a testimonial from onthepitch.org

 

During the summer I’ve been trying to come up with ways to help take my U10 kids ‘to the next level’ next season. They had a very successful season last year but I wanted to give them some extra incentive to improve and work harder since they face a tougher division. My team is also very diverse. We have a sizable number of skilled players, but also have a few who are still learning the basics. I wanted to give them some incentive to work harder and feel like they’re accomplishing things along with the other kids who may score a few more goals than they do.

You’ve all probably seen the helmets on American football players, covered in stickers. These incentive stickers are handed out to players for extra effort, heads up plays, etc during practice and matches. You sometimes have to wonder, however, if each sticker means that much to the star players who seem to have an entire helmet full of them.

I liked the idea, but not the execution. I wanted to have something rare enough that the kids would covet them, but also make them accessible to everyone on the team. On a whim, I typed in ’football award patches’ into Google and found exactly what I was looking for.

A company called footballpatchesUK has a selection of small 1" football ball patches in various colours. So I went ahead and bought a pack of each of the eight types to ‘award’. The patches came with handy instructions for both application (iron from inside the shorts/jersey onto the back of the patch so it takes less heat to melt the adhesive) and a sheet of ideas about how to use them. Now all I had to do was come up with what they would stand for. Easier said than done. So using that sheet as a starting point, I started thinking about how I’d use these during the season.

After thinking about it a bit, I decided that I would only award one patch type per player. I didn’t want my stars walking around with 20 while my developing players had 2. Instead, I decided I would setup a system where each player could earn one of each type of patch and while the general criteria would be the same, it would still be relative. I would expect my stronger players to do something a bit more complex than my developing players to earn a given patch. Overall as a coach, my intent is for just about every player to get their full set by the end of the season. Some might get them earlier, but I would stress that EVERY player could earn every patch if they worked hard enough. I’ll freely admit one of my intents with this is to give more incentive to my developing players to try something unexpected instead of feeling like they’re in the shadow of the stars. We’ll see if it works.

Coming up with what each patch would stand for wasn’t easy but I finally came up with the following. I’m sure we’ll tweak these, but for now, we’ll see how it goes. One of the reasons I’m writing about it is to get other ideas from you all.


The 1st Goal Patch: The website discouraged the use of patches to reward goal scoring, noting that kids who score goals get enough positive reinforcement from the cheers, parents, and fellow players. I agree with this. However, I want every player on my team to try and score. We came VERY close last year to having all 11 players score at least one goal. So I figured a little incentive to score that first goal would be worthwhile, while avoiding the encouragement of the stars to be ball hogs to load up on patches. So you get this patch when you score your first goal of the season. Our team already played it’s first match and two players scored our four goals. My son wasn’t one of them and that bugged him. Actually he did score, but they called it back, claiming he’d gone out of bounds on the touchline. I didn’t want to give it to him under those circumstances and I’ll admit he was upset that night. But he quickly decided he’d still earn his patches by working harder and playing smarter in the upcoming matches. At least in his case - so far so good.


The Defence Patch: This patch is awarded for heads up defensive play, but is not limited to defenders and keepers. The ‘criteria’ for this is you managed to prevent an obvious goal scoring opportunity or were ‘a wall’. A forward who takes off after an opponent breaking away and manages to prevent the shot. A defender, faced with a 3 on 1 manages to break things up. A keeper who makes a heads up smart play to deny what should be an easy goal. All too often you’ll see players who will ‘give up’ the chase because they figure the person breaking away is going to score and they can’t do anything. I want them to pressure and chase until the ball is either blocked or in the net. It’s not limited to breakaways. Defenders who go above and beyond during a match - being ‘the wall’ if you will. Keepers who make an inordinate number of saves or a single spectacular one. Stuff like that. I’ve made clear the criteria for these is fluid and up to me as coach which gives me lots of flexibility to award them, while still giving the kids overall areas to work hard in.


The Challenge Patch: This patch is awarded for Leadership and Sportsmanship, qualities any player hoping to play at the next level will need to exhibit. However, this patch can be awarded for all sorts of things. Congratulating opponents who score, helping teammates or opponents out on the field or filling the role of ‘field general’ during a game. But beyond that, one of the key ways to earn this patch will be selflessness in setting up scoring opportunities by passing, crossing, etc. I work to instil in my players the idea that a goal scored by anyone benefits the team. An assist is more important than actually putting the ball in the net, because at this level the assist is usually what sets up the sure thing. I want my players to score, but I also want to break some of the more experienced players of this idea that they can razzle dazzle past 3 or 4 defenders and score. Because they can, but not consistently. So I want them to realize that when they see three opponents in front of them, that means some of their teammates are wide open. Players that show heads up play during a match via assists, set pieces, talking to their teammates, etc. in addition to showing leadership and sportsmanship will earn this patch. True story. My son tells me this morning "Dad, I had a dream last night where I earned all my patches!" He sure seems excited about it. We’ll see.


The Blood Patch: This patch is for toughness, bravery, and plain old grit. I don’t want my players to play hurt or to hurt someone else. I make that very clear. This patch is for players who get knocked around on the pitch and keep on going after the ball. One of my girls blanched when I explained this patch. "Why do I have to bleed to get this patch?" That’s not the point, but in a few cases, blood will be involved. It’s the nature of the sport. A perfect example. During our league tournament, one of my girls who used to duck when the ball flew at or near her, got hit hard by a ball and her nose started to bleed. A lot. So we sat her down on the bench with some ice and tissues. I figured she wouldn’t want to go back in after that, but before I needed to sub players in (when I would have asked her), she was already telling me "Coach, I’m ready to go back in". She wasn’t seriously hurt, but went through a scary experience and was ready to play some more. Blood Patch. This patch will be the hardest patch to get. Though, we did award one during our first match. Our keeper at the time took a kick to the cheek and went down. Luckily he didn’t get cut and just had a nasty scrape on his cheek, but it was clear it hurt a lot. I was ready to sit him down, but he insisted he was fine and we didn’t see any serious problems (blurred vision, unsteadiness, etc.) so he kept playing. Again - I’ll never make or encourage a player play hurt, but if they exhibit bravery or toughness in a situation like the above. They get the patch. And it doesn’t have to be the result of injury:

One of our girls swore this season that no football ball would ever touch her head. The one time we worked on headers and I got things started gently bouncing the ball off her head at 6 inches away, tears welled up in her eyes. Heading was NOT her thing. During our last match, a ball got cleared towards her and it was a good 15+ feet in the air. She stepped right under it and BAM! headed it right back towards the goal. The parents went crazy.

That kind of bravery and toughness earns The Blood Patch. The kids love the name.

One common question is where to put them. Many put them on the sleeve of their shirt or on their shorts leg. Baseball caps, football bags, etc. are other common places. However, I believe as a team you need to settle one the same spot to put them. We decided to have them put the patches on the right leg of their black shorts. They stand out a lot and are easy to see. If other teams start doing this, one idea is to have parents buy the shorts to keep since they aren’t very expensive, while the rest of the kit stays with the team. Other teams get new kit every year, so it’s not a huge issue.

I’ll admit this is an experiment. I’ve heard from other coaches who do patches and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. But it is easy to see how it could discourage some kids if it’s not handled properly. My goal is to try and strike the right balance between making them achievable and still making them desirable. We awarded about 5 after our first match and I’ll likely award patches retroactively in certain cases after I’ve had more time to go over a match in my head. If everyone earns them all, I have 66 patches to award in 8 matches (though I might be able to award a few in the tournament matches). The hardest thing about doing this is keeping track of the match, the score, and noting when I or my assistants feel an award is justified.
 

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football patches UK © 2008 Steve Watson.