I observed a u11 girls soccer match on Sunday during which the opposing coach yapped constantly to his p_layer_s. This was not simply a few too many instructions, it was non stop for 60 minutes. The irony was his team was actually doing quite well, in spite of his incessant noise. It amazes me to no end that a reasonably intelligent adult (man) believes constant verbal noise during a game, actually helps. The girls tune him out. The parents tune him out...and even the referee tuned him out. Really! The ref could not hear him ask for a sub...he had to yell out even loader 5 and 6 times before the ref would respond.

IMHO - it actually does very little to help these young p_layer_s. Most likely it hurts their development since they need to think for themselves and learn to solve the game problems within the dynamic of on field leadership - even at U11. It is now Tuesday, and I can still hear that coaches voice in my head...but funny enough, I can't recall one word he said. My rant for this week.