Soccer Coaching Philosophy:Secrets Revealed
Saturday, July 17th, 2010
What follows is a simplistic way of bearing in mind the essential soccer coaching factors ate determine the team philosophy and moving along with it. Using this philosophy for your youth team can be very practical; and simpler than you may think.
The elements which are essential for an effective youth coaching philosophy are 6; parents, coaches, excitement, selection, time, and success windows.
Regular communication with Parents: When it comes to soccer training, parental influence is the key influence in the mental and physical well being of your players, especially on the day of the match. A brochure of the “parental responsibilities” at the beginning of the season is not enough. Arrange for regular meetings with them so that the key points can be repeated and concerns shared.
Upcoming soccer coaches: Your philosophy should emphasize the importance of development of the coaches along with the players. Assess and see if you can turn one of your kid’s parents into a soccer coach? They are the perfect choice for this job, and could be tried in the future.
Selection: Players with great soccer skills drop out mainly due to non-selection. Studies reveal, that the players think that they would not get selected for a good team so they opt for a bad team. Thus a logical system which provides the players equal game time should be used.
Time: Be particular in starting the session on time and also the timely arrival of the parents. When you define the start times and finish times clearly, it helps you deliver the session effectively.
Excitement: Is it necessary that every soccer coaching session should be fun? Yes, try to make every session enjoyable for the kids but also understand that it may not be possible every time. Therefore, go for a positive attitude as an alternative.
When training the kids, it is certain that the coach will have problems with ideas on how to make practice drills interesting. As such, the biggest hurdle that the coaches face is with regard to the creativity aspect of coming up with fun drills every now and then.
In soccer drills, keep increasing the level of difficulty for the player’s to grow. A method of doing this is to start a game, introduce a problem, and then find a solution of it in a drill.
Success windows: Make success windows a part of a season for every training session. This needs you to determine a lower limit and an upper limit of time with a view to measure the level of success that needs to be achieved.
For instance, time frame of minimum four and maximum eight weeks. This can be done for both team as well as individual team members.
Favor yourself and have a soccer coaching philosophy like this become a part of the development phase of your kid’s training once the basics have been covered. For more information, join our youth coaching community which has a collection of relevant material and resources on youth soccer.
Andre Botelho is the author of “The Expert Youth Soccer Coaching Guide” and he’s a recognized expert in the subject of youth soccer coaching. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make coaching sessions fun in less than 29 days! Download your free pdf guide at: Soccer Coaching Drills.
