I have been hearing quite a bit about "learning" the past little while as my wife has been completing her Masters thesis in Education (Language and Learning). That process is deep immersion and she often has to verbalize things she is writing about to help unload and shift focus to other mundane lifestyle things. My job is to listen and support but there are also times when a little light goes on when she mentions something about teaching or childhood learning, and it hits close to things I am thinking or dealing with as a coach.
This past weekend I watched some local school league games that I was not part of directly but that included many of my club athletes divided on several school squads. One thing I watched for was how Middle Years schools divided teams when they had 2 entries in the league. This "2 team" situation was allowed due to large numbers of interested players and no limit on participation. I took note of how the schools divided players since I had coached my sons school teams when they were younger and I had a specific way of splitting up students to make sure the focus of each team was right for the participants ie appropriate learning for all.
One of these Middle Years schools divided the players equally, or perhaps randomly and that ended up equal. They played each other in a semi final that went through overtime and to a shoot out. It was of great interest to me to watch these teams as I had half a dozen club players involved on these teams. They were split between the squads and this meant that players with 6 years club experience were on a team, in the water together, with kids who were learning to swim. Imagine how different their focus and expectations would have been all season and imagine trying to set a team objective other than "pass it to the kid who knows what to do with the ball".
What I saw was the same chaos at year end that I had seen early in the season. Teams had not learned much about what to do but had improved in their ability to find the star and try to get them the ball. My approach would have been different, and has been when faced with that situation in years past. I would have put the club players on the same team, with strong competitive students who wanted to learn from them. Then the focus could have been learning to play off the strengths and skills of each other. I would have encouraged each non-expert to find a way that they could use the skilled players to give them space, or get them the ball or set them up in front of the net for high percentage shots. As the season progressed they could have set some team goals based on what they had learned as a group.
Following that model I would have then had a squad of complete novices as a second team. They could learn skills from the stronger players at practice and focus on applying them in games. They could be subbed in during a game in lines, playing as a unit for the whole game and getting used to helping each other with correct passes, helping the ball, switching on defense etc. The focus could have been on their group improvement each week.
I think when teams are divided equally in a league like that we see some polarization that is not needed. Everyone has different needs and nobody has them met to the fullest potential. I would much rather those kids had structure that meant a competitive player could take the 3 month school introduction to water polo and turn it into a foundation for club play year-round. The non competitive players could then take their interest to a high school co-ed program and into a non threatening Sport-for-Life stream. The only way this string of acivities will happen is with integration of programs and new partnerships that are not really welcomed right now as school leagues see clubs as self interested rather than as strategic partners. We try to change that by supplying many of the school coaches from our athlete ranks, and volunteers from our parent group, but it is a slow process.
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I must say I agree with you that there are flaws with the way Manitoba’s High school league is being ran. You propose that teams should put all their club and competitive players together, but I wonder how do you decide who is considered a competitive player? With the way that the High school is going we need to focus on encouraging schools and kids to participate. Your suggestion may work well in the future if we can rebuild our high school league to what it once was, but right now I see it as a hindrance. If we put all the experience players on their own team, yes it may encourage new competitive on the same team to join club, but it may also turn other competitive player on other teams off, since the amount of club players on each team would be different.
ReplyDeleteI have seen a few games myself this past season and have noticed a flaw that needs to be addressed before anything else. I have seen that some teams are running up the score during games. It has been brought to my attention the before the season every year coaches are deciding what pool they want their kids to play in as well as using a pre season tournament to place teams. This whole notion of the coaches deciding is flawed. One team, which I will not name, was obviously too strong for their division for the past two years yet they continue to play in the "B" pool.
Finally i must agree with your last point, our clubs are too self interested. Our sport is dying in Manitoba and we are all too ignorant to stand together and fix this problem. We need to band together and push our difference aside, stop slandering each other and finally get along. Until we can do this I fear there is no hope for the sport many of us have grown to love.
It's too bad that was posted without a name as the dialogue might be advanced if people came forward with support for change and ownership of ideas.
ReplyDeleteThere would be very little difficulty deciding which players belonged on which teams if they were divided socially and competitively. When I started the Grant Park program it was based on "no cuts" and "everyone plays". We built that initiative to a position where we had a Varsity Team, a Junior Varsity Team and a Freshman Team - all in the same season and in different divisions. Water Polo was the largest sport in the school and every child that came out to play made a team and won their division at the provincial championships. I have shown that what I suggest can be done.
The "clubs" are not self interested and there are many that are not ignorant. When Bushido parents and coaches started the Middle Years league it was not political, it was developmental. Bushido provides so many resources to the growth of the sport that it can never be seen as self interested.
A review of the seasons discipline issues, transfer problems and rule violations can be traced to players/leaders from a club but not Bushido. That makes it a personality, or character issue, not a club one.
If you go back through this blog you will be able to find some pretty cooperative and detailed ideas of how this sport in Manitoba can be fixed, redirected, rebuilt. If I was allowed to implement the ideas I openly discuss and share, without constant protest, the sport would be so much further ahead right now.
Too many people talk of the "good old days" as if there was a glory period of Manitoba Water Polo. That has never been the case and Sport in Canada has changed so much the past decade that going back to anything is not advised. At what other time has our Province had 3 players at NCAA institutions on scholarships related to their water polo play? In what other year have we had 3 carded athletes like we do right now (Bredin, Vosters, Fournier)? What other decade did Manitoba have a player playing Pro in Europe like we did in 2008?
I'd love for there to be 400 kids playing 14U water polo in this province. Each time I suggest a way to do that, and it is opposed, I find another way to approach the issue. Most of this is behind the scenes but that is because there are no partners in the local water polo community to share these ideas with.