September 28th, 2014 | Uncategorized
Baby Blues was quite the experience. I woke up bright and early at 8:30 AM on a sunny Saturday morning and was picked up along with two Limerick FC players, Prince and Ali, to go meet the kids at the indoor arena. All I knew was that there were a lot of them, and they ranged in age from 3 (I was given fair warning about taking the youngest group on) to 7. But to be honest, I like a challenge, so I got on immediately with the 3 year olds. An adorable bunch by any standards, the parents tagged along to help keep them organized. I am sure all who are reading know a few things about three year olds already. They are still learning to walk, they are still learning to listen and understand, and their attention spans are still relatively nonexistent. These may all seem like difficulties when running a smooth session. On the contrary. It made for one of the most fun sessions I have ever been a part of. I quickly decided that speaking to them and explaining things would get me nowhere at all. The key to their attention is laughter. Make them laugh, and you have their attention. Once they are laughing and engaged, then you demonstrate. You show by doing the activity with them, and they will follow. Less talk, more action. Put yourself in the mind of a 3 year old, show some energy, and don’t let up. That is the key to the session with these young superstars. Once I applied that, it appeared that the session was as much of a blast for them as it was for me. I spent half of the session in laughter and the other half chasing the munchkins around the pitch. So although it was pretty basic, I learned some concepts about coaching that I will keep in mind when coaching at any level. Funny how these things work. I absolutely can’t wait to go back next week and have a bit more craic with the Baby Blues.
