I really can’t believe I did this! Especially since all the things I talk and write about - not shouting negatives from the touch line, encouragement always, finding the best in people, looking for ways to help players and so on. AAARGGGHHH!
Last night I took my U8s team training session and instantly found myself getting frustrated and upset - but why?
For some reason my players had decided that tonight was one of those nights they weren’t going to listen. The more I shouted the less they listened the more I shouted. You get the picture.
Thankfully I had the sense to just stop. Have a quick word with myself and take a different angle.
I called them all in, sat them down, sat down myself and just asked a few questions. I asked them what they wanted to do - “play a match!!” was the reply. No surprises there then!
Then I did a deal with them because it was evident that they had had too much sugar before training (sweets to you and me) so if I didn’t at least see and give them what they wanted then it would have been a lost cause!
The deal was - “you guys pay attention for the next 15 minutes and we’ll play the other squad for the last 15 minutes” and a resounding “YEAHHH!”
It’s funny, they always want to play a game don’t they?
So why are we so reluctant to give them their game (sometimes)? I thinks it’s because we’ve conditioned ourselves (or have been conditioned) to think that the learning is in the training and not in the game.
It’s a really strange conundrum because when you ask any coach higher up the ranks they always say “the learning’s in the game”.
Now this can be confusing for new football coaches because they think the ‘real’ learning is in drills and technical development but kids find that BORING. And not only kids… Believe me, youth and senior players find drills boring too UNLESS you do this:
I accept that you HAVE to have technical development in your training sessions but please don’t make it last for an hour because your players will think you’re an alien.
And technical development DOESN’T mean boring passing drills or boring dribbling round the cone drills either.
At my soccer school, Striker Academy, I very rarely do any static passing drills and so forth. But I always have at least 15 minutes technical development playing games.
Sometimes there’s sharks invloved, sometimes pirates, sometimes ghost and ghouls. Even crocodiles have made appearances!
The kids love it, they’re engaged, they’re learning at lightning speed - much quicker than using drills and static training methods. And because they’re having so much fun, what they’re learning actually sinks in and stays with them.
But guess what? There’s an even more powerful way that surpasses games and drills put together and it almost doesn’t matter whether you use either of those two training styles.
I’d bet you’d like to know what it is, wouldn’t you?
I’m not going to keep you in any more suspense. If you’re a regular to this football coaching blog then you’ve probably already discovered it. It is of course…..drum roll….
ENCOURAGEMENT! Yep it’s that head slappingly obvious and simple. And if you do it at the right times, use the right words and do it in a certain way your players won’t care whether it’s drills, skills, games or whatever. Encouragement - when done properly, is the single most powerful tool you’ll ever have in your soccer coaching kitbag.
You can learn more about how to use encouragement here. You’ll discover a lot more at that link too. But don’t go telling everyone, ok?