5 Simple Steps to Coaching High School Soccer

I don't know if you know this but communication is the most important element to succeed in coaching high school soccer. The art of communicating to the team is what coaching truly is. It lets you speak to mind in the simplest way and allow the other to do the activity in exactly the same way.

Majority of coaches in soccer coaching are the players who used to play the game in their younger days. Then also they have to face a number of issues while coaching young players. Most of these issues are a result of lack of communication. You must recognize that there are certain issues related to communication that need special attention if your job is to be made easier.

These are described for you one at a time.

Coaches generally allow their emotions to become involved while watching their kids play. They forget that they have the duty to observe the players analytically rather than merely watching them play. As such they are not able to see the key points that could make all the difference in their team's performance. The coaches fail to have an effective conversation that could help the players get to the winning post.

The coaches are generally not trained to communicate effectively although they have all the knowledge of the game. For example; in soccer coaching, many coaches are not aware of the utility of a flip chart or a video. It's important for the coach to know the game well but if he is unable to communicate his thoughts, the training gets repetitive.

This occupies greater importance in coaching high school soccer as the players are young but also know the various facets of the game. They have been executing soccer drills for a long time at different levels. By keep on changing training format, coaches can avoid the monotony of repeating the same messages again and again.

You'll be amazed to know that coaches tend to forget sometimes that it is people who carry out the trainings. They get so absorbed in the training and coaching as a process that they lose their ground. For instance; the communication is incomplete when an instruction is given to a player but without his/ her name thus making it difficult for any of them to apply it.

Some guidelines meant for coaches in football coaching include the following:

Every message coming from the coach carries equal importance. So make sure that they are interpreted correctly.

Convey your messages in a positive language to encourage players to play their best game. Challenge them to be better rather than punishing them for being poor.

Make sure you spend quality time with all your players. Research indicates that coaches spend a lot more time (up to seven times more!) with star players.

Adopt a proactive approach to identify the impending problems and solve them.

Strengthen the player's self respect by matching criticism with praise. When it comes to coaching high school soccer, tilt the balance slightly more towards praise.

Believe me. Once you start to apply this in your training programs, the benefits will far exceed your expectations.

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Andre Botelho is an expert in Coaching high school soccer. He influences over 35,000 youth coaches each year with his coaching philosophy, and makes it easy to explode your players' skills and make training fun in record time. Download your free Coaching Youth Soccer guide at: Soccer Coaching.