Great little book – just nails it in terms of content – no fluff. If you are a coach of Girls you should read this and if you are a male coach of girls read this twice. Frank J. Kelly
Alison and I are releasing an eBook version of How To Coach Girls with three never before seen bonus chapters!
The new chapters are based on feedback that we have received from speaking to parent volunteer coaches at many youth sports organizations in the Massachusetts area. They are:
- When Girls Don’t Want to Be at Practice
- Integrating Injured Players
- Making Connections Team Building Games
When Girls Don’t Want to be at Practice
We heard from parent volunteer coaches who coach younger girls’ teams. What do you do when a parent has signed up their daughter to try a sport but she doesn’t want to be there? Perhaps she is not participating or distracting others. How do you get these players engaged?
Integrating Injured Players
Whether it’s a long term injury or a short term one, how do you keep injured players from feeling like they are part of the team when they can’t do the practice?
Making Connections
We have found that girls stay in sports when they have meaningful social connections with teammates and coaches. Sports is a great way to meet new people and coaches can facilitate connections between girls through quick, fun, and easy icebreakers and games that are easy to integrate into a practice. Special thanks to Sidnie Kulik, Alison’s daughter, for the ice breaker games and topics in this chapter!
How To Coach Girls by Mia Wenjen and Alison Foley
Here’s a review from parent and parent volunteer coach Frank J. Kelly:
“Great little book – just nails it in terms of content – no fluff. If you are a coach of Girls you should read this and if you are a male coach of girls read this twice. It teaches quickly what it took me several seasons to learn on my coaching journey – first as parent, then team parent, then assistant coach and now coach of a Girls U12 recreation soccer team.
Key lessons
– Girls will compete after they bond – and so you need to give them opportunities to bond e.g. early in practice or make a water break take a little longer
– Break up any cliques that form
– Keep it fun
– Lots of positive reinforcement but make it genuine
– You have to build trust and safety – they won’t try or take risks if the feeling is that failure means punishment. You need to create “emotional safety”.
Lots of fun ideas e.g.
– Coaches’ forfeit
– Cupcakes for birthdays
– The “How to be a better teammate” game.
This is a quick read but should be handed out to every Girls’ team coach Day 1.”
How To Coach Girls ebook releases August 1, 2019. Purchase it here.
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