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Empowering Our Volunteer Coaches: Building Champions On and Off the Field
Empowering Our Volunteer Coaches: Building Champions On and Off the Field
Welcome to our dedicated page for coaches, the unsung heroes behind the development of our young athletes. As parents volunteering to guide our children on their soccer journey, your commitment is invaluable, and we're here to support you every step of the way.
Whether you're a seasoned coach or stepping onto the field for the first time, this page is designed to provide you with the tools, resources, and guidance needed to create impactful training sessions and nurture the talents of our players.
From organizing drills to fostering teamwork, communication, and sportsmanship, coaching extends far beyond the sidelines. It's about instilling confidence, fostering a love for the game, and shaping the character of our future champions.
At our club, we recognize the vital role you play in the development of our young athletes, and we're dedicated to helping you grow and evolve as coaches. So dive into our resources, glean insights, and embark on this journey of coaching excellence with us. Together, let's inspire and empower the next generation of soccer stars both on and off the field.
What do you need?
What do you need?
I know that every volunteer's worst nightmare is not having everything you need. Well here is a quick breakdown of what you will need as you start your coaching journey. I have learnt this (sometimes slowly) over the past decade, I hope it will help you:
Balls - Provided by the club
Cones - Provided by the club, but you can't have too many of these!
Trainer/Boots - For mini football either will do
Football kit - Not necessarily a specific team, but always best to look like you are ready for training so that the kids take it seriously too
Whistle - Don't leave home without it! This is your traffic controller and all kids will stop what they are doing when you give this a blast
Hurdles and Poles - less important for the younger age groups, but can a great training tool from U9/10 onward
Tactics board - Changed my life! Being able to show the kids what I was talking about on a tactics board sped up my ability to teach. Get one, worth every cent!
Patience - Breathe.... this is a process and takes years to complete, you aren't going to make them professional over night. There will be good sessions and not so good sessions, but you will learn something from all of them. Remember, most the kids are here to have fun and you should be having fun too.
Working with beginners
Working with beginners
The other pages have a lot of drills and exercises that you can work on with the kids. Pay special attention to what the instructor is saying, these are the things you need to know. You need to understand it so that you can pass the information on to the team, that means you should also be able to do it! Get a ball and go practice the drills and moves that you are going to ask your kids to do, it will be fun and also give you an insight into how hard it is for the kids to pick up a new skill. You will also appreciate those amazing professional players a little more when you fully understand how fantastic they are to be able to manipulate a ball the way they do.
If you haven't worked out by now, this guy is my all time favourite online football coach. Check out his YouTube channel and if you want to, sign up for his app (I have). It is full of amazing drills and insights that will only make you a better coach and able to improve you players and team.
Here is some advice on building a session. You don't have to follow this step by step, but notice the set up, the division of the session and the preparation. There are many ways to do this, but listen to why he does his session the way he does. Your sessions will be yours, don't be afraid to buidl your own sessions from scratch.
Now you are up and running, but where do coaches go wrong? Don't make the same mistakes (And I think I made literally everyone in the following video), learn from those that have gone before you and avoid these very common coaching mistakes.
So we have an idea of mistakes we might make as coaches, but here is something that will help you just as much, the mistakes that the players will make! Watch this video and get ahead of what to look out for in your players. Whether correcting them, or noticing that they don't make these mistakes, both are just as important for you, as a coach, to really know your players.
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