Building a Girl's Team and League: A Blog

[Jerzy]

Sounds like it was fun, and that is why we do this. Glad it came after that dork father you had to deal with a couple of weeks back, wash that taste right out of your mouth...

[Val]

I'm getting excited now. It's a new year and this spring I will be fielding my long-awaited (well long-awaited by me) girls U11 travel team. I selected the first 12 girls based on their play and their parents' willingness to have them play (though my best player might not play because of church considerations). I still don't know if the league will have sufficient interest in an 8v8 format (they may go 11v11) in which case I'll have to recruit more girls, and that'll be fine because I have maybe 10 more girls who I'd be very happy with. I just prefer the 8v8 game since 7 of the 12 played small field 6v6 this fall.

Money is going to be an issue. I lost two sponsors from last year and 2 more told me they'd contribute less than they originally committed for.

I'm formally inviting the girls via letters which go out today and tomorrow, so the time in now.

[Jerzy]

Good luck with that. I know you're champing at the bit, but it seems a little early for Selection Sunday. Or did that other team materialize that you were worried about?

[Val]

No, the other team didn't materialize because I invited the other coach's daughter to play on my team. He was a little burnt-out -- he had two teams in the fall and a winter team (which means lots of longer drives and the tedium of fighting to schedule practices indoors) and needed a break. He just wanted to have a team for his daughter to play on.

Well, I have my team, and it has been a long hard slog, that is unfortunately, not over. I have 16 girls and we're playing full-sided 11v11 which is not what I wanted. Lots of boys U10 - U12 teams playing 8v8, but there are almost 25 girls teams in the same three age brackets, and everyone but mine wanted to play 11v11. What gives?

My team is very strong, I was able to get the best player in the county to play. Traditionally travel/premier teams in the states play their games on Sundays, and her family wanted to save Sundays for church, but she played on a boy's team indoor and has just gotten to the point where she's tired of boys. I've got a stud goalkeeper, and three or five other girls who would like to play keeper as well, so that my stud is not "stuck' in goal, which she is apparently getting tired of. And there were three very good, athletic lacrosse players in my original group, and I got two of them to sign up to play with me. Of my original 12 targets, 10 will be on the team.

So now it is up to me. I've got a good group of girls, but of course, we'll be playing other good girl's teams. One of the interesting dynamics this season is that 10 of the 16 parents have coaching experience themselves, so I am hoping to get a lot of feedback about how I am doing, and to try to get them involved so that I can learn from them. 10 years ago I might have intimidated a bit, but know, this will only be a positive experience.

Still have to do a ton of admin work -- lining up another sponsor, getting the stamped/approved team rosters, securing a practice and game field -- and I'm planning a fundraiser 4x4 tournament, so the season can't start soon enough. I figure I have made over 250 phone calls and sent out 125 e-mails in the past 5 weeks. I need to make sure that my expectations for a great season don't overwhelm the girls.