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What Are the Differences Coaching Girls versus Boys?

What Are the Differences Coaching Girls versus Boys?

As a mom of two girls and one boy, I would say that coaching boys versus girls is a continuum, and that this is not a hard and fast rule of differences for all boys and all girls. But I observe that the coaches of my girls who were most impactful took a Whole Child approach, with the social-emotional piece a significant one. Alison’s approach to this chapter is both her own experiences plus she polled many of her coach friends, both male and female, to get their take on what they think are the differences coaching girls versus boys. 

What Are the Differences Coaching Girls versus Boys?

What Are the Differences Coaching Girls versus Boys?

The University of North Carolina coach, Ansen Dorrance, gave me a really valuable piece of advice when I first started coaching. His advice was to give the girls on the team the first ten minutes of practice. Let them catch up with each other during this time, and then you will have their attention for the next eighty minutes of practice. If you don’t, they will try to get their ten minutes the entire practice, meaning they are distracted. Continue reading “What Are the Differences Coaching Girls versus Boys?”

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Creating Your Medical Emergency Plan

Creating Your Medical Emergency Plan

At the very least, you want the parents to make the call after a field injury if their child should return to the game.

My kids get nosebleeds. We refer to them as “gushers.” For the uninitiated, it looks like they are bleeding out at a frightening rate. The real issue, though, is keeping the blood off their uniforms, because they can’t go back into to play during a game with blood stained clothes, and they definitely want to keep playing once their nose bleed ends. My kids know what to do when the nosebleed ensures, but on the field, invariably, no one has tissues, and sometimes my car is parked quite a distance away. Even if I jog to my car, they are literally holding the blood in their cupped hands as it streams down, trying to keep it off their clothes. Finally, I made them each a “nose bleed kit” for their sports backpacks. I include four packs of travel tissue packs, one pack of baby wipes, bandaids, and an ice pack. It usually gets used at least once per season, either for themselves to help out a teammate.

Creating Your Medical Emergency Plan

Creating Your Medical Emergency Plan

Concussions are top of mind for any coach. If an athlete hits her head on anything, she’s done. You can’t have her come back in.

What if the wind is knocked out of her? This is when an assistant coach or an assigned rotating parent helper provides another set of hands during a game or practice. I have that person sit with the player while you call 911. Continue reading “Creating Your Medical Emergency Plan”

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The Pitfalls of Choosing Team Captains

The Pitfalls of Choosing a Captain, Act of graciousness to be a good follower, How to Coach Girls

We will be posting the first drafts of each chapter of our book. This is the chapter on The Pitfalls of Choosing A Captain.

It’s an act of graciousness to be a good follower.

My daughter was on a new club soccer team in which half the team were friends of hers from a previous team. The captain selection process seemed arbitrary. Right before every game, the coach would need a captain to start the game, and she tended to choose the same person, Anna*. Anna is a good player – there’s at least a half dozen players at her same level – and she’s a good friend of my daughter from playing on the same team the previous year. Even though the captain’s duties on this team was solely to represent the team before the game started and determine who kicked off, my daughter felt like Anna was “coach’s pet” and resented her and the coach. Continue reading “The Pitfalls of Choosing Team Captains”