Thought of the week 3

    As a soccer coach there are many times I sit and reflect on the many aspects that go into coaching. To look around at various coaches it is easy to see that everyone does everything slightly different. There is no right way or wrong way to coach in a sense, but there is a successful way and an unsuccessful way.

Andre Villas Boas- Did poor communication cost him his job?

    The main thing for me as a coach is to believe in the product you are providing. Not only believe in the sessions you are doing but also believe in what you are telling your players. Communication plays a vital part in any management job, but soccer is truly unique. As a coach you are working with many individuals all aiming to develop in different areas, all with different strengths and weaknesses in their game, and all with different personalities. To find a balance can be difficult at times, and our ability to communicate both with individual players and the team as a whole is one of the fundamental parts of been a coach. We must be honest and open with our players whilst understanding our players feelings. There is nothing wrong with been considerate of feelings, we are all human, and at some time or another we all feel happiness, sadness, bitterness, and excitement amongst many other emotions. To take our players feelings into consideration is a major part of been a coach. We do not need to psychoanalyze each individual, but we should aim to be mindful and give constructive criticism and praise when needed.

    For myself, one of the biggest things I analyze after a coaching session is did I provide an environment where players felt comfortable to play and develop? Did I prepare my session well? And did the session run smoothly? When asking myself these questions I aim to look at each aspect of the coaching I have provided. Did I set up the practice well? Were the instructions I gave clear? Was I able to get all players involved? And did I achieve what the practice was set out to achieve? Hopefully the answer to each of these is yes. But within these yes’s there should also be analysis of what could have been done differently or what could have been done better to better serve the players and myself as the coach.

    If we fail to review and evaluate as coaches, then we are failing to provide the best environment for our players. We cannot see the world through rose tinted glasses. There is always something that we can improve on, just as their are always positives that we can take from our sessions and continue to implement.

    Finally, we must remember coaching is a 24/7 job. We should never switch off from been a coach. We must be role models to our players and the community to which we are a part of. The lifestyle choices we as coaches make will reflect upon the teams and players we coach. We can have all the information and ability to deliver great sessions, but if your players know you are doing things that you are telling them not to do, or you are not doing things that you are telling your players to do, then all the knowledge and ability counts for nothing.

    As a coach, my analysis of myself is just as important (if not more so) as my analysis of my players. Players can only perform in the environment that the coaches give them. No matter what coaching environment we are in, we should aim to provide our players with a professional environment where they are comfortable to play, perform, and express themselves.