The Truth About Soccer Coaching Philosophy
Let me present a real simple way to keep in mind some of the important soccer coaching factors that are needed in building the team philosophy and getting along with it. This philosophy can be applied to your youth team with relative ease as it is easier than you 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.
Developing soccer coaches: Training of soccer coaches should be an integral part of your philosophy instead of targeting the players. Assess and see if you can turn one of your kid’s parents into a soccer coach? They would be most suitable and a great option for the future.
Selection: The drop out of players with great soccer skills is mostly because of non-selection. Studies show that players would rather get selected for a bad team out of the fear of getting rejected for a good team. Thus a logical system which provides the players equal game time should be used.
Time: The session should be started on time and the parents should also be told to be on time. When you define the start times and finish times clearly, it helps you deliver the session effectively.
Excitement: Is it imperative that every soccer coaching session has to be enjoyable? You must definitely try to make each session a delight for the kids but then, its not possible all the time. As such, adopt excitement as an alternate.
When you train the kids, it is perfectly natural that coaches have problems coming up with different ideas on how to make sessions fun. Hence, the biggest challenge is to be so good with your thinking that you can come up with several great ideas to make drills fun for kids.
In soccer drills, keep increasing the level of difficulty for the player’s to grow. The best way of doing this is to get started with a game, look for a problem, and then rectify it with a drill.
Success windows: Make success windows a part of a season for every training session. This actually requires 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 example; time frame of minimum four and maximum eight weeks. This can be done for both team as well as individual team members.
In your interest, embrace a soccer coaching philosophy like this become a part of the development phase of your kid’s training once the basics have been covered. In order to be more resourceful, full of knowledge, and gain tips and techniques, enroll for our youth soccer coaching community.
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.
