(Jointly Authored with Ryan Brazuk)
Coaching is an art. Better yet it's a gift. Having the opportunity to journey with young athletes, encouraging them, teaching them, motivating them, and seeing them realize their potential on the field/court and in life - that indeed is a gift.
But it's an art too. Just because someone was a good player growing up doesn't mean that they will be a good coach. And just because someone knows the game (historically or strategically) that also doesn't necessarily translate into success on the sidelines.
Over the last couple of months, the two of us have had a number of conversations about coaching and thought that maybe we could share some of what's come up during our ongoing dialogue. While one of us (Ryan) has coached soccer for a number of years on various levels and the other (Chaz) has coached basketball for the last two decades, there are many core lessons about youth coaching that transcend the differences in these two sports. The hope is that what follows will be an encouragement to current and future coaches and that it will push them to think about how they engage their players in the future whether the goal is producing future collegiate athletes and professionals, winning your league title, improving the play of your kids, or just getting some exercise and having some fun.
The Art of Coaching Practice and Training
Ryan: During training sessions, I think it's important for coaches to focus on being teachers. And in that position we're teaching them several things that are useful on and off the field. We're teaching them how to play the game, we're teaching them to love the game - which is even more important, and I like to think that we're teaching them life lessons along the way. Having a passion for anything in life is what drives people to success.
In regards to teaching them how to play I employ four focuses which lead to individual and team development. Some of this is soccer-centric, but I think it translates to other sports.
Firstly I emphasize individual awareness. That's awareness of your teammates, awareness of where you are as an individual on the field, of where the ball is, and having a tactical awareness of the game. Some people call this "soccer smarts").
Chaz: That resonates with basketball too. So many kids are preoccupied with how they are personally doing. Am I dribbling correctly? Will I make a mistake? What if I miss? By being stuck in their heads they end up not being aware of their teammates. Even if they possess individual skills in shooting or dribbling, teaching them to get out of their own heads and to play with others is an important early lesson to instill. That's also one of those life lessons that you're talking about.
Ryan: Totally. The second focus I work on is having small touches. Early in soccer you might see an athletic player send the ball down the field and outrun the other players to it and then toe the ball into the goal. This doesn't work well once you end up playing with better competition because teams can figure that out, let alone it's just not good team soccer. I stress to my players that they should have ultimate control meaning they control the ball. The ball doesn't control them.
Next I emphasize that they need to keep their head up. This is connected to the whole awareness piece about seeing teammates on the field and being plugged into the game. By having your head up, this tells me that my player is completely under control of the ball and fully aware of their surroundings.
Chaz: When you first said keep your head up, I thought you meant keeping your head up and not being discouraged if something goes wrong. I've seen young players mentally get taken out of a game because they ended up being down a few baskets early or because they personally are playing poorly. I've always thought helping kids to be mentally tough on the court and field, was also a deeply important part of what we do.
Ryan: Absolutely and that's connected to the fourth focus I emphasize in training sessions and that's confidence. I want them to be ready to play no matter who their opponent is and no matter how the game is going. And you can work on this in training sessions. Coaches can help players gain confidence and never quit if they fail, lose, or make a mistake by offering support, kindness, and respect no matter what the outcome. Failing at something makes you that much closer to succeeding at it and that's something very important in life.
Chaz: I saw a post game interview with a college basketball coach the other day. His team was up big at the half but the other team stormed back to take the lead with about a minute to go. During their final
Coaching is an art. Better yet it's a gift. Having the opportunity to journey with young athletes, encouraging them, teaching them, motivating them, and seeing them realize their potential on the field/court and in life - that indeed is a gift.
But it's an art too. Just because someone was a good player growing up doesn't mean that they will be a good coach. And just because someone knows the game (historically or strategically) that also doesn't necessarily translate into success on the sidelines.
Over the last couple of months, the two of us have had a number of conversations about coaching and thought that maybe we could share some of what's come up during our ongoing dialogue. While one of us (Ryan) has coached soccer for a number of years on various levels and the other (Chaz) has coached basketball for the last two decades, there are many core lessons about youth coaching that transcend the differences in these two sports. The hope is that what follows will be an encouragement to current and future coaches and that it will push them to think about how they engage their players in the future whether the goal is producing future collegiate athletes and professionals, winning your league title, improving the play of your kids, or just getting some exercise and having some fun.
The Art of Coaching Practice and Training
Ryan: During training sessions, I think it's important for coaches to focus on being teachers. And in that position we're teaching them several things that are useful on and off the field. We're teaching them how to play the game, we're teaching them to love the game - which is even more important, and I like to think that we're teaching them life lessons along the way. Having a passion for anything in life is what drives people to success.
In regards to teaching them how to play I employ four focuses which lead to individual and team development. Some of this is soccer-centric, but I think it translates to other sports.
Firstly I emphasize individual awareness. That's awareness of your teammates, awareness of where you are as an individual on the field, of where the ball is, and having a tactical awareness of the game. Some people call this "soccer smarts").
Chaz: That resonates with basketball too. So many kids are preoccupied with how they are personally doing. Am I dribbling correctly? Will I make a mistake? What if I miss? By being stuck in their heads they end up not being aware of their teammates. Even if they possess individual skills in shooting or dribbling, teaching them to get out of their own heads and to play with others is an important early lesson to instill. That's also one of those life lessons that you're talking about.
Ryan: Totally. The second focus I work on is having small touches. Early in soccer you might see an athletic player send the ball down the field and outrun the other players to it and then toe the ball into the goal. This doesn't work well once you end up playing with better competition because teams can figure that out, let alone it's just not good team soccer. I stress to my players that they should have ultimate control meaning they control the ball. The ball doesn't control them.
Next I emphasize that they need to keep their head up. This is connected to the whole awareness piece about seeing teammates on the field and being plugged into the game. By having your head up, this tells me that my player is completely under control of the ball and fully aware of their surroundings.
Chaz: When you first said keep your head up, I thought you meant keeping your head up and not being discouraged if something goes wrong. I've seen young players mentally get taken out of a game because they ended up being down a few baskets early or because they personally are playing poorly. I've always thought helping kids to be mentally tough on the court and field, was also a deeply important part of what we do.
Ryan: Absolutely and that's connected to the fourth focus I emphasize in training sessions and that's confidence. I want them to be ready to play no matter who their opponent is and no matter how the game is going. And you can work on this in training sessions. Coaches can help players gain confidence and never quit if they fail, lose, or make a mistake by offering support, kindness, and respect no matter what the outcome. Failing at something makes you that much closer to succeeding at it and that's something very important in life.
Chaz: I saw a post game interview with a college basketball coach the other day. His team was up big at the half but the other team stormed back to take the lead with about a minute to go. During their final