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Duration of Juvenile Season?

  • 10-08-2017 4:09pm
    #1
    setanta74
    Registered Users Posts: 387 ✭✭


    Just looking for opinions on how long a season should be for training Juveniles (Under 8 to Under 10).

    Bit of a disagreement between coaches in my club. The plan was to go from Start of March to end September (once a week and about 8 or 9 Go Games Blitzes as well).

    Some think we should prolong it well into November.

    Is this too much for Under 8's especially? I see some of the bigger clubs in the region go all year round. Just wondering if there is a concensus on this topic or guidelines from HQ?


Comments

  • #2
    Oldtree
    Registered Users Posts: 8,104 ✭✭✭Oldtree


    Unless you have an indoor pitch, I can't see u8s or u10s enjoying being out in the pissing rain and cold beyond the end of September.

    You don't want to train them too hard/long to stop them enjoying the sport or they wont be back.

    March to September is sensible but can be shortened by bad weather either end.


  • #3
    Boom__Boom
    Registered Users Posts: 3,100 ✭✭✭Boom__Boom


    If you've told parents it was going to end in September previously and change it to November, don't be surprised if there is some negative feedback. If kids are out in wet weather and picking up colds, don't be surprised if some of the kids end up dropping out.

    Might be an idea to suss out what the parents think?


  • #4
    ifah
    Registered Users Posts: 576 ✭✭✭ifah


    Will be interested to get input from outside Dublin on this - I know it's a lot different down home compared to the Dublin setup.

    I coach our under 10 boys, but all of the teams from u8 up follow a similar calendar in the club/county. Dublin co board have fully embraced the go games ethos and our lads will play games minimum 25 games (starting mid-Feb) organised by the co board and then what ever other leagues / games we organise between clubs ourselves. We were back training 2nd week of January and will train until 2nd week of December, taking about 6 weeks off during the summer. We play both codes in our club.

    We don't train indoors but do pay for access to outdoor astro (€60 per hour) during the Winter - kids love playing and don't care if it's wet/cold - we just make sure all the sessions are fun but challenging.

    The master fixture list for Dublin CCC1/2 is available here : http://uploads.dublingaa.ie/files/22/2017_juvenile_master_fixture_calendar__-_confirmed_dec_16.xlsx


  • #5
    Oldtree
    Registered Users Posts: 8,104 ✭✭✭Oldtree


    Dublin 10 year average rainfall is less than 80cm. Ye have it easy :)

    Parts of mayo can have over 2-3 meters average rainfall. This rainfall also leads to darker colder wetter days and evenings.

    climate_rainfallmap.gif


  • #6
    setanta74
    Registered Users Posts: 387 ✭✭setanta74


    We are a rural club so need to rent out astro in the nearest town so its a bit of hassle getting the parents to drop them in especially at busy times at 6pm which is the only availability. I'm off the opinion of stopping while everyone is happy , weather reasonable and they have had a decent amount of games.

    I know many of the kids also play hurling, are part of the soccer academy in the nearest town, some play rugby, swim and play football/hurling in their school and do other activities. Lot of demands on them and the Mammy/Daddy taxis at such a young age.

    At under 8 I don't want them resenting going training in October and November. Its enjoyable in the club for the most part on proper grass pitches with loads of space and warmer evenings. They have a long enough road ahead of them. Its a tricky one. I am thinking of just putting it to the parents and let them decide.


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  • #7
    bruschi
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 4,138 Mod ✭✭✭✭bruschi


    setanta74 wrote: »
    We are a rural club so need to rent out astro in the nearest town so its a bit of hassle getting the parents to drop them in especially at busy times at 6pm which is the only availability. I'm off the opinion of stopping while everyone is happy , weather reasonable and they have had a decent amount of games.

    I know many of the kids also play hurling, are part of the soccer academy in the nearest town, some play rugby, swim and play football/hurling in their school and do other activities. Lot of demands on them and the Mammy/Daddy taxis at such a young age.

    At under 8 I don't want them resenting going training in October and November. Its enjoyable in the club for the most part on proper grass pitches with loads of space and warmer evenings. They have a long enough road ahead of them. Its a tricky one. I am thinking of just putting it to the parents and let them decide.

    it's long enough. if there are no further blitzes or games, then you are only training for the sake of training. They will also be back at school and presumably keeping playing in there too. Sean Boylan had a thought of when playing an intra squad game, that when it was nearing the end of training, if the game was getting really wound up and everyone was going full belt, he would take the ball and finish it. Leave players wanting to keep going and play on. You only make them fed up and frustrated if it drags out and becomes chore like.


  • #8
    ifah
    Registered Users Posts: 576 ✭✭✭ifah


    I would counter that if you let kids at that age move away from Gaelic games (5 months break in the case of the OP) to other sports which don't stop (such as Rugby / Soccer / Basketball / etc.....) that it is more difficult to retain them. Kids (boys especially) at that age want to play games and participate - I'm not advocating just training for the sake of it - I would put much more emphasis on having games as much as possible to complement the training. We're lucky in Dublin because the co board have scheduled games to cover most of the year and the clubs are very proactive in arranging games during the rest of the time.

    Also - we have the same hassle in trying to rent astro - the closest one may be only 3-4 miles away but that can take up 25 minutes to get there due to traffic etc. We have a good system in place for parents to arrange lifts with each other which works well and attendance is normally above 90% for all sessions. We have a small squad of 38 players and I know that at least 30 of them play at least 1 other sport so parents have to manage that also.


  • #9
    Oldtree
    Registered Users Posts: 8,104 ✭✭✭Oldtree


    ifah wrote: »
    I would counter that if you let kids at that age move away from Gaelic games (5 months break in the case of the OP) to other sports which don't stop (such as Rugby / Soccer / Basketball / etc.....) that it is more difficult to retain them. Kids (boys especially) at that age want to play games and participate - I'm not advocating just training for the sake of it - I would put much more emphasis on having games as much as possible to complement the training. We're lucky in Dublin because the co board have scheduled games to cover most of the year and the clubs are very proactive in arranging games during the rest of the time.

    Also - we have the same hassle in trying to rent astro - the closest one may be only 3-4 miles away but that can take up 25 minutes to get there due to traffic etc. We have a good system in place for parents to arrange lifts with each other which works well and attendance is normally above 90% for all sessions. We have a small squad of 38 players and I know that at least 30 of them play at least 1 other sport so parents have to manage that also.

    Most of ours play other sports during the football season too. 38 would be a huge squad here.


  • #10
    bruschi
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 4,138 Mod ✭✭✭✭bruschi


    ifah wrote: »
    I would counter that if you let kids at that age move away from Gaelic games (5 months break in the case of the OP) to other sports which don't stop (such as Rugby / Soccer / Basketball / etc.....) that it is more difficult to retain them. Kids (boys especially) at that age want to play games and participate - I'm not advocating just training for the sake of it - I would put much more emphasis on having games as much as possible to complement the training. We're lucky in Dublin because the co board have scheduled games to cover most of the year and the clubs are very proactive in arranging games during the rest of the time.

    Also - we have the same hassle in trying to rent astro - the closest one may be only 3-4 miles away but that can take up 25 minutes to get there due to traffic etc. We have a good system in place for parents to arrange lifts with each other which works well and attendance is normally above 90% for all sessions. We have a small squad of 38 players and I know that at least 30 of them play at least 1 other sport so parents have to manage that also.

    think that post in itself shows the difference between Dublin/Urban areas to rural ones. Soccer is only on here from September to April (although due to change I believe to summer months from FAI directives) and no other sport goes for 12 months constantly either.

    And a squad of 38 being small! :eek: if we had a squad of over 20 it would be huge!


  • #11
    ifah
    Registered Users Posts: 576 ✭✭✭ifah


    Oldtree wrote: »
    Most of ours play other sports during the football season too. 38 would be a huge squad here.
    bruschi wrote: »
    think that post in itself shows the difference between Dublin/Urban areas to rural ones. Soccer is only on here from September to April (although due to change I believe to summer months from FAI directives) and no other sport goes for 12 months constantly either.

    And a squad of 38 being small! :eek: if we had a squad of over 20 it would be huge!

    Sorry - I wasn't saying any other sport runs for the full year - we don't either, but we break during summer when there's loads of other distractions. My point was Rugby / Soccer etc don't break during the winter which is why we don't either. It's too difficult to get kids back if they've drifted away. On the squad size - 38 is ok but nothing like the bigger clubs get (we're a small club, growing but small). Some of the other clubs we come up against have 70+ in each age group from 8-14 in boys.


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  • #12
    BPKS
    Registered Users Posts: 16,674 ✭✭✭✭BPKS


    setanta74 wrote: »
    Just looking for opinions on how long a season should be for training Juveniles (Under 8 to Under 10).

    Bit of a disagreement between coaches in my club. The plan was to go from Start of March to end September (once a week and about 8 or 9 Go Games Blitzes as well).

    Some think we should prolong it well into November.

    Is this too much for Under 8's especially? I see some of the bigger clubs in the region go all year round. Just wondering if there is a concensus on this topic or guidelines from HQ?

    Why stop at that?

    Get them into the gym in December, January and February to make sure they are able for the box jumps when you get them back the morning after Paddys Day.

    Seriously - kids at that age need a bit of a break. 6 months is plenty for 8 and 9 year olds. Most will probably be playing soccer, basketball etc etc over the winter anyway I imagine. They will also be playing Cumann na mBunscoil with their school.

    There may be a case of doing indoor training maybe twice a month just to keep the core skills going but that is dependant on indoor facilities being available.

    Its bad enough that once the few lads you train at the moment who will go onto play senior club will be training and playing for 11 months of the year besides them having doing it now.


  • #13
    setanta74
    Registered Users Posts: 387 ✭✭setanta74


    As I thought there are arguments to be made for both sides. Hence the split in my own coaching team!! I think having no games is a crucial element of the debate as someone mentioned above. Training for the sake of training is a fair point.

    Not having an extra month or two of training sessions in cold damp weather is hardly going to ruin their GAA careers.

    Being a rural club with many having the club ingrained into them from parents and siblings I don't think the threat of losing them to other sports exists if we do take a 4 or 5 month break.


  • #14
    bruschi
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 4,138 Mod ✭✭✭✭bruschi


    setanta74 wrote: »
    As I thought there are arguments to be made for both sides. Hence the split in my own coaching team!! I think having no games is a crucial element of the debate as someone mentioned above. Training for the sake of training is a fair point.

    Not having an extra month or two of training sessions in cold damp weather is hardly going to ruin their GAA careers.

    Being a rural club with many having the club ingrained into them from parents and siblings I don't think the threat of losing them to other sports exists if we do take a 4 or 5 month break.

    if the reason to keep it going is mainly due to a fear of them not coming back because they play other sports, then that in itself is a greater problem than them not training. Its the sort of mentality of us against them and we cant lose them to soccer/rugby etc which will end up turning kids against football or hurling.

    Like any child, the more you tell them they have to do something, the more they want to do the opposite.

    letting them play other sports is not all bad. and it should keep them fresh to come back for the GAA games once that kicks into gear again. You see so many times, particularly on places like boards, of stories of the GAA mentor telling them not to play soccer or forcing them to play GAA and they quit as a result.

    you already seem to be of the same view as myself, in that a break will do them no harm and you wont lose them. Trying to convince the others is the problem, but I would approach it in the sense that it was the agreed time frame, they will be back in school so both busy with that and also continuing playing with that. Plus winter training is never fun. Let them be rained off in the other sports, and leave the enjoyable sunshine weather when you are back going again.


  • #15
    nice_guy80
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,723 ✭✭✭nice_guy80


    playing other sports is good for kids

    I always encourage kids/parents in our club to do athletics (stamina and speed), handball (footwork and develop both sides of body) or swimming (good cross training for any sport)


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