How are English Clubs Organized???

[lanesra]

In regards to the following, posted in another thread:

Originally Posted by addas10

hi thanks for welcomming me yea i know some stuff is far to detailed to teach the under 8's i coach although as we have 7 coaches we have allocated ourselves to split between 2 teams so i dont seemuch of the under 8s now.

How are your clubs organized? Seems like most coaches here get to stay with their kids for several years in a row. At the club level here, we tend to get a new team every year, except for any children you might have. It is not until kids reach a select, or travel, level that I'd see any continuity of players, and even then I'd have to have a travel club. I'm in a pretty rural area, so we're still sort of relaxed and it's only coaches who decide to create travel teams, not so much the clubs themselves (leading last year to two dualing U11 boys travels teams when there's not really the talent pool for two).

Could you switch clubs, or is that considered mercenary? I could go to the next county over and be in their club, but that would mean more travel than I want, and again, I'm just at the recreational level.

[ian.curry]

We tend to keep the same team at our club, I have for 7 years - although many players have come and gone.
I doubt I be fondly thought of if I did go to another club, but thats not to say I couldn't.

Some teams in the area do have coaches staying with the same age group every year - perhaps introducing new, fresh ideas to the kids.

[Cookie]

Originally Posted by lanesra

Seems like most coaches here get to stay with their kids for several years in a row.

I'd say that the vast majority of folks that get involved at youth level in the UK do so because their own son starts off playing. So they stay with that team from start to finish. It is very rare, at this level, to find people getting involved and staying involved with say one age group and then moving them on to the next guy.

[ian.curry]

Also very true, most do get into via their son/nephew. In fact, in my club of 13 teams, only 3 are managed by people who don't have their son in the team.

I think that perhaps very well organised clubs may well pass teams on through the ages, I myself would like to see that happen at my club(although I don't want to give up my own team!)

Ideally each manager would be with an age group for 2-3 years, eg 8-10,11-13,14-17.

[Asgoodasthelast]

Our Premier/Select club tries to rotate coaches every 2 years, this gives the players a different perspective of the game and the coach gets a fresh start, which can be good thing just to refresh coaching philosophies and upgrade knowledge. We also have to attend at least one coaching course or education course each year.
The downside for players, is sometimes the next coach is not at the same level as the previous, or is as empathetic to abilities of the individual. Coaches however can go from a competitive team to a "WHY" team, meaning "why am I here"!!!