The Defenders Club

No one is going to argue that defenders are critical to the team. If the defenders can keep a shut out, then the team at worst will have scored one point in the league.  But the rewards for good defense versus good offense are different. There's a big difference between scoring a goal and shutting out a game or playing good defense.  It's just not the same.  One is way more visible, the other more hidden.

Some players are strictly defense.  They may get to play offense once in a while, but not enough to increase their chances of scoring.  Some will never play offense.

I have had defense players and goalies begged me to play forward.  And yet their greatest contribution to the team is what they do on defense.  I have put some defense players forward and they actually hurt the team.

In our league at the end of the season the coaches vote on an all league team.  That voting process is biased towards offense players and the defense players know this.

There are some players who will never be acknowledged for the league all-league team, who will never stand out as key defense players, and who will never get one of the MVP awards at the end of the season. But those players that worked hard and contribute to the over all season, need to be recognized - they collectively create important value for the team.

So here has been my solution: last year I started what I call the defenders club.  To be in this club you have to have played 15 minutes on defense, that has been part of a shut out, in 5 or more league games.  At the end of the season those players that qualify will get a T-shirt.

There is a danger that in acknowledging one group of players over others that this may create disappointment.  One way to deal with this is to spread the rewards around liberally.  For example, our team hands out for MVP awards at the end of the season, there is the All-Stars team that some players can get on, there is the league all-league team, we hand out an award for high scorer, and the banquet everyone gets a certificate and specific acknowledgment.

It's also important to send the message that hard work has its rewards. There are some players on the team that just don't work hard or have other priorities in life. And that's okay.  Some players are just not good athletes, and that's an opportunity for the coach to speak with them and encourage them. Sometimes that goes a lot farther than getting some kind of T-shirt or patch.

Giving the defense a specific, measurable goal is also a great motivator.  The defense has something very specific to measure themselves against.

Bottom-line: A good defense needs to be rewarded in a way that's different from offense!

Technology: OneDrive

I really like the Microsoft OneDrive!  Being able to store and retrieve soccer team related documentation  from a tablet or smart phone while in the field is really valuable.  For example, I have workout plans or drills that I've stored on line, then gotten to the field and needed to look them up. Just pull out my smart phone, open the OneDrive app and pull the documentation - Beautiful!  Other services work as well, such as Google Drive or Drop Box.   I like OneDrive because I can edit documentation from anywhere, using a familiar interface.

Lesson Learned from 2014

Random thoughts.  I could probably turn each of these into a posting!

It's such a blessing to have an assistant coach who I can bounce ideas off of, cover for me, take groups of players to work on specific skills, and who can handle disagreements graciously.  

Need to work on set plays more often, earlier in the season.  Even taking 10 min 2x per week in August would help.  Ran across a couple of people that can design some plays and workouts.  Need to use those resources more.

Having JV players is a lot of work during the time of season when it's hardest.  When everyone is sprinting and doing basic ball stuff it's okay.  When we move to more position specific training, then it's hard.  But the JV guys are fun - I saw so much energy and potential there.  Was worth the effort.

On Sept 15 get a couple people to help with JV work outs.

Need to design more drills that are position specific.

There are people that help to lighten the emotional and mental load, need to reach out to them more.  It's a tough season even when winning.

Having a parent to help manage the bench during a game really helps.

Started having players do push ups when they can't do the drill right.  Need to start having the whole team do them.  They are a team.

I gave a copy of all the workout plans to the graduating seniors - a 135 page document.  The idea is that they may have an opportunity to give back some day and having a list of everything we did would be a helpful reference.  There are certainly better training materials out there, but that's what we did and hopefully will provide a reference point.  The act of writing things down in that document and this blog really helps me to sort things out.

Working on leadership with the captains went well, needs to be a continued focus.

Loosing our center back from last year was a big impact.  I was surprised how big an impact.  Need to think about how to minimize that in the future.

I spent 15-20 hrs a week.  That's a lot and does impact life.  There are things that just don't get done and not necessarily trivial things.

Coaching can be a lot more than just teaching guys how to play soccer.  I always think this is about just soccer.  Problems and opportunities can go way beyond soccer.

It's funny, blogging during the season is hard.

Working on relationships with other coaches is so important.  True story: in 2010 met the Corning coach and played against him for two years.  Worked on that relationship.  He moved on to a church and school near Binghamton.  My son's fiance wanted to get married in a church near Binghamton and guess who was the pastor of the church they wanted!  Fun story but it's more than that.  At the All League game I was working with two other coaches on field assignments and we had a blast talking, figuring out positions and telling stories from the season.  What a blessing.  So pay attention in the meetings, reach out, and stay in touch.

Don't assume you'll coach each year or even next year.  Stay focused on this season and see where the Lord leads.  Be good with that.

Banquet!

I do love the end of season banquet!  It really serves three purposes, acknowledge the help of the volunteers, acknowledge the work of the players, and serves as a wrap up for the season.  Volunteers put a lot of work into the season and it's really good to acknowledge that work. Some put an exceptional amount of work, so do something special for them.  For the players, have a certificate for them, call them up individually, and say some stuff about them.  This can include how long they've been with the team, what position they played, how much the scored or any special awards they won. For the newer players, make it fun for them and encouraging.  Here are something's to consider:

Make it a meal!  People love to site and talk over food.  It's more work, but worth it.

Having a slide show from the season works really well.  Again, a lot of work, but the kids really like it.

Schedule the banquet at the start of the season.  That time of year can get very busy.

Assign the coordination of the banquet to someone as a volunteer position.

We do a Most Valuabe Player (MVP), MVP Offense, MVP Defense, and Most Improved Player.  We give out simple trophies for these.

Be generous with awards, spread the wealth around.  Some may be given out at the banquet, others at other times of the year.

If you have photos from the season, make up a simple season picture book.  Can be printed out on regular paper.  The kids love to pass these around and sign them for each other.

For seniors, have a frame of pictures for them. Or some other senior gift. They need special recognition, especially those that have been with the program for awhile.

Bottom line: the season needs a specific end point that encourages the players and acknowledges the work of those that run the program, and a banquet is a perfect way to do that.

Teenage Boys

I had a parent come to practice - note that this parent normally doesn't come on the practice field - says that he's watching practice from his car and sees too much fooling around. He's worried that his son is going to get injured, pulls him from practice and leaves.  I think this points to something that is important to consider.

Newsflash:  These are teenage boys!

Teenage boys fool around, roughhouse, get silly, and or just generally in high-energy mode.  Of course they're gonna fool round!  Trust me I've seen a lot worse at practice, and no one was going to get injured this night.

At the start of the season when there is more focus on conditioning, there's not much time to be silly, and they are normally too much out of breath.  As the season progresses the focus becomes more on technical details, such as finishing drills, crossing drills, free kick setup, etc. These are drills that don't require physical exertion and do require mental focus.  Mental focus int one of their stronger skills.  Add to this large number of players, one coach, it's mid season so they're getting a little punchy and tired, add a wide age range, and you can see where the players may start to goof around more.  

Recommendations:

Remember you're dealing with teenage boys, this going to happen!

Get a parent to help with crowd control.

Split JV from varsity.  See if you can get a parent to run the JV practice.  This will require more work from you to develop a workout plan, but will be worth it.

If a parent does this, just let it go.   Don't make an issue out of it.  There are more important things to spend your energy on!

You do need to constantly be on guard for the safety of the kids and despite being teenagers, the can fool around and get hurt.  It takes experience to distinguish between the two but, if you have teenage boys you probably already know!

As far as The strange things that parents sometimes do, remember that you're doing a good thing, and you will be attacked by the evil one for that.  Those attacks can come in all different shapes and sizes.

Coach Mid Season Blues

We've lost our third game in a row (with the same team that took the league title last year), I can't figure out why we can't seem to score even though we have a ton of shots on goal, in the last game one of my players broke his collarbone, I'm getting overwhelmed with the number of players we have trying to do both JV and varsity at the same time, and to top it all off I've been fighting a sinus infection for six weeks now.  And the list doesn't end there.

Needless to say I'm feeling kind of depressed and wondering why I am doing this.

So here's some advice for those of you who are not the coach and are part of the program:

• Write your coach a quick thank you note.  He needs your encouragement.  Or stop your coach look him straight in the eye and tell him that you appreciate his work.  If there is something specific, positive, that you have seen, tell him.
• Ask your coach if there's anything you can do to help. See if you can find something to take off his plate.  This may be helping him during the game helping to keep the bench of wiggly players quiet, helping to collect and manage balls and pennies, or even to help in the practice. You'd be surprised at how much you can help.
• Pray for your coach.  Pray that he would have wisdom to solve the problems he's facing, pray for his family, and pray that he would have peace with the decisions that he makes.

Here's a great example: I had one parent offer to take the JV guys and run part of a practice.  Oh man that was helpful!  They hadn't coached any soccer that I knew of, but stepped in to be part of the solution.  Not only was that help impressive to me, but they were in tune with what was going on.  Them paying attention really meant a lot to me.  Another example: I had the JV guys sit on the spectator side of the field during a critical game in order to reduce the chaos.  I was unsure if that was the best way to do things but had to do something. I think one parent didn't agree with that, but rather than complaining or holding a grudge, they offered to help at the next game.  Super helpful, I mean a real breath of fresh air.

If you're a coach, here's some advice:

• Don't try and think about the whole season all at once.  The temptation is to think about where your team will be in the league standings, who you will play in the playoffs, should you coach next year, what will you say at the banquet, and the list goes on.  One thing at a time.
• Keep those people that support you close 
• Remember that you don't need to do this alone. Rely on your assistant coach.  Surround yourself with good advisers. And listen to them.
• Remember that it's up to your team ultimately.  You can only take them so far and past that, they need to own the game themselves.  You can't win the games for them.
• Pray for wisdom.
• Take care of yourself. Get plenty of sleep, watch what you're eating, and get some exercise.  Take your vitamins.  I'm serious.
• Your family loves you.  Rest in that love.
• God has put you here.  Be good with that.

This is the hard part of the season.  You can do this.  You probably only have another four or five weeks to go.  Finish strong!

The Game: Team Area

Okay, we're well into our season!  Four league games with a 2-1-1 record.  Very disappoint lose yesterday, but good learning experience.

Something to make clear to your team and families: the team area has specific rules around who can be there.  The NFHS rules say that the only people to be on the team side of the field are team members, officials (timers, score keeper, stat person), and coaches.  It's a good idea to make sure that it is clearly communicated to families that no one other that those people should be there.  The only special case should be those people that the coach invites over.  That's it.  No parents.  No photographers.  Having people over there can be very distracting during high energy times.

I do sometimes ask a parent I can trust to come over and keep the bench in order.  This year I have 24 players for an 8v8 game, so you can imagine how antsy those players get, especially those in the 10-13 age range!  I also have someone who films the game over there.  Make sure he's out of the way of the officials and ball boys.

Note that some of your biggest offenders of this may be board members who feel they have the right to be anywhere during a game.


So here are my recommendations:

Draft a policy statement that says that only players, officials, coaches and who the coach invites shall be allowed on the team side of the field.

At your first board meeting of the year, put this topic on the agenda and get agreement.

Put this in the parent/player handbook you distribute at the start of the year.

Tell the parents at the parents meeting.

After the first couple games, post it on your Facebook page.

Bottom-line: the coach is in control of the team area.

Spring Training - Part 1: Goals

Our club has been running a spring training program for the last three years and it's been very well attended.  Over that time I've noticed some things that work and don't work and want to share those.  In this post, I'll focus on some goals that need to drive the program, then in future posts, I'll talk about specifics.

First, it's important to have some basic concepts down:

• Assess the needs of incoming players
• Program needs to be fun and effective
• Focus on basic ball handling with progression of complexity, intensity, and pressure.
• Keep it simple

So let's talk about each of these. 

When a new batch of kids sign up for spring training, think about what their needs will be for the fall.  Is it an experienced group?  Are there a lot of new players?  What will they need for the fall?  Just doing the same thing each year may not help you to achieve your goals for the fall.

Program needs to be fun - but what does fun mean?  Fun does not mean the same drills week after week.  A good group of kids will tolerate this and actually enjoy getting together with each other, so if you are doing the same drills week after week, there may be the illusion of fun.  So what makes for fun and effective?  Kids love to play the game, so any activity that reinforces basic skills with in the content of a game is good.  This can be small sided games, ball control games around pug goals, etc.  Almost any activity that involves players competing with each other and scoring on a goal of some kind, in a short amount of time.

Focusing on basic skills is important but also progressing is important too.  In our program we tended to do the same drills at the same stations week after week.  Boring for the kids, doesn't help them grow.  All ball handling drills should start with a simple ball control move + moving + passing.  Never less than that.  So a player may dribble the ball, execute and inside cut turn, dribble back, then pass.  Doing these for a couple weeks, gradually increase speed.  Then add limited defensive pressure.  Then have the defender try and take the ball.  This is what I mean by progression of complexity, intensity and pressure.  All drills should do this.

Keep it simple: there are probably a hundred types of turns you can make: inside cut, outside cut, scissor moves, u-turns, and on and on and on.  Keeping it simple means that you don't try and teach them all - you'll just confuse the kids.  I've watched as we tried to teach too many turns over three years and kids still don't get them right because we give them too much.  Keeping things simple also means there are things you should do during spring training and things that will happen at other times.  We've been running agility training, which in hindsight is frankly a waste of time.  Doing it once per week for 10min in May is a waste of time - time better spent on other things.  Agility and conditioning are better done by the player over the summer on their time and do agility closer to the season.  Bottom line, you don't have to do everything now.  Trying to do too much during spring training is actually counter productive.

One more thing, there should be some measure of effectiveness.  For example, see how many times a player can move a ball between two cone during a specific time period, and does that improve over the spring training.  Also, tie that in to the fall - did the player learn anything from spring training?  We had guys who were given 10-15 different types of turns during the spring, but in the fall couldn't do any of them - what does that tell you about the effectiveness of that drill during spring training?  I had someone tell me we shouldn't change things because the parents were happy with the program.  That's not an effective measure.  While keeping parents happy and helping them meet their goals is important, their criteria for what's effective is not the same as the coaches - not even close.  So pick some basic effective measures.

Bottom line: the kids need to get jazzed about playing soccer in the fall!  Make it fun for them.  Let the needs of the fall help drive the spring training.

Don't Be Surprised by Sin

Sometimes it's hard to have a loving spirit when dealing with other coaches, board members, parents, fans, etc.  Frankly, coaches are an arrogant bunch, boards have personal agenda's and personality conflicts, fans get worked up, etc.  So guess what: there's sin at work in Christian organizations.  Surprised?  Shouldn't be.  There are going to be times when it will be bad - like can't sleep, yell at the walls bad.  There have been times when I've been incredibly sad, hurt or angry.  People I thought I had their support from, who I felt betrayed by.  Dark days.

Here are some suggestions:

Don't take it out on your wife.  She might even be part of the board or have a support position on the team, so she's going to feel these things too.  She may be sensitive and easily upset.  Know you wife and be careful how you discuss these situations with her.  You may feel that you can just unload, but that may do more damage than good.  Be wise about this.

We are told not to hold a grudge and we're told to be wise.  If someone offends you, don't keep a list, but be aware of the problems - let that inform your future actions.  You'll have people who will treat you badly, then accuse you of not being Christ like - the contradictions will be endless.  The goal is to respect them and be aware of what they can be trusted with.

Turn these situations into lessons that you can give to your players.  Got some coach who says they don't need anyone to tell them how to coach soccer?  Talk to the players about the importance of being teachable.  I always have a short message for the players at the start of practice - good time to share the lessons.  The players need to know that this isn't just a kid thing: adults will and do behave badly.

Focus on what you can control and are responsible for.  Sometimes you'll want to try something out in the program or see a need, then get shot down.  If your idea or initiative isn't coaching related, then let it go.  This can be hard since what you see may be a real problem or opportunity, but still, need to let it go.

Recognize that the other party may have some growing to do.  Out of your hands.  God's problem, not yours.

Learn from the situation.  Maybe you should have prepped some other folks first on what you were planning on doing - build support individually.  Maybe you should have briefed the board chairman first.  Maybe a discussion with some parents.

Repent of your own sin.  Chances are you've contributed to the problem.

Recognize that there may be a member of your board who has tons of ideas and always seems to be tinkering with the program.  Sometimes these personality types can be hard to relate to, but don't shut them down - listen and take time to process.  They may have a string of unworkable ideas, but that next idea maybe just what the program needs.

Keep a journal and wrestle with your thoughts there.  You may generate some ideas and strategies for later.

So, don't be surprised by conflict and sin.  You'll get through it.

Logging Injuries

I haven't done this, but think I'll start doing this in the coming season: logging injuries.  This would include knowing who got what type of injury when, and how long did it last.  Here's an example: I had several players get shin splints this past season - not just the-front-of-my-shin-hurts, but sitting the bench for a week.  In getting ready for this season, I want to change the conditioning plan, but can't remember when those shin splints appeared and for how long.  Knowing that would allow me to know when to back off for better recovery.  Also, I've been thinking about hiring a physical therapist to assess player conditioning.  Having a record of injury may help that discussion with the therapist and layout a case for the board.

Yup, going to be tracking that this fall!

How to Respond to Feedback - Part 2

In the last post I talked about how NOT to respond to feedback.  Let's talk about the right way.  Before we talk about specific steps for responding to feedback, there are some forces at work that are important to consider.

First, establishing a culture of feedback in our organizations is important for the success.  We need to see feedback as a positive thing, something that makes us as coaches better.  People see things that we don't.   The second force at work is that most people do a really bad job of giving feedback.  They work themselves up, thinking that being forceful will get their point across.  Some people give feedback through sarcasm.  That doesn't work because the person receiving the feedback just gets upset.  Sometimes people gossip, hoping the message will get through somehow.  Some people go on and on and on and on and on in their feedback, thinking that the more words, the better you'll hear.  And some people don't give feedback and just stew on it.  Like I said, most people are really bad at giving feedback.  Really bad.  The third force at work is that we're sinful people.  As coaches we can be arrogant, thinking that we don't need feedback.  I had one coach tell me he didn't need anyone to tell him how to coach.  Unless you're coaching Barcelona, you can always use some advice.  We are prideful and think feedback is an insult.  Some people use feedback to manipulate others.  And the list goes on.

With all this going on, how are we supposed to sift through this?  How do we sift through motives, sin, value, etc.?  Here's the key: you don't need to!  Feedback is not a contest you need to win.  This is so incredibly important that it's worth repeating: feedback is not a content you need to win, it's not a contest where there are winners and losers.  This is not an argument to be won.  Or lost.  Here is the most important thing about responding to feedback:

You don't need to respond!

Sure you need to think and pray about it, but when you get feedback, you don't need to have an answer for them, you don't need to justify what you did, you don't need to evaluate their motives, and you don't need to have an action plan for them.  So given this, here's what you do:

1. Smile!
That's right, smile at them!  When you smile, two things happen: first, you relax.  You facial muscles are tied in to your emotions and smiling helps you to relax.  Second, it helps the other person to relax.  If you're frowning at them, their going to feel defensive.

2. Thank them for the feedback
Doesn't matter how worked up they are or how crazy the feedback is, thank them for it.  They were concerned enough to share it with you that you should acknowledge their effort.  It will also encourage future feedback.

3. Ask clarifying questions
If there's something you don't understand, ask questions.  Get in the habit of always asking a question.  What their asking may not be really what their focused on or concerned about.  Asking question shows you're interested.  I'm not saying to ask questions to fake it.  Really, be interested.  Asking questions also is an exercise in humility - you clearly don't know everything, so ask.

4. Emergency?
If there's something at stake here - someone will get hurt, property damage is about to happen, etc. - you may need to act, so assess the risk and determine if you have to act quickly.

5. Watch you body language
If you're frowning, have your hips turned away from the person, have arms crossed, have a sneer on your face, etc., that sends a powerful message that you don't care, are angry, etc.  Avoid that.

6. Tell them you'll think about what you said
Really, you need to think about what they said, so tell them you'll do that.  This shows you care and also starts to draw the conversation to a close.  You need to mean this in a genuine sense.  You're not just blowing them off.  You're not committing to some action or that you'll report back.  It's just that - you will think about it.

7. End the conversation
If you understand what they've said, then it's time to wrap this up.  Some people will go on and on, thinking that the more they say, they more you'll be convinced or act on the feedback.  If they do go on and on, hold up your hand in a 'stop' position, say, 'thank you for your feedback back, I'm going to think about what you said.'  Smile, then turn and walk away.  If they keep going, keep walking and give them a wave and a smile.

Of course you're not done with the feedback.  Go pray about it and think through what they said.  Think about if it's a real issue or if there's something actionable.  Act if you need to act, don't if you don't need to.

One final word of advice: you will mess this up.  I've messed this up plenty of times.  It's usually because I tie my own worth to what I know or think the other person doesn't have the experience I have.  All arrogance.  So when you do get this wrong, don't worry about it.  Acknowledge you handled it poorly, then refocus for next time.

Bottom line:  This is not a contest.  This is not an argument to be won. You don't need to have an answer for the other person when they give feedback!  It's really freeing!  You just need to listen and thank them, and that's easy!  It takes the pressure off.

Responding to Feedback

Feedback is how we grow, yet too often we either give it poorly or receive it poorly.  This posting could have been titled "How not to respond to feedback"!  Here, we're going to focus on how to get feedback and start with some examples of how NOT to respond.  The focus here is also on getting feedback from other coaches.  In small Christian schools or home school leagues, there's often a requirement to provide feedback back on the team you just played in order to encourage a higher level of sportsmanship.

In our league, we fill out a sportsmanship form after we play another team.  The form is meant to provide each team with an assessment of the players, coaches and fans in order to promote sportsmanship.  That process of giving and getting feedback is an eye opener, to say the least!  Here are some lessons learned, specifically five ways to NOT respond to feedback:

1. Tit-for-a-tat
We had a situation where a player from the other team was swearing and trash talking.  When my guys came off, one of them said, 'man, you should hear the mouth on Alvin' to which the other guys immediately said, 'yeah, he was something'.  When the whole team spontaneously responds like that without being prompted, you know there's a problem.  So I filled out the form and noted what the player was doing - didn't over do it, just the facts.  The coach responded back that it didn't happen (see item #2) then started pointing out stuff I had done.  The message this sends?  This feedback thing is a competition to be won and that the emphasis on character building is just a show.

2. Pants on Fire
Suppose you gave me feedback on a situation and I said, "no, that didn't happen", what message would that send?  I'd basically be telling you that you're a liar, hence hiar-liar-your-pants-are-on-fire.  Telling someone their a liar, especially after they saw something that did happen, is a really, really bad idea.

3. Your Motive
What's the difference between the following: (a) your player repeatedly elbowed my player, and (b) your player was intentionally trying to hurt my player by cheating?  The first is a statement of fact.  The second is reading motive into the situation.  Maybe the player was trying to hurt someone, maybe they need to learn to keep their elbows in.  The problem with trying to determine someone's motives is that you can't, and the funny thing is that our motives are always right and can be explained but other people's can be questioned, which says something about our ability to judge motive.  Don't try and judge someone else's motive, just stick with the facts.

4. Spitting in the Wind
We had a situation once where a coach from another team announced, 'you know, you can't trust home school players because they stack the team with college players'  I was thinking, 'what is he talking about???'  Later I learned that the coach had asked one of our players if he was in college - the kid had a beard and looked older.  The player said yes - it was true: he was taking a couple classes at the local community college to finish up high school.  Was he 'in college', yes.  Was within the age limit - yes.  We check birth certificates as part of our registration process.  What the other coach should have done was come to me and asked me if the player was within league age guidelines, rather than just making some claim about home schoolers in general.  The comment didn't solve any issues and created unnecessary division in the league between home schoolers and those who were in private school.

5. War and Peace Response
I had a situation once where something un-sportsman like was going on.  The sportsmanship form asks us to rate the situation on a scale from 0 - 5 on this, so I gave them a 4 and made a note on what I had seen.  Not a big deal.  I got back an email from the opposing team explaining why this was, about the kids, yada, yada, yada, yada.  Why the war and peace response??  No need for it and comes across as unnecessarily defensive.

These responses don't build relationships, in fact, they poison them, making them harder to work in the future.

Okay, so that's how not to do it.  Next time I'll outline what you should consider when getting feedback!

The Sabbath

When you run a soccer program as a coach or board member, there is an important question you need to settle in your mind right up front: how will you treat the Christian Sabbath?  You really need to give this serious thought.  I once had a pastor tell me, "you can't do in seven days without a blessing what you can in six days with a blessing.'  Very true.

Our culture has dropped the idea that Sunday should be different.  I heard a preacher once say he didn't even know why we did worship on Sunday.  That guy was lost in his thinking and shouldn't have been in the pulpit.  This is typical of our culture loosing it's way.  At best we're just following what the culture tells us to do - not having thought about how Sunday fits into the Christian thinking, and at worst we have rejected the guidance of scripture deliberately.  There are two extremes at play here.  The first is that there is a legalistic approach that says, 'no sports on Sunday', and actually the list is much longer, no this, no that, and no to the other thing.  A long list.  The other end of extreme is that anything goes, which is really that we haven't thought about it.  Both are wrong and don't help us.

I can't layout all the doctrine regarding the Sabbath, but here's what I know:

We can't look to society to tell us how we should see and use the Sabbath.  Today's society has turned the Sabbath into another day to do stuff, our stuff, so we really need to think about this from a biblical perspective.  Our natural tendency is to be selfish and the Sabbath can be taken over by that selfishness.

The whole gospel story is around God coming to us when we we're totally and absolutely clueless about who God is and what he expects of us.  Totally.  In every way.  Clueless in the largest sense.  And that didn't change when He got our attention.  We continually need to rely on God to give us direction.  What we 'think' may be part of that cluelessness.  We rely heavily on the bible to provide instruction on all kinds of topics from worship practices, to relationships and to the Sabbath.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Israel was punished one year for every Sabbath they didn't keep.  So the Sabbath must be pretty important to God.  The Sabbath looked back to the completion of creation and looked forward to the coming of the Savior.  The Israelite couldn't see clearly what that coming meant.  We do.

It's interesting that we see the breakup of the family and the deterioration of society morals at the same time we have given up keeping the Sabbath.  There is a lot at stake here for our children.

There's one place in the bible where we see that God needed to heal the land from Israel's neglect of the Sabbath.  Not only does it impact our children, families, nation, and culture, but it also impacts the creation.  Maybe being a good environmentalist and steward of the world, starts with an understanding of the Sabbath.

All this is connected: family, salvation, creation, church, worship, the Sabbath.  All of it.  We can't compartmentalize one aspect of the Christian faith. 

So you can see this is bigger than just 'don't do sports on Sunday'.  There is something deep and important here that I'm totally incapable of drawing out it's richness.

Listen, I don't always to the Sabbath well.  It's a struggle.  Sometimes I'm lazy.  Sometimes I'm legalistic.  Sometimes I'm forgetful.  But that's where Jesus comes in - there's forgiveness and there are answers for those who ask.

So here's my advice:

Pray about how to use the Sabbath.

Do some reading.  Search the bible for references on the Sabbath and see what the bible has to say about this.

Read what others have said, try searching for "Westminster Confession of Faith Sabbath", it will be chapter 21.  Look at other works.  Stand on the shoulders of giants and don't just settle for "I think".

I would strong recommend protecting the Sabbath for you and your family.  Don't schedule soccer games and practices on this day.  Once in a while as a family activity is fine, but don't get sucked into using the Sabbath as another day to do your stuff.

Bottom line: You will impact your family, your children, and future generations based on how you keep the Sabbath.  Think through this carefully.  You got six other days to do soccer, stick to that.

January To-Do List

I asked my wife, 'if you had to tell folks what they need to do in January to prepare for the fall season, what would you tell them?'  Her answer?  Relax.  There's a lot of wisdom in that!  The fall season is a ton of work, so yeah, this is a good time of year to chill.  But, alas, there are things to do.

The board chair needs to do some basic thinking and planning.  Every year, a decision about the coach is needed.  The temptation is to think that the coach who did last year will do it this year or even be a good fit for this year.  On small home school or private school teams, this can change from year to year.  So the board chair needs to think: what happens if the coach can't come back, what are our options?

The board chair also needs to do a quick review of who will be on the board this year - is there anyone who won't be able to be athletic director, treasurer, secretary or parent representatives.  If one of them looks risky for coming back, what are the options?

Now is a good time to confirm fields to be used.  In our club, we have two fields we use.  This year I had the idea of giving our field contacts a picture of our team with the league trophy.  Those contacts need to know they are part of effort that impacts the lives of kids - make them feel part of the team.  This is a good time to give them that picture.  We have a spring training program that we need a field for, and the spring isn't that far away, so it's a good time to arrange for that field.

Our team is doing an assessment of uniforms - are they in good shape?  Do we need new ones?  What are the options if we do need new ones?  Our uniforms seem to last about 3-4 years, depending on the vendor.  This year our shirts seem to get a lot of snags - time to replace them since they're so badly snagged.

So, yeah, relax!  But there are a couple things you need to start thinking about!

Online - Don't Use Squidoo

Online tools will be important for managing information such as team calendar, documents, registration, information about game locations, etc.  For game location information I wanted an online tool that would allow me to capture information about where a game would be played, where people could eat afterwards, was there restrooms at the field, driving directions, map, address, etc.  The perfect tool seemed to be to use a service called Squidoo, http://www.squidoo.com/.  Very clever tool - you don't need to know how to create a web page, you add modules to a page, then publish.  The idea is that you collect links to other resources and provide some descriptions for the links - this collection of links and content is called a lens.  If you get enough traffic to the lens, then they actually give you money!  I wasn't really interested in the money, just a web tool that was easy to capture this information quickly.

The bad news

I worked hard to setup a lens for game information for my son's basketball team.  Three weeks later, Squidoo locked it and shut it down.  The reason?  I didn't have quality content.  Really?!?!?  I had information about places the team played, did the location provide concessions, how to enter the building, travel time and distance, places to eat, address, etc.  Not quality???  So I lost all that work.

Recommendations and lessons learned:

Don't use Squidoo.  It's not worth the risk of putting effort into this, then loose that work.

Setup a domain name for you team through a service like www.hostway.com.  These services will allow you to point your domain name to any other web site.  So you can give out a domain name for the team to people and switch if the tool you're using changes.

A service similar to Squidoo that I'm trying is www.hubpages.com.  Will let you know how it works.

What ever service you pick, see if the service will allow you to download the content you have authored.  Squidoo allows this.  It's still a very manual effort to cut and paste but is better than nothing.

Did I say don't use Squidoo?