qualifications. It's a health and safety thing.

All the 7th/8th grade pitches Ive seen in Wellington are a marked out rectangle. A halfway line would be handy but that's the least of the issues

How do determine what is 'good'?  We shouldnt be running the kids coaching with the sole intention of producing a few outstanding individuals. The cream will get picked out and streamed into pro clubs wings, or that's how it should work. We are talking about coaching your average Joes at the ages of 7 an 8 .

Don't you teach your players skills then?

I take it you don't support the Coerver method?

I think rugby causes a big drop off that that age, dunno whether we can tell if its due to WOFP. But after this thread I am more conscious of getting feedback from the kids on what they want and enjoy. And they want to play football matches for the most part. And I have read qwe123s comments and agree apart from one thing - I believe having goalkeepers in 7th and 8th grade will make the whole thing much better. I have seen its, its what we did about 5 years ago

Trapping shouldn't be a thing. Coaches should be working on their first touch to keep the ball moving. When was the last time you saw a decent senior play trap the ball dead>?

Yes, when coaching young un's it sounds like this:  "move that ****ing ball off the line it come to you on you hopeless little...."

moi too, said with a smile and looking straight at mum and dad on the sideline....