I don’t know if you know this but communication is the most important element to succeed in coaching high school soccer. The term coaching signifies the art of communication. This has the effect of expressing yourself to people with a view to perform them things in precisely the same manner.
When it comes to soccer coaching, I’ve observed that most of the coaches often are the ex-players. Yet, there are a number of issues that they are forced to handle. The reason why many of these issues show up is the coach’s inability to communicate. As a coach, you need to work upon certain communication related problems for effective execution of your responsibilities.
These are described for you one at a time.
When coaches watch their kids playing, they tend to become emotional. Instead of acting as analytical observers, they become more of spectators. As such they are not able to see the key points that could make all the difference in their team’s performance. As such they lose the focus on directing the team towards a win by way of an effective conversation.
Even though the coaches are well versed with the technicalities of the game, they are not trained specifically on communication. For instance; most coaches don’t use videos or flip charts in soccer coaching because they don’t know about them. When the coach finds it difficult to communicate his messages clearly, it brings monotony to the game even if he has a complete knowledge of the game.
It is even more important in case of coaching high school soccer because the players are not new to the game. They have been performing soccer drills on the same lines for quite some time, although at different levels. One effective method is to continuously vary the format of training in order to avoid the repetition of boring messages.
You’ll be amazed to know that coaches tend to forget sometimes that it is people who carry out the trainings. The objective of training is lost because the coaches get so much occupied in just conducting the sessions well. For example; Sending out instructions without taking the player’s name leads to uncertainty and confusion.
Some guiding principles for coaches in football coaching are given below:
• All messages from the coach are important for players. So make sure that they are interpreted correctly.
• Your messages should have a positive impact on the players to put their best foot forward. Challenge them to be better rather than punishing them for being poor.
• Pay equal attention to each player in the team. Research indicates that coaches spend a lot more time (up to seven times more!) with star players.
• Adopt a proactive approach to identify the impending problems and solve them.
• Accentuate your player’s self worth by balancing praise with criticism. In coaching high school soccer, the balance should be a bit more towards the praise.
Believe me. Once you start to apply this in your training programs, the benefits will far exceed your expectations.
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Andre Botelho is a recognized expert in youth soccer coaching. He influences well over 35,000 youth coaches each year with his unique coaching philosophy, and makes it really easy to explode your players’ skills and make training more fun in record time. To download your free youth soccer coaching guide visit: Coaching high school soccer.
Tags: Coaching high school soccer, coaching youth soccer, football coaching, soccer coaching