Soccer Edition 65

Welcome to the Soccer Newsletter.  Today’s subject will deal with proper communication between a coach and team.

Also, I have just posted the results of the latest survey and, at least from my perspective, they are quite interesting.  It’s not what I would have expected.  To see these results, go to http://finesoccer.com/survey.htm.  Also, while there, please take the latest survey.

Soccer coaches tend to like to use a lot of jargon.  For example, we use terms like wall pass, overlapping runs, combination play, first defender etc but don’t always take into consideration whether out players understand these terms or not.  Too often, we assume that because we understand a term, then obviously the players will understand this term as well.

While it might sound like a simplistic thing to do, it’s best to define your terms whenever speaking with a team to make sure that everyone is on the same page as you. I remember one summer working with a college player who had played club soccer for me for two years.  She was going into her sophomore year in college and we were doing a drill involving near post runs.  This college player made a great run right to the FAR POST.  I asked her why she did this and her response is that she made a near post run because she ran to the post closest to her (the ball was on the far side of the field).  This player (who actually was a very talented marking back) had played for two years for me plus one year of college and a number of other years for other coaches and never knew what the near post was.  I certainly don’t say this with a great deal of pride but I had never bothered to check to make sure she understood the same terms that I did.  How much better could she of been if I had taken the time to make sure she understood exactly what was being asked of her and of others?  The very next season, I actually printed up a glossary of terms for a new team I was working with to make sure this didn’t happen again.

When you read books on soccer, or go to coaching courses, there are a great deal of terms used.  Do NOT assume that your players know what they mean.  Either define your terms or use the simplest terms possible to ensure that the players really do understand exactly what you mean.

In case you are thinking that you don’t make this mistake, just remember that I have known of this thing to happen on a regular basis and really am quite cognizant of this happening but it literally happened to me today when I asked a team to do something and the manager of this young team asked them if they understood this term and not a single one did.  My guess is that it happens even more then any of us realize.

Be careful of using terms that your teams aren’t aware of and you will find that your practices will be more useful.

Any comments, questions or suggestions should be sent to comments@finesoccer.com or posted at http://finesoccer.com/forum.htm

Remember that all previous newsletters are archived at http://finesoccer.com

Have a great day

Lawrence