All-Star Keeping International Teams Intact

[idrive]

I am hoping some coaches and add some to this but all input is appreciated. Our IOC5 team started out extremely strong and has dwindled as the year has progressed. It is utterly shocking and inexcuseable to me the lack of committment with people today. Our costs are very minimul but no free and we keep our practices on a once a week schedule. I'm curious as to how other teams / programs combat this or is it an unfortunate reality with kids today.

 

[Ren]

I am hoping some coaches and add some to this but all input is appreciated. Our IOC5 team started out extremely strong and has dwindled as the year has progressed. It is utterly shocking and inexcuseable to me the lack of committment with people today. Our costs are very minimul but no free and we keep our practices on a once a week schedule. I'm curious as to how other teams / programs combat this or is it an unfortunate reality with kids today.

I guess it's sort of different over here because almost all of our level 5 and 6 teams are IO. The way quite a few of the teams handle it is have a weekend every fortnight or month with intense training. So group stunts/partner stunts will be expected to practice outside of training and obviously you need to condition outside of training, but the whole team practices only occur once a fortnight/month (although there will usually be 3 or 4 distinct sessions over the weekend I think). This makes it easier for the people travelling from all over the country (small country!) and means it's not a very regular commitment.
Not sure if whether that could work for you, but good luck!

 

[mstealtoyou]

kingston could write a book I'm sure!!!

 

[King]

I am hoping some coaches and add some to this but all input is appreciated. Our IOC5 team started out extremely strong and has dwindled as the year has progressed. It is utterly shocking and inexcuseable to me the lack of committment with people today. Our costs are very minimul but no free and we keep our practices on a once a week schedule. I'm curious as to how other teams / programs combat this or is it an unfortunate reality with kids today.

Some of my suggestions are:

Make sure all costs of competition are paid for by the athlete. This may mean talented people who cannot pay cannot be on your team. In the end that is a good thing.

Have them pay a large deposit up front which is refundable if you don't compete. People come to practice if they have paid up front.

Do NOT be afraid to kick people off and replace them. If someone skips a practice and there is no punishment... why shouldn't everyone skip practice when they have something they would rather do.

Make sure the coaches never skip practice. If a coach skips practice why do the athletes always have to come.

The coach needs to take this team as seriously as any other team.

By strict about being on time. My favorite is all athletes owe me two hours. If the last person gets there 15 minutes later you end 15 minutes later. If that person doesnt fix their lateness, remove them.

Be realistic with skills and expectations. If you tell them they are going to win Worlds and you honestly have no chance then halfway through the season people will start abandoning ship and not care because they will realize they haven't lived up to their expectations. I have had Worlds winning caliber teams and teams I hope would place top 5. But I was always honest in my assessment and could repeatedly have people come back year after year because they, overall, enjoyed it.

Do not compare yourself to the top three at Worlds in IOC5. All three exist in a VERY different environment and how they do things is not very repeatable at other places.

And if you have any questions just post. At the end of the day all programs take between 3-5 years to build and reach a good level, if they are ever possible to reach a high level. Because of the amount of athletes and infrastructure in Alaska it is very hard for them to put together a Worlds winning team. Make sure you are assessing the situation as accurately as possible and to what is possible with others.

 

[Ashley]

I'm not a coach, but I've been on a lot of open teams and I agree with a lot of the things Kingston has said.

The teams that have been the most dedicated are the ones where the coach doesn't let anyone get away with missing practices. You cannot tell him an hour before practice that you're not coming or there will be repercussions.

He is at practice on time and takes it seriously. It's hard for me to be motivated to give up every Sunday if the coach doesn't show that he or she is dedicated.

Run practice like any of your other teams, have a plan, be prepared for what you want us to work on. I hate when we free stunt for two hours because a few people are missing. Even if we only have 15 people, we could still work on something real.

I really think it comes down a lot to the coaching. We only practice once a week, but if you treat us like a Sunday night fun team, we'll act that way.

 

[idrive]

All good information. We do have them pay for thier amount and actually do a one day competition that they must work to pick up the remaining costs. What has been beyond me this year is we have had people pay and not show up. One actually texted our coach and asked for thier money back as we were on our way back from the competition he no showed with no call or text to explain.

These guys are pretty tough on them since they are an older group but it is frustrating to them that this problem exists. Tonight will be the first practice that one of the coached won't be able to be here as he signed up to judge a competition and they flew him out early. We have been to Worlds 7 years running and I fear this year we may not make it. The goal has always been to do our best hit our routine regardless of difficulty and see where we come out.

We are in a smaller state where talent isn't as thick as it is in Texas and have turned some very talented kids away because of past transgressions. I hate to see these guys trying to do things the right way with this team and struggling with it. They deserve much better than that. Our other teams are doing very well but these IOC kids are wearing me out and I don't even coach them!

 

[idrive]

kingston could write a book I'm sure!!!

He probably already has it just isn't published yet!

 

[King]

All good information. We do have them pay for thier amount and actually do a one day competition that they must work to pick up the remaining costs. What has been beyond me this year is we have had people pay and not show up. One actually texted our coach and asked for thier money back as we were on our way back from the competition he no showed with no call or text to explain.

These guys are pretty tough on them since they are an older group but it is frustrating to them that this problem exists. Tonight will be the first practice that one of the coached won't be able to be here as he signed up to judge a competition and they flew him out early. We have been to Worlds 7 years running and I fear this year we may not make it. The goal has always been to do our best hit our routine regardless of difficulty and see where we come out.

We are in a smaller state where talent isn't as thick as it is in Texas and have turned some very talented kids away because of past transgressions. I hate to see these guys trying to do things the right way with this team and struggling with it. They deserve much better than that. Our other teams are doing very well but these IOC kids are wearing me out and I don't even coach them!

Last bit of advice: always remember an open team doesn't HAVE to exist. You cannot be scared to walk away from it if it is a losing proposition. I tell everyone when we start we have a team because we have enough people talented to make this team if we all agree to do it together. But if they don't want to be there than don't make the team happen.

 

[idrive]

Last bit of advice: always remember an open team doesn't HAVE to exist. You cannot be scared to walk away from it if it is a losing proposition. I tell everyone when we start we have a team because we have enough people talented to make this team if we all agree to do it together. But if they don't want to be there than don't make the team happen.

That's the what we did with our all girl team last year. We didn't have enough athletes to field a competitive "high school" team regardless if we went all girl or coed. This year we took a healthy mix that would have been good this year but they have been dropping along the way.

As our younger kids age up and if they continue to progress as some are doing we should have a good all girl and/or coed team in the next two years as long as we don't loose our current level 5 kids due to lack of those kids currently.

Again guys and girls thanks for all the advice. It will be put to good use.

 

[sarah_cheergirl]

Goodness this is all so true, its a huge problem with my team. As Kingston said, if there's no consequences for missing practices, what will keep people coming? We have a huge problem with people coming 30 minutes late, strolling in whenever they please or not coming at all. Its EXTREMELY frustrating for those who are dedicated (including myself, and I'm just an alternate). Its so frustrating to come to every practice on time and ready to go and not be on the team, and see everyone else miss practice and come late and have no consequences.