Lately Jill hasn’t felt like herself. Her friends have noticed it, too.

Mia was surprised when Jill turned down her invitation to go to the mall last Saturday. There was really no reason not to go, but Lindsay just didn’t feel like it. Instead, she spent most of Saturday sleeping.

Staying in more than usual isn’t the only change in Jill. She’s always been a really good student. But over the past couple of months her grades have fallen and she has trouble concentrating. She forgot to turn in a paper that was due and is having a hard time getting motivated to study for her finals.

Jill feels tired all the time but has difficulty falling asleep. She’s gained weight too. When her mother asks her what’s wrong, Jill just feels like crying. But she doesn’t know why. Nothing particularly bad has happened. Yet Jill feels sad all the time and can’t shake it.

Jill may not realize it yet, but she is depressed.

Depression is very common and affects as many as 1 in 8 people in their teen years. Depression affects people of every color, race, economic status, or age; however, it does seem to affect more girls than guys.

Responses to Depression

Sometimes friends or family members recognize that someone is depressed. They may respond with love, kindness, or support, hoping that the sadness will soon pass. They may offer to listen if the person wants to talk. If the depressed feeling doesn’t pass with a little time, friends or loved ones may encourage the person to get help from a doctor, therapist, or counselor.

But not everyone recognizes depression when it happens to someone they know.

Some people don’t really understand about depression. For example, they may react to a depressed person’s low energy with criticism, yelling at the person for acting lazy or not trying harder. Some mistakenly believe that depression is just an attitude or a mood that someone can shake off. It’s not that easy.

Sometimes even people who are depressed don’t take their condition seriously enough. Some feel that they are weak in some way because they are depressed. This is wrong — and it can even be harmful if it causes people to hide their depression and avoid getting help.

Occasionally, when depression causes physical symptoms (things like headaches or other stress-related problems), a person may see a doctor. Once in a while, even a well-meaning doctor may not realize somebody is depressed, and just treat the physical symptoms.

Why Do People Get Depressed?

There is no single cause for depression. Many factors play a role including genetics, environment, life events, medical conditions, and the way people react to things that happen in their lives.

Genetics

Research shows that depression runs in families and that some people inherit genes that make it more likely for them to get depressed. Not everyone who has the genetic makeup for depression gets depressed, though. And many people who have no family history of depression have the condition. So although genes are one factor, they aren’t the single cause of depression.

Life Events

The death of a family member, friend, or pet can go beyond normal grief and sometimes lead to depression. Other difficult life events, such as when parents divorce, separate, or remarry, can trigger depression. Even events like moving or changing schools can be emotionally challenging enough that a person becomes depressed.

Family and Social Environment

For some teens, a negative, stressful, or unhappy family atmosphere can affect their self-esteem and lead to depression. This can also include high-stress living situations such as poverty; homelessness; and violence in the family, relationships, or community.

Substance use and abuse also can cause chemical changes in the brain that affect mood — alcohol and some drugs are known to have depressant effects. The negative social and personal consequences of substance abuse also can lead to severe unhappiness and depression.

Medical Conditions

Certain medical conditions can affect hormone balance and therefore have an effect on mood. Some conditions, such as hypothyroidism, are known to cause a depressed mood in some people. When these medical conditions are diagnosed and treated by a doctor, the depression usually disappears.

For some teens, undiagnosed learning disabilities might block school success, hormonal changes might affect mood, or physical illness might present challenges or setbacks.

Don’t be afraid to speak out and Seek Help.

Our thanks to the medical group DFYA in allowing this article to be used on swoopercoach.

I have found “reward nights” to be successful and a bit of fun for the guys, it works a bit like this:

REWARDS NIGHTS TRAINING SESSIONS: by Steve Pascoe 16/17′s Secret Harbour Dockers W.A.

I try to get a “rewards” training session in at least once a month, I have found it a great way to get a bit of fun into training while at the same time generating a “game based competition session”.

These sessions do not have to be a whole training session, they could just be a couple of “games” near the end of training.

I get simple little things like jelly snakes or frogs as “prizes” for each “game” and give these at the end of each game.

I managed to get some rubber footys from a local sports shop for $2 each, I use them as prizes for longer reward sessions.

It’s not really about the quality of the prize, it’s about having something to acknowledge the winners.

Game example:

Line everyone up, go along counting 1,2,3 you’re a team, 1,2,3, you’re a team,  etc.

Each team gets a footy.

The object is to move the ball, up and down the ground, goal to goal twice without the ball touching the ground as fast as possible.

If the ball touches ground, team goes back and starts again. Everyone starts at the same time in the gaol square.

First team wins, they get reward and set penalty for losers, pushups etc.

Each player within the team must touch the ball at least once on each leg. Players can “spoil” other teams.

This game promotes decision making (do I run to space or spoil, do I run past and receive handball if other team mate is making position, create options) run to space, as well as skills perfection. Just like in a real game one bad kick can cost you.

There are many similar type games you can use, you are only limited by your imagination or the drills resourses you have.

I hope this idea helps you, have a great season of footy, the greatest game on the planet.

Cheers

Steve

One of the biggest challenges in coaching junior players is that training sessions must suit the whole group generally, rather than assist the individual with skill development.

There are of course a number of reasons for this, such as a shortage of time, coaching assistance and lack of equipment. Another area to address is the varying degrees of skill amongst the group and the fact that their  attention span is short.
We will attempt to address some of the obvious problems so that when you start working with the youngsters you will be able to address these problems.
Junior coaching is one of the most satisfying parts of football and one of the most important for the future of the players development.  The booklet is an A5 size easy to throw in your kit bag.

Keep up the great work.
Happy Coaching
John “Swooper” Northey

To purchase go to shop

Read on to learn about a simple program that will increase the strength and fitness of all your players.

If you are having a tough time getting your players motivated at training or would like to offer a new challenge for your team I would suggestyou check out the website http://www.onehundredpushups.com.

Here you will find a simple and easy to follow program that will challenge players of all fitness levels and provide a great motivational tool as your players start to see quick results as the sessions go by.

If your current training sessions are already loaded with game plan and tactics consider setting this program as a “Homework” task for your players.  If you are in control of a country club where your players have difficulty getting into training this is a great program to do at home that will provide a great base in strength and fitness.

Anyway this is bordering on sounding like a late night commercial for fitness equipment but thats the great part – theres no expensive weights or special requirements to undertake this program and the results are amazing.

Check out the site and let me know what you think – remember a push-up and any other work out excercise should be done in a safe and correct manner, both to avoid injury and maximize its effectiveness.  There are tonnes of resources online and at onehundredpushups.com to ensure proper technique in these excercises, heres a great guide on how to do a proper push up.

Too Easy?

So you are a coach of incredibly fit players – excellent! You can still take advantage of the program though, alternate Push Ups with other excercises such as

• Pull ups  Chin Ups – if you have a player who can complete 100 pull ups please send us a video!
• Tricept Dips
• Reduce Rest Time
• Alternate excercises in a circuit routine Push Ups, Squats, Situps, Pushups do all 3 exercises, 1 rep at a time

If any of our Swooper Coaches give this a whirl let us know how you go – how many of your team made it to the end of the 6 weeks and can now complete 100 push ups?

The game becomes a lot easier when you are stronger and fitter than your opposition.

Players will not only lose valuable fitness while they are injured and unable to train, but will also lose their judgement and eye/hand co-ordination. Their awareness will also deteriorate. Obviously there are going to be some injuries to players that will prevent them from doing any sort of training. Medical opinions must be respected and any player who may be at risk of further injury should not be encouraged to be involved in ball work. This section is more for players with injuries that will keep them from training or playing for three to four weeks, and players who are in their final stages of rehabilitation. I have always believed that too much emphasis is placed on getting players back from injury to play, simply because they have recovered. What we as coaches forget is that if a player’s skill level has suffered, so will their confidence, which may potentially create further injuries.

In the past, I have believed that if a player is unable to run because of injury, he should be able to handball, and if he is unable to handball, he should be able to run. I realise now that this is not necessarily correct. However, in most cases there is always something players could be doing. It could be as simple as a game of table tennis, which will keep the players reflexes and eye/hand co-ordination sharp.

For obvious reasons, most of the drills for injured players in this section allow for them to be stationary and to work within their individual limitations. It is also vital that all injured players are supervised when doing ball work, as players become over enthusiastic and will always test their injuries at the worst possible times. Players, who have been inactive for a length of time, will become fatigued quickly and as a result the risk of further or new injuries is greater.

The first consideration must always be for the type of injury the player has. Where possible, separate players into groups, so they are all capable of similar work. Also be mindful of players with soft tissue injuries. Select drills that are going to give these players touch work for ball control rather than using drills to enhance fitness.
At the start of training, set up your warm up and short hands drill sessions to cater for some of these injured players. In the early part of training, it is possible to set up a working grid, where players work in lanes to handball, short kick or work at ground level. Try setting up one lane with different coloured cones for injured players and modify their tasks accordingly. Remember to keep the intensity out of training these players until you are sure that they are capable of completing it without risk of injury.

Challenge the players mentally rather than physically in these sessions. It is important to get them thinking and making decisions. It may be as simple as three players in a triangle. Two players have footballs and they alternate passing the ball to the third player, looking to put him under pressure. If the receiving player has a ball kicked to him, he must handball back. If he receives a handball, he must kick it back. Encourage the players to vary the ways in which the ball is given and also encourage them to speed up the play when the receiving player needs extra pressure.

Please ensure you have Adobe Flash Player installed to watch the videos provided with this training presentation. You can download the Flash Player here if required.

The Warm Up

This can be the least motivating and most undesirable part of training for the footballer. However it is an area requiring structure and thought if coaches are to help their players improve their running technique.

The warm up must prepare the players to a level where high speed activities can be performed. The warm up should begin with slow running or an activity that uses the larger muscle groups of the body.

Once the warm up has been completed, then a series of running drills can be performed to teach the players how to run correctly. Some of the drills are as follows:

Drill Guidelines

Each drill should be performed over 20 metres, before each drill each player should:

• Lean forward slightly – place shoulders in front of hips.
• ” Stand Tall ” throughout the drill.
• Contract their stomach and flatten their back.
• Relax through the shoulders and upper body.
• While running keep the head still and eyes looking forward.

You should continually re-inforce these messages to your players whilst they are undertaking each drill to ensure they are completed correctly.

Browse to the next page for the first of our suggested running drills which covers, High Knees Marching / Skipping / Running.

A crucial aspect to all your players and especially the hard running midfield. A proper running technique will help your players avoid injury and reduce fatigue and increase speed.

Video to follow shortly.

FITNESS & REHABILITATION CO-ORDINATOR

Job descriptions are essential. Job descriptions are required for recruitment so that you (Coach)and the applicants can understand the role. Job descriptions are necessary for all people in work & sport. A job description defines a person’s role and accountability. Without a job description it is not possible for a person to properly commit to, or be held accountable for, a role. Pass this document onto the Fitness/Rehab Coach.

JOB DESCRIPTION (General)
FITNESS & REHABILITATION CO-ORDINATOR

DUTIES

Responsible to the Senior Coach and the Football Manager

Take part or all of the Senior squad for fitness training, including the implementation of a weights program ( in consultation with the Senior Coach, with respect to the overall training program)

Assist the Senior Coach with the conduct of the training session, where this is possible.(if this doesn’t conflict with the above)

Organise and conduct training and rehabilitation exercise programs for all injured players (ie players unable to participate in the full training sessions as planned by the Senior Coach)

Report to the Senior Coach on the fitness of injured players (ie on progress and when they are likely to resume playing)

Conduct fitness tests (where necessary) on injured players, as they recover from their injuries to the point where they appear ready to play

To support at all times the attitudes impressed upon the players by the Senior Coach

Take pre game warm ups with individual players (coming back from injury) and the team

Alert the players to any special requirements they may need to attend to for the day (eg extra emphasis on fluid replacement on hot days)

Improve the education and understanding of the players in relation to the following areas
Nutrition
A healthy diet
Pre Game
During Game
Post Game
Fluids
Weekly
Pre Game
During Game
Post Game
Exercises
Correct & Incorrect
Training Programs

Supply copies of player programs and test results to the Senior Coaches
and other Coaches as required

Ensure that interchange players jog and stretch every 10 minutes to stay warm and ready for action

During the half time break, ensure that the players warm up again prior to the commencement of the 3rd quarter

At all times support and reflect the club/team image.

Warmup Stretching.

Take your time (which will save you time) and stretch properly as this is the prevention for soft tissue injury.

Generally 20/30 secs each side with 3 reps.

Power running, sprint, jog Players work in groups of 3 – 4. It is important to make sure players are well stretched or build into the running drill slowly.

fartlek-type.pps