Thoughts on Coaching Youth Soccer

 by Ron Hendrie

 

 

Coaching is a privilege. Coaching is an opportunity to become a meaningful, non-family adult figure in a child’s life which has far-reaching significance. Your athletes will often give more consideration to what you have to say, and the values you portray through your actions and expressions, than they will to those of their own parents. For good or bad, their attitude and behavior will often be a reflection of your disposition and the climate you generate on the field. You create the environment that puts smiles on their faces, frowns in their brows, or tears in their eyes. You are in a position to be extremely influential in a young person’s life. Remain cognizant of this while the pressure, excitement, and corresponding emotions compound as your season matures. Years from now, many of your athletes may be coaching their own teams, treating their athletes the way they learned to be treated by you, and reiterating words that came out of your mouth decades earlier as if they were absolute truths. Be the coach that kids want to remember and the positive force every youngster needs in their life. Take your role seriously. 

 

Have a philosophy. Write a mission statement based upon your philosophy. Base all decisions on your philosophy. This may sound ridiculous, but you will be faced with tough decisions along your journey and having a sound philosophy will assist you with those choices. Among other things, I hope that your philosophy has something to do with the safety and dignity of each child, helping players reach their potential, and fostering a love for the game through fun and developmentally progressive activities. It probably goes without saying that although it is inherent in sports that one of our goals is to win, I hope that your philosophy has less to do with winning and more to do with development. Similarly, I hope you find yourself able to measure success in smiles and not necessarily just in wins. If it helps to see an example, here is a link to my philosophy:

 

http://hendriesocceracademy.wix.com/hendriesocceracademy#!philosophy/c1lfr

 

Meet with your team and parents before the season and share your philosophy, mission, and expectations. Also explain what they can expect from you. This meeting is a great time to introduce yourself, set the tone, and discuss things like: practice schedules, playing time, sportsmanship, transportation, and how and when it is best for parents to contact you with concerns...and, by the way, they will have concerns! View this preseason meeting as an investment. It will get everyone on the same page and, consequently, save countless hours of misunderstandings and hurt feelings down the road.

 

Have a plan. Have a vision of how you want your team to look playing the game. Have a realistic age-appropriate goal for the season (I don’t mean wins and championships! If the game is played correctly those may occasionally follow.) Based on your team’s starting point, in terms of their technical, tactical, physical and psychological sophistication or maturity, outline a course of action that will chart a path toward the goal of where you want your team to be by the end of the season. What will they actually look like and be capable of doing? There is a well known saying that is applicable here: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” As the season unfolds develop a plan for each session that will progressively, albeit in small increments, move your team toward your goal. Be prepared with alternative activities each session in case something is way too difficult or just a flop. Carry your practice plan with you. This will help you stick to your timeline and keep track of what worked well so you can remember the next time.

 

Plan to coach the total player and child. Keep in mind that these are people’s children that you are entrusted with. Treat them with dignity and use the sport to teach life lessons. 

 

Plan to revisit skills (techniques) and tactics from previous sessions in order to rehearse and progress them to the next level. It is highly unlikely that your players will master new material in one session as it takes time and practice to internalize and put it into application.

 

Plan to “imprint” complicated new material and plan to revisit it in more detail at the next practice. Avoid exhausting a topic in an effort to have players master it all in one sitting. They will only be turned off by it and will shut down the next time you try it again.

 

Inspecting play and rest areas prior to your athletes showing up is paramount to their safety. Along with your search for debris such as broken glass, sprinkler heads, and divots to roll an ankle, your inspection should also include making sure that goals are properly staked and weighted down. Here’s a convincing link:

 

http://www.anchoredforsafety.org/parents_parisi.html 

 

and the legal how to’s:

 

https://www.cpsc.gov//Global/Safety%20Education/Sports%20and%20Recreation/Soccer/soccerGuidelines.pdf 

 

 Arrive early. It is essential to set up your session with pinnies, cones, portable goals, and game areas before your athletes arrive. Coupled with making the most efficient use of field time and a smooth, uninterrupted flowing session, this also enables you, the coach, to greet players as they show up. Every day, the coach should be causing every player--not just the superstars--to feel welcome and invited. A great time to do this is as they arrive and when they are leaving. Positive comments that let children know that they count, that their participation and contributions to the team matter, will go a long way in giving each child a reason to enjoy and be dedicated to the team.

 

It helps to get to know your players' interests outside of soccer so that you can more easily relate new concepts to what they already know and like. This, in turn, lends itself to coaching the total player and person within. Likewise, it will make it easier to create a team that is more cohesive and, thereby, more dedicated and committed to each other. 

 

Consider organizing some team-bonding activities that don’t necessarily take place on the practice field or involve a soccer ball. Activities like swimming, tag, Frisbee, volleyball, bocci and other lawn games can all be fun pursuits that are useful for bringing teams together. Even my older teenage teams have enjoyed flashlight tag, bowling, making sandcastles or throwing water balloons at each other. I have often seen them unwind after team dinners playing FIFA video soccer together. My daughter has done a splendid job of bringing various teams together with activities such as: tie-dying T-shirts, making string bracelets, baking cookies, going to a trampoline park, and informal evenings of fireside conversation and laughing.

 

Keep track of attendance! There’s no worse feeling than having a child unaccounted for. Period.

Honor your players. Some coaches link playing time or “starting” in a game to attendance at practice sessions. I have seen emotions come unhinged when, on the other hand, coaches start a player who has not made it to a single practice. Sadly, this is usually one of the better athletes and more effective players on the team. It becomes transparent to others that winning is the sole motive of the coach. Once I witnessed a game start 40 minutes late when a latecomer scurried out of his car as the referee was yelling “Goalie ready?” -- meaning the boy was at least an hour late! The coach impulsively substituted a player before the kick-off whistle even blew in order to start his late arriving star. How demoralizing this type of coaching decision is! I can only imagine how downhearted the boy being taken off must have felt. The thoughts cycling through his head were probably something to the effect: “How bad I must be that I am coming off before I am even getting a chance to make a mistake!” These types of decisions may seem like a short term solution to being successful, but make no mistake, they are divisive and corrosive to individuals and to the team unit. It won’t take long for the team to unravel as players lose trust in a coach who cares more about winning than about the kids.

 

Set up away from the goals to prevent random shooting and subsequent accidents. Don’t allow your players to take their breaks or tie their shoes near the goals. It is too tempting for someone to crank a shot and injure an unsuspecting teammate.

 

If you have a gabby bunch, consider meeting at the field 15 minutes before you have field time and let them get their chatting out of their system while they gear up. Remember these kids have most likely been sitting down doing schoolwork all day.

 

Have a routine. Consider using the attached sample “Practice Session” as a template for your daily routine. Your athletes will quickly acclimate to your expectations, transition efficiently from activity to activity during practice, and thereby make for more productive and effective sessions. 

 

Begin with a fun warm-up activity that players do not want to miss -- it will encourage them to be on time for practice. This activity should be one that can begin with the first couple players arriving and then grow as more get there without the need for stopping to reorganize the activity. If you are having your athletes run a couple laps for their warm-up, you are missing out on several opportunities. For instance, they may be sweating after their laps, but this type of running has little to do with game fitness. As I stated in my article, “Tryout Tips for Players” (http://hendriesocceracademy.wix.com/hendriesocceracademy#!thoughts-on-tryouts/c1bnm): 

 

“Don’t be surprised though when (they) get on the field and find (themselves) gasping for air. Think about it: game fitness involves lots of short sprints, cunning changes of direction, quick bending runs and agile movements; none of these things are happening when you are jogging around the track. It would serve you best to replicate game fitness every chance you can.”

 

Instead, consider something such as having your players dribble in a confined area performing various moves with the ball, all the while getting numerous touches on the ball, becoming aware of space, learning field vision, getting game-like fitness, improving their agility and coordination, and having FUN simultaneously.

 

Vary your activities from practice to practice to keep things fresh and interesting. The challenge of being a good coach is often in trying to find new activities to teach the same skills so as to keep the players motivated.

 

Allow unlimited water breaks, but insist on players always having their water bottles nearby. Stop for mandatory water breaks between activities. Use these opportunities to coach them and introduce the next activity while they are hydrating. Players should be sitting together facing you, focusing on the next set-up, and not looking into the sun.

 

Talk efficiently and keep it brief. Do not let them sit long enough to cool down or lose focus and interest. Otherwise you will need to do a brief warm-up again before the next activity - especially if it is a competitive one. Train your players to make this a quick break and not a vacation.  Rather than asking: “Does everyone understand?” or “Does anyone have any questions?” ... Instead, check for understanding by having your players describe the next activity or explain what you have just stated. 

 

Resist over-coaching! Try very hard to keep your coaching points to your topic. Your players will be making countless mistakes and you cannot fix all of them in one session. Teams and players are always a work in progress! 

 

Be patient. Don’t be alarmed if some of the things your players were capable of doing last week suddenly start to falter. Expect gaps between when players can execute newly learned techniques and tactics during low pressure practice situations and when they are able to apply them during unconditioned match play and, of course, then again when they can apply them on game day versus another team. When facing teams that exert great pressure on us, my teams will frequently revert to old habits, abandoning their ability to play at that new level we have successfully brought ourselves to versus weaker teams. Nevertheless, through time the new level will be our norm.

 

After each practice, revisit your plan while your session is fresh in your mind and make notes of what worked well and what didn’t. Think of ways to make it better and more efficient, to make it more fun, to involve more players more of the time, etc. Consider whether your players could do things at the end of practice that they were unable to do at the beginning. In other words, did you create a practice session that led to improvement? If they would have learned more by you simply throwing a ball out and letting them play -- although in many ways the game itself is the best teacher-- then you should consider making some improvements. Rest assured that, from time-to-time, this happens to every coach at every level.

 

Always remember that as the coach, it is you who creates the atmosphere; you determine whether or not the kids leave with joy in their hearts. When your kids leave with smiles, they will surely be putting their cleats under their pillow at night and pulling out their ball multiple times during the week. Whereas, if they leave you sobbing, it is almost a guarantee that the next time their ball begrudgingly comes out of the closet will not be until the next dreaded practice. There is a wonderful movement out there started by a gentleman named John O’Sullivan called “Changing the Game Project”. Here’s a link to it:

 

http://changingthegameproject.com

 

Be vigilant. Never allow yourself to be in a position where you might be alone with someone else’s child. This may sound like common sense, however, this circumstance might easily and typically present itself unannounced at the end of a session when someone’s ride is delayed and everyone else has already been picked up. The awkwardness of this situation is further complicated when darkness is approaching, when practice has ended early due to inclement weather, or when the child suddenly needs to use a restroom. It is utterly paramount that you anticipate and plan for such impending occasions. Making sure that all the coaches recognize the need for the presence of at least two adults, preferably one being the same gender as the child, will help avoid this dilemma. If it is imperative that only one coach remain, request the assistance of a parent to stand by until the child’s ride arrives. Surely this is a topic worthy of mention at your preseason meeting.

 

Respect Mother Nature. Keep in mind that little bodies are affected by extreme conditions quicker than larger bodies. It’s a simple matter of surface area to body mass ratio. Don’t rely on your own level of comfort to decide how rigorous your activities can be. Instead monitor your athletes by looking for the visual cues that you learned in your first aid course. Keep an eye on the weather and be aware of its potential effects on your athletes. For instance, seemingly harmless temperatures accompanied by high humidity can inhibit the ability of your athletes’ bodies to cool by evaporating sweat. Conversely, a hot summer-like day can unexpectedly be interrupted by a sudden downpour leaving your athletes soaked and shivering. Both situations should be avoided and require urgent and immediate attention as the results can swiftly become life threatening. So too, trying to squeeze out an extra few minutes of practice during a thunderstorm is not only reckless, but entirely unreasonable and irrational. Consider how little these athletes will improve during those minutes, especially under such fearful conditions, and compare that to the possible risk of life. No one in their right mind would make such a tradeoff, yet coaches can too frequently be seen irresponsibly taking this risk trying to prepare for the next big match. More information on lightening safety can be found at:

 

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov

 

Protect yourself from the elements. Long hours in the sun can creep up on you and take a toll on your body. Follow the same advice that you are giving your athletes regarding nourishment and, particularly, hydration. Some argue that consuming caffeinated beverages is counterproductive to staying hydrated and increases the volume of water needed to maintain adequate levels of hydration. Either way, you will undoubtedly think more clearly, make quicker decisions, and better maintain your composure during stressful moments of the game if you make an effort to stay hydrated. Similarly, take time to protect your skin by covering-up or applying UV protection. More times than I care to admit, I overlooked applying sunscreen because the time I had allotted for this was quickly consumed by, for instance, an early arriving parent desiring a few moments of my time. Now I apply it before I leave the house. Don’t forget about your eyes! Sunglasses are a necessary consideration - though I prefer to briefly remove mine whenever I’m demonstrating or speaking with my athletes so that they may more easily see my expressions. Furthermore, ask your eye doctor which contact lenses have the best UV protection. I was surprised to discover that they are not all the same. 

Along with the basics such as a water bottle, sunscreen and sunglasses, it might help to include some other items in your coaching bag. On numerous occasions packable rain wear has saved me from a soggy day at the field and a cold, wet ride home. Likewise, a garbage bag large enough to envelop my coaching bag has saved my important paperwork and most recent edition of Soccer Journal (in case of a delay). Since coaching makes me extremely hungry, I also pack some trail-mix or granola to hold me over. Beware, however, if you have a child with a nut allergy.

 

When there are safety concerns be prepared to stand your ground. Consider how everyone has been looking forward to playing the game, and how the parents are there to cheer their children on -- many having left work early and possibly traveled significant distances to do so. Imagine how your team has gone through the effort of training and preparing for the day’s match only to get on the field and find that there is a potentially hazardous condition. Sometimes even the referees and the other coaches feel that a concern is trivial and can be overlooked. I have heard, otherwise rational people, say things like: “The odds are small that someone will step in that hole.” The decision to delay or cancel a match because of a hazardous condition will never be the popular decision...which means it will never be the easy decision to make. However, despite resistance from pretty much everyone including your own players and parents, it must be done.

 

Recognize and embrace your legal responsibilities. According to Dr. Lynn Pantuosco Hensch of Westfield State College in an article posted to the NSCAA on 5/8/12, it is your duty to:

• properly plan your activity, 

• closely supervise your athletes, 

• provide proper instruction,

• warn of inherent risks,

• provide a safe physical environment

• provide adequate and proper equipment

• make sure that there are no mismatches in size, ability or strength

• evaluate athletes for injury and incapacity

• provide appropriate emergency assistance

 

Be careful not to overtrain. Regardless of whether we had a game the next day or if we had competed the day before, our college coach ran our team three miles before and three miles after every practice. Consequently, our bodies were always in a state of pain and fatigue, and frequently prone to injury. Playing in a weakened state, few of us were able to compete to our capacity. Psychologically this led to frustration, disappointment, and burn out. Today we know the importance of varying the intensity and duration of practice routines, providing adequate rest before games, and plenty of recovery after practice and games. We know that it is during the rest period that our bodies are rebuilding making these periods as important as the workouts. This concept, referred to as “periodization”, can be explained much better by a Dutchman named Raymond Verheijen. Here’s a link that introduces the topic of periodization:

 

http://socceranywhere.com/raymond-verheijen-soccer-fitness/

 

On game day keep in mind that soccer is a players’ game. It’s their chance to try out what they learned at practice. The beauty of soccer is that, unlike most other sports, each child is the quarterback when they have the ball. That child gets to decide where the game moves from that juncture. They will make good decisions and they will most certainly make poor ones. Allowing “well-intentioned” criticisms to be called out from the sidelines ultimately humiliates, frustrates, and discourages the children.  One particular beauty of soccer is that within moments athletes have another chance to redeem themselves. However, in the spirit of the beautiful game, the players are the artists and must have some license to create the game and decide where it goes based on the sound principles you have taught them on training days. If you allow yourself, or your parents, to continually call out instructions onto the field, then you are taking away the very spirit, the heart, and the beautiful uniqueness of the game. It’s like handing a kid a paintbrush and then moving their hand around the paper with it. Where is the fun in that? This “joystick” kind of coaching (and cheering), as it is often called, is not fun for the players who, while on the field, are quite possibly in survival mode. Furthermore, along with distracting and embarrassing players, calling out every instruction clearly sends the message that they cannot be trusted to do it on their own. Certainly this will not help build the confidence you want to build in your players.

 

During the game, consider observing which mistake is the most critical, is being made most frequently, by the most kids, and address that with a coaching point. Make a note of it and address it at the next practice. New learning needs to happen at practice, not by yelling out instructions midway through a game. Imagine trying to do anything -- especially something you are just learning -- and having 22 parents and two (or more) coaches all frantically yelling different instructions at you simultaneously. All this while the other team is trying to stop you from doing it...and, incidentally, you’re not allowed to use your hands! If you find that you are “joystick” coaching, then you probably need to do a more thorough job during your training sessions, or maybe you are expecting too much. Either way, this is stressful and not at all enjoyable for our children. Consequently, they are going to quit playing because it is no longer fun.

 

Regard mistakes as opportunities. Correcting mistakes is a chance to grow, improve and reach new levels -- where new mistakes can and will be made. Unfortunately, correcting mistakes is also a chance to humiliate and embarrass. Take special care not to correct mistakes in ways that dehumanize the child. Consider that every one of us will be making mistakes. We will never coach a perfect game. The referees will never call a perfect game. Our fans won’t even cheer a perfect game! It is unrealistic to expect our players to play a perfect game! Our players will, without a doubt, make many mistakes. Coaches who choose to point out every mistake their players make, create a very negative and tense environment where no one wants to take chances. If players are not willing and encouraged to try new skills, they will not develop. Besides, players often feel disappointed in themselves when they make a mistake. When parents and coaches outwardly and publicly express their disappointment, it intensifies the anguish the child is already feeling. If it is a blatant or recurring mistake, consider speaking to the child on the side where they may maintain their dignity and have a chance to hear, focus and understand your coaching point without the pressure and distraction of being on the field. 

 

Part of your plan should be to become a better coach, and doing so takes a conscious effort. Watching high levels of the game on television, reading quality coaching material, speaking with other coaches, attending seminars and taking coaching courses are an investment in yourself and your team. If your coaching expertise is riding solely on your experience playing high school soccer 15-20 years ago, and your entire repertoire of drills is downloaded off the internet, then you are doing yourself and your players a disservice. The game has evolved and what we know of how children learn, develop, and are motivated has improved dramatically. Although the internet has made it possible to access volumes of information, some of it is pure junk. Nevertheless, even when we borrow a 24 karat gold activity, we need to know when and how to best apply it to the level of our team. Coaching is a science and an art. Things that work for my team one day may not work another day. The art of coaching lies in the ability to keep things progressively and appropriately challenging yet highly motivating. 

Further your knowledge of the game and coaching. I absolutely recommend pursuing some of the amazing courses offered by US Soccer or the NSCAA. Personally, although I was met with early success and recognition in my “little world” of soccer coaching, after taking my first NSCAA course I was humbled to learn how much more there was to learn. Getting out there and collaborating with more knowledgeable coaches and advancing my know-how has been a tremendously rewarding experience. Nowadays it is more convenient than ever to get started with an NSCAA Level 1 or USSF F course as some of the material is available online making coaching education very accessible. Here are a couple links to coaching education resources:

 

www.nscaa.com/education/

 

www.enysoccer.com/coach_central/about_coaching_education/

 

  All-in-all, it is important that we ask ourselves why we are coaching. Hopefully our answer has mostly to do with the joy of sharing our love of the game, giving to our community and/or benefiting children. It follows then that we also ask what it is that we are trying to add to a child’s life through the sport we coach. Is it life lessons, such as: sharing, responsibility, self-discipline, goal setting, working together, playing by the rules, respecting authority and one’s opponent, winning gracefully, trying our hardest, and learning the limits of one’s control, the importance of practice and preparation, and to persevere when things don’t go as planned? Perhaps we also wish to add a place where kids can belong, learn to lead, enjoy comaraderie and bond with teammates, build self-esteem, self awareness and coordination, manage stress, express themselves kinesthetically, be creative, develop their physical fitness, and have fun falling in love with the game. Whatever our reasons are, they should be much bigger than winning trophies.

 

As for me, when all is said and done, I am personally hoping that I have given my athletes a fond memory that they can carry with them and share with their teammates -- their soccer family -- for years on end. I hope that I have created an atmosphere that gave my athletes the opportunity to become intrinsically motivated and to develop their game to their fullest potential, that I have coached the total player and person within them, that they love the game more at the end than they could have ever imagined they could, that I have given them a blend of structure and freedom to express themselves creatively through a sound tactical awareness of the game. I hope I have given each child -- not just the stars and the most talented -- a sense of belonging and acceptance, a sense of how good it feels to work as hard as one can collaboratively for a common cause, and most certainly a sense of being valued and invited. I hope that I have tried my very best, that I have not allowed winning to eclipse development, and that I have improved as a coach. I hope that I was a coach that kids want to remember and that I was a positive force that made a difference in a youngster’s life. That is how I choose to measure success. However, if, during the course of our season, we were able to bring our game to a higher level and play quality, age-appropriate soccer, then there is a good chance that some winning followed us. Quite naturally we would have wholeheartedly celebrated those victories and championships and considered them part of our achievement. Nevertheless, I refuse to let winning or losing be the primary measure of our success.