Feedback for ‘06B Coaches

Draw415 wrote:The only coach I know on your list is Toni Siikala of LFCA. He is a great coach and has a extraordinarily talented son that plays on his Barnes Team. The only criticism I have to offer is that there are 3-4 boys on the Team who clearly outshine the rest. The same can be said of most Teams in this age bracket, however, these boys truly carry the weight of the Team and the other boys seem to acknowledge and accept it. They consistently rank amongst the top teams in the Tarrant Region in both indoor and outdoor play. Very solid coach, in my opinion.

Based on your user name, I'm going to guess that you are in the Richardson area. If so, the above mentioned LFCA Team would not likely be a good fit, based on location (they are from the Keller area).

My son plays for Greg Oglesby's '06 Solar Team (also from the Keller area). "Coach O" is also the head coach of the Southlake Carroll High School Boys Soccer program. In addition, Coach Jason Bates of Solar, who is also he head coach of the Keller High School Boys Soccer program, co-coaches the Team. These guys are awesome! They have developed my son and his Teammates to a level that exceeds anything I could have imagined possible at their age. The boys have a sound understanding of the fundamentals of the game and their love of the game is apparent to everyone who sees them play. These coaches really know how to develop players and take their game to another level.

I hope this information helps your cause.

abahani wrote:I was looking at this string from summer.  Can anyone recommend good 06 and 05 coaches who hold practices in the Plano Allen area?  I am interested in coaches who will take time to deveop skills and not just winning.  Thanks in advance.

abahani wrote:I was looking at this string from summer.  Can anyone recommend good 06 and 05 coaches who hold practices in the Plano Allen area?  I am interested in coaches who will take time to deveop skills and not just winning.  Thanks in advance.

thetruthhurts wrote:Phil Gomez best coach for this age?  Not in my opinion. If your BB is one of the best players on Phil's team or teams, then your BB will be fine, but if not, then he'll simply be used as fodder.  There is a distinct line drawn between the best of his players and the rest of his players, and while this happens in sports all of the time, in this case it can be quite extreme, especially considering the players' age group. Phil has had great success with at least some of his teams, and I'll even go as far as to say that he is a very good coach, but when good talent falls into your lap on a consistent basis for a variety of reasons, I think it makes success much that much easier. Also, if you're looking for a coach that communicates well, Phil is not for you.  

My advice to any parent looking for a coach is to attend a minimum of one game and a couple of practices and then judge for yourself. Watch the coach and look to see what he does during the game. Does he sit quietly on the bench, does he constantly yell at his players like "Come on!", or does he get involved in the game and occasionally give meaningful direction and guidance? Do the players know any of the simple basics such as on kick off, or just throwing in the ball, or have the goalkeepers been given ANY direction on how to goal keep, or are they simply targets standing in the middle of the goal? Are the players aware of the concept of playing positions or are they running amuck in big herds. I'm talking the very basics of the game. You would be surprised how many Academy level coaches, even FC Dallas coaches, that don't coach even the basics but rather only have scrimmages and maybe a few skills for every practice.

To be clear, Phil is a good coach, and his players always seem to be coached well, but if your BB plays for Phil and is not one of the best players on the team or teams in his age group, your BB will possibly feel second rate and with that, his confidence will suffer the consequences, possibly even long term, depending upon the circumstances.

Fctillidie wrote:Are you guys really talking about Phil Gomez? Are you kidding me? Nobody cares. At Fc he's considered a third tier coach at best! The top Fc coaches barely recognize him in the coaching staff. You need to look at his other teams, first team he had 02's are in last place in classic U12. And I don't want to hear he works with what he got. People were on here singing his praises last year that his 02's were up and coming and everyone wants to go play for him, well that's not working out. And you know why? It's because all he does is pack in the box and hope to survive or squeeze out a tie, so then all the parents on his team can say "see! see! We held Premier, Solar, etc....to one goal! We are improving!" When actually they aren't even learning to play.  Thetruthhurts or whoever that think that he's a good coach, you need to get out more and see what's out there. All of you throw that label around too easy....."good coach".

KarateChop wrote:

thetruthhurts wrote:Phil Gomez best coach for this age?  Not in my opinion. If your BB is one of the best players on Phil's team or teams, then your BB will be fine, but if not, then he'll simply be used as fodder.  There is a distinct line drawn between the best of his players and the rest of his players, and while this happens in sports all of the time, in this case it can be quite extreme, especially considering the players' age group. Phil has had great success with at least some of his teams, and I'll even go as far as to say that he is a very good coach, but when good talent falls into your lap on a consistent basis for a variety of reasons, I think it makes success much that much easier. Also, if you're looking for a coach that communicates well, Phil is not for you.  

My advice to any parent looking for a coach is to attend a minimum of one game and a couple of practices and then judge for yourself. Watch the coach and look to see what he does during the game. Does he sit quietly on the bench, does he constantly yell at his players like "Come on!", or does he get involved in the game and occasionally give meaningful direction and guidance? Do the players know any of the simple basics such as on kick off, or just throwing in the ball, or have the goalkeepers been given ANY direction on how to goal keep, or are they simply targets standing in the middle of the goal? Are the players aware of the concept of playing positions or are they running amuck in big herds. I'm talking the very basics of the game. You would be surprised how many Academy level coaches, even FC Dallas coaches, that don't coach even the basics but rather only have scrimmages and maybe a few skills for every practice.

To be clear, Phil is a good coach, and his players always seem to be coached well, but if your BB plays for Phil and is not one of the best players on the team or teams in his age group, your BB will possibly feel second rate and with that, his confidence will suffer the consequences, possibly even long term, depending upon the circumstances.

You just explained how most coaches are in NTX competitive.  Unfortunately.

bigtex75081 wrote:

KarateChop wrote:

thetruthhurts wrote:Phil Gomez best coach for this age?  Not in my opinion. If your BB is one of the best players on Phil's team or teams, then your BB will be fine, but if not, then he'll simply be used as fodder.  There is a distinct line drawn between the best of his players and the rest of his players, and while this happens in sports all of the time, in this case it can be quite extreme, especially considering the players' age group. Phil has had great success with at least some of his teams, and I'll even go as far as to say that he is a very good coach, but when good talent falls into your lap on a consistent basis for a variety of reasons, I think it makes success much that much easier. Also, if you're looking for a coach that communicates well, Phil is not for you.  

My advice to any parent looking for a coach is to attend a minimum of one game and a couple of practices and then judge for yourself. Watch the coach and look to see what he does during the game. Does he sit quietly on the bench, does he constantly yell at his players like "Come on!", or does he get involved in the game and occasionally give meaningful direction and guidance? Do the players know any of the simple basics such as on kick off, or just throwing in the ball, or have the goalkeepers been given ANY direction on how to goal keep, or are they simply targets standing in the middle of the goal? Are the players aware of the concept of playing positions or are they running amuck in big herds. I'm talking the very basics of the game. You would be surprised how many Academy level coaches, even FC Dallas coaches, that don't coach even the basics but rather only have scrimmages and maybe a few skills for every practice.

To be clear, Phil is a good coach, and his players always seem to be coached well, but if your BB plays for Phil and is not one of the best players on the team or teams in his age group, your BB will possibly feel second rate and with that, his confidence will suffer the consequences, possibly even long term, depending upon the circumstances.

You just explained how most coaches are in NTX competitive.  Unfortunately.

+1.

I think that issue is enabled by us parents though.  There are a lot of good coaches that can benefit our sons in this age group.  So why stick our sons onto a team that already has a full roster?  Why chase a particular coach or particular squad because they win games now?  Winning games now for the '06s is completely meaningless.

We have a lot of options right now at this age so you SHOULD be extremely picky.  When choosing a new team in this age I think you have to look at the entire situation, not just the coach.  "This coach is really good at developing players but he already has 12 players on his roster for a 7v7 league.  This other coach is really good at developing players but he has a brand new team that, if we join, will have 8 players for a 7v7 league."

I like smaller roster because kids at this age are going to make silly mistakes.  And if my son makes a silly mistake in the first 5 minutes of a game, the forgiveness from the coach is going to come a lot quicker when he only has 7 other players on the roster as opposed to 12.

Not very many things would make me more angry at this stage in my son's career then to see him make a silly mistake in the first 5 minutes of a game and then watch him sitting on the bench for the remainder.  It happened to my daughter and I hated it.