Coaching Youth Soccer: Be Tactful

You have to handle coaching youth sports quite subtly because it is such a subject. You want to make the game plenty of fun. You could be coaching youth basketball, soccer, football, or some other game/ but would like children to enjoy coming here daily and putting in their best. Some kids are very competitive and their parents even more.  Coaching youth sports requires dealing with regular pressure to getting victories without actually pressurizing the children too much.

It has been over ten years since I have been coaching youth soccer in a club with a competitive environment. I have got to know about balances you have to maintain and it is not always easy for me. They made it very apparent when I joined the youth club that my job was bring in wins. I continued with the regular program initially and gave them forceful youth soccer drills, making it quite tough for them and shouting when they could not do it. I realized very soon that this made us lose the fun of the game and I thought of better and more subtle techniques to help in coaching youth soccer. I learnt slowly how to take out the best from children without bullying them.

Some of us may not realize that kids very often give the best work to people who are talk to them nicely. Children today are generally indignant and unhappy as they are bossed in school, harassed by the police, and mostly marginalized by society regularly. When someone respects them and their skill, it makes them very happy and they do their best. In fact from the time I have taken over as a nice guy coaches, my records have got much better. Our team was able to reach the top five in the league for the last two years, and we got our maiden victory for this season. 

There are some youth soccer coaches who don’t agree with this.  Coaching youth soccer is like any other thing where you are sure to come across different kinds of personality at various times. There is something which you can do well, with a pat on the back and smile, while the other person will have to get angry and shout to get it done. I believe that my approach is better because with this kids are left feeling nice about themselves. You would have done an excellent job as a coach and mentor if you are able to develop confidence as well as improve the sports skills of the kid.

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