BEHIND THE PLAY #23

Most coaches, volunteer or paid, put a lot of time and effort into their work with players and teams. They are prepared, devoted to creating a safe, positive environment and want to see their players succeed.

Not all though.

So here’s some criteria parents can and should be applying to assess their coach. In my experience, hardly any parents use this sort of lens and as I’ve said in past newsletters, a proper guide for parents to understand these things is long overdue but for now here’s a list for you to consider.

1. RESPECTING THE PLAYERS

   • Does the coach know your child’s name and pronounce it properly. Do they know every child’s name on the team and pronounce them properly

   • Does your coach know and understand the player pathway and communicate what should be reasonable expectations for players that want to advance through it

   • Is the coach aware of, and do they abide by, club policies (eg. playing time policy, concussion protocols, return to play policies in general, rotating positions for younger players, zero tolerance for bullying, etc)

   • Does your team improve because the coach is invested in improving individuals on the team and the team as a whole or because they regularly cut players and replace them with ‘better’ ones

   • Does your coach actively support players who should player move to a higher level on another team

   • Is their stated goal, backed by actions, to keep kids playing in the game regardless of the level

2. RESPECTING THE PLAYERS AND PLAYER SAFETY

   • Does the coach respect established, age-appropriate training loads or do they encourage them to sign up for additional sessions that they may or may not financially benefit from

3. RESPECTING THEIR ROLE

   • Is your coach certified properly for the age and level they are coaching

   • Are they prepared and on time for training sessions and games

   • Does the coach have a pre-season team meeting for both players and parents laying out expectations for both as well as what they can and should expect from them as their coach

4. RESPECTING THE GAME AND MODELLING APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR

   • Does their sideline behaviour and manner match their non-soccer demeanour or do they present very differently at games

5. PLAYER SAFETY

   • Does your coach know and abide by the Rule of Two at practices

   • Do they have an up to date Criminal Record Check on file with the club

6. CREATING A FAIR, POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT

   • Do they communicate team policies and rules to the players and parents and uphold them consistently with all

   • Do training sessions flow and keep players active and engaged or are there long stoppages for instruction and/or expressions of frustration

   • Does the coach treat all players and parents the same or are there different standards applied to some

   • Does your child come home from training and games generally feeling positive and wanting to talk about how it went or regularly not wanting to talk about it and seeming to not enjoy it

7. CLEAR, REGULAR COMMUNICATION

   • Is team communication from your coach clear and do they have an established process for receiving input from parents that they use consistently

   • Is the coach prepared to tell parents and players things that are necessary for a player to hear even if they know it might not be what they want to hear

   • Does the coach do one or two brief check-ins with each player, with at least one of their parents there as well, to let them know what they are doing well, what they need to work on and if they have any questions

You may have noticed I have not tried to dazzle you with talk of gegenpressing, inverted fullbacks, half spaces and periodic transference (one of those I just made up). While I’m aware that many parents want to know that their coach is going to be a Pep-level tactical mastermind and they have spent far too much time on #SoccerTactics Twitter trying to keep up with the latest buzz phrases, this is intended to be a foundational piece. These are core elements that any adult working with kids needs to be able to bring to the table if they want to have success in terms of player enjoyment, development and retention as well as enjoy parent support. Most are applicable to all ages and levels but some are more relevant to U11 and older.

Yes, older kids playing at higher levels need appropriate technical and tactical training. While the average parent can make good assessments on a coach using the criteria above, very few can actually discern between good age, level and contextually-appropriate (ie. not unopposed) technical work and an athletic looking guy wearing a sharp tracksuit shouting instructions during a totally inappropriate drill with feedback delivered, counter-productively, while players are actively focusing on what the drill demands of them.

Same goes for tactics.

If you have a coach trying to teach effective pressing to a group of ten year olds who train no more than twice a week, gong them. The amount of time it would take to teach kids that young what triggers to look for to initiate a press and then effectively do it by working as a group where each has to very quickly go to specific parts of the field while understanding why and what role they serve in that space is a complete waste of valuable training time.

That stuff can come later. The primary goal of a coach at younger ages should be to engage the player in a positive environment, make them want to get better and be part of a team. To give them license to make mistakes and learn from them rather than fear making them and play more conservatively. Kids learn and improve in such environments exponentially more than when they do not relate to or feel they have the support of the coach. When that becomes the case for several players on the same team, there is little chance of personal or team success. Start with environment and team culture.

The four pillars of development in the game are, in no particular order: physical, psychological, technical and tactical. It has been well-established that the players who make it to the highest levels of the game lead with mental strengths. The development of those strengths comes with the criteria I’ve set out above. Establish that early and layer the others on top. If you find a coach who understands that and acts on it, stick with them. If you are not finding anything close to this, you are well within your rights to discuss it with the Technical Director or Director of Coaching at your club.