When it comes to Coaching high school soccer, communication is the most vital part to consider on way to achieve success. Coaching is an art of communication. It explains what you want of people in such a way that allows them to perform it.
Speaking of soccer coaching, almost all the coaches are the former players who decide to take on as coaches. Still, there are several problems that they have to find solutions to. Majority of these issues come up due to communication lags. Your role as a coach would become far easier if you just pay attention to some most important communication issues.
These are described for you one at a time.
When coaches watch their kids playing, they tend to become emotional. They tend to become spectators rather than analytical observers. They tend to overlook some chief points that could help the team improve on certain fronts. 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 example; in soccer coaching, use of a video or a flip chart is not very common since most coaches 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.
In coaching high school soccer, communication becomes all the more important because the kids start to understand the game quite well. 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.
The coaches have a tendency to just forget that training sessions are being executed by human beings and not machines. They tend to get carried away in the process of coaching and training. For example; Sending out instructions without taking the player’s name leads to uncertainty and confusion.
There are certain guiding principles in football coaching which are as follows:
• All messages that come from the coach are very important. So it’s necessary that they are deduced correctly.
• Your language should be positive enough to push the players to try hard to perform well. Help them to improve rather than reprimanding them for not playing well.
• Make sure you spend quality time with all your players. 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. When it comes to coaching high school soccer, tilt the balance slightly more towards praise.
Believe me. Once you start to apply this in your training programs, the benefits will far exceed your expectations.
There’s lot more to know and understand about this aspect of soccer only if you wish to. Just subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community, and get access to the most important and informative topics concerning the game.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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: Youth Soccer Coaching
