In this IssuePage 1!! Feedback: ‘The best thing I ever did!’!

Page 2!! The Main Feature: ‘Hey coach…keep the noise down!’!

Page 3!! The Game: The One Goal Game!

Page 4! !Steve’s Coaching Clinic: How can I get the respect of my fellow coaches?

Dear Coach,!In most team sports the coach has an active role to play during matches - he or she controls plays and tells a player whether to run and where to run to. !Youth soccer isn't like that.!Once the game starts the players make their own decisions, good or bad, and have to react as a team to the strategy and tactics of the their opponent. They learn to do this at coaching sessions - where the coach has control - and by experience gained at matches. !This is the origin of the old soccer coaching adage 'the game is the teacher’.!Unfortunately, there are lots of youth soccer coaches who can’t resist the temptation to tell their players what to do during matches. The worst are the ‘megaphone’ coaches who don’t stop shouting from the first whistle to the last. !Do you raise your voice during matches? Do you think you’re helping your players by making ‘suggestions’ while they are playing? If so, read the article on page 2 and you might change your mind…and leave the megaphone at home on match days. !Yours in soccer,!

Welcome from Steve Watson

‘The best thing I ever did!’Feedback‘The other day, four members of a girls’ soccer team I ran a few years ago treated me to lunch. !Conversation turned to what they disliked most about youth soccer. !Their unanimous and instantaneous answer was “parents”. The pep talks on their way to games; the directions, instructions during games and the analysis and commentary on what they did and what they should have done on the way home from games. Well meaning perhaps, but totally unwelcome and truly unappreciated. !The best “thing” I did for them was when I exiled parents to the other side of the pitch after a father, while his daughter was off the field, so berated her for her alleged lack of effort that she burst into tears and refused to return to the game. !When other players confirmed that such pep talks were a common problem, all parents were relocated 80 yards away.’ !Coach Gary!

Click here and send me your thoughts on youth soccer!

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Issue 63 7th October 2014

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Youth soccer coaches who shout instructions during matches don't seem to realise that they’re wasting their time. During a game, players are totally focussed on what they are doing. All they hear is a general background noise. !Of course, if you shout really loud at a player who is close by, they might hear you, but they'll also lose focus on what they are doing. !Shouting instructions at children while they play soccer is clearly pointless. But it's also embarrassing for the players, irritating for spectators and reveals the coach as someone who doesn't really think about the game.!Let's see if we can bring a bit of peace and quiet to match days by dispelling a few myths. !Myth 1: Players like being told what to do.!Telling players what to do isn't helping them make their own decisions, and they'll never become good soccer players if they don't. !Myth 2: I only ever provide positive instruction and encouragement.!I hear this a lot and I'm sure some coaches really believe it! But as it's practically impossible to keep the brain properly engaged when in verbal torrent mode, some not-quite-positive remark will emerge

eventually. Or you’ll say things like: "you should have..." or "you need to...". You think you’re helping but comments like these will be perceived as criticism by the players. !And panic shouts of "Get it out of there!” or “Shoot!" just overload the players with noise and make them feel nervous and unsure of themselves. !

Myth 3: Parents expect me to instruct the kids at games. No-one has ever complained about my coaching style.!Many parents don't know that coaches shouldn't instruct young players. Others are intimidated by a coach who is a shouter. !

Some, seeing progress in their child's soccer development, may attribute it to the shouting instead of understanding that their child is playing well despite the shouting, not because of it! !Myth 4: Shouting instructions helps my team win more games. !A lot of ‘megaphone’ coaching has its roots in the coach being too personally bound up in the success of the team. !Sometimes a coach is trying to make up for his or her failed success in sports by playing vicariously through the team. !Maybe the drive to win is too deeply embedded in his or her personality or the coach feels inadequate if the team isn't successful and is desperate to win at any cost. !If any of these resonate with you, just remember: it's not your game. It’s theirs!!Conclusion!If you're a ‘megaphone’ coach, ask yourself why you do it. Hopefully the arguments above will persuade you that there is another way that will achieve the same results and, in the process, let your players play without interference.

‘Hey coach…keep the noise down!’

The Main Feature

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Want your players to have more fun? Want them to learn how to play soccer? Ditch the megaphone!

Objective: to score goals, to defend as a team, to stay ‘switched on’. !

Age group: U7 - U14!

Set up: create a playing area with one cone or pole goal set in the middle (not on the end line).!

Divide your players into two teams of 4 or 5 plus one goalkeeper. !

How to play: !

Both teams attack and defend the one goal.!

Goals can be scored from either side of the goal.!

The player who gets the last touch on the ball before it crosses the line is the scorer, even if it is only a slight deflection.!

If a goal is scored, the game continues from the other side of the goal.!

If the goalkeeper makes a save, she throws the ball to the edge of the playing area or to the coach who puts the ball back into play.

The One Goal GameThe F4K Game

I use a circular playing area 20 yards across for my U10s - the unusual shape makes them think!!

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Player movement Ball movement Run with ball ShotKEY:

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Steve’s Coaching Clinic

QUESTION:!Hello Steve,!

I have almost completed my first year of coaching in Northern Ireland and have achieved my level one coaching badge. !

I am sixteen years of age, the youngest coach in the club and find myself being treated, by fellow coaches, more like the children I am coaching than a companion. !

How can I break through into the top ranks of the coaches and be consulted on club affairs and coaching plans?!

ANSWER:!

It's great to see young people like yourself becoming soccer coaches and putting something back into the 'beautiful game' but, as you've found, becoming respected as a youth soccer coach is not a quick or easy process. It takes time. !You need to:!

• Be good at what you do;!• Respect others;!• Be totally honest;!

• Be open to criticism;!• Act like a professional...always;!• Stick to your beliefs;!• Be a role model to your players.!

While you’re earning some respect, demonstrate your willingness to learn from more experienced coaches. Offer to work alongside them. They might not be doing it right but you'll learn anyway, either by noting their errors or the good things they do. And they will be impressed (and maybe flattered) by your attention.!Suggest some coaching games of your own but don't be offended if they are not accepted. If you have your own team, try them out. You might be surprised - sometimes plans that look good on paper simply don't work in practice.!You will ‘break through’ in the end! You have a coaching qualification and you're eager to learn.!Your subscription to Premium proves that. !But don’t be in too much of a hurry. !Enjoy your coaching, take whatever opportunities you can to learn from more experienced coaches and before you know it you'll be the one other coaches come to for advice!

How can I get the respect of my fellow coaches?

You can only ask Steve a question if you subscribe to footy4kids Premium. Send your youth soccer coaching questions to steve@footy4kids.co.uk and Steve will do his best to help. If Steve doesn’t know the answer, he’ll find someone who does.

(c) Green Star Media Ltd. !Green Star Media Ltd, Meadow View, Tannery Lane, Bramley, Guildford GU5 0AB, UK.!!Editor!Steve Watson!

Illustrations!Steve Thorp!

Publisher!Kevin Barrow!kevin.barrow@greenstarmedia.net!

Managing Director!Andrew Griffiths !!To subscribe to footy4kids Premium please contact Duncan Heard in our Customer Services department at duncanh @greenstarmedia.net or call 01483 892894!!All rights reserved.!!Click here to read the full disclaimer.@

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