Junior Rams Parent Coaches,

Thank you for volunteering to coach your son's or daughter's soccer team this season for the Junior Rams Program. The program would not exist without your support.

A few items for you to please keep in mind during the season regarding our game format and the guiding principles for the program.

Game Day Format

1. NCFC professional coaches may lead a 10 - 15 minute group warm up each week for the boys and the girls before the Saturday games begin.
2. Kindergarten age group plays three 12 minute periods with two 5 minute breaks.  1st Grade age group plays two 20 minute halves, with 5 minute half time break. 2nd Grade age group plays two 25 minute halves, with 5 minute half time break.
3. Do your best to give equal playing time for all kids.
4. Kindergarten plays 3 v 3 (no goalies), 1st Grade plays 4 v 4 (no goalies), and 2nd Grade plays 5 v 5 (including goalies)
5. Also, please do your best to ask the parents to watch the game from behind the goals. NCFC coaches will help enforce this as well.
6. Games will be refereed by NCFC players. THEY WILL MAKE MISTAKES. WE WILL NOT TOLERATE COACHES OR PARENTS QUESTIONING THE REFEREE'S DECISIONS.

What if a Parent-Coach Needs to Miss a Saturday Game?

If you need a substitute coach because you are unable to make a Saturday game, contact the other parents on your team to request that one of the parents attending the game volunteer to coach that day.  All they need to do is manage substitutions and cheer the children on.

Junior Rams Guiding Principles

1. Game scores and results are not kept – focus is on fun (no high school or college coach cares how many games a player won or goals a player scored in 2nd grade).
2. Again . . . the focus is on fun. The goal of the program is for the kids to enjoy and want to continue playing soccer.
3. Always use positive messages for the kids.
4. Always encourage the players to try new moves, footwork, or tactics that they learn in practice each week – recognize and celebrate the effort whether successful or not – even if it results in a goal for the other team.
5. We want to encourage the development for all players, finding ways to challenge and encourage all players regardless of level.
6. Keep the games close – Please mix up teams to keep the games close AND AVOID BLOW OUTS (sharing players between the teams makes it more fun for all players and gives the better players more of a challenge). 
7. Alternatives to rebalancing stronger vs weaker teams by mixing players is to discretely encourage the stronger team to make 5 successful passes before being able to score a goal or discretely asking the strong player to instead focus on how many assists she can get (rather than goals).  Again, this benefits the development of all players. If a player is not challenged they are not getting better.
8. Also, if a team is short or has no subs balance out the teams, offer to mix the players to balance out the teams.
9. We are looking for a pick-up game atmosphere each Saturday while fostering competitive games that are fun.
10. In addition to scoring goals, we focus on and celebrate passing and ball control.
11. In practice the NCFC coaches focus on the kids keeping triangle or diamond shapes on the field, try to reinforce that in the games.
12. NCFC coaches are there to help – don’t be afraid to ask them for help.
     

Thank you for your support of our soccer program. While New Canaan FC uses professional coaches to train our kids during the week, the support of our parents for both the kids and the New Canaan FC will ultimately determine how successful the New Canaan FC will be in serving the town.

NC PRIDE!