Assignment one

Santiago Gil
Spring Semester 2016

I. Observation
Observation 1
Tuesday Feb. 2, 2016
QCM Coaches Training
Background Information- This session is a detailed overview of what occurs before every
practice at the QCM (Queen City Mutiny) facility. This is all about how to train youth kids in
soccer from ages 8-11. As a current US Development Academy the atmosphere is very serious
and focused. The club follows a European style as both major directors are European which
means it is more focused on having the players become smart players not just technically skilled
ones. This is supposed to help develop them in a way that will make them more efficient on the
field and in their future lives as they will have to analyze situations and solve them themselves.
This is contrary to the American style where most coaches just yell direction of what to do like a
play by play. This is all about the sport of soccer which involves 11v11 on a 120 by 80 yard
field. There is a single ball and the sport is pretty free flowing with no stoppage other than out of
bounds and fouls but those are quick transition as only 3 subs can be made the whole game.
People Involved- 1.Jose- Is the director of coachs for the club. Gets his philosophy and
ideology straight from Barcelona, one of the biggest teams in the world, as he is a
graduate of their youth academy. He is in his mid 30s
2. Rani- Is an ex pro coach from Lebanon. Has major experience as he raised
the youth program in a large city in Lebanon. Is also a founder of the club so has great
influence in the program.
3. Mack- Is a graduate of Queens University in Physical Science. Is young
and serves mostly as an assistant coach and deals with anyone who picks up injuries
during practice.
4. Thiago- Is a long time Futsal (a Brazilian style soccer with a smaller heavy
ball based mostly on technical ability) coach from Brazil. Has been brought on board to
start the Futsal department of the club but also coachs teams during the regular season.
5. Allen- Is a UNCW graduate where he played 4 years on the team. Was
brought on board as an assistant coach to develop into a coach into the future.
6. Santiago- Is a current student at UNCC who was brought on board because
he impressed Rani with his soccer knowledge when they were recruiting his brother for
the team. Is an assistant coach who they are trying to develop into a coach.
Artifacts- 1. White Board- The white board is a key part to creating any practice due to how it is
the easiest way to explain things visually. It is often used when creating drills as a way to
draw and demonstrate them but is also used in games to show players things as well as
class room sessions to help teach the players various things. It is used often in the soccer
realm and especially at QCM.
2. Soccer Cleats- Soccer cleats are very unique in soccer because the game is played
with
your feet. All cleats are so different with so many different materials and fits each one must be
picked specifically to your liking and need. Leather are more comfortable and support a good

Commented [1]: The background information along

with the information on the people involved show what
this organization about. It also tells what goes on in in
the organization and the age groups of children
participating, and good information on who exactly is
coaching the kids. It also tells that the organization isn't
just about soccer but about getting the kids for real
world problems

Commented [2]: I can see that you are trying to

explain soccer and break it down completely, so I
would mention the goals and how to score points. You
say there is a single ball, the dimensions of the field,
and the amount of subs. These are all good things to
know, but as someone who doesn't know too much
about soccer, I need to know more. I would also
explain what "11v11" means because I personally did
not understand that was the players and not a
dimension until I reread your background information a
few times. (Side note: second word I think you meant
section instead of session)

touch but are heavier. Synthetic plastics are lighter and offer a more bare foot touch but dont
have much protection if stepped on. This all taken into account when buying a cleat which is a
soccer players best tool.
3. Uniform- Uniformity is a huge thing at clubs because it shows commitment and
organization. Both players and coaches have uniforms that must be strictly followed and not
following the uniform code comes with not being allowed to participate in practice. They have
blue practice tops black shorts and black Nike socks they must wear to every practice. The
jackets are Nike QCM as well and are the only ones allowed on the field. The coaches have
specific coaching tops they must wear also and all other clothing must be Nike because that is
our sponsor.
Observation- The Coaches are all sitting around a rectangular table with their own individual
laptop and a small stack of papers beside them. The papers include an attendance sheet, grades
for each player on a daily basis, upcoming tournament schedule, and drills all for the current
month and the previous one. They are all wearing matching red Nike tops with the club logo in
the middle of the chest and a variety of other Nike apparel. The talk quickly and quietly amongst
themselves about last weekends scouting reports until Jose finally walks in. As soon as he enter
everyone becomes silent and all eyes go towards him. He begins by asking everyone to pass up
all papers that regarded last month as this is the first meeting of the new month and he needs all
paper work and they all pass him their respective stack. He then takes a seat and begins
discussing the upcoming tournament this weekend which brings everyones attention to the
tournament schedule as to show who will be coaching what team the upcoming weak and who
will be the stat keeper for each team. This is done for every tournament because they run a new
revolutionary system that has the coaches rotate from team to team so all the players gets a taste
of each coachs individual style. They run through the protocol of arrival times which is an hour
prior to the game and how each minute after will be run which is set up in a strict structure of a
10-15min pregame speech which includes starting line-up, shape, formation, designated PK and
Free Kick takers and their replacements, as well as the philosophy for the game. This is then
followed by a 15 minute analytic warm-up that is specifically designed to get the players legs
and mind working, and continued by the 10minute moticvational speech before the game. This
gives 5 minutes to tidy loose ends wherever they may be before the start of the game. He
continues by going over regulation and ways they will approach the referees and how to
structure their halftime speech which is very unique. The halftime speech is 10 minutes of
questions that are meant to gauge how the team played, what is going well, what is going poorly,
and how to improve but by making the kids figure it out instead of just telling them. That is
followed by 5 minutes of inspiration for the second half. He then moves to the end game where
the Coaches are to make sure the players shake the opposing teams hand and then proceed to the
halfway line to clap for the parents and thank them for coming. These instruction are repeated
and made clear every time because of how new the club is and how many new coaches have
recently joined. All these matters took around 30 minutes. They then proceeded to the important
part of the meeting which was to discuss this weeks soccer objectives and drills they would be
doing that day. As all coaches knew the objective beforehand they had to have two drills each on
what they thought would work well for the week drills. After reviewing the objectives that was
based around the idea of recovering the ball quickly after losing possession each coach took
turns explaining their drill using the whiteboard behind Jose. After each drill Jose would give his
input and also say any adjustments he saw that could be done to the drill as well as progressions

Commented [3]: The observations are very detailed

which is great. However to a reader this may look
unorganized and may somehow in turn reflect on your
organization. Try chunking the information. Whether it
be by paragraphs to make almost an essay form, or
chunking it up into time frames. I.E. 30 minutes in this
happens, then another hour later another activity
happens or whatever it may be.
Commented [4]: In your observations the times are
broken down for each event but they never separate. In
each of your three observations try separating them
instead of having one big chunk of writing. A page with
no breaks makes it much harder to read than if it were
put into time frames.

to it to make them harder if the players catch on quickly. After each coach goes they discuss
what they think of the drills and proceed to cote on which two will be used Tuesday and which
two for Thursday. The discussion is pretty calm as people go back and forth narrowing the field
until only a few are left but thats when they start to nitpick on details due to age, team size,
discipline and field space. Once that is dealt with they go to the field and run a small simulation
where they set up each drill to verify if it truly does work and then they break into their
perspective areas to set up and wait for players to start arriving. The entire Coaches training
takes about 1 hour.
Observation 2
Sunday Feb. 7, 2016
QCM Game Warmup and First Half
Observation- Coach Rani and I, the assistant coach, pulled up an hour before the game and
began to set up the initial warm up drill. The drill consisited of a baox to rondo s a procession
game that involves 3-4 v1 As they did so players began to show up because they were due to be
there 45 minutes previous to the start of the match. They walk up set their bags down in an
orderly manner and shake hands with the coaches. When they showed up and got to the coach
they became serious as they knew we take our games very serious. They neatly placed all the
bags behind the bench and finalized getting all their stuff on like cleats and shin guards. Exactly
45 minutes before Rani jumped right into the already preplanned and structured warmup before
the game. He gave a quick small speech to tell them what he expected which consisted of mostly
telling them to pick up their heads and look for space to move the ball which were objectives of
the previous week. Being the first game outside since November he emphasized positioning and
not to get lost on the big field because it would cause many problems for the team and that part
of their game will surely be rusty. As soon as that was explained he jumped into the basic
analytic drill that would get them moving and thinking a bit for the game. They Started off quiet
sloppy and brought out Ranis fierce side as he rallied them really quick to refocus them. He told
them what he expected and you could see the young kids ready to not disappoint on the second
go around. When they went back out it looked a lot better and not as forced the movement and
transitions between the drills were much smoother. As the 15 minutes on that went up he moved
right into a possession drill with two jokers to give the attacking team a better chance and pick
up the kids confidence. This was key because it represented situations that are more game like
and what we wanted them to look to do during their game. And it worked to perfection the kids
began to grow into the rolls well and whenever they lost it the other team would move it around
just as well. When that wrapped up 15 minutes later the kids had gotten a small nice sweat going
and were ready for the game. Before Rani could jump into the pregame motivational speech the
ref came over to check all the players in which slightly killed the energy but we worked off of it
by reemphasizing how important this game was. As the lineup was set and time to go came all
the players were hyped up and we let them break it down with a loud Mutiny on 3; 1,2,3
MUTINY!! which was the perfect thing we wanted to begin this game. As the game began I sat
on the bench keeping stats like minutes played, goals, and assist and Rani was up energetically
giving them some positive feedback and using key words to have them think of what they were
about to do. A key to the way he coached was not telling a kid a single thing of what they needed
to do but giving them cue words that would put them on the right track and they would have to
figure it out themselves. The point was to create smart players not robots who just followed
commands so this part is crucial and surprisingly difficult to get used to. It was tight to start with

us working it from the back with smart short passes but once we got to the midfield we struggled
breaking down the other teams line of defense. Close to the half way mark we had a scare as we
when we began passing it out from the back and pushed up to high and we got hit with a quick
counter down the middle, luckily our fantastic young goalie bailed us out. As the game came to
half time we started to pull a strings of passes together moving it from the back to down the line
then a beautiful 1-2 between the mid and the winger left the winger wide open inside the box and
with a beautiful finish we opened up the score just before half. We went into the half winning 10 which was a great boast to their confidence. As the player jogged off the field Rani prepared
his half time speech.
Observation 3
Thursday Feb. 4, 2016
QCM Practice
Observation- Thursday practice began after the coaches meeting similar to the one explained
above. As this was the last indoor practice before the game we had decided to work on finishing
and then have them play 30 minutes to really get back into the feel of a game. So we started for
the first 10 minutes by doing rondos which is a possession game with 4 players on the outside of
the box and one inside. This is customary as it is a quick way to warm up their feet and brains in
a simple way. The players must stay on their line and work the ball around without losing it to
the one player. It becomes difficult since the box is quite small and the player only has 2 touches
to get it to someone else. The game when done correctly has no real breaks because the player in
the middle can only go out if the intercept the ball and pass it to someone else or the players
make a bad pass where then the coach always has extra balls to get it started back up as quickly
as possible. This was the perfect way to start a practice because it got the ball moving and in the
end it was relatively easier drill because you are so many men up that you have a great deal of
options. We usually have to coaches per age group so we can observe multiple players at once to
see if everything is the quality we like. The team I watched jumped into it quickly as we do this
most practices and began moving the ball nicely. The drill went well and smooth with only a few
misplaced passes which made me excited on how it would roll into the next drill. The next drill
was much more game like as players were divided into teams of 6, which is what these u9 would
be playing with a side on the weekend, with 3 teams of 6 we separated them into 3 boxes the
middle one about the 3rd of the size of the other two. The idea here was to get the ball from one
side to the other so each team resided in a box and the middle team could send 2 people to
pressure while the team possessed and tried to get it to the other side without losing it or passing
it to the 4 left in the middle trying to block passing lanes. If the ball was lost or passed to the
wrong team the middle team would switch with whatever team made the errant pass. As the drill
began it didnt start as nicely as wed wish but the kids picked it up and began getting it from one
side to the other. This drill would last 30 minutes and many teams would rotate from attacking to
the defensing team many times but it was fluid enough that you did see good ball movement and
passing. One of the teams seem to get the drill better than the other two mostly due to one kid
named Coen who had great footballing IQ. This drill tested how the players could move the ball
quickly and efficiently while taking on pressure. After those 30 minutes the coaches let the
players get water and readied the field for the game like scrimmage to have them ready for the
weekend. With 3 teams already separated we left them in those teams and played king of the
court so the games were 3 minute timed games where if you scored you stayed on and if no one
scored the team on the longest would go off. We played this for 30 minutes to end the practice

and it was pretty fluid as most games being evenly matched could go either way. The practice
ended with a screamer of a goal as coach Thiago counted down from 10 the goalie bombed one
all the way to the other end chipping his opposing teams keeper.

InterviewInterview
Saturday Feb. 9, 2016
Jose Gimmenz
Note- Jose is the director of coaches so all that is done in the program and used to develop
these kids is though up or run by him. He brings the most insight to the program and has an
extravagant knowledge due to his footballing background.
Good morning Jose. What makes you an expert in the field of soccer?
Im not an expert but I do know a lot about soccer. I played for Barcelona the biggest club in
the world and learned a lot from there. I did not make it to play professional for them but
once my short lived career ended I went back to them to study under there famous La Masia
youth academy.
What did you take out of working for them?
I learned many things but the most important thing I learned was there philosophy. Their
philosophy was that we create self-thinking players.
What do you mean by self-thinking players?
I mean that they understand the game, they read it, and execute without real instructions. We
have players who will think through the situation in front of them and react in a way that is
the most advantageous to their team. They dont just put their head down and try to do
everything by themselves just because they are technically gifted.
How is that different that US soccer style?
Hahahahaha, well there are so many differences. If you watch a game coached by an
American coach you will soon see that he spends most of his time talking and what he says
arent motivational words they are directions. Move here, pass their, run that way, breathe.
They become like robots. They cant think for themselves in soccer or in life. They only
know how to do what they are told. They get to bigger fields where the coach cant scream
every direction and they are lost.
Why did you join QCM( Queen City Mutiny)?
I love soccer and I love working with younger kids and watching them grow as men and as
players. To be honest when Rani offered me this job I was hesitant because I didnt think
America had a good talent pool to work from and it be starting from scratch. But once he
showed me the players he had recruited I was stunned. Yes they were raw and had too much
to learn still but there was something there with every one of those kids, something I could
work with.

Commented [5]: This interview utilized the right kinds

of questions from the right person to be asking them.
The question you asked him about the self-thinking
players went back into detail about how this
organization wants to make more than just good soccer
players. It really shows the purpose of the organization
and what they're trying to do for the kids.
Commented [6]: A suggestion for a question I have
would be like why more kids should be involved in this
organization, or even if not this particular organization,
but Soccer itself. Or ask what made him want to focus
more on developing the youth as kids and not just
developing them as soccer players. Just things that
would make the person your interviewing give some of
the positives to what this sport/organization do.
Commented [7]: I loved the interview. Your questions
demand lengthy answers. The note explains who is
being interviewed and why he is a good person to ask
these questions to. The information acquired through
these questions is vital and highlights exactly what your
"propose" states.

How do you see the club growing in the next 10 years?

Oh it will be incredible. We will have a team or two for every age group and we will be
dominating teams on all fronts just like we do now. We were the fastest team to be certified
by The US Soccer federation* which was in 2 years and now we have nothing holding us
back
Why not more than 2 teams per age group? Why not shoot for more?
We are a boutique. Small yet elegance at its finest. We arent in it for the money we are here
to create the best squads in the Americas. We dont need to be like CSA with 4000 players
and most of them cant think for themselves.
Thank you for your time today and good luck in this weeks tournament.
Analyze
Analysis
Tuesday Feb. 8, 2016
Figurehead Conventions
In soccer the rules are quite simple but there are many of them that are small and nitpicky.
To play a pro level game you need 11 men/women a side to start a match. They all stay on
the field for all 90 minutes unless they are either subbed out, which only 3 subs a game are
allowed, or they receive a red card which means they must leave the pitch and their
respective team cant replace him leaving them a men down. The game is free flowing with
no time outs or stops except for small momentary ones while the ball goes of bound and is
replayed in or a foul occurs. The field is quite large being 80 yds by 120 yds making it a
game that involves a lot of running and stamina. Each team has one player that is allowed ot
use his hands called the goal keeper but he is only allowed to in a box that is 18 yds by 44yds
and his purpose is just to block shots that are going to go into the goal. A player can also
receive a yellow card which is more of a severe warning because two yellow cards earns you
a red card and expulsion from the game. You must always be wearing the correct footwear
which are studded cleats and have shin guards on which are the only forms of protection in
soccer. The game was made to be quick and elegant without time to think or catch your
breath just react and play.
Soccer development stood out to me first because I have played soccer since I was 5 but I
had to stop playing competitively due to ACL, MCL, and Meniscus tears in my right knee.
Another big reason is because I do currently coach at QCM and my younger brother plays
there so soccer development is a large part of my life currently. I hope to find what makes
soccer development so unique especially the soccer development at QCM.
Chart
Search words

Link

Commented [8]: You broke down the game well. You

explained what needed to be yet you didn't go to into
the tiny details. I learned some things I didn't know just
by reading your analysis. (Side note: don't abbreviate
i.e. yards instead of yds)

US soccer
Development
Soccer
Development
Countrys
Soccer
Philosophy
Barcelona
Soccer
Philosophy
Barcelona

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14660970600615443#.VrtFV1g
rIU
http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/20063233293.html;jsessionid=737726E59
B6BADF33781D6692D159F3E

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=poNdpagYQbAC&oi=fn
d&pg=PT23&dq=Soccer+Philosophy+barcelona&ots=QaRX_7sTQd&sig
=yRxoyiFRIA0dqR12Fu3Y1VwetM8#v=onepage&q=Soccer%20Philoso
phy%20barcelona&f=false
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1409.0308v1.pdf

Propose
Through working with the kids on a daily basis you see them grow as players greatly
but you also see them grow as kids. Youth sports are focused on teaching kids many different
values to make them better players but also better people in the long run. The difference that
playing an organized sport has on a child is very beneficial even if they dont go far in the
sport. It is something that should be encouraged on all children to instill certain values in
them that only sports really can. I want to observe the difference of children playing sports
and not and how it affects their development.

Commented [9]: You state that you want to observe

the difference of children who do and do not play sports
and how it effects their development, but go into more
detail. How do you plan on doing this? How will you
know that the difference will be from playing a sport
(and if it depends on the sport) or simply their genes
that make them differ?
Commented [10]: The idea of comparing children who
play sports and those that don't is a good idea as
showing the positives of participating in such activities.
But how can you convince the people that it was the
sport that made the changes in the child on not some
other external factor? Or if the kid was just born with
whatever it is your trying to prove? Just try to think of a
way or stance that really shows that children are really
benefiting the kids.