Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn

Learning from mistakes is the key to positive soccer experiences from both coaching and player perspectives. I would like to concentrate on the coaching aspect of learning from mistakes to help fellow coaches improve their work. The following paragraphs will highlight some common coaching mistakes and provide alternative ideas that you might find useful.

1) The position an individual coaches from is vitally important and unfortunately one of the most common mistakes made. We must remember that we can only coach what we see. Therefore if we are involved in active participation of the activity we will be unable to see the entire picture due to focusing on our role or responsibility as a participant. In similar fashion if a coach assumes an observation position in the middle of an activity he is likely to see only half of what is happening about him.

It is important to see the big picture before zeroing in on a small segment of it to coach a specific point. The importance of good decision making and correct application of proper technique in the small picture is often influenced by, and as a result influences, the larger picture. Think of washing a multi-paned window. You stand back from it and observe. You see one pane that is streaked and so move in to clean it. When finished cleaning that specific pane you step back and observe the entire window once again. Coaching needs to be conducted in much the same manner. See the entire picture and when a specifc problem arises, focus on fixing that small facet of the game to improve the overall game.

2) Assuming a correct position to coach from can be negated by interjecting oneself too much into the activity verbally. We have all witnessed coaches that seemingly wish to control every decision made by players and their every movement through verbally managing the game. The constant barrage of instructions leads to frustration and can erode the confidence of players.

Think of a player about to receive the ball. This player should be scanning the field and positioning himself so that his first touch plays the ball away from pressure and leads him into his next play. He has precious fractions of a second to make a good decision. Then you clutter the process by offering your interpretation of the unfolding play in shouting a specific instruction you wish followed. When I see this type of coaching taking place I often make my point by asking the coach if he would like a joystick so that he might better control the movements of his players.

Allowing players to make their own decisions is a vitally important aspect of positive coaching. If you constantly interject your thought process into the players decision making process, the message you are sending to the player is that you do not trust his thought process or decsion-making skills - the very same process and skills that you as his coach are responsible for developing in training. If you as a coach are confident in your training methods, then you should be confident in having taught your players good decision making skills and the ability to execute technical skill properly in the tactical situation they are encountering. You really should not feel the need to constantly attempt to make decisions for them.

3) Let’s discuss training methodology for a moment. I am often amused by elaborate activities that utilize a myriad of equipment and involve limited active participation. Go to a circus or perhaps Sea World and we can see well trained animals performing drills that they have mastered. It looks good and is entertaining but how realistic and practical are such activities in the real animal kingdom? It is the same with soccer training. If all the players do is drill, they become very good drillers but are usually unable to apply what they have learned in drills to an actual game.

Soccer is game, a very fuild game predicated on applying technical skill to tactical situations as quickly as possible. We must always remember and cherrish this idea. Drills are one means of helping players learn a specific technique of the game but each skill learned is a small part of the overall process. Each drill must be accompanied by game-like activities that focus on reproducing tactical situations requiring the application of the acquired skill.

The model I am encouraging you to follow is a simple but highly effective one. Introduce the skill or skills that will be the focus of a training session. Have the players perform the skill(s) with only self-imposed pressure. Then gradually increase the amount of pressure applied to the individual performing the skill. Pressure might be ramped up in the form of a time element or a teammate providing passive pressure gradually increasing to active 1 v 1 play. This can be followed by small-sided games with restrictions and or rules to facilitate recreating situations that will necessitate utilizing the specified skill. The training session might conclude with a full sided scrimmage, again with a focus on the tactical application of the specified skill.

The main advantage of conducting training in this manner is to first establish a comfort zone for the player to perform the skill in and then to continually expand that comfort zone until the player is comfortable in attempting to perform the skill under live game conditions.

4) Kids love to play games and many lazy coaches rely on this when they devote most of their training sessions to scrimmaging. This is an easy way to conduct a practice involving a minimal amount of work for the coach.

A very old and very true adage states that the game is the best teacher. I believe this to be true when games are conducted in a positive environment. If the games played in practice always use the same rules on the same sized field with the goals placed in the same positions with the same participants the learning process can become stagnant. If skill work is not incorpoated into practice on a daily basis skills can actually erode leading to a degeneration in the quality of play.

Remember when you were a child playing with your friends. Third base might have been an apple tree. The endzone might have been defined as an imaginary line between the telephone pole and a corner of the house. The players adpated their game to the environment and from this spontanaity creativity blossomed. It is important to remember that players are kids and as such are experts at having fun playing games. That they are experts is an indication that they do indeed learn how to manipulate the game and play it effectively or they would have abandoned the activity altogether.

Games are a very good practice activity but must be designed with a specific intent and be accompanied by a concentration on particular facets of the game. Just roling out the ball and having the kids scrimmage is really no practice at all. It is a poor attempt at recreating backyard or street soccer without giving players complete ownership of the playing environment.

5) As we speak of games it is an important consideration to remember to coach the players and not the game. Another way to say this is to state that coaches coach the game and players play the game. It is important to maintain separation of the two roles.

I have a friend who is an emergency room physician. Consider for a moment if he were to walk into the admitting area and indiscriminately began tossing painkillers to everyone. This irresposnible action might produce some positive short term effects but does little to address each individuals specific needs.

Similarly, providing general instructions such as “spread out” or “clear the ball” might be drawn from good observations but hardly address a specific individuals play on the field.

A good soccer coach, much like a good emergency room physician, will analyze each individuals needs and then address those specific needs as a means of improving the individuals quality of play. Coaches must be adept at analyzing the game and identifying specific areas of play that are breaking down. If your training session and associated activities are planned well you should be able to stay on traget with your coaching points. This does not mean that you will not identify other areas to address. Limit addressing these other areas immediately as much as possible reserving them to be addressed in a future training session.

6) By now one underlying theme should be emerging – a good soccer coach must be prepared for each training session with an organized plan designed to produce the desired results. Failing to prepare properly is preparing to fail. There is not a truer saying in sports or in life. If you fail to prepare properly as a coach not only will you fail, but you will fail your players and set them up for failure as well.

But take a lesson from your childhood and remain felxible. Sometimes despite devoting adequate time to planning and carrying out a training session things do go awry. A good coach needs to be able to adapt to any number of variables that might be encountered. Good coaches often have built-in options in their session plans for such situations.

Training sessions must progress fluidly and logically from a beginning through a middle to an end. The activities must be realistic and applicable to the “real” game. Focus on two or three points over and over again for the entire session. It helps to have a specific trigger to begin each activity and a pre-acknowledged end to an activity or game.

Consistency is important especially in the area of service. For example, if you are working on goalkeeping you want service that the goalkeeper can handle in a routine and consistent manner to develop specific muscle memory for the application of the technique being developed. If the players providing service to the goalkeepers are attempting to defeat the goalkeeper then you are conducting a practice on shooting technique instead of one on goalkeeping. Likewise when teaching techniques such as heading or chesting the ball there must be consisent service to produce quality repetitions.

Much of what has been discussed above might fall into the realm of common sense. Do not take anything for granted. Perhaps the single most important thing for a coach to keep in mind is the fact he has been entrusted with the development of the children both as player and more importantly as people. The commitment and work ethic you bring to your role as coach will be reflected in the commitment and work ethic the players bring to training and matches. Consistency in your approach to coaching will be rewarded with consistency in the play of the team – remember that failing to properly prepare is preparing to fail.