meryn

Babbel is also responsible for the way he talks about the players publicly and whether he builds their confidence and belief or undermines it. High expectations are good. Guidance and constructive criticism away from the spotlight is good. Blaming and regular negativity in public are not good and usually achieves the opposite of building performance and belief. Same applies to parenting, teaching and managing staff. Coaching is no different in this way.

There's a lot of things I don't feel qualified to comment on about our slump and the reasons for that. But I have been listening to Babbel's post game press conference every week and thinking about the way he talks about the players. Sometimes it has been refreshing and honest and other times so blunt and critical, even blaming, that I find it uncomfortable. Along with other things, I think this is having an effect, not a good one, and that is being noted by others. In last night's press conference three or four of the questions from different journalists were asking Babbel about his responsibility for lack of confidence in the players...what does he do to help when their heads drop as they are at the moment? Is he able to relate to them? You haven't sheltered them from criticisms in public (i.e. by you) - do you think they are responding to that? I think Babbel didn't really answer the questions which may be why they were asked several times in different ways. Listen to the press conference if you haven't already and imagine yourself as one of the players listening to his answers. Part of coaching is like parenting, or teaching, or managing staff. The most effective combination is high expectations combined with high levels of support, encouragement and guidance, and constructive criticism is given in private. We don't know what goes on at training and the positive regard or not that exists between players and coach. I think the team, or many players, are discouraged. Why wouldn't you be? A run of losses. A win blown in the last minutes the game before this one. The coach says in public regularly "We are not that good" "The players are not that good". "This is disaster." "Same mistakes every week". "I say to the boys "I like you but... but... (Shrugs)" Along with this, comments from fans on social media are often vitriolic (not so much on this forum), directed at individuals and relentlessly critical and blaming. And some fans walk out while others boo at the end of the game. When a team has lost belief in themselves, it is the coach's job to build belief and their mentality. This is not sentimentalism. Yes they are professional players but they are human beings who need to know the coach has their back and is on their side.

Thanks Dmixtaaa. Will do.

Thanks Braad and thanks dmixtaaa for linking the news.com article here in the first place. I'm sure the club do get too many requests. However I'm happy to ask the club again, this time with a link to today's article on the boys. They would absolutely love to go to a game. Who is the best person at the club to contact?

I've just come back from watching these boys play because our daughter (also a wsw member) is the coach and we do what we can to support her and the boys. They have all been training weekly since last October. A big thanks should go to Merrylands Football Club who agreed to accept them as a whole team and welcomed them in and has stuck by them through ups and downs. A big thanks also to individuals from Roseville Uniting Church who put their hands up to pay for the boy's registrations. The boy's skills and footwork are impressive. They have never played full field football before and there have been many challenges with offside, throw ins, even hand balls and learning to combine well as a team. They are still working out tactics and positional play. They are a lovely bunch of boys who love football, and even more so now that it gives them a break from the uncertainty of their lives at the moment. Btw our daughter did contact WSW early on about tickets to a game for the boys but the club said no because they had too many requests like that.

Wow Poumista...eyes glazed over at the first one, even though I tried hard just to get the abstract. I really did. Second one is saying it's digging in the soil and eating the produce that exposes us to micro bacteria that both help our immune system and boost serotonin, and therefore mood. So dirt is good. Gardening is good. We knew that, but now we can dissect biologically exactly what may be going on. I must admit the serotonin bit is interesting. So... take home message is we need soil and the organisms in it, and children need it too.

Favourite moment off the pitch.... We were in the back row of the western stand in front of a double box of well dressed Koreans. After one of the goals and the cheering from their box, someone started a 'who are ya' chant which spread and was taken up with everyone around also turning and pointing and chanting. Their reaction? Polite and restrained Korean style waving and clapping and smiling and nodding back at the chanters in good natured way. It was kind of deflating... Pretty hard to keep up an intense slightly aggro chant in the face of such good manners and friendly politeness.

Gardeners and wanderers... This is a bit left field but.... Last night I went to a lecture in Sydney Town Hall by Richard Louv who wrote Last Child in the Woods about a generation of children missing out on contact with nature. He coined the phrase 'nature deficit disorder'. It was about children spending so much time indoors and on screens that they miss out on climbing trees, turning over rocks in the garden , collecting bugs, picking vegetables, walking in the bush etc etc. Basically his hypothesis is that the more high tech our lives become, the more nature we need. This is true for all of us, but especially for children who need that real (not virtual) exploring and playing and wondering for their development and health. So if you are a gardener, and especially a vege gardener, you are doing something countercultural, and giving yourself and others a "nature rich" environment. (I realise I could be out in my own garden right now, pulling up the old spinach plants, watering the tomatoes and putting in some parsnip seeds, but instead I am myself in front of a screen posting this... )

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Are Perth the only team that have cheer girls? I haven't seen that before. Really wish the FFA would say that's not what football is about. Those girls could be enjoying playing their own football instead of dolling up to cheer on the boys. Bad message to send. Grrr...

Jowel, it's online on ABC Radio Player. Special ABC Radio Stream Online.

It will be live streamed on ABC radio

Just rode past Parramatta Stadium and there are lots of Eels banners on the fences and at the entrances saying things like "Home of the Blue and Yellow Army" or something like that. Assume they'll be gone by next Wednesday...?

Agree Unlimited. I think he did some good attacking moves.

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