I coach an under-nines girls team and we have just completed our first season. The girls have done really well, as two thirds of the squad were new to football a year ago.
As coaches we are discussing ways of rewarding good behaviour, particularly at training. Our girls aren't naughty as such, but they are giddy and, like most kids, they struggle sometimes with listening and messing about.
We have given out a player of training trophy each week to encourage good behaviour. We have had the girls themselves come up with 'rules' for behaviour that if they stick to them they are in with a shout of the trophy.
Interestingly it has been the same four players in the running every week and we think after a year of doing it that this may largely be down to personality as much as behaviour.
Some girls just don't seem to be able to remain quiet or stand still and they aren't necessarily being naughty, but it disrupts the others and undermines coaches sometimes.
We have come up with reasons to share the award out so they have all had it a couple of times, but often some players just don't adhere to their own rules and it would send the wrong message giving them the award.
So we are ditching it for next season.
We therefore wanted another form of incentive. We have heard all sorts of ideas from giving out sweets, to letting the best trainer (behaviour and performance wise) be captain for the weekend's game.
With the captain idea we are worried the same better behaved girls will once again be more likely to get it. Whereas we want them all to have a go.
I have been opposed to having captains due to it putting one player above others and also we do have one or two naturally confident show-offs who like to boast and assert their perceived 'superiority' which may result in them 'telling' teammates what to do.
This is a very long winded way of asking two questions for discussion:
- What incentives, if any, do others use to encourage good behaviour and attitude?
- Are captains at this age a good or bad idea?
