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5v5•U8•Coach Development

I feel like I coach too much during matches

Asked by AdamW
2330 views 6 replies
First season coaching and I can hear myself constantly talking. Spread out, get back, turn, pass, shoot. I know I should let them make more decisions but when I go quiet I feel like I am not helping. Did anyone have a practical way of reducing the amount they say on matchday?

VERIFIED COACH RESPONSE

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UEFA C Coach

Grassroots session design

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I’d give yourself a rule rather than telling yourself to “talk less”. For example, try the first five minutes with no football instructions at all. You can encourage, manage safety and help with a rule, but you do not tell them where to go or what action to take. Then notice what actually goes wrong without your voice. It is often much less than we imagine. You can also pick one theme before the match. If you are working on finding space, only intervene around that rather than commenting on every pass, tackle and shot. The uncomfortable bit is accepting that silence can still be coaching. You have prepared the players, set the environment and now you are watching what they can solve. You do not have to prove your value by being the loudest person there.

COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

Join the football discussion. 6 replies

E

EmJ84

Coach

I wrote 'QUIET' on my hand for three games. Ridiculous but it worked.
H

HillWalk7

Coach

i did ten-minute quiet blocks. first one felt awful because every mistake looked like something I should fix. by week three the players were talking more and I realised half my instructions had been solving things they could already solve.
C

ClaireT

Coach

Did the players know you were going quiet? I tried it without warning and they kept looking over because they thought I was annoyed.
M

Martin51

Player

As a player the constant information is exhausting. You stop reading the game because you are waiting for the next instruction.
L

LateKickoff2

Parent who also coaches

Pick one thing you are coaching that day and let most of the rest go. That was the only way I stopped narrating the whole match.
A

AfterWorkCoach82

Assistant Coach

this helped me loads. if our theme is support, I dont need to comment on every tackle, shot and bad touch as well.

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