In coaching high school soccer, you may wish to disagree but it's true that communication is the most important aspect to get success. The term coaching signifies the art of communication. It explains what you want of people in such a way that allows them to perform it.
Speaking of soccer coaching, almost all the coaches are the former players who decide to take on as coaches. Even then they have to deal with many issues in coaching young players. Majority of these issues come up due to communication lags. There are some major communication issues that you must understand as a coach to make your job easy and more effective.
Let me explain them to you one at a time.
In the course of watching the young players on field, coaches often get emotional. They tend to become spectators rather than analytical observers. They fail to notice the important points that could better their team's performance. 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 example; in soccer coaching, many coaches are not aware of the utility of a flip chart or a video. 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.
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. One effective method is to continuously vary the format of training in order to avoid the repetition of boring messages.
It may come as a surprise to you that coaches often forget that their training sessions are carried out by people. The objective of training is lost because the coaches get so much occupied in just conducting the sessions well. 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. So ensure that they are understood completely and correctly.
Your messages should have a positive impact on the players to put their best foot forward. Let them become better players with every passing day rather than pointing out their weaknesses.
All players should get an equal opportunity to sit with you and learn. Studies indicate that coaches spend relatively more time with star players in team (up to seven times more!).
Communicate the potential issues that could arise and have a solution ready.
* 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.
Accept as true. Application of these simple strategies to your training programs will have far reaching results for your team.
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