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. This has the effect of expressing yourself to people with a view to perform them things in precisely the same manner.
When it comes to soccer coaching, I’ve observed that most of the coaches often are the ex-players. Yet, there are a number of issues that they are forced to handle. The reason why many of these issues show up is the coach’s inability to communicate. You must recognize that there are certain issues related to communication that need special attention if your job is to be made easier.
These are described for you one at a time.
Coaches generally allow their emotions to become involved while watching their kids play. 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. Here, they miss out on the important part of having a professional conversation aimed at getting a win.
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. 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 executing soccer drills for a long time at different levels. 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. An example of ineffective communication by a coach is when he fails to use a player’s name while giving instructions which produces uncertainty.
There are certain guiding principles in football coaching which are as follows:
• All messages that come from the coach are very important. They should therefore be taken and read correctly.
• Your messages should have a positive impact on the players to put their best foot forward. Allow them to grow and become better players instead of highlighting their flaws.
• All players should get an equal opportunity to sit with you and learn. Research indicates that coaches spend a lot more time (up to seven times more!) with star players.
• Be proactive in communicating the problem the moment you see it coming.
• Reinforce the player’s self esteem by balancing praise with criticism. In coaching high school soccer, the balance should be a bit more towards the praise.
Believe my words. Your training programs will be immensely benefitted as a result of adopting these simple exercises.
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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