I don’t know if you know this but communication is the most important element to succeed in coaching high school soccer. Coaching is an art of communication. It enables you to let people understand exactly what you wish them to do and in what sense.
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. 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.
Emotions of the coaches take over their minds while they are watching their kids play on field. They tend to become spectators rather than analytical observers. They fail to notice the important points that could better their team’s performance. They therefore lose the opportunity to have an objective conversation aimed at winning the game.
Though the coaches today are complete professionals fully acquainted with the game, they lack communication training. For example; in soccer coaching, many coaches are not aware of the utility of a flip chart or a video. It’s important for the coach to know the game well but if he is unable to communicate his thoughts, the training gets repetitive.
In coaching high school soccer, communication becomes all the more important because the kids start to understand the game quite well. They have been doing these soccer drills for some time but 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 instance; the communication is incomplete when an instruction is given to a player but without his/ her name thus making it difficult for any of them to apply it.
Some guidelines meant for coaches in football coaching include the following:
• All messages from the coach are important for players. So it’s necessary that they are deduced 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!).
• Don’t wait for the problems to arise to sort them out.
• Reinforce the player’s self esteem by balancing praise with criticism. Tip the balance more towards praise with players in coaching high school soccer.
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.
