Have a mountain of work piled up on my desk so I ignore that and start working on the manuscript for my ‘Commandments of Travel Team Coaching’ book. I’m going to add a section with straight-up coaching advice. There’s a lot to pack in. For instance, the question I’m most asked by other coaches is about how I decide which players should play in which positions. I start with the center of defense.
At your first practice of the season, have a contest. Kids love contests of all kinds because they separate the strong from the weak and establish the natural pecking order. This one is simply designed to see who can kick the ball the hardest and the farthest. It’s usually a big kid. If it is an oversized boy who obviously eats too much, that’s perfect. He’s the man-child you want at the back.
It helps too if this kid is a little on the ugly side. You can never underestimate how other players may be scared off just by his sheer frightfulness. Pretty boys need not apply. No gel-wearers or faux hawks here.
If you want to go into more detail in your approach to selection, try to find out if this defender is a bad boy at school. It’s always preferable if he is the sort who gets suspended for fighting every now and again. This means he’s bringing a lot of pent-up anger to the field. Just what you want when the chips are down and the cleats are flying.
If I was psychologically profiling my players, I’d ideally want my center-d kid to be the type who has a few bullying convictions against him in school too. The last line of defense is not a place for the faint-hearted or the kindly. Especially at nine and ten years old. It’s about mean kids manning the ramparts and striking fear into the hearts of opponents and their parents. Once you find this boy, it's very important to give him a nickname if he doesn't already have one. Something evocative like Animal or Megatron or Tank usually works.
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