As we get ready for new seasons in parts of the world, we thought it would be good to give some reminder perspective on what it takes to coach.
Soccer coaching is more than running a practice, pick the line up for the enxt game and call in substitutions. Depending on the level of competition, it can be a lot more complex.
Coaching little kids at entry level requires you to have the ability to communicate the purpose of the game, the practice exercise to a bunch of little kids who may have no idea why they are there. They just want to have fun and be entertained. So it is important that you plan your practices and incorporate a lot of fun, even non-soccer drills. Be patient and let them go at it, this is not the time to stop them, instruct them and insist on proper soccer behaviour. You are more of a social facilitatot than a coach. Parents at this level are also engaged with their kids, they want to enjoy the occasion and see their kids have fun. It could be useful to involve them in some of the activities. Make sure there are water breaks and little rewards for the children, just for coming out each time.
As you coach youth players (8-12), you can expect the kids to be there because they like soccer. Regardless of whether you are coaching in recreational or competitive leagues, the idea of winning exists and it becomes more and more important. So does the individual performance of the kids, to themselves and their parents. It is now appropriate to move away from strictly socializing and fun activities during practice to teaching skills and introduce tactics. Flexibility, fitness concepts can be introduced and trained. Attentional control may be a challenge. This is also when playing time may become an issue with parents, i.e. why is my Johnny only playing 30 minutes when some kids are out there the whole game? So managing parents becomes important. This can best be handled through expectation setting meetings before the season starts. Practice drills must be releveant and practices must be planned properly, allowing for breaks and some unstructured fun time. Social events such as pizza or pool parties are appropriate.
Coaching adolescents represents a new challenge. With kids going through puberty all sorts of interesting situations and sudden behaviour changes can occur. This is where you need to develop your highest degree of patience. While caring about individuals, objectivity must be maintained. This is also where a split between recreational and competitive soccer occurs. Children are in one of these streams because they like the sport, but some are more skilled and competitive than others.
The recreational program very much carries on in the same way as with younger kids. Results should not be a focal point, everyone wants to win anyways. Playing time should be equal and basic skill, tactics and fitness must be trained. Coaching demands are still fairly relaxed in terms of time, psychological and emotional investment.
Competitive youth coaching steps it up a big notch for coaches. Players and parents expect the coach to be very knowledgable about the game, have the ability to teach players new skills, bring them up to high fitness levels, prepare the team mentally and WIN GAMES. WE recommend that you take coaching classes and become certified to coach competitive youth. Often extensive travel is involved and expenses run high. Sponsors are needed, special team uniforms and equipment as well as training tools are essential. This is like running a business. Typically this involves a team to run the team, such as Head coach, assistant coach(es), team trainer and manager. As coach you are responsible to design the season program, both on and off the field. But your role during practices and during the year changes. Your assistants should run drills and you should observe, evaluate and corrct. You need to think about team development as well as individual development.
You are now managing (for performance, for satisfaction, for enjoyment and for success) several diverse groups: Your players, your coaching staff, your parents, your club administration, your sponsors, your club administration and your game officials.
You need to evaluate all aspects of soccer specific fitness and design programs to improve or maintain the correct level. You need to know about motivation, constructive criticism, reading people, communicating, conflict resolution and problem solving.
You need to know how to evaluate skills of already highly skilled players and how to design programs to improve them.
You need to know tactics and gane strategies and be able to advance your team, get it to be flexible and adaptable to opponents and game situations. You need to mold individualists into a cohesive unit on the field.
You need to be a public person with PR skills and programs. You need to be a fundraiser, organizer and travel agent - tasks can be delegated, the decisions and design of programs are yours.
As you coach adult competitive teams all the way to the pro level, everything we said about coaching competitive youth teams just gets bigger. Budgets, staff, programs, hours spent, complexities, pressure - everything gets agnified. You need to ensure that your skills and abilities grow with the requirements, ideally, stay ahead of them.
This is why knowing and having played the game isn't enough anymore. You need to know how to manage groups of people, know about physical fitness training and evaluation, mental training and sports psychology, communication, managing money and season schedules, know how to elevate the performance of team and individuals.
This is not meant to be an all inclusive coaching profile discussion. We hope it gives you a good idea of what is involved at various levels. We hope that if you feel lacking in certain aspects, that this article encourages you to seek out the appropriate coaching development program for you.
