Coaches Blog January 2012

Well what can I say............firstly a belated Happy New Year to all the SC Gjoa family. I trust everyone is now rested after the holidays and getting back in the Soccer swing of things. I also want to extend a huge thanks to all the teams for their generous gifts to me and the other coaches. I have never before experienced such generosity and it really was much appreciated.

Now, I have been somewhat pre-occupied with work of late and seem to have neglected my blog writing duties for which I eternally apologise. Personally, I put it down to the 2-month long food hangover that I have suffered from since consuming what can only be described as “The world’s best meal” at the hands of Messrs Tucker & Cassidy (That is John & Becky of Rose Water fame) at Thanksgiving. I arrived at the meal with childhood enthusiasm and left with what only can be described as a third trimester body frame. I can now start to understand why programs such as “The Biggest Loser” exist.

Staying with the topic of food, I just wanted to give all you parents a little nudge on diets and suitable food for the players. Having spent the last few weeks at tournaments, I have noted that the food they provide is somewhat lacking in the nutrition column. On this basis, can we all look to provide the kids with some suitable food (bagels, fruit, nuts, juices) to take to tournaments so as to avoid the world hot dog eating championship which I observed this week at Clarkstown. I would also ask that your children eat in good time before a game as eating late will cause the body’s energy stores to concentrate on processing food instead of powering your child’s engine. If you want further advice, please see the following link - http://www.soccer-training-info.com/eating_right_for_soccer.asp. Whilst I don’t mean to preach, this really is important and will not only improve your child’s performance in sports, but will improve their sleeping patterns, behavior and brain performance.

Moving back to more exciting topics, let talk about soccer! If we were in England right now, we would be in the middle of the regular season playing in whatever weather mother earth could throw at us.....below is a lovely example of what a cold winter’s day in England presented back in the “good old days”. 

Thankfully at Gjoa, the above isn’t an issue. It is great that the players have the chance to train indoors as this is a valuable time for them to hone their individual skills and improve their awareness in small spaces. That said, please remember to dress your child appropriately for Soccer as sweat pants indoors = 1 human furnace of a child.

Whilst we have only been working with the players since September, it was great to have the chance to see all the teams play in the Fall and see how far they have come since then. Whilst our coaching ethos is still in its infancy, the players are clearly learning & improving and having 3 teams challenging for 1^st place going in the last 2 weeks was great to see. In order for us to make it 11 teams guaranteeing 1^st place finishes, I need you to help me on the following:

1. Get to practice on time!
2. Try and allow your child the chance to watch professional soccer on TV.
3. Take time to read the nutritional information that I have highlighted as this will make a huge impact on your child’s life.
4. Really encourage your child to give 100% at training all the time as more realistic training = better performances in games.
5. Whilst I am all for enthusiasm at matches, please refrain from “coaching” your child as you won’t always be au fait with what has been worked on at practice and what we are trying to achieve in that game. 

We also want to avoid the situation where a player is trying to listening to 3 or 4 different voices on the field. One parent recently told me that a parent was screaming at their child so much as he was dribbling past them that the boy actually stopped and asked them what they were saying. That said; please continue to be loud, encouraging and positive as we all know how good it feels when someone tells you that you are doing a good job.

Almost there! My final message relates to overloading kids on sports/practices. I appreciate that kids want to do everything and I was a fine example of this as a child. It was training on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and the weekend sometimes yielded 4 soccer matches. Take this and add on basketball, tennis and the usual running around aimlessly and my body was being put through an incredible amount of work for a developing child. I even used to run 13.2 miles for “fun”. I really was a strange child. This ultimately led to injuries, operations and playing only 1 season of soccer between the ages of 18 and 30.

On this basis, please try to give your kids a break as we don’t want our players “burning out” before they have reached their peak. You only have to look at Freddie Adu (US Soccer player who made his professional debut aged 14) to see how detrimental this can be.

If we can keep working together to give our players the best chance to improve then the Spring will be even more fantastic than the Fall.

One final thing before I depart. For those parents who have been loading up their kids with tasty nutritious snacks for us coaches, I salute you. For those that haven’t, please take yourself to a quiet corner and think about what you have done!

See you on the field!

Yours in Soccer

Dean Selvey

Director of Coaching – SC Gjoa

Coaches Blog Kickoff

So it’s been over a month since the Fall Season rolled in to town so I thought it time for me to reach out to all the SC Gjoa family in what will be now known as the “Coaches Blog”!

We are currently on an “international break” in the soccer world so what better time; as an Englishman, to forget about soccer and write a few words to cover our start to the season. For those of you not au fait with an Englishman’s perspective on soccer, it basically revolves around supporting a deluded team of  party boys who would prefer to appear on an episode of “England’s coolest haircut” than actually win the World Cup for their country. Oh, and there is also the issue of Wayne Rooney’s temper but that is the tip of a Titanic’esque iceberg.

Turning my attention to far more interesting matters, I just want to say a massive THANK YOU to the club/players/parents/siblings/pets that have made me and the other coaches feel so very welcome in such a short space of time. I can speak for all of the coaches when I say that we are thoroughly enjoying working with the boys/girls and have enjoyed every minute so far. This even includes the Long Island JSL’s field management, Islas Malvinas’s truly crazy approach at coaching U8’s and what can only be described as a Ukrainian vocal deluge from the guys at Chernomorets.

That said, I guess these things only reinforce why we do what we do at SC Gjoa. We don’t want parents/coaches screaming at kids for 80 minutes as we want them to make their own decisions on what they see at the time. Only last night I played in a 7 v 7 game in Manhattan with Coach Steve and made numerous wrong decisions. At the age of 32 I am still learning the game so if your son/daughter makes that “mistake” in a game, take yourself back to when you were 8 or 9. Did you ever fall off your bike by accident or spill a drink on your parent’s new carpet? Exactly: I know I did!
At SC Gjoa, we don’t want kids playing in fear of reprisal for misplacing a pass or missing a shot. We want them to play, enjoy and discover the right way to play and achieve success over the long term. Sure we could teach the players to win games right now but who remembers the win-loss record of the team they played for when they were 10? I would prefer to teach everyone how to play the game properly so that; should they choose to, they can go on and have successful college and even professional careers. Do we dare to dream that high?
Looking round the soccer world today, it is clear that a few trends run through every successful side. That ability to keep the ball until there is space to attack. The desire to defend & attack at electrifying speed. The mix of young flamboyant minds with old disciplined heads! I guess that is why we are looking at teams such as Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United leading the way this season. Did you know that Barcelona have scored 21 goals in their last 5 games and how Bayern Munich have conceded only 1 goal since the start of the competitive season whilst also scoring 28 goals of their own? If you aren’t watching already, why not try and catch some of these games and see if you can learn a new trick or five?

My soccer ramblings aside, there are a few important messages that I would like to mention which will hopefully keep us on the right track for the rest of the season and beyond –

• I appreciate everyone has busy lives but please try to get your child to practice on time (at least 5 minutes before start time). Whilst it may only be 10 minutes they miss, this equates to almost 3 hours of lost learning (2 sessions) over the whole season. It is also very hard for a coach to start a session with so many players missing. Also, if your son/daughter will be absent from training, please do everything in your power to notify the team coach by text/e-mail as soon as you can as session plans are often number specific.

• Code of Conduct – I have made 2 additions to the original document which are as follows
• Players - be supportive and encouraging towards team-mates at all times regardless of the score or perceived individual performance.
• Parents - refrain from coaching their child during training and/or games. This will only confuse the player and distract them from the coach’s instructions for the game which will always be based on what has been worked on in practice.

These two points are very important to me and my coaching ethos. The first one has arisen out of a few issues of blame being placed on certain players (mostly GK’s) during games. The players need to understand that all players are responsible if we concede a goal and all players are congratulated when we score a goal. It’s a team game and we want team players.

Re the second point, this is pretty self explanatory and is hopefully something that will differentiate us from a lot of the parents that I have seen supporting some of the other teams. Hopefully this will encourage more players to join SC Gjoa as will offer something different from the “win or die” attitude I have seen from most clubs so far.

• Results & Performances so far – As a group, me and the coaches have been very happy with the games so far and feel that we the players are improving every week. Please remember that they are learning new things all the time and what might be learnt by one player in 2 weeks may not stick with another until week 10. We are totally fine with that and hope you are too. This game is all about development and I work on a “slow and steady wins the race” basis as opposed to the “smash & grab lets all scream at the kids until they win” approach.

• Player reports - Having considered this issue again, we have decided to give only 1 player report as opposed to the 2 suggested at the parents evening. We feel that the players are just starting to feel comfortable with their respective coach and any mid-season report would not reflect their true ability. This will be provided at the end of the season and will be distributed to the parents of each player.

Well I think that about does it for now. I am always happy to chat about anything and everything (Soccer related or not) so please reach out to me with any comments/opinions however crazy you think they might be.

I look forward to seeing you all on the field soon and please feel free to bring snacks for us coaches. It’s tough out there I tell you!

Yours in Soccer,

Dean Selvey

Introducing Dean new Director of Coaching for Sporting Club Gjøa

Dear Parents and Players,


My name is Dean Selvey, and I am delighted to introduce myself as the new Director of Coaching for Sporting Club Gjøa.


Having been involved in the ongoing tryouts and speaking to a number of people at the club, I appreciate that this is a period of transition. There is change, and it is easy to be fearful of change. However, improvement is also a kind of change, and our goal is to build the strongest club possible for it’s members and players. I can already see that Club Gjøa is full of good people and good players—the key components of success. Coupled with a fresh and innovative coaching programme, we will build this club —very quickly— into something bigger and better than ever before.


As many of you may know, I work for SONESOCCER, which has been established for 10 years as the leading training organization in New Jersey, and we are very excited about working with Gjøa to spread our good word. We pride ourselves on helping every single player develop through a true understanding of the game of soccer. The coaching staff that your children will be working with are well qualified, highly experienced and are here for one reason; to create a fun, inclusive and challenging learning environment for every player on every team. Not some, most or just the best—every team and every player. We all coach soccer because we love the game and it is our aim to not only fulfil the potential in every child in our programme, but to develop within them a lifelong love for the game of soccer .


To give you a little insight in to my background, I have spent a number of years working within professional ’football’ in England, as well as working from New Jersey to Maryland within American soccer. I have a law degree as well as coaching qualifications gained in Europe and the United States, and am passionate about helping Club Gjøa and the players and teams achieve their goals. It is a challenge that I am thoroughly looking forward to, and will be throwing myself into 100%. I believe that a good soccer programme can not only improve your child’s game, but can also improve their social, psychological and physical health. I will ensure
that every boy and girl in the Gjøa programme will play soccer in a positive, challenging environment , and we will all give 100% to every single child. I will also say that in addition to the top quality trainers you will see at training sessions and games, you do have the ONESOCCER organization behind you. With a strong (STA) club program, over 30 full-time professional trainers, senior men’s and women’s teams, and extensive collegiate relationships, we are well prepared to help you reach all of your goals.


Whilst we will do everything we can to provide the training and coaching Club Gjøa deserves, please do not underestimate your role in your child’s development. On this note, we would ask that you support your child with positive feedback regardless of their ‘performance’. A child never makes a mistake on purpose and these “mistakes” are an important part of their learning as they seek to discover what works best in different situations on the soccer field. We will actively encourage your child to try new things and ask you to do the same by supporting them with positive comments at all times. If we can all work together then we can make Club Gjøa the best place in Brooklyn for young players to play soccer, and I cannot wait to get us along that path!


Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have. I look forward to working with your sons and daughters and helping through their soccer experience.


Yours in Soccer,
Dean Selvey
Director of Coaching, Sporting Club Gjøa
Regional Coordinator, SONESOCCER Ltd.
gjoasoccer@gmail.com
347-384-4945