It's an age-old problem for the Prince George Youth Soccer Association and its younger age groups.
The six-to-eight-year-olds just starting to learn the game depend on volunteer coaches to teach techniques that will better enable them to dribble a ball, check a defender and boot the ball into the net.
The problem at that level is there often is a wide discrepancy in the qualifications of the coaches. Some teams have parent/coaches who grew up playing soccer from a young age and are now are certified as coaches. On the other hand, some teams depend on new coaches who might have never played the game but are willing to give up their time for their kids to keep the program running smoothly on Saturdays and weeknights.
Regardless of their ability, the PGYSA doesn't want to turn any of its volunteer coaches away and has revamped the program to try to enhance the experience on the field for its youngsters. Instead of the traditional half-hour practice, half-hour scrimmage format, teams will rotate through a series of four stations every 15 minutes in a festival format sanctioned by BC Soccer.
Instead of coaching their respective teams on the field in a game, each coach will join forces with a PGYSA support team of coaches to teach the players skills.
"Our struggle is bringing coaches in who have soccer backgrounds and as much as they want to help, they're reluctant to help because they don't have that background," said PGYSA executive director Len McNamara. "We are trying to do coach education and clinics but we thought if we changed our program a bit and added some support for our coaches on the field that would be better. There will still be games played during this activity but we've added some mentoring to the coaches."
Two of the four stations will be a game situation and two will involve activities. The kids will be involved in just as much scrimmage time as before, but instead of playing for a set team they'll be put through the drills as part of a larger group involving several teams at one time.
The idea is to give every kid who joins soccer an equal chance to learn at least a minimal level of skill from an experienced coach. McNamara said there's no doubt some of the more experienced coaches won't like losing control of their own teams but the PGYSA is convinced the change will be better overall for the development of its younger players.
"I think the kids will really like it, it's just trying to get the adults who aren't used to that type of thing to get their heads around it," said McNamara.
Rotary Field opened last Saturday, a week ahead of last year's opening. Membership in the PGYSA is currently at about 2,500 players, close to 60 players shy of last year's total, and down considerably from the all-time high of the late-1990s when membership reached 3,300. About 80 per cent of the players are in the three- to 12-year-old age category.
McNamara says the PGYSA will continue to promote the Whitecaps Northern Academy, which offers select players a chance to participate in skills camps and competitions against other branches of the academy throughout the summer.
Working with UNBC Timberwolves women's team head coach Andy Cameron, the PGYSA is now involved in a new four-team league that plays games Saturday nights throughout the summer. The Subway Football Club made up of current Timberwolves players and alumni players will take on the PGYSA under-18 and under-16 girls rep teams as well as the under-15 boys team.
