Really, Why Do So Many Coaches Dictate What A Player Should Do From The Sideline?
Want to develop better youth soccer players so we can progress as a nation on the world stage of soccer? Read Albert Puig’s latest column.
Albert Puig is a former FC Barcelona Youth Technical Director and now the Assistant Coach of New York City FC. A globally respected leader in player development, Puig’s famed La Masia developed the likes of Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, and Lionel Messi. Puig is the founder of APFC Courses – a program to help educate soccer coaches.
Why do some coaches give so many instructions during a match?
To answer this question we must first state that there are two types of coaches: development coaches and professional coaches.
We will talk about development coaches to answer this question.
Read: ALBERT PUIG ON THE PROS AND CONS BETWEEN YOUTH SOCCER IN THE USA AND EUROPE
A development coach must give and correct tactical – technical aspects of each player. He must not emphasize on systematical aspects of the match. The coach must explain and point out to his/her players the situations that are constantly occurring during a match.
The player must execute this tactical – technical action and the coach must with a short phrase and in a regular tone explain what has happened and why.
What do I mean by this?
A big mistake that many coaches make is that when the player has the ball, the coach is constantly telling him/her what to do.
This is counterproductive.
The player must decide and execute based on that decision; then can the coach explain why it was a good or bad decision.
A coach must encourage his player if she/he has taken the right decision and executed it correctly, and explain if the decision and execution were not the right ones.
In development soccer, we must forget about tactical systems, but at a professional level, the instructions that a coach can give during a match are minimal and must change the tactics according to the different factors that appear during the match.
In development soccer, the coach must talk to the player very briefly, no more than 10 seconds, and explain the situation, reinforce good decision making and execution and if those decisions and execution are not correct, the coach must explain why.
Related Soccer News: ALBERT PUIG ON DEVELOPING BETTER YOUTH SOCCER COACHES
