3 soccer articles...

http://www.nscaa.com/subpages/20080318113842777.php
http://www.nscaa.com/subpages/2006033115342494.php
http://www.nscaa.com/subpages/2006033115345895.php

"CURING COMMON COACHING PROBLEMS"

"There is a time for open discussion and a time for coach's authority. Any coach who does not recognize the difference, or who abrogates this responsibility, is doing the team and his/her young athletes a grave disservice."

...balancing authority and leniency is and always has been one of my problems as a coach/teacher. I believe that the teacher can always learn from the student, which is one of the reasons I love teaching/coaching. But to be able to balance the authority with this philosophy is something I have definitely yet to master...

"Another problem occurs if the superstar believes he/she is too good for the other players on the team. If a coach expects a team to always feed the ball to the star or singles that player out for constant praise and uses him/her for every good example, yet is loathe to offer criticism, this reinforces the player's feeling of being special. Good young players should be used as examples for others, but they also need to be criticized constructively, prodded and shown the necessity for working selflessly with others. Too many great athletes have stagnated as youngsters because they haven't been pushed to improve even more, pushed to develop team concepts and skills they'll need once they advance to a higher level of play."

"Most children are disruptive only because they want attention."

"information overload
Youngsters' attention spans are short. They cannot handle as much information at one time as adults, yet there are many coaches who insist upon forcing every scrap of detail they know on their players, often at the most inappropriate times."

"The pre-game talk is the wrong time to introduce a game plan. It should have been introduced in bits and pieces during practices sessions so players could have had time to assimilate the information and understand it thoroughly. New concepts should be introduced singly and completely. Similarly, while reinforcing old (previously explained) ideas before a game, concentrate on one or two key points. If you use the scattershot approach -- throwing out eight or 10 different thoughts in random order as they occur to you -- you'll lose your audience entirely. Older youngsters, in particular, are masters at looking straight at you as if enraptured while their minds are a zillion miles away."

"This has the added advantage of refining your own coaching skills. It's easy to attack every problem in sight every single day, hoping something, sometime, will sink in. It's more difficult to pick out one or two ideas and reinforce them systematically, that requires foresight, planning, and patience. It's like the introduction to a letter Abraham Lincoln is purported to have sent to a friend: "I would have written you a shorter note, but I didn't have time.""


"YOUTH SCENE: HOW TO MAKE DRILLS WORK"


"1. make it work 2. make it better 3. introduce opposition
the golden rule: 2 to 1 ratio or higher for attack to first allow success."

"Time: How many times in a minute do you want the exercise done? Or how many times in a row do you want it done? Or, how long do you want it done?"
"Velocity: How hard do you want the ball hit? The harder it is struck, the harder it is to control by the receiving player. How fast to you want a player to run? The faster a player runs, the harder it is to receive the passed ball."
Direction: Where do you want the ball passed? To the feet of a player? In front of the running player? In the general direction of the running player? Up field? Each pass has a different degree of difficulty. What degree of difficulty do you want and need?
Height: Do you want the ball passed on the ground? Or in the air? It is much harder for the player to receive a ball out of the air quickly. It also is more difficult to deliver a ball that is chipped over the heads of opponents.
Distance: The distance that a ball travels is crucial to the whole game of soccer. Short passes need to be more accurate, as the distance is short, as is the time for the player to get into a position to receive the passed ball. Longer passes allow the player receiving the ball more time to get in the path of the ball. Longer passes also allow opponents time to get to the same ball. But long passes frequently take the ball from an area of pressure and trouble. Short passes can pass on pressure from one player to the next."

"Exercises work best when they are constructed to work right from the beginning. They become more challenging when new restrictions are added. Limiting touches of the ball, reducing the working space of the group or adjusting the number of players to the allotted space — all have a role to play in player development through coaching exercises."

"Finally, the factors of time, velocity, direction and height can change a drill to make an exercise more challenging and realistic (game-like) for the players."


"YOUTH SCENE: Teacher, Role Model, Facilitator"

"Developing one’s coaching philosophy is very important. Every coaching philosophy should be geared toward player development. This starts with activities that focus on the involvement of all players with a ball to ensure that everyone has fun. These activities also should be geared to creating success, which will lead to further enjoyment. When the players are having fun, they will learn more. Coaches must establish a good learning environment and give positive feedback to players. The coach needs to be enthusiastic and excited about coaching. The players will feed off the coach’s enthusiasm."

"Additionally, the function of a coach is to serve as a facilitator and teacher. This means setting up an environment that is conducive to learning. There have to be standards set and followed. As a facilitator, it also is necessary to eliminate obstacles to learning. Some of these obstacles include fear of failure, over-coaching and teaching techniques incorrectly, leading to bad habits."

"Ways to eliminate these obstacles are to permit the players to make mistakes without overreacting in a negative fashion. When players are trying to be creative and they make a mistake, coaches should not emphasize the mistake. Be positive as a coach. If a mistake needs to be corrected, use the sandwich method of feedback to the player. Begin with a positive statement, followed by the constructive criticism, then end with a positive statement."

"A coach must be able to react to teachable moments, whether positive or negative, and stop the activity or game to take advantage of these moments. This part of being a teacher comes from experience and being a student of the game."""

"We never stop learning from this great game. One thing to remember as coaches is that the game itself is the greatest teacher of all."