I don’t know if you know this but communication is the most important element to succeed in coaching high school soccer. 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.
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. These issues come up due to the inability to communicate properly. There are some major communication issues that you must understand as a coach to make your job easy and more effective.
These are described for you one at a time.
In the course of watching the young players on field, coaches often get emotional. Instead of acting as analytical observers, they become more of spectators. They ignore the important facets of the game that could improve the team’s performance significantly. 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; use of flip charts and videos in soccer coaching is not applied by many coaches as they aren’t aware of 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 doing these soccer drills for some time but at different levels. By keep on changing training format, coaches can avoid the monotony of repeating the same messages again and again.
It may come as a surprise to you that coaches often forget that their training sessions are carried out by people. They tend to get carried away in the process of coaching and training. An example of ineffective communication by a coach is when he fails to use a player’s name while giving instructions which produces uncertainty.
In football coaching, there are some points that need special attention and they are as follows:
• All messages that come from the coach are very important. So it’s necessary that they are deduced 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.
• Spend equal time with all players. Studies indicate that coaches spend relatively more time with star players in team (up to seven times more!).
• Be proactive in communicating the problem the moment you see it coming.
• Add force to the player’s confidence by harmonizing criticism with praise. 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.
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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