Keys to Successful Coaching

Coaching is an art and a science. The science of it is knowing what to teach and the mechanics of teaching, while the art is knowing how to communicate the same information to many different individuals. This applies whether you are coaching a sport or anything else to children or adults. Below you will find nine key points to follow if you want to be a successful coach.

Thinking and Strategizing: Just like in other sports, there are many different types of game strategies a soccer coach could implement or believe in. Many of these strategies are evident in the formation the coach chooses to use in a game, and a coach’s game strategy may change from game to game depending on opponents and what players are available for the game.

Oftentimes, we see a coach who believes his or her team is less skilled than their opponent focus defensively and hope for a transition goal to win or tie. In reality, a coach has more pre-game time commitment than their players because they must ‘train’ during practices and also prepare the team for the game by thinking and strategizing how their players can perform at their best.

Planning: Planning is not just about developing a game strategy. Planning for practices is one of the most important tasks a soccer coach undertakes. Practice planning evolves throughout the season. For example, if I know I have three or four weeks before our first game at the beginning of the season, I will plan out the first two weeks to ensure I cover what I think are the most important topics with my team, and then reassess for the last week or two before the game, depending on how quickly the team’s players have evolved in those first two weeks. In the middle of the season, or coming off a tournament, it is important for a coach to reflect on what their players did well and what they did not. After this reflection, the coach should plan the next few practice sessions.

The key here is that practices should be well thought out and planned. Just showing up and doing something fun that the kids like does not always have the same learning power that a well-planned practice can offer. As with everything else in life, be prepared to deviate when real-life situations disrupt well-thought-out plans.

A Safe Environment: This goes beyond ensuring there are no dangerous objects on the playing surface. In soccer, even more so than in other sports, players need to feel safe in their ability to make decisions, right or wrong, and learn from them. Players who look at the sidelines, whether the spectator or coaching side, after each decision (usually a wrong one) are players who don’t feel safe playing soccer. Creating an open and inclusive environment allows players to grow through mistakes and learn from them, rather than being scared of punishment (the concern is usually a decrease in playing time). A scared player will be a less effective player. They will also grow less confident and have less growth as a player because they are not experimenting and learning on their own. We can’t control how parents talk to or raise their children, but we can create a safe environment while they are under our care and playing for us.

Be Authentic: This aligns with creating a safe environment. A player will feel safe if they can trust you and your coaching staff. Telling a player they played great and to keep their chin up when you both know that isn’t true doesn’t help them. That doesn’t mean we have to berate a player, but it does mean we need to help them grow. Use questions in these situations: How do you think you played? What could have been done differently? What did you do well? (There is always a true answer to this question.) Being truthful is an important part of being an authentic coach.

Being authentic also means being yourself. If you are the type of coach who wants to give out awards for best dressed and hardest worker at the end of the season, then do it. If you aren’t, then don’t. Kids are smart. They know what is real and what isn’t, and fake gratitude can be just as harmful as negatively communicated truths.

Practice, Practice, Practice: Great coaches don’t just show up for game days. We must implement a practice plan and routine that is more challenging than what our teams will face in games. I don’t mean physically (though it should be physically demanding), but players should be placed in game-like situations every single practice that they will face in games. Without these game-like situations, players are not prepared for the difficulties they will encounter in games.

To achieve this, we must create a culture that players buy into, encouraging each other to work harder. Without that culture, the effort in practice will not match the effort your players will see from opponents in games. These cultures are created by authentic coaches who establish safe environments and plan fun, productive practices.

Lead by Example: If you expect your players to show up to games thirty minutes early and prepared, you must show up 45 minutes early. If you expect your players to respect referees, you can’t be screaming at them yourself. If you want your players to be honest, you must be honest yourself. Oftentimes, the lessons we impart to our players through our behavior are more impactful and important than those we draw up on the chalkboard or create with cones and pennies. Be the coach you expect your players to be.

Realize Teams are Made up of Individuals: There is an ‘I’ in a team. In fact, there are many ‘I’s’ on a team. When we learn how to reach players individually, we learn how to create a cohesive team. This does not mean different expectations for different players. I expect all of my players to give the same effort and learn and become proficient with the same skills, but I don’t expect them all to perform at the same level or respond to the same coaching techniques. We must get to know our players on a personal level, so we know how to reach them most effectively. Learn their interests outside of soccer. Know what type of support they need from you and provide it. This helps create a safe environment and allows a coach to show his or her authenticity.

Again, this doesn’t mean different expectations or that we “dumb down” coaching tactics or skills, but it does mean meeting a player at their level and showing them how to achieve overall expectations from their point of growth and individuality.

Don’t Over Coach in Games: We’ve all had that coach or possibly that parent who yells the entire game. I don’t mean yelling at the players, but yelling directions at them throughout the game. If you find yourself doing this, know that deep down, you don’t feel like you did enough to prepare your team for the game. Think about soccer this way: Practices are the learning moments, and games are the tests. If we, as coaches, tell our players what to do all the time, when will they actually be able to do it on their own? Let them make the decisions they were trained to make and learn from them. Establish a no coaching from the sideline rule for yourself and your parents. If a player is making the same mistake repeatedly, pull them out, coach them up on the bench, and then send them back out to show you they learned something.

This does not include instructions for the whole team. If your team is being too timid and you want them to attack more or earlier, voice it. If you want them to change a tactic, tell them. Just don’t tell individual players what to do all the time, because then they will never learn how to do it on their own.

Successful Coaching

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