5 Simple Steps To Coaching High School Soccer
You might disagree, but hear me out on this when I say that in coaching high school soccer, communication is the first step to success. The art of communicating to the team is what coaching truly is. It lets you speak to mind in the simplest way and allow the other to do the activity in exactly the same way.
When it comes to soccer coaching, I’ve observed that most of the coaches often are the ex-players. Even then they have to deal with many issues in coaching young players. Most of these issues are a result of lack of communication. Your role as a coach would become far easier if you just pay attention to some most important communication issues.
These have been described one by one.
When coaches watch their kids playing, they tend to become emotional. Instead of acting as analytical observers, they become more of spectators. They tend to overlook some chief points that could help the team improve on certain fronts. The coaches fail to have an effective conversation that could help the players get to the winning post.
Even though the coaches are well versed with the technicalities of the game, they are not trained specifically on communication. For example; use of flip charts and videos in soccer coaching is not applied by many coaches as they aren’t aware of them. The coach may be technically talented but if he not able to communicate properly, regular practice sessions get really boring for the kids.
In coaching high school soccer, communication becomes all the more important because the kids start to understand the game quite well. They have been working on these drills for some time but the standards are different. And one of the ways to avoid the boredom of repeating important messages is to keep varying the format.
It’s a fact that sometimes the coaches completely forget that it is people who perform in the practice sessions. They tend to get carried away in the process of coaching and training. When a coach tries to instruct something to the play but does not use that player’s name, it creates confusion and is an apt example of bad communication.
Some guidelines meant for coaches in football coaching include the following:
• All messages that come from the coach are very important. They should therefore be taken and read correctly.
• Convey your messages in a positive language to encourage players to play their best game. Allow them to grow and become better players instead of highlighting their flaws.
• Pay equal attention to each player in the team. It has come to light through various studies that coaches spend much more time with their top players (up to seven times more!).
• Be proactive in communicating the problem the moment you see it coming.
• Reinforce the player’s self esteem by balancing praise with criticism. When it comes to coaching high school soccer, tilt the balance slightly more towards praise.
Accept as true. Application of these simple strategies to your training programs will have far reaching results for your team.
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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.
Football Association Coaching Level 1 — “Find a Friend” — with 5 progressions
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