…it made such a huge and exciting difference, the pilot project was expanded to the entire 2500-kid program. Now all practices at Steel Sports begin with 10-20 minutes of the kids just playing, making up new moves, and even goofy new games with new rules.
“What we’re seeing is very often the kids run to practice now, rather than walk, because they know they’re going straight into 10 or 15 minutes of free play.”
That’s what the head of coach development, Ian Hughes, said.
And if you want your mind blown by how amazing kids can be, read my Q&A with Hughes over at Let Grow (click here!), where he talks about why the oldest, BEST players started sitting on the sidelines at the beginning of each game.
Okay — I’ll tell you why: They wanted to get the big picture and help the team by coaching from the sidelines. That is LEADERSHIP. And it happened NATURALLY when the coaches started giving the kids more freedom, more trust and more free play! (Yes, even the oldest kids loved their free play time.)
Steel Sports is ahead of the curve — and the kick!
Brilliant. Thanks for sharing this.
Make sure you are on the same page as the other coaches and don’t be afraid to ask the head coach if you can do something, such as write a practice plan or run a drill.