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. Coaching is an art of communication. This has the effect of expressing yourself to people with a view to perform them things in precisely the same manner.
Majority of coaches in soccer coaching are the players who used to play the game in their younger days. Then also they have to face a number of issues while coaching young players. Most of these issues are a result of lack of communication. There are some major communication issues that you must understand as a coach to make your job easy and more effective.
I’ll explain them one by one.
When coaches watch their kids playing, they tend to become emotional. The coaches become spectators instead of adopting a critical approach to observing the kids. They tend to overlook some chief points that could help the team improve on certain fronts. Here, they miss out on the important part of having a professional conversation aimed at getting a win.
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. It’s important for the coach to know the game well but if he is unable to communicate his thoughts, the training gets repetitive.
It is even more important in case of coaching high school soccer because the players are not new to the game. They have been doing these soccer drills for some time but at different levels. You can do away with the monotony of repetitive messages by frequently changing the layout of training.
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. 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 that come from the coach are very important. They should therefore be taken and read correctly.
• Use positive language that encourages players to give their best shot. Help them to improve rather than reprimanding them for not playing well.
• All players should get an equal opportunity to sit with you and learn. It has come to light through various studies that coaches spend much more time with their top players (up to seven times more!).
• Communicate the potential issues that could arise and have a solution ready.
• Strengthen the player’s self respect by matching criticism with praise. When it comes to coaching high school soccer, tilt the balance slightly more towards praise.
Trust me. When you apply these rules to your training sessions, the benefits will be much more that you’ll expect.
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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