mike.mainguy

As the spring soccer season is winding down, I'm reminded of a saying that I heard the AYSO national director of coaching say. I was at a conference and a roomful of hopeful coaches were quizzing him on what they could do to be more effective coaches. A variety of people proposed things they did to win more soccer games and his response was: "If you want to win soccer games, go find the better players". This was meant to be a rebuke in this context, but I wholeheartedly agree with the assertion. A coach or strategy CAN influence the game and when two teams are equally matched with talent, they can make the difference in the outcome. However, regardless of what the herd of ego-centric coaches might try to tell you, good coaching does nothing but unlock potential that already exists within the team members. Effective coaches are not the ones are making things happen, they are the ones that make sure the right team is available to make things happen. They also make ...

I am a passionate soccer player and youth coach. One thing I find difficult to resist, but even more difficult to accept when I see other coaches doing it is the notion of being a joystick coach . In the beginning of my coaching career, it was hammered into my head that soccer is a "players game" and to develop players, a big part of coach's job is to give them freedom to make mistakes, present opportunities to learn from them, and challenge them to make good decisions on their own. I get IMMENSELY frustrated when I'm coaching a U6 team and my opposition has TWO coaches on the field active giving instructions to the kids. While these teams are often much more effective at scoring goals, it really makes player development difficult because the other team has a pair of 30 something men explaining how to take advantage of the situation to score more goals. Coaches, limit your instructions on the field, else you'll end up with robots who will likely be ambivale...