Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: coaching, coaching style, communication, exercises, physical, player centric, players, verbal, visual
You can be as clever as you like with tactical planning and technical instructions, but players must be able to understand what you want them to do.
I went to a demonstration this week by a couple of highly respected youth coaches to see examples of the different ways you can coach young players. There were some really good coaching and session ideas that I was privileged to take away from the get together.
However, one thing that was clear to me was that the players were having a hard time understanding exactly what was expected of them.
Both sessions were player- and activity-centric – but, because this was a meet-up designed for coaching knowledge, the players at times were clearly unsure of what they were doing and what was expected of them. In that respect, the experiment failed on all levels, bar one – namely in reminding me that one of the most important things you must do with players is ensure they are ‘with you’ at every step along the path of learning. It’s the whole purpose of what we do, after all.
If you notice that players are not doing what they are supposed to or are looking around to see how others perform the task, either they were not listening or you failed to get instructions across well enough.
Remember, players understand things in three different ways:
- Visually
- Verbally
- Physically
It is important that for each demonstration a coach must:
- Perform and show the technique that is being learnt, or recreate the scenario for tactical feedback (the visual part).
- Use explanations and key coaching points through the stages of the demonstration (the verbal part).
- Let the players perform the technique or replay the situation (the physical part).
This way, you can be sure your players know what they are doing. And it will ensure you make the most of every session you take.
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: angry parents, how to win, meeting, parents, players, problems
There will be times as a coach when you have trouble dealing with parents.
Parents are one of your main support links with the team and you rely on them for lots of things – mainly getting their child to training or matches. However, your biggest supporter could become your biggest problem if they feel aggrieved by the way their child has been handled.
This can result in problems in the coach-player relationship
A cross parent can be difficult to get through to because when dealing with their child logic or reason goes out of the window. This can be very stressful for coaches, and in some instances could threaten their job with the team.
Here is my blueprint to dealing with parents.
- Arrange a meeting rather than have a stand up argument at the side of the pitch.
- Hold the meeting in private but have another coach or some other person present.
- Do some digging and find out if the parent has previous history of aggressive or unreasonable behaviour.
- What does the problem revolve around? Playing time/Not starting games/Upset by coach. You could put together a plan of how to resolve this but if the parent is being unreasonable don’t agree to something that means other players will suffer – time on the pitch for example.
- Give parents time to get their point across without interruptions.
- Give your point of view but don’t give too much information than is necessary and don’t discuss other players.
- If possible, document the facts or details of the parent’s complaint. Determine whether any and all supportive information will be available at the meeting.
- When meeting with the parent, always have another person sit in on the meeting, perhaps the AD, assistant principal, or another coach–someone to verify what actually takes place.
- Meeting alone with the parent can develop into a no-win scenario.
- At the meeting, allow the parent to vent his or her spleen. Make mental notes, but do not interrupt.
- Avoid attacking the parents over the reasons they may be attacking you.
- If parents start being rude or shouting at you stay calm and let them calm down
- Go over the meeting in your mind and action any points you have agreed with the parents. What could you have done better? How could you have made it easier for yourself?
