Youth Soccer News: Coaching the Player and Not the Drill!
Dr. Dina Gentile on great coaching in youth soccer and being able to be flexible – Teach the player so they learn and improve and the session will be a success.
As coaches we all try to do our best to create the best practice sessions for our players. Some of us craft our own sessions as we borrow best practices from other coaches. We may occasionally adapt a session we watched another coach use on the field next to us. But most times we use the practice plan that was developed by our directors of coaching. Too many times coaches are falling into the trap of coaching the activity instead of really focusing on what we are suppose to be teaching the players during the session.
In order to deliver on teaching of the game (skill, technique, tactic) we must always remember and never lose sight of the fact that we need to make changes in the behaviors of our players. Practice is the time to change/enhance/develop each and every player based on the objectives our sessions. Too many times coaches get sucked into developing the picture perfect session and are more concerned with making sure the rotation of players is correct over teaching the concepts. In addition, many coaches are waiting for a scenario to occur during the activity in order to be able to stop play and teach. Well, that scenario may never come up so we need to teach what actually happens instead of waiting for the coaching point that the DOC wrote about in the column on the practice plan.
A good rule of thumb is to coach what we see during the activity versus coaching to the practice plan. We must instruct the player to perform the activity correctly over creating just a checklist of what needs to happen at practice. There is only one goal for my sessions, make each player who attended better. Better taking on a defender, better as a defender forcing a player wide, better at playing the balls to feet versus into space when we are in tight field space. Whatever I wrote on the practice plan matters only when my players improve on those written concepts. If I am more concerned about having the right set of cones or the flawless rotation of players or if I am just running the activity without making corrections when mistakes occur – I just wasted a practice session and a chance to develop my team.
As coaches we need to simplify our outcomes for the session. We need to worry less about the organization of the session and more about how we teach and communicate changes in our players. I am a proponent of stopping play, showing the correct behavior/skill/tactic, allowing the team to see the change with no pressure, and then re-starting the play. If the play breaks down, we start the process again so we can visually see the changes and learn from the correction.
The key is to remember that we are not here as coaches to orchestrate the most perfect session where everything flows smoothly. In fact, most times we have odd numbers that do not fit the sessions that are created for us and we need to adapt. The one constant has to be that we are teaching the concepts that are outlined in our plan. Teach the player so they learn and improve and the session will be a success. No one will remember how clean and free flowing the session was; they will remember what they learned from your coaching.
Related Article: TEACHING THE GAME OF SOCCER OVER WINNING
SoccerToday columnist Dr. Dina Gentile is a Professor of Sport Management at Endicott College. A volunteer youth coach herself, Dr. Gentile understands from both practical and theoretical experience what happens on the soccer field. Gentile has also coached the Endicott College Soccer Team for 11 years. Gentile is also the owner/director of Precision Soccer, LLC, which operates camps, clinics, and coach education training throughout the year. She is a former All-American and Academic All-American at Adelphi University. Gentile has been inducted into the Adelphi University and Endicott College Halls of Fame. In addition, she is a trainer with Positive Coaching Alliance and the Girls Program Director with New England Premiership Club – Benfica USA. She is the proud coach of her daughter’s and son’s soccer teams in Massachusetts.
