Queensland Christian Soccer Association

QCSA Director of Coaching
The Queensland Christian Soccer Association has a Director of Coaching to assist players and coaches to further their abilities.
The D.O.C. in 2008 is Tibor Hagymas (0414 433 420).

"You'll Never Walk Alone" 2008 Report

Click here to download this document in Microsoft Word 2007 format.

"Coaching Values to Senior Players"

Click here to download this document in Microsoft Word 2007 format.

"PLAN - work the PLAN - enjoy the fruits of your LABOUR"

A report by the QCSA Director of Coaching - November 2007

Hi to all players, coaches, administrators and friends involved with QCSA in 2007. It is that time again when we can reflect on the season, either in our own achievements individually or that of the collective, either our team or else the whole club. Did you achieve any or all of your goals?

Some may recall the theme for 2007 promoted in this column (purely from a coaching perspective) along the lines of, “Let the Kids Play!” As a coach, and/or parent, were you successful in this outcome? To give you an opportunity to self-evaluate yourself, be honest in self-assessing your performance in the following:

Did you seek assistance from other coaches or parents to help you with the team?
Did you seek further knowledge by attending clinics, coaching courses, watched other teams train or searched books or the internet, to assist your coaching?
Were you calm and showed restraint for most of the time whilst in charge?
Did you give no more than 3 instructions/goals for the team at the beginning of the game and asked the kids if they understood? (Of course, you would have shown some of these points to the kids at training!)
Did you focus on the goals instead of the scoreline in your half-time talk?
At the end of the game, did you lead by example and shake hands with the opposing coach and referee, at ALL times?
At the end of the game, were players given opportunity to select times or moments when another player did a positive thing?
At trainings, did you let the players work problems out (for example 2 v. 2, and each team has two goals to attack) instead of telling them everything?
Remember, the wise coach who once remarked that it takes at least 400 times of practice to finally master something. So did you at least give the kids plenty of opportunities to practice skills and drills to improve (and at their own pace)?
Finally, did you admit to yourself (and others at times) that you may have made a mistake in training or the game situation, but that you will learn from it?

For those who got nine or ten affirmative answers, do it all again next year! If you didn’t, select two or three points as your goal for 2008 and enjoy the challenge of being a good coach, or should I say, a respected coach!!! By the way, did I forget to tell you all to reward yourself? For those who already set goals you’re probably aware of this point anyway, but when you achieve some of your goals (even if not all) give yourself a reward for achieving this honourable achievement. It might actually encourage you to set more goals next year, and benefit from more rewards once you achieve them!

Whilst on the topic of rewards, the inaugural “Player of the Year” Night was certainly one of the highlights of the year with players being rewarded for good play and fair play. The SCM should be congratulated on this initiative, and whilst still in its infancy, will grow to be an important date in the QCSA calendar. It is not often that players and coaches can wine and dine amongst each other and celebrate being part of a greater organization, other than in the heat of the moment during games.

Another way in which coaches worked together is at the ever-growing (free) coaching clinics during pre-season and into the early part of the season. Twelve clinics were conducted throughout the QCSA clubs and were well supported with coaches (especially first-time coaches) being shown the basics of a training session. The U.6-8 sessions were the most popular, but the U.9-15 sessions were aimed more at the big-field specialists and the more experienced coaches. The questions and ideas in the discussion that followed were a highlight on many occasions as by putting the question forward other coaches could question their own coaching values or techniques, which only made their knowledge expand even more. At least 30 teams sent coaches along to these sessions and should be congratulated on their willingness to improve and learn about new ideas.

Congratulations to the Open Women’s and Under 14 Boys State squads (and their coaches and managers) for their success at the Nationals held in Victoria in October. Peter Smale and Rod Brozovich have lead the squads to two consecutive successes and are looking for the hat-trick in 2008 on home soil in Queensland. Welcome to James Colefax for his first season in the coaching ranks at the State level as he took the Under 17 Boys this year in a close fought competition. Andrew Millward’s third year at the helm of the Open Men’s squad didn’t quite match the success of the 2005 Champion outfit, with narrow losses to NSW, Victoria and a team from NZ.

Finally, I would like to thank the SCM and all club administrators in the monumental efforts you have all put in this year, with the weather, first the drought making fields difficult to play on, and then the rain (of course we didn’t might this at all!) causing many changes, especially at the State Titles and one of the dates during the Final’s series. Hopefully, each and every member of your club who has valiantly helped out has been given credit for their loyal services throughout the year, either by word or deed.

Wishing you all a merry Christmas and an opportunity to relax with your families and come back to the soccer fray all enthused and ‘chomping at the bits’ to play the beautiful game all over again.

God Bless

Tibor Hagymas
(QCSA DOC)

"Let the Kids Play!"

A report by the QCSA Director of Coaching - March 2007

Ahh, the excitement of a new season!

After a fantastic year of soccer last year, at all levels of the game, we’re all chomping at the bits to get back into it again. Fields are abuzz with young and old running about in preparation for season 2007 … and heaven help the poor and bedraggled club administrators as they race about for long hours in trying to get everything in place so the players can enjoy playing on the weekend.

The theme for 2007, from purely a coaching perspective, is “Let the kids play!”

After the resounding success of “silent Saturday” trialled last season (congratulations to Wayne Bass on his initiative) – well in the majority of people’s eyes at least, this theme will be encouraged throughout this season to provide greater enjoyment for many more people involved in the game each week.

Firstly, let’s look at the coaching perspective. Volunteer coaches are to be congratulated on taking up the challenges of coaching, in most cases their child’s team. By taking on this responsibility each and every coach should endeavour to make the learning experience of each of their young soccer players as beneficial as possible. The following areas may be used as a guide to achieving this goal and can, realistically should, be adapted to each and individual case:-

as a coach or manager of a team, try to attend a coaching course [from FREE clinics run by the QCSA to FFA coaching courses eg. Grassroots – 3 hours ($25), Junior licence – 16 hours ($165), and further levels consequently];
when you’re a coach, try to get others to help you eg. Manager, Sports trainer, etc. to lessen your load but make your experience more enjoyable as you focus on the development of young players as your major role;
remain calm as much as possible and call all players in a group to address them on certain issues;
at half-time ask the players whether they had achieved the goals set at the beginning of the game and then set 3 more goals or else have 3 goals involving some of the ones that hadn’t been achieved in the 1st half and remember to focus on the goals and not on the score!!!
at the end of the game, much the same as at half-time, except that you may ask players to nominate another player who did something good or positive for the team eg. a great throw-in, encouraged others, etc.
at training the following week work on one part of the game that may need improving and let the kids have opportunity to practice this in a variety of ways….please be patient, as a well known AFL coach used to say, that it takes 400 goes at something before most people actually master the skill!!!

In all of this, the three key points are:-
1. try to get some coaching knowledge from attending courses, watching other coaches perform at similar levels to yours, reading books, reviewing DVDs, etc.
2. set simple, clear goals that can be attained by your players
3. be calm and collected in instructing your players and ask them questions instead of TELLING them what to do! Let them work it out.

This final point is extremely crucial to our theme of “Let the Kids Play!”

Not only should you design small-sided fun games at training, but you should refrain from giving a running commentary of the game and yelling out instructions to your players. By giving them clear instructions and having practiced some of these moves at training each week, the players should begin to understand what is required of them and hopefully work towards perfecting them… but remember, to do it at least 400 times, may in fact take a few years to accomplish … so don’t be too hard on yourself as a coach.

The lesson from silent Saturday soccer was that the young players were empowered to work things out for themselves rather than be told by well-meaning adults what to do, time and time again. Which would you prefer if you were in the same situation?

Which would be more rewarding for you personally when you actually worked it out?

Have a great 2007 season and please remember to thank your club administrators for their endless work, especially at the beginning of each season.

God Bless

Tibor Hagymas
(QCSA DOC)

"Ingredients for a Well-Adjusted Child in the 21st Century"

A report by the QCSA Director of Coaching - July 2006

Hi to everyone associated with Christian soccer.

It's that time of the season again when for many it is a time to recharge the batteries and prepare for the second half of the season with renewed passion and boundless energy. As in past years, the last month has seen two significant QCSA events take place: the State Titles and the Mega Sportz Soccer Camp (although the QCSA Chair - Shayne Rochfort will outline another exciting Soccer Camp held in the holiday period on the north side of Brisbane, at a later date.). I would like to highlight the resounding success of the State Titles once more, and congratulate the selfless workers who toiled for many hours, and in their self-sacrifice helped others enjoy the competition yet again. The modifications to the draw were also a resounding success. Well done & thank you!

I will give you my personal account of my observations of these perennial events and how they shape my own spiritual growth. But before I do so, I would like to share an article titled "The Meanest Mother" and a prayer called, "God has a Sense of Humour too", to illustrate my observations of Christian soccer in Queensland.

1. The Meanest Mother
"I had the meanest mother in the world. While other kids had lollies for breakfast, I had to eat cereal, egg and toast. While other kids had cans of drinks and lollies for lunch, I had to have a sandwich. As you can guess, my dinner was different from other kids too - as well as the food, we had to eat it at a table and not in front of the television.

I am ashamed to admit it, but my mother had the nerve to break child labour laws. She made us work! We had to wash dishes, make our beds and even learn how to cook. That woman must have stayed awake at nights just thinking up things for us kids to do. She always insisted that we tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

By the time we were teenagers, our whole life became even more unbearable. No tooting the car horn for the girls in our family to come running. She embarrassed us by insisting that the boys come to the door and get us.

She really raised a bunch of squares. None of us kids were ever arrested for shoplifting, or busted for dope, and who do we thank for this? You're right, our mean mother. Every day we hear cries from politicians and every day folks what our country really needs. What our country really needs is more mean mothers like mine!" (Anonymous)

2. God has a Sense of Humour too
"Lord, how wonderful it is to have a sense of humour and to be aware of the funny side of life. Smiles, laughter and friends who have these qualities, are indeed special gifts. Let them show these qualities, especially when people are too serious and sad. Amen."

So how do these two messages fit in with the QCSA State Titles and the Mega Sportz Soccer Camp? They both recognize values and a sense of humour in moulding children to become respectable young adults in today's society. Throughout both days of the State Titles, and the weeklong Camp (three days at Camp Moogerah and the two days at Boonah), I was heartened in what I saw, time and time again. Good old-fashioned values being demonstrated by the majority of the young children (and of course modelled by the adults - both young and old) both on and off the field.

Some of the values included: sportsmanship being displayed during and after games, equal amount of time in playing for all players, parents and players thanking the coach at the end of games, teams celebrating their time away together with a BBQ or small party afterwards (regardless of the results), good manners being displayed at meal times, young people cleaning up their group's plates and glasses after meals, young people helping with the washing up, lining up in queues in a sensible fashion, offering to help others before being asked to … and the list goes on and on. For the most part, coaches and leaders demonstrated positive values for the children to follow, in a positive atmosphere of fun and laughter, and as I mentioned before, in almost all instances we were able to witness responsible actions as a result.

Of course, there will always be a few who, at this stage of their lives, believe that everything revolves around them or else that the world owes them a living. There are those children whose parents don't give responsibilities to match their rights, and consequently, fail to see the positive values in their child/children on a regular basis and then go on to blame society for this.

So in all this, don't just tell your children what to do, but show them in your actions. Spend time together as a family - and in this day and age there are a number of forms of what represents family - and learn to laugh, to share and to experience life together, so your children can then do the same when they associate with other people at school, sporting teams, youth groups, etc.

Coaching Courses
Firstly, I would like to commend Graham Baldwin (SCM - Development Chair) and Steve Lenthall prior to him, in having the vision to propose and then implement the FREE Coach Education clinics that have been very successful throughout the 1st half of the 2006. FREE Clinics have been conducted at: Blackstone, Logan Uniting, Murrumba Downs, Holland Park, Rosewood, St Catherine's and Tarragindi, and almost 200 QCSA club coaches have benefited by attending. As well, Goal-keeping clinics at Sunnybank, Murrumba Downs and Rosewood, were well attended with approximately 100 goal-keepers and/or coaches attending these.

A number of these coaches have indicated that the two hour session has stirred up an interest to learn more, and consequently, there will be courses at the end of the season to cater for this demand.

** Junior Licence course 2199 - Level 1A (Football Federation Australia accredited)
Cost: $125 (2 x 8 hours)
Date: Sat. 14 & 21 Oct. 2006 (both days) from 9.00am to 5.00pm
Venue: Brittain Park - Troughton Rd, Coopers Plains

** Youth Licence course 2201 - Level 1B (FFA accredited)
[please note: You must have a Junior Licence before attending this course]
Cost: $165 (3 x 8 hours)
Date: Sat. 28 Oct , Sat 4 and 11 Nov. (3 days) from 9.00am to 5.00pm
Venue: Brittain Pk & Sunnybank Saints (Lister St)

Club delegates, please pass this on to all your coaches.

These dates are definite and have been booked into the FFA calendar. If you would like to attend, you will need to book in advance (note: 1st 25 coaches will be accepted and FFA has a policy "1st in best dressed"). You may want to ask your clubs beforehand, if they would subsidize your fees. To book, you can access the FFA website or else the Football Qld website. (You can get websites from "Google" search). Click on "Coaching" or "Courses" and go to Junior Lic course 2199, or to Youth Lic course 2201, and then follow the prompts. Please make sure the course coach is "Tibor Hagymas".

If you have any questions or concerns, (for example may not be able to attend for the whole day) please call me on 0414 433 420 or else email me on hagy163t@hotmail.com.

For those coaches, or clubs, who have yet to access the Active Factor Top Shots Program, please do so as the site contains information on how to get FREE kits of skill based practices for Junior soccer players. The site is: http://www.activefactor.com.au.

To wrap up, hope you have a great 2nd half of the year and may you continue your "journey" in life in walking with God. As my earlier part of my article indicates, the majority of parents are leading their children in a positive way and the 'gospel values' are evident in the actions/deeds of their children. Parents and leaders of all ages, please remember that values really haven't changed over the generations that much, but fashions and fads have - and it would be wise to explain this to people of all ages! Ahh yes, let's not forget to lead our children with fun and laughter and show them that God too has a sense of humour. These two ingredients, values and a sense of good humour, may in fact be the ones necessary in raising children into the 21st Century. But then again, having seen a number of your children playing sport and in other everyday activities, you already know that, as evident in the actions of your children.

For God Through Sport

Tibor Hagymas
(QCSA DOC)