If you are like me, you probably know that in coaching high school soccer, the journey to becoming a complete player begins by building confidence. When you declare that the players are under immense pressure, you as a coach are hinting to the fact that your players lack confidence to face a situation. This is because it is only with confidence that we expect success.
Like many choices we make, confidence as an attribute is also chosen by players. When coaching youth soccer, illustrate this point by telling them the behaviors of two parrots sitting on either shoulder.
One of them is the positive parrot, always urging the player to face up to the challenge saying “You can do it.” The other parrot has the tendency to de-motivate the players saying “You can’t do this.” And it’s their choice to select which player to pay attention to.
After they’ve made a choice, train them to take the accountability for their acts. This decision could also be an everyday task. Build confidence in the players by emphasizing their involvement in past successes and ready successful players to make a strong team.
Train the players of the fact that in soccer coaching that putting the blame on something or someone else is a mark of insecurity. In fact they should be taught to see setbacks as a part of the learning curve and not let it shake their confidence.
Likewise in coaching high school soccer, it’s imperative to teach the players to repeat the phrase “I’ll get the next one” whenever they miss out on any opportunity.
This instantly ensures that the distress of the miss has not affected the confidence for the next strike.
One of the keys to managing a successful team is your ability to make quick judgments regarding a player’s ability to survive the demands of competition. In football coaching, there is always a close call between judging physical and mental readiness, but in the end, physical readiness wins the battle.
To facilitate this type of judgment, look for clear messages. It is necessary to deeply go through the player’s spoken and unspoken messages about his or her knack to succeed in the game.
Confidence is the fruit of success. When you are completely satisfied with your work that you have done and when you are ready to face a pressure – cooker scenario which is anytime possible, you achieve success in soccer. The phrase “If you are not preparing to win, you are preparing to fail”, is used over and over again to trigger off the players.
Confidence is built on experience. To build a strong base of the much needed experience, the players must be trained to cope up with their mistakes, defeats and criticism and fears, calmly. It is the feeling that he or she has the knowledge, has been there before, and knows what to look forward to.
Know this. Building of confidence is an everyday task in coaching high school soccer, so players ought to reflect on positive and main steps for their realization.
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Andre Botelho is known online as “The Expert Youth Soccer Coach” and his free ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players’ skills and make practice sessions fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: Soccer Coaching.
Tags: Coaching high school soccer, coaching youth soccer, football coaching, soccer coaching