Blog Archives

Nightly Plan: Monday, June 25

6/24/2012

Tonight's Schedule:

5:30: Registration, coaches warm up with kids
6:15PM: Large Group welcome – curriculum intro
6:30PM: Division Leaders divide kids into teams
6:40 PM: Team name – establish team guidelines/expectations based on RRT
6:50 PM: Warm-ups & games in Division, skills demonstration (Skill: Passing!)
7:05 PM: Team Drill Work/play
7:35PM: Small Group Curriculum (Theme: Names!)
7:50PM: Scrimmage
8:15PM: Camp Conclusion. Present “Gold Medalists of the Night.” Teach Dance.
8:25PM: Snack dismissal
8:30PM: Check out
8:45PM: Debriefing in Divisions
9:00PM: Final Group Announcements

Tonight's Ways to “Go for the Gold” for Team Medals

Values Curriculum: Let’s learn each other’s Names!
1. Kids add name ‘medals’ to division ring – team earns one medal if everyone adds a medal to the ring.
2. Coaches may award their team one extra medal if players demonstrate excellent implementation of night's theme (e.g using each other's names during scrimmage).
Soccer Curriculum: Passing
1. Coaches may award team one medal for participating (as a whole team) in tonight's drill work and implementing passing with accuracy, pace, and timing in team scrimmage.

Coaches -- report your team's medal count to your division leaders.

Tonight's Skill: Passing

See Also Pages 8, 9 and 26 of Soccer Curriculum Packet.

Ways to “go for the gold”
1) Accuracy
2) Pace
3) Timing

Push Pass: Coaching Points

Head down and eyes on the ball
Place non-kicking foot approx. 6 inches to the side of the ball with room for kicking foot to swing through, and toe pointed in the direction of the pass.
Pass with the “instep” of the foot, ankle locked at right angles to the direction of the pass, knee slightly bent, contacting the middle of the ball.
Follow through, so your teammate can see the bottom of your shoe.

Video to use as reference:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDD9DF02717D5214F&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOXrf0TIphg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOXrf0TIphg&feature=relmfu

1) Accuracy (set up a 10x10 grid)

X1 passes to X2 and moves to a new position along his/her line.
X2 controls, then returns pass to X1 in his/her new position
X2 then moves to new position along his/her line.

Emphasize:

Balls played to feet

Game:

Players receiving the ball are to stand with their legs apart.
Players score points by passing through the legs (2 points) or by hitting a leg (1 point).
See how many each player can score in 2 minutes.

2) Pace (set up a 10x10 or 10x15 grid)

X1 and X2 pass back and forth between themselves.
After each pass, X1 and X2 must...

sit down
belly dive
spin 360
jump up for a header
etc.

Progression (for older age groups):

Move one line backwards and forwards every 20 seconds, forcing them to alternate between longer and shorter passes.

Emphasize:

For X2 to be up and on his/her feet by the time the ball reacher him/her (i.e. the pass should be at correct pace for partner to control).

Game:

How many passes can they accumulate in one minute?

3) Timing (set up a 10x10 or 10x15 grid)

X1 watches X2 make a run for the corner cone.
X1 passes the ball so that X2 and the ball reach the cone at the same time, allowing X2 to control the ball near the cone.

Progression (for older age groups):

have X1 start from a sitting position / lying position.

Emphasize:

Good communication between X1 and X2 and for X1 to be looking up observing X2‘s run.

PASSING GAMES

Ten Pin
Across the Border
Multi-goal Soccer

Tonight's Value: Names!

Today's Goals:

Participants learn their teammates names.
Participants learn why names are important.
Participants learn the connection between learning names and going for the gold.

Today's Connection to Go for the Gold:

Learning each other's names is part of going for the gold because the way we can be better friends, better teammates, better members of our families, better neighbors all starts with knowing the people around us. When we know each other and begin to understand each other, everything is so much better and more fun than when we are just on our own.

1. Introduce Today's Theme: Names!

This week we are going to learn several ways that we can GO FOR THE GOLD together as a team. The first way we do that is to learn each other’s names.
Who can tell me one reason names are important? why do people and things have names?
- names set things apart from other things.
- names define who we are, they tell other people who we are
- names can say things about us or give us goals to live up to (ex. if you are named after your grandfather whose name means ‘strong,’ you might want to try to be very strong, or to be like your grandfather in other ways.)
- names can tell us about where people are from (ex. some names are common to certain parts of the world - the name Seamus comes from Ireland, the name Helima has Arabic origin, and it means gentle, mild-mannered, and generous.)

Part of going for the gold includes learning each other's names because the way we can be good friends, good neighbors, good members of our families, good teammates, all starts with knowing the people around us. When we know each other and begin to understand each other, everything is so much better than when we are just on our own. If Coach _________ is dribbling down the field and sees his teammate across the field, wide open, but doesn't know her name, he can't very well pass her the ball can he? Or if __________ is at school and needs help with an assignment, she can't ask for that help or help someone else if she doesn't know her classmates. Learning names is something easy and yet SO important! Let's start by playing a fun game that will help us do this:

2. Today's Game

Younger Divisions
Have kids and coaces sit in a circle by team. (important that teams are separate, this will be too crazy if done with whole division together.) This is a call and response activity, so you’ll want to start by setting a beat (clapping or hands on knees).
Coach/volunteer starts: "My name is Kaiti and I like goats.”
Everyone echoes this: "Your name is Kaiti and you like goats."
Next person (to right or left of person who starts): "My name is Brian and I like soccer"
Everyone: "Your name is Brian and you like soccer"

If the 2nd-3rd graders seem on top of this, you can add in rules like “we all have to stay on the beat or we start over!”
With the 1st graders, focus on the whole team being engaged and participating.

Older Divisions - Hand Shake Game
Team stands in a circle and the Curriculum Coach begins the game by going across the circle to a player, looking him in the eye and, shaking his hand, says, “Hello, I'm Coach Suzie.” The player then says “Hello, Coach Suzie, I'm Johnny.” Coach Suzie then takes Johnny's spot and Johnny crosses the circle and introduces himself to another teammate in the same way. This goes on until everyone has crossed the circle and the last person introduces herself to Coach Suzie, starting it back over. Then repeat the cycle, making the kids stay in the same order and this time go faster. Suzie will go to Johnny, Johnny to Megan, Megan, to Amir, Amir to Helima, Halima back to Coach Suzie. (Keep in mind each time they have to say the names, look the other person in the eye, and run to their spot).

Go through the cycle a few times until they are running to get through it.
Then pause the game and say, “OK, team I want you now to raise your right hand in the air.” Wait till everyone does so. “Ok, now I want you to take your right hand and point it at the person who you ran across to meet.” (wait till they do that) “Ok, keeping your right hand out, I want you to take your left hand and point to the person who ran to meet you.”

“Ok, I want everyone to look in front of you at our team, and answer me, if you were a bird flying above this what would it look like? A spider web, a net? Well let's see if we can form one.”

Walk forward slowly, with hands still out, until each player has grabbed hands with the two people they were introduced to. Tell your team to get ready and then start to lean slowly backwards, until there is slight tension on their grasps. After a moment or two of leaning back, bring them back to a regular stance.

“Wasn't that cool? We were holding each other up as a team. The ties we made even just by meeting each other and learning each other's names can be powerful and strong. We don't learn each other's names just to do so, but because to start relationships and community with others is to go from being as strong as just one person, to as strong as many. And we'll learn over the next several days that each and every person on our team is important to the team. Just like if someone let go when we were all leaning backward, what would happen? That's right, we'd all fall to the ground!”

On the count of 3, I want everyone to shout as loudly as they can the two names of the people on our team who they met tonight!

2. Today's Ring Activity

Younger Divisions
Pass out tonight's gold medals. Kids will write:
My name is ______________
I was named by _________________
My name means ______________________
If there is time and kids want to ask their parents for the answers to the 2nd two fill-ins, let them go ask them. If not, tell them they can earn an extra medal for their team if they go home and ask and bring back the answer tomorrow.

Older Divisions
Kids should be in pairs.
Pass out tonight's gold medals . They will have a space for:
My friend's name is ______________
His name means ______________________.

If there is time and kids want to ask parents for the answers to the 2nd two fill-ins, let them go ask them. If not, tell them they can earn an extra medal for their team if they go home and ask and bring back the answer tomorrow.

Curriculum Team should collect medals and glue them to division ring.

0 Comments

Soccer Nights starts in 2 days!

6/23/2012

0 Comments

Get excited! It's going to be great!

0 Comments

Behavior Management: BOO to Bullying

6/21/2012

0 Comments

Bullying Definitions*

Bullying is defined as the repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal, or electronic expression or a physical act or gesture or any combination thereof, directed at a victim that:

Causes physical or emotional harm to the victim or damage to the victim’s property
Places the victim in reasonable fear of harm to himself/herself or damage to his/her property
Creates a hostile environment at a VCO program for the victim
Infringes on the rights of the victim at a VCO program
Substantially disrupts the orderly operation at a VCO program

Aggressor- Aggressor is a student who engages in bullying or retaliation

Victim -Victim is a student against whom bullying or retaliation has been perpetrated.

Retaliation - Retaliation is any form of intimidation or harassment directed against a student who reports bullying, provides information during an investigation of bullying, or witnesses or has reliable information about bullying.

Major Bullying Offenses

Examples of major instances of bullying could include:

Aggressive and unnecessary physical contact, including any blood drawn or punches thrown.
Aggressive and unnecessary verbal threats or comments, includes profanity, racial or gender slurs, and physical threats directed toward another student.

Specific Follow-Up Steps for Bullying & Physical Fighting

Specific follow-up steps for bullying and physical fighting
Ultimately, it will be up to the discretion of the volunteer and staff to determine the severity of bullying. If a volunteer or staff is unsure, they should consult other staff and volunteers present.

In the incident of bullying, the aggressor and victim should be separated and pulled to the side.
In the incident of bullying, volunteer and staff should speak to both the aggressor and victim, as well as any other witnesses, to get the full story.
When participant(s) returns to the program, a zero-tolerance policy will be enacted. If another major bullying instance occurs, the aggressor will be asked to leave the program permanently for that year. Re-entry into other VCO programs will be decided upon on in a case-by-case basis
Volunteers and staff should check-in with victim to ensure they feel safe in VCO programs.

Please note

Volunteer and staff can decide if they want to refer the aggressor and/or victim to further mediation or counseling based on the incident.
In the incident that it is ambiguous which child is the aggressor and which is the victim, both aggressor and victim may be sent home.

[*] Cambridge Public Schools Anti-Bullying Policy document

0 Comments

Behavior Management: 4 Strikes Rule

6/21/2012

0 Comments

Consequences for Not Meeting Expectations

Step 1 (1st offense) ·

Remind child of expectation and assign consequence accordingly – this can be at coach’s discretion (e.g. 5 pushups,10 jumping jacks – should be something active, reasonable. We want to shy away from handing out time outs)

Step 2 (2nd offense) ·

Increase number or severity of consequences (e.g. 5 pushups becomes 10, 10 jumping jacks becomes 20)
Remind child that this is his/her last warning and what will happen if he/she decides not to follow the expectations.

Step 3 (3rd offense)

At this point, the child has proven he/she is unwilling to meet expectations, despite 2 warnings. You should feel empowered to shift to a more serious tone.
Example: “You've done pushups twice, I've reminded you twice, and since you’ve shown me that you can’t meet the expectations of being on this team, you can’t participate in what the team is doing”
Child must miss 1st half of scrimmage, standing/sitting with a team assistant (either assistant coach or field/curriculum support)

Step 4 (4th offense)

Child must sit out rest of night and cannot come following day.
When this happens, volunteer must use the Follow-Up Steps to 4th Offense behaviors. See section below. .

Automatic 4th Offenses

1. Physical violence
2. Any type of major bullying

**For these situations it is not a guarantee that child will be permitted back into the program

Follow-Up Steps to 4th Offense Behaviors

Procedures when a 4th offense behavior occurs

Volunteer or staff [every program must be staffed with more than one adult] takes measures to stop situation immediately.
a. Pull participant to the side of the program. If possible, the rest of the program should proceed as normal.
Volunteer verbally reports incident to program staff in charge.
Volunteer and staff speak to participant.
a. Notes from this conversation should be put into Incident Report.
b. Volunteer and staff quickly make sure they have consensus and delegate the following steps, calling on help if needed.
Parents of all parties are contacted. The incident, next steps, and/or consequences should be explained to parents and involved parties.
Participant(s) are immediately sent home, still following check-out protocol
a. Participant(s) should have a clear understanding to why they are being asked to leave.
b. If participant(s) may only be dismissed with parent pick-up, parent should be called to pick up their child.
c. If parent is not available for pick-up, participant(s) must remain in the program under staff supervision, but not participating.
d. If participant(s) is able to go home without parent pick-up, he is allowed to go home on his own after his parent has been called.
Participants receive a one-day suspension from the program.
a. If volunteer or staff feels that the participant(s should receive a longer suspension from the program, this should be discussed with all program staff and a decision for a more severe consequence can be made.
Volunteer completes an Incident Report Form and submits to VCO staff.

What happens the next day?
Except in cases of physical violence or bullying (please see Bullying Definitions below), a new day means a clean slate! We encourage you to follow up with the child at the start of the evening. Encourage him/her to display positive behavior on this new evening

Example: “Hey! I know you had a rough day yesterday. How are you doing today?”

behavior-management-boo-to-bullying.html

0 Comments

Behavior Management: Setting Expectations & Tips

6/21/2012

1 Comment

Vineyard Community Offerings aims to provide programs and events that are safe and fun for people of all backgrounds and cultures. To foster this environment, we have adopted the following policies and procedures regarding behavior expectations.

Program wide expectations to which all participants are held:

1. Respect your coach

2. Respect your teammates

3. Try your hardest

General Tips for Managing your Team

Set expectations early and clearly --go over them at the beginning of each night to set the tone of the evening. You might need to flesh out what the expectation means (Respect your coach means…). Ask kids if they have any additional expectations to add. This is way of contracting with the kids and getting them to own the expectations for themselves. As the week progresses, have the kids recall/share what the expectations are to each other.
Call and response* – easy way to gain attention of large group – you can be creative with your method, but some examples include:
-Clapping a sequence for the kids to repeat
-Clap clap, motion/voice (go around circle, everyone mimics what each person does)
-Come up with a consistent call and response for their team:
e.g. : You: “Hey gang!” Team: “Hey coach!” You: “How you doin?” Team: “Grreeeeat!” You: “Take a knee!” Them: “Okay!”
-Use call and response to teach drills
e.g. have them turn to the kid next to them and teach the drill “follow through till I see the bottom of your shoe”
Be confident and following through is key. If you say there will be consequences and then there aren’t, the kids will walk all over you (and we don’t want that!)
Have fun! – if you are engaged and outwardly enjoying yourself, this energy will transfer to the kids! Be positive, even in your disciplining.

1 Comment

Volunteer Training!!

6/15/2012

6 Comments

We're super excited about today's Volunteer Training. We think/hope it is going to be fun. In fact, Steph keeps insisting we call it a party. We hope you have a good time, meet lots of new people, and learn more about how awesome Soccer Nights is. We're delighted you came, and please do visit the blog frequently as it will have lots of useful information (much more useful than this, we promise) pertaining to each night of Soccer Nights.

Bonus Trivia:
True or False? This year's Soccer Nights Theme Song & Dance is Party Rock Anthem...

6 Comments

Forward>>

Soccer Nights

Nightly Plan: Monday, June 25

Tonight's Schedule:

Tonight's Ways to “Go for the Gold” for Team Medals

Tonight's Skill: Passing

Tonight's Value: Names!

Soccer Nights starts in 2 days!

Behavior Management: BOO to Bullying

Bullying Definitions*

Major Bullying Offenses

Specific Follow-Up Steps for Bullying & Physical Fighting

Behavior Management: 4 Strikes Rule

Consequences for Not Meeting Expectations

Automatic 4th Offenses

Follow-Up Steps to 4th Offense Behaviors

Behavior Management: Setting Expectations & Tips

Program wide expectations to which all participants are held:

Volunteer Training!!

Hello from Soccer Nights

Archives

Categories