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Remember that when you coach youth soccer, part of your job is to help your players fall in love with the game. Events like end-of-season banquets and award ceremonies can help you do just that. It’s a time for reflection and encouragement, as well as a recruiting and retention tool for the kids you already have in your squad.
Most youth soccer coaches try to make their players experience youth soccer as something the players will remember and appreciate. At the end of the season, most have an awards party that can range from casual to extravagant. Our show probably lands somewhere in the middle. Here’s how we try to make the end-of-season reunion special for the kids:
When I had the downtown Omaha show and we were little and had little money, we would just go to a local pizza place that had a private room. We’d buy some pizzas and pitchers of soda and hand out trophies there. I would always bring each individual player up front and briefly talk about the players’ accomplishments. We always made a special award for each player which was a cut out paper football with the date, team name and their “award” Awards ranged from Most Improved Defensive End to Most Valuable Player or humorous based awards. in a player. silly actions during practice or games. At the end of the event, players would autograph these balls and keep them as souvenirs.
As my organization grew, we had to go to bigger places. Eventually we did big buffet banquets in big halls with MCs, guest speakers and music. We would also hand out our academic prizes at this event which at the time were used computers.
In the small rural area that is now coacat, I only have two teams. We got help putting all of this together compared to doing it all myself when I had the big downtown show. We have been able to be a little more elaborate with the smaller group. I now make certificates on the computer for the prize portion of the event. It’s easy to insert a digital team photo into the certificate, as well as the players’ name, number and prize. Certificates can be downloaded from the Internet for free or are even in the Microsoft Works package on your computer. You can frame them yourself in frames you get at Wal-Mart for about $2 each. Kids love these, great bang for your buck.
I also hand out a DVD of the season that has a picture of the boys’ team on the DVD cover, as well as the DVD itself. We also added all the player names and team achievements on the back of the DVD cover. I know a lot of teams feature DVDs, but we like to make a full season DVD so everyone can get a chance to watch their kids play. Too often, featured DVDs feature only one or two players. The first year I did this, we had a movie shot by a parent, the last two years it was shot by a professional photographer.
It is quite easy to do this with today’s computer technology. If you don’t have the skills to do it yourself, ask your parents, chances are at least one of them will have the skills to do it for your team. This is a huge benefit for everyone and something the player can look back on 30 years later with their own children. If you’ve ever tried to watch a game and record a video at the same time, you know what I’m talking about, recording a video is a pain. Everyone wants to have youth soccer memories for their children, but no one wants to record the video. If you offer this, it can be the difference between a player playing for you or someone else next year.
Now we do our event at the local high school, using their cafeteria. We display the team trophies from previous years for all to see upon entering, as well as the children’s trophies. When families walk in, they see the movie of the game shown on a big screen along with Christian music that we use as background music.
Some do these events as luck, some don’t do food at all. We have a local Italian place that caters a meal for around $6 per person and we let the moms on the team take care of it. We also provide a jersey that has our team name, year and team emblem on the front, as well as the team record. On the back of the jersey are the scores from all the games, as well as the names and numbers of the players on that team.
This year, part of our grant money went to purchase team jackets for the kids who will be too old to play in the program next year. For under $40 each we made cute jackets. On the jackets are the names of the players and all the accomplishments their team had during the players’ youth soccer “career” with us. This is a great reward for sticking it out, as well as a great way to advertise your show around town.
According to our parents, their favorite part of these events are the personal stories we tell about each player as they collect their prize in front of the group. No matter who the player is or what value they have added to our youth soccer team, we make sure they feel special by featuring them and their accomplishments of the year. We tried to add something the player did that was funny to keep the whole event lively instead of silly.
Personally, I love seeing weaker kids who were borderline but have become real “soccer players” getting excited about the game while talking excitedly about what they’re going to do next season. I don’t like receiving gifts like some parents do, but I really enjoy reading the personal cards and letters that parents and children often give me. I’d rather have a well-written letter from a player or parent than 10 more gift certificates to Applebees.
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