Technology has made major changes in virtually every part of our lives. In the world of sports, technology has affected just about every aspect of viewing, playing, coaching, refereeing, and working within sports.
For coaches, their jobs have been greatly impacted from virtually every angle as a result. At a very simply level, younger coaches started out can now access online sources or apps for planning anything from a simply drill, to a full practice to planning out the yearly planning schedule. It's as simply as going on goggling and entering " drills for boys U14 practices" and you get numerous sources. Doesn't make the individual more knowledgeable about the game or help them really understand the teaching points of any specific drill but at least it can provide ideas. Fortunately, the impact has been positive, creating a more comprehensive view for training a better understanding of safety, complete communication, broad video coverage, and inclusive data analysis. There are a few notable areas where technology has definitely impacted how we as coaches work through our planning phase. 1. Sports Science Training Date Wearable technology has made training athletes much more comprehensive. Athletes and coaches are able to see how hard the athlete is working, where they are in terms of their physical goals, and which workouts are most beneficial for them. By tracking and measuring performance, coaches have better insight into their players. Like a machine, athletes are now able to look at a dashboard that shows how their engine is running, and coaches are like their mechanics. Technology is taking a lot of guesswork out of training for both coaches and athletes. I myself experienced this in the fall of 2016 as we started using Polar GPS trackers. We were able to compile significant date in terms of heart rate and heart rate activity over time, average & max speed, distance covered, number of sprints and most interestingly, get a heat map showing the ground covered by our athletes during games. Often times the date validated what we observed visually but it allowed us as coaches to have another source of objective date to serve as feedback to our athletes. 2. Coaching Communication With added technology comes added communication. This includes social media communication with teams or players with their fans, safety communication between players and doctors via wearable technology, and players and coaches via earpiece technology. Coaches are better able to communicate with everyone in their team at a moment’s notice which can aid in a variety of different ways from training to practices to meetings to games. With better communication comes more accurate expectations, faster results, safer decision making, and winning outcomes. 3. Video Technology I would say that this is probably an area where technology has the biggest impact in terms of providing visual feedback for coaches, players and in the area of opponent scouting. Every practice, training, and game now has the ability to be recorded. Many recordings are televised for fans of the franchise, some are for safety, and some are for coaches and players to dissect their performance and their opponent’s performances. Coaches can watch each player’s form, decision making, mistakes, and big wins to see what needs work and what works well. Technology has offered a mirrored look back that makes coaches able to show players a reference for what they need from them that has revolutionized training. Coaching players is more than just teaching technique and making strategic decisions – it’s making all of the best decisions for the team as a whole and video technology has made a real change in how coaches are able to accomplish that. 4. Sports Science and Date analysis echnology in sports has made data collection and statistics into an extremely important and inclusive aspect that is important to fans, players, and coaches alike. Sports statistics may seem overwhelming and dense to many, but with technology it’s extremely cohesive. With data analytics coaches know all about each of their players as well as their opponents. Coaches know how each player will most likely play, their average weaknesses with each team, and how they are most likely to perform in certain weather. This enables conversations about sustaining performance, how to get better, and why there may be data similarities in certain situations. Coaching is stressful no matter which level you’re coaching, which sport you’re coaching, or how long you’ve been coaching. In order to combat the difficulties of coaching, technology is there to make the job easier, safer, and broader. Coaches can train players better, keep players safer, communicate more effectively, trust video technology, and utilize data analytics to understand their team fully. Technology has affected coaching in many different small ways and all of those small changes have come together to create a completely different coaching culture benefiting coaches and their players.
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Most of my views on women's sport are of course heavily influenced by my involvement as a coach in the sport and as the spouse of someone who was on the leading edge of women's soccer in our province and country. In North America, soccer as sport, regardless of gender, has an issue with visibility and popularity compared to the other more major sports, football, baseball and basketball and hockey and probably regionally with NASCAR in the US and the CFL in Canada. In some markets soccer is fairly down the ranking of watched sports and unfortunately still seen as a niche sport. It's fine to say that soccer is the world's most popular sport but someone who likes football as in the North American version is going to like no matter who many people worship soccer worldwide. Then add to that, to start talking about the women's version, well might just fall even further down the scale.
Even with the Olympic success of our Women's Hockey program and the significant viewership that occurs, it is really on anyone's radar every 4 years when the Winter Games roll around. However, being involved in a women's sport does allow me to have a notion of issues that affect all women's sports, not just soccer. I am in now way an expert but I do consider myself to have an above average knowledge on the subject. My involvement is not limited to coaching but having been on various committees and organizations focused on growing the game and increasing investment and visibility. I often use an anecdote about an organized bus trip I took part in to travel down to NYC to watch a preseason game between Manchester United and Juventus. We were playing a soccer trivial game trying to stump each other & I asked the question ; " Which Canadian soccer player has represented our country the most times ?". Quite a few people started throwing out names , all of them wrong course and after a while I gave the answer. "Charmaine Hooper" who at the time had over 100 caps. Within an instant, one of the individuals on the bus quickly answered " Yeah maybe but that doesn't count, it's women's soccer" I wonder if the attitude would be the same after two Olympic medals for the women, when our men's team has been to the Olympics since 1984 or a World Cup since 1986. Women and sports are two topics about which people tend to be long on opinion, even if they’re short on knowledge. So it’s no surprise that women’s sports are mired in misinformation. I'd like to try and dispel a few myths. As usual, most of my opinions are anchored in women's soccer. 1. Women’s sports don’t get enough media coverage. Despite serious strides in the past 25 years, female athletes continue to lag behind men when it comes to media coverage. Doesn't take a genius to conclude that the time devoted to women’s sports on local TV news or networks remain significantly lower compared with coverage men's sports overall. But it’s far from clear that media coverage of women’s sports doesn’t meet demand for it. If TV ratings are a meaningful gauge, then coverage of women’s sports is in proportion to their popularity. In tennis and figure skating for example, women’s championships are often more popular among regardless of gender, sports fans than men’s, and coverage of those events correlates. During the Olympics, many of the female side of sports receive a coverage that exceeds that of the male counterparts in the same sports. Of course if we look back to RIO 2016, our women athletes have the bulk of the success and sports like soccer, swimming, rugby 7s became the main story in coverage. Yes, it is hard for women’s sports to find an audience if the public isn’t given the chance to see them. But for media outlets, decisions about what to cover are market-driven. And the clamor for more coverage of women’s team sports doesn’t appear to be a clamor at all. 2. Men won’t watch women’s sports. Simply not true. In general, more men than women follow sports, outnumbering them 2 to 1 among viewers of major events.That isn't a surprise to anyone, but many studies show that this is actually true about watching sports in general. Men watch compelling sports, period.At some major events, Women's World Cup for the US market in 2015, Olympics in 2012 and 2016 for the Canadian market just as examples, more men watched the women's sports than women did. 3. Women’s pro sports leagues are viable. Every few years, a stellar performance at the Olympics or the World Cup prompts calls for professionalization of women’s sports. In 2001 Women’s United Soccer Association was launched following the US win at the 1999 World Cup. It was the first World Cup to get significant TV exposure, huge crowds and some emblematic moments ( Brandi Chastain anyone) Many people were quoted as saying “WUSA is an idea whose time has come." Empowerment aside, women’s team sports have yet to prove commercially viable as a stand-alone enterprise. The WUSA ended after three seasons. It was followed in 2009 by the similarly short-lived Women’s Professional Soccer. A third crack at women’s pro soccer was launched in 2013. The NWSL may have a chance, given the financial support it draws from U.S. Soccer and the Canadian Federation which bankroll the salaries of their top stars competing in the league.However the Mexican soccer federation pulled their support after feeling they were not getting enough return on the investment. The WNBA, is reaching 20 years of existence but would never have launched in 1997 and would have folded many times since had it not been financed by the NBA. The league started with eight NBA-owned teams playing in NBA arenas. It has expanded and retrenched over the years, and attendance and TV ratings have similarly grown and fallen. The WNBA recently signed a significant contract with ESPN, which reportedly pays the league $12 million a year, making it the most successful women’s pro league to date. But as business plans go, it has demanded significant investment with nominal return. A small side note to this point is the recent announcements made by US hockey and US soccer on agreements between the sports federations and their national pool players which call for significantly higher financial compensation. Add to this the forming of a union by NWSL non -allocated players (basically anyone not receiving financial support via their national programs) and this all points to a growing professionalism in these sports. World wide, women's professional leagues in soccer, basketball and volleyball for example have existed for years, maybe decades, but salaries still remain far below par as compared to the male counterparts. 4. Women’s sports would be more popular if players dressed provocatively. “Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. They could, for example, have tighter shorts,” FIFA President Sepp Blatter suggested in 2004. “Female players are pretty, if you excuse me for saying so, and they already have some different rules to men — such as playing with a lighter ball. That decision was taken to create a more female aesthetic, so why not do it in fashion?” Other men charged with overseeing women’s sports have made the same argument. To be honest in 27 years coaching women's sports I have heard comments of this nature fairly regularly. As for people much less knowledgeable about sport in general. However when it comes from people in charge of sport, well just say it really counteracts all the efforts to grown the sport. During the the Women's World Cup in 2015, play by play was done by some older, male (and for a soccer culture reason, British accented male) who would make comments like, " she really is a cute girl the way she runs", or referenced how they wore their hair for example. I am a male, involved in a women's sport and I cringe every true I hear any comments of that nature. But if sex appeal was what it took to build a fan base, the Lingerie Football League would be thriving. Yet it doesn't so that point can get put to rest really quickly. I am a male, involved in a women's sport and I cringe every true I hear any comments of that nature. Women's sports can stand on their own. A compelling competitive moment, remains good sport. So instead of comparing women's sports to their male versions or trying to find reasons why they can't be viable or succeed who not just enjoy them for what they are. As always, just my opinion There are coaches in soccer that live and breathe tactics and love to teach strategies to their players. However transferring the knowledge to the athletes in an understandable way poses a big challenge and can even make a decent coach struggle. Bad organization and even worse display of tactic documentation is one of the main reasons for failure, especially on an amateur level.
In the course of the game, things can change so quickly. The team is trailing, there are 10 minutes left in a game - or - a team is holding onto a 1 goal lead and then there is a red card for the best defender. The next moment, the coach making wild gestures. He’s shouting the new tactical instructions all across the field, which ultimately brings even more confusion to the own players. They hear some of the coach’s terms for the first time. A team can be as talented and technically adept as it gets, if they are not up to par on the tactical part of the game, they will most likely lose that game. You would think that up to the present day the tactical quality of soccer would be extremely high, across all skill levels. Unfortunately that mostly only applies for the highest stages of professional soccer. The lower the level of play, the more tactical aspects of the game get neglected. On an amateur level the tactical education of players mostly doesn’t go beyond basic knowledge, like starting formations. Most coaches’ organization of tactical documents is bad and a lot of players have never seen a well-wrought set play on a piece of paper or let alone on a digital display. Neither have they received any kind of tactical game plan from their coaches. It might not apply to all coaches, there are a bunch of exceptions out there, just as other sports have shown for many years how to develop players on a tactical level. Game situations in soccer can be highly complex – 11 opposing players that can basically move across the field in hundred different ways. Preparing for such tactical scenarios comes with a high amount of extra effort. But it seems, that while physical abilities, shooting techniques, balls or even soccer boots get over-optimized in a way, tactical aspects of the game are almost completely ignored. And yet it is more a fundamental problem of preparation than a technical one. It is important to develop a coherent , well thought out and explained game day tactical plan. There is no perfect guideline to creating a tactic plan. However the first step, after establishing a basic strategy, is to make “scouting your opponents” the foundation of your tactical assignments: Coaches so ask themselves questions like
Once the coach has found answers to those and other crucial questions, the development of a game day tactics plan can start. Note – sometimes it can be beneficial to think outside the soccer box. In this manner, different strategies should be prepared that will work for your team in different situations, for instance when falling behind or being outnumbered due to a red card. Possible changes of tactic assignments during the course of the game can be coded with different terms. Corners and free-kick variations should be set up and documented as well. The entire game day tactic plan should be handed out to the players, in order for them to prepare sufficiently for the upcoming opponents. Doing this is crucial, because there is no point in preparing tactics as a coach, if the knowledge is not transferred to the players. In many sports, a so called “Walk Through” is an integral part of each training session before game days. Coaches and players will walk through any possible game situation and tactics on the pitch, for the first 20-30 minutes of a practice. As always, just my thoughts. Sans jamais me penser expert, je crois sincèrement avoir des connaissances qui dépassent la moyenne en ce qui concerne le sport féminin et tout ce qui l’entoure, le soutien financier et logistique, l’appui des supporteurs, l’attrait globale, la couverture médiatique à la petite ou grosse échelle selon l’envergure de la compétition, et bien sûr toutes les stéréotypes auquel les participants font face.
Souvent, comme avec beaucoup de choses, le problème à la base c’est l’argent, est ce qu’il y a assez, comment aller chercher plus, est ce que les retombées possible méritent l’investissement, et ou le chercher. Je fais quelques recherches pour m’assurer de bien avoir les faits que je voulais aborder dans cet article aujourd’hui. Après avoir été presque ignorés par les marques pendant des années, le sports féminin et leurs adeptes ne cessent de se multiplier, tout comme les sponsors. Toutefois, les investissements dans les sports féminins et masculins sont loin d’être les mêmes mais au vu des derniers chiffres, la tendance va rapidement s’inverser et transformer le monde des commandites et commanditaires. Selon plusieurs études toutes catégories de population confondues, 43% des femmes aiment regarder le sport à la télévision. Bien que ce nombre soit considérablement plus faible que celui des hommes (69%), l’intérêt des femmes pour le sport augmente doucement mais sûrement. (c’est justement des statistiques que je suis allé chercher pas que je connais par cœur. Ce changement s’explique principalement par le fait que de plus en plus de filles font du sport à l’école, en plus de l’influence de leur environnement. Les filles commençant le sport jeunes auront plus tendance à être supportrices plus tard. C’est à ce moment-là que les marques doivent intervenir puisque ce sont elles qui font naître les supporters, qui poussent et qui font l’intégrité de la marque et du sport. Alors, pourquoi les compagnies devraient-elles repenser leur stratégie de sponsoring dans le sport et commencer à investir dans les athlètes féminines et supportrices plutôt que leurs équivalents masculins ?
Comme toujours ce sont JUSTE mes opinions mais avec certains fait à l’appui. Motivating student-athletes or athletes in general, is one of the toughest jobs that coaches have in today’s reality. There are so many forces influencing kids that if coaches are fortunate enough to get kids to participate in their sport, they may have a tough time keeping them involved and working hard. In the age of entitlement and instant gratification, the option offered to today's younger generation are such that it is important to find ways to keep them motivated and committed. if we can't they will simply go elsewhere to seek that they need or want.
Coaches can exert more influence on a student-athlete’s attitude and work habits than at any other point in their athletic career. The fact that athletic participation and academic success can go hand in hand, a university coach can use this as the foundation on which to find the motivation plan. Upon observance of successful coaches through the years, the one point that stands out above all others is the ability to get the most out of their athletes. How do these coaches do it? Is it a case of being able to motivate their squad members or is there some secret formula that they use? Certainly, the key is their ability to motivate these young men and women to “give all they have to give,” whether in practice or competition. Following are some ideas on motivation. Today’s youngsters are motivated to fulfill their needs. Psychologists tell us that the student-athlete’s two most important needs are to have fun and to feel worthy. A third and perhaps most important today would be, “What am I going to get out of it, or what’s in for me?” 1 – COMMUNICATE A coach/teacher who is honest, open and consistent will have the best opportunity to get athletes to respond to him or her. Direct praise and/or direct correction is appreciated by this generation of youngsters. Consequently, try to talk to every kid once at every practice. If you have a large squad, get assistants to help. Psychologists tell us even negative comments are better than ignoring someone. Try to make your comments positive. Sometimes that takes a real stretch. Use their name when you do. “Good job,” doesn’t mean as much to a kid as “good job, Joe!” Will Rogers said, “A person can live for a month on a good compliment!” This still holds true today. Use good communication form. Look the athlete in the eyes and be able to recognize when he or she is not listening to you. If the athlete is looking down, crossing arms or drawing a line with his or her foot, stop and use the magic word – later. “Come see me after practice.” It is usually good practice to meet with kids individually when there is a problem and listen to their ideas, complaints or problems. Putting down or criticizing youngsters in front of their peers does not motivate most athletes. Athletes will be more involved if they think they’ve had input into what’s being done. As a rule, coaches are not very good listeners. So, really listen to your kids. Help your athletes set goals for the team and for themselves. You may not be able to do this with each athlete if your squad is large, but your assistants can help. Always use performance goals, not outcome goals. You cannot control outcomes. One of Bill Snyder’s (Kansas State University football coach) favorite motivation techniques is to ask athletes after practice, “What did you do today to help reach your goal?” Tom Tutko indicates that sincere and enthusiastic involvement with the players towards common goals is the most effective form of motivation. Discipline is a must for motivation to take hold – a whole different topic, but a must. In the past, pep talks were thought to be a good tool for motivation. Pep talks still work with immature or young kids, but today’s intelligent athletes know what you’re trying to do and pep talks may have little or no effect. It may be much more effective to stay as calm as possible and be realistic and factual. Exercise specialists have proven that getting kids “fired up” can hurt fine muscle control in activities that require that physical attribute. So remember, it’s often not what you say, but how you say it. A few well-chosen words are always better than lengthy talks. No. 2 – BUILD ON SUCCESS Small successes lead to bigger ones. Coaches who stress athlete and team improvement will be ahead in the motivation game over the long run. If your athletes gave a good effort in competition or in practice, let them know it. Athletes are most open to communication at a time like this – not after a loss, a bad experience or an error. Use drills and situations in practice that athletes can handle successfully. It will carry over to game situations. No. 3 – BE CONSISTENT AND PERSISTENT Motivation that works takes a lot of effort – you have to be fired up every day – not only when you feel good or when things have gone your way. Do not let the small bumps in the road discourage you. The highs are usually very high and sometimes few and far between and the lows can come quite often. Coaching and teaching can be a very bumpy ride. If you are going to be successful at motivating others, it must start at home, regardless of the situation. No. 4 – BE CREATIVE It’s hard to motivate if you don’t love your job and look forward to coming to practice every day. Always be on the lookout for those “hot buttons.” Search for creative things to do at practice. Nothing bores kids more than doing the same warm-up or drill each day. You know what happens. They begin to get sloppy and can develop bad habits. Vary your workouts. Obviously, it is a lot easier and a lot less work to have a set routine. There is nothing basically wrong with routines, if they are exciting and interesting. If you love the game, let it show. Try to match the difficulty of skills and drills to the ability of your athletes so they can be successful. Keep practice stimulating and interesting, and use a variety of drills. Let the kids – especially your seniors – get involved in helping to plan practices. If possible, change your practice site every now and then. A change of scenery can be very motivating. Use music at practice and let the kids help choose it. You need to be careful to make sure it is appropriate. Keep everyone active, so there is no standing around waiting in line. This takes a lot of organization on your part, but is well worth it. Inactivity leads to discipline problems and boredom. Eliminate this as much as possible. Activity is motivating. No. 5 – BE POSITIVE It’s been said that, “Choices are the hinges of destiny!” You have a choice each day to be positive about yourself, other people and life in general. Be upbeat even when correcting errors. Use the sandwich approach – start with something positive (this will get their attention) and then give your correction. Finish with some praise or positive comment. An example might be: “That was a good pass, but you gave away your pass. This time don’t focus on where your pass is going. If you do that you’ll be one of our best passers.” No. 6 – FIND VALUE Coaches who can motivate find and model individual worth. They attempt to find the good in every athlete. Care, respect and love are the keys. Avoid constant instruction in practice and games. Allow your athletes to play at times. Constant evaluation doesn’t motivate kids. No. 8 – LEAD BY EXAMPLE Like any skill you try to teach, the coach needs to be the model for his team and athletes. Students will not be motivated if the coach is not. All things being equal, your athletes will take on your characteristics. Bring your love and enthusiasm to practice daily. Don’t ask them to do something you wouldn’t do yourself. Pourquoi le soccer? Une expérience personnelle
Quand j’étais petit, le soccer était le premier sport que j’ai commencé à jouer. Mon père qui venait de l'Espagne ne m’a pas permis de jouer aux autres sports d'été comme le football, baseball etc. donc le soccer était le seul sport pour moi durant l'été. J'ai joué au hockey quelques années mais disons que sans un bon exemple venant de mon père, je n’ai pas vraiment capté ce sport sans dire que simplement je n'étais pas fort sur mes patins. J'ai commencé dans un moment où il n'avait pas de mini ou macro soccer, le tout ce jouer sur le grand terrain. Mon père a voulu me faire jouer comme attaquant mais j'ai rapidement vu que je préférais défendre qu'attaquer. A mes débuts, je n'avais pas vraiment idée des équipes pros en Europe, les compétitions internationaux etc. Mon premier souvenir d'aller voir un match professionnel c'était le Montreal Olympique qui jouait dans le défunt NASL au AutoStade. L'arrivé de Pelé dans la ligue a fait les nouvelles chez moi et de temps en temps on pouvait voir des matchs à la télévision. Par le temps que le Manic de Montreal est venu en vie, j'avais une meilleure idée que le soccer existait sur une grande échelle. Lors de mes derniers voyages familiales j'ai eu la chance de voir quelques matchs de la Liga avec mes cousins en personne, le Real Madrid au stade Bernabeu et le Real Sociedad au Stade Anoeta. Même a ce moment, j'adoré le soccer mais je n'avais pas encore trouver la passion que j'ai maintenant. Je ne m'identifié pas vraiment comme on vrai fan, juste regardant ce sport que je jouais sur un autre niveau. Pour moi le sport professionnel c'était les Canadians, les Expos et les Alouettes. Mon premier vrai souvenir d'une compétition internationale a été la Coupe du Monde en 2002 qui a lieu en Espagne. Je pense qu'une fois de plus c'était lié à la passion de mon père que disait a tous ce amis que la coupe de tenait dans son pays d'origine mais aussi qu'il se réunissait avec ses amis espagnols pour écouter les matchs. Je dirais que c'est à ce moment que je commençais à a plus m'identifier avec mes racines espagnoles et de réaliser la place que ce sport prenait dans la vie de ma famille qui habitait presque en entier à l'Espagne. La soccer est devenu le lien entre moi et mes racines espagnols. A partir de ce moment je commençais à le suivre de plus près, de suivre les équipes européens, la Real, et en Angleterre le Liverpool. Au débuts des années 90, j'ai commencé ma carrière d'entraineur et j'ai fait un certain virage. Je regardais encore les matchs avec l'œil d'un passionné mais en même temps je le regardais comme un coach. Je me trouvais à analyser les systèmes de jeu, les tactiques, comment les joueurs se comporter dans divers situations. En 1994, j'ai eu la chance d'assister en personne à un match Canada-Espagne au stade Claude Robillard. Le stade était plein de gens comme mon père, des partisans espagnols, des drapeaux jaune et rouge et c'est vraiment la que je me suis senti espagnol et la totalité de ma passion pour "mon sport". Depuis ce temps, on voit de plus en plus de matchs télévisé venant de divers ligues, la ligue de champions, des compétitions internationaux . Et je me trouve a chercher des matchs à regarder ou enregistrer pour les écouter plus tard. Toujours avec le mixe, œil de fan , œil de coach. Bien sûr avec le cheminement de ma carrière comme entraineur au féminin, je cherchais aussi des chances de regarder des matchs féminins. Heureusement on en voit de plus de plus. J'ai toujours pu apprécier divers joueurs sans dire que j'étais gros fan d'un en particulier. Je cherchais simplement des qualités dans divers joueurs que j'aimais voir. Bien sûr que si on me pousse à choisir des favoris, ça serait des joueurs espagnols, avec surement Juanito comme le premier vrai joueur duquel je dirais fan et Fernando Hierro comme celui que j'ai le plus aimé. Pour moi, la passion pour soccer vient par le fait que ce sport a été la déclenchement de mon identification avec mes racines espagnols. For the last 15 years, I have been coaching university soccer so ever present and over involved parent is not a recurring theme. It still happens but as I get older and therefore in the same age bracket or older than most of the parents of my athletes, speaking them peer to peer is easier. I don't usually get the angry , aggressive parent challenging my decisions, questioning my game plans but rather the subtle inquiry meant to let me know that they think their daughter deserves to play.
Truth be told, most of my coaching has been with adults or late teams and when I coach youth players it was mostly on the provincial teams where parents didn't really feel the confidence to openly challenge a coach's decision. Doesn't mean I haven't see it, dealt with it or have an opinion in the subject. At the base, I try and cut off the situation at the start. When recruiting players for university, I will always try and speak with the athlete and not the parent. I will have 3 or 4 years of interacting with the player so it is important to establish a relationship from the start. Find a way to let the athlete know that I want to know their opinions, their objectives, their goals, and not hear it from parents. There is a reason that when you might attend a soccer showcase, the coaches tend to be strategically seated as far away from parents as possible. Friends of mine who spend a lot of time coaching youth soccer have shared their opinions of the situation. These days too many parents make their presence known, in a negative way. It affects the athlete's sports experience and their overall love and passion for the game. Remember if you've read through my posts, I have really only coached at fairly highly competitive levels, so I get the intensity of it all, but there are certain things I don’t think any parent should ask their kid’s coaches. If you ask me, I think we should leave the game to the athletes. Here are six ways parents can let the athlete be the athlete and the Coach be the Coach.
How important is technical training in relation to tactical? A lot is going to depend on the age of the players you are working with, so I’d like to focus on the competitive U18 and older players.
Technical training should always be a major foundation of any coaching philosophy; how can we play the game effectively without a solid technical base? At the university level however, how much can we influence the technical ability of players who are 18-21 years old? More important, what are the chances of making gains technically with players at this age. The compressed , condensed nature of the university season doesn't allow for a lot of time to be spent on technical work. However you should always find ways to incorporate it into training sessions. Most importantly, I have found it useful to have my assistant coaches give one on one feedback to players on their technical execution. In a perfect world, we should be working with players who already have a strong technical base and put those abilities into a tactical system that plays to their strengths? A tactical system really serves no purpose for players who don’t have a handle on the fundamentals. There is a lot of truth to this concept, the technical ability of players in Canada are not on par with players in other countries where the soccer is learned through hours and hours of free play. I also find that while it is getting much better, female players especially are not coached in the technical fundamentals. I have also found that sometimes the technical coaching is strong in terms of teaching a skill set that doesn't always relate to game situations. Being able to juggle the ball 100 times isn't something that happens in a game. Coaching university soccer I feel tactics play a big role in the success of a program. As coaches we have a short time, to put a tactical system in place and find what system will best fit in with the strengths of the players available to us. Players need to know their roles in a system and what the objectives are on the attack and defensively. It goes beyond deciding if we play 4-4-2 or 4-4-3 or any other shape but making sure players know what they are to do in the various phases of the game. The more we can prepare players to adjust on the go during the games, the better chance we have of not being surprised by opponents. My other contention is the simple fact that I’m not sure we can change the technical ability of our players at this age during a 3 month competitive season. So I feel my time is better spent teaching a system that the players can implement with their skill set and have some success doing it. The off-season is the time that I feel we should spend developing our technical side of the game. L’aptitude mentale joue un grand rôle dans l’entraînement et la performance. Il arrive parfois que les athlètes commettent une erreur (ou des erreurs consécutives), qu’ils affrontent un adversaire qui les a battus dans le passé, ou qu’ils soient dans des conditions de jeu imprévues. La force mentale comprend de nombreux éléments liés à l’entraînement et aux compétitions, mais en gros, elle consiste en la capacité d’ignorer les distractions, de mettre l’accent sur des objectifs et des résultats précis, et de surmonter des épreuves difficiles passées.
Comment un athlète peut-il améliorer son aptitude mentale? Gérer les attentes : Il est facile pour chaque personne de placer la barre haut en ayant l’idée que de grands objectifs signifient de grands gains. Heureusement, les entraîneurs sont d’excellentes ressources d’objectivité pour évaluer les résultats d’entraînement et de compétition. Si les objectifs sont réalistes et atteignables, l’athlète est encouragé à persévérer et à garder en tête les réussites passées lorsque les choses se compliquent. Après une compétition, les athlètes et les entraîneurs devraient évaluer les progrès qui ont été faits, tirer des leçons des erreurs, et reconnaître les objectifs qui ont été atteints, petits ou grands. Prévoir l’imprévisible : Dans toute course ou compétition, il y a toujours place à l’imprévu; un bris d’équipement, du mauvais temps, etc. Ces inconvénients sont des distractions courantes, et les athlètes devraient être capables de garder leur concentration sur leur objectif et de penser que leur entraînement et leur préparation leur permettront de passer au travers de l’événement. Rester positif : Un monologue intérieur, comme se dire « J’ai déjà réussi dans le passé, je peux y parvenir de nouveau » ou bien « Je suis fort, je peux réussir », met l’accent sur des phrases positives qui renforcent le corps et l’esprit et nous incitent à persévérer quand les choses se compliquent. Des phrases comme « Il ne faut pas lâcher » ou « Je dois combattre la douleur » ont des connotations négatives et peuvent nuire à la confiance. Croire en soi : Si un athlète a confiance en ses capacités, il sera plus en mesure de convertir son potentiel sportif en une performance exceptionnelle. De l’autre côté, si un athlète a des doutes, un simple revers peut parfois le dérouter complètement. La confiance en soi peut provenir de divers facteurs : la préparation (p. ex. routines et exercices), l’expérience de compétition antérieure, le système de soutien de l’athlète (entraîneur, parents, coéquipiers), et les réussites passées. Le développement de l’aptitude mentale est un processus qui n’arrive pas du jour au lendemain. Il faut de la patience, de l’effort conscient et, si possible, une orientation guidée d’un entraîneur ou d’un psychologue sportif. Les techniques d’imagerie et de visualisation peuvent être exceptionnellement utiles pour les aspirants athlètes et peuvent permettre à ces derniers d’atteindre des niveaux de performance optimums. En intégrant un régime d’entraînement bien organisé, l’athlète peut alors trouver l’avantage qu’il recherche et qui lui permettra d’avoir le dessus sur ses adversaires. It's not often you hear a coach admit, out loud, "boy, was I dumb." -or- " man did I every screw up, I got it all wrong and my decisions were terrible". However that humility in my opinion is what makes good coach, great. You have to accept that you don't know it all, don't always get it right but most importantly, give a clear message to your athletes that you are only human and make mistakes like everyone else, in every aspect of everyday like.
Yes, our athletes look to us to have all the answers and find the magical solution but in competitive sports, not everyone wins, and when you are on the losing side of the ledger sometimes, it's because the other team was simply better, even if you did everything perfectly. Or it could be an issue of one of the intangibles affecting the result, weather, refs' calls, field conditions, whatever. Yes, also, sometimes it is the fault of your athletes who didn't perform, who underachieved, or who simply sucked on the day. However, sometimes, negative outcomes are directly caused by your coaching. With the number of games I have managed in, practices I have run and players I have coached, I have made my lion share of mistakes, some blatant howlers even, however I would like to think I get things right more often than not and most important, that I learned from my mistakes. On a larger scale, I think there are 3 significant mistakes that all coaches make at some point. 1. Thinking your coaching is bigger than sports As coaches, we all like to think that we are helping our athletes beyond their sport. That we are teaching them life lessons and skill sets that will help them be successful contributors to society. We are strive to give one of those inspirational locker room speeches that inspire our athletes. Our share a one on one moment with a player that gives them purpose. Sometimes we actually do, but when it does happen, it is usually a result of us as coaches simply doing what we do to the best of our ability. Yes, there are life lessons kids can learn in sports. But there also are life lessons kids learn on the playground, in the classroom, at home, on TV, or any social setting... basically, anywhere they live., play or interact with others. If you want to put undue pressure on your kids, and especially on yourself, the quickest way to do that is to aspire to be a combination of the great coaches of your sport and some sort of motivational speaker. The life lessons will come as they come. Just start with teaching the game while having fun in the best way you know how. The rest will develop as the trust and confident your athletes feel towards you grows. They will follow your lead if they feel you have something to offer. 2. Wondering why parents can't see you for the good-hearted, generous and dedicated person your are. My coaching career has been such that I haven't had to interact much with parents. I started coaching senior women, so parents were not a factor, and have coached at the competitive levels where parents are not investing significant amounts of money which gives them the impression that they have the right to provide guidance and feedback on every decision you make. However, I have on occasion come across parents who might be considered a little too involved in their kids athletic careers.I had coached for many years by this point, and I should have known better. But, still, I wondered, what was THEIR problem? Why were these parents so over-the-top? Why wouldn't they see my side? With experience, I learned that getting defensive was never a good idea, even if -- especially if -- parents are coming at you in the heat of the moment. I'm not saying I was always wrong, or that I was always right. But maybe, drawing on my managerial experience from my "real job", I should have suggested we talk later, in a less heated moment. I might have even learned something. As much as coaches like to rip on parents, and it happens with good reason, especially at early ages, what parents want is to be heard, and to know that someone has their child's best interest at heart. As a coach, it's my job to let them know that, and if at that point they don't see it, then, well, you do the best you can. 3. Expecting kids to fall in line, just because There is a lot of push-pull between coaches and their athletes. Simply said, you can make everyone happy, all of the time. As a coach you have to accept this and prepare for it. . Sports are at the base a game, the same game that kids play informally with their friends during recess and lunch or after school. Be definition games should be fun but at younger age groups, the kids are still trying on a sport. There are athletes who are clearly interested, but there usually just as many who are picking the proverbial grass blades in the outfield or involved because their parents have pushed them into it, or they want to be around their friends. Especially when score is being kept or as the competitive level and increases, it's easy as a coach to feel pressured to do something to press athletes to take things more seriously so you don't feel the hot stares of parents. club officials, administrators, or basically anyone with an opinion in the stands, looking to judge your coaching capacity, in the stands (which might not be happening; you just think it is). I should mention that the most difficult situation for a youth coach is when your best player -- and, yes, even small kids can figure out who the best player is -- is the one causing the most trouble. It's a coaching truism that if your best player falls in line with you, then the rest will follow, and if he or she doesn't -- "oh crap". I've made the mistake of trying to make examples out of those players, whether it's kicking them out of a drill or calling them out , holding them to a higher standard. It's important that your expectations and team rules are clear and explained from the start and that your reaction as a coach be consistent, no matter who the player is, now matter how important the next game is But you have to accept there are kids who are interested, and kids who aren't. There usually is nothing magical you can do to create that interest -- and that's OK. Just stick to what you do best, focus on your plan and if you steer the course, hopefully things work out. Sometimes they don't As always, just my opinion. |
AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
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