Grassroots football is a serious business for those that take part. From the tiniest of school-age children through to adulthood, soccer is a passion for those that play. Coaching grassroots football is more than just turning up to play and going home a winner.
Just being a great footballer yourself is not enough; as a football coach you need to be able to bring out the best in your players. As a grassroots football coach you should be looking to develop skilful, well-rounded players with tactical awareness that develops both the individual and the team and there are certain things you need to be if you’re aiming to do so.
Plan your sessions and progress topic awareness over multiple sessions. Building up skill levels and knowledge of an area over multiple sessions will ensure your players not only learn the skill but also how, why, when and where it should be used.
Set up your sessions before the players arrive. Have suitable equipment with you, you can never have too many cones to lay out your training area. Ensure the purpose and desired outcomes are visible and communicated clearly.
Communication is more than just what you say, it is what you do. You need to be able to demonstrate what is expected from not just your players but their parents, if you’re coaching children. Communicate with your team by showing them, as most players will learn best when they are shown. The best coaches, especially during a game will say less and show more, during training or half time. Too much tactical instruction during a game can disrupt the players and confuse them.
An enthusiastic coach will engage players in the lessons far more readily than a dull one. Believing in your coaching skills and methods will increase your player’s belief in you. Sharing your enthusiasm and love of the game will encourage your player’s faith and commitment to your coaching methods and inspire them to do well.
Create an environment that allows players to speak with you and express themselves. Being approachable and coaching with the respect of players will make you and the team far more successful. A team learning through fear may still learn, but you will never get the same respect and success that you will earn through being approachable. Gain respect for your boundaries, so you are listened to when it matters.
When it comes to coaching, there are various techniques that could help you get the best from your players. These include:
The days of winning at all costs for a coach should now be long gone. From a young player through to the adult game, grassroots football coaching ethos should be about developing your players. You may lose more, especially as a new team, but it is a sacrifice that should be made for the long term development of both the team and players.
Teaching all-round skills to win a game can take time. Each player will bring a different skill set to the team. A coach should seek to identify and enhance not only those skills but a player’s overall ability. To find an individual’s best position and game strategies takes time and can involve losing while you learn.
The team should understand your philosophy and be okay with it. It can be hard to accept if your team seem to be losing all the time, so managing expectations is a key skill. Losing but learning the right things, is better than winning with no strategy or learning. A team that is growing in skill and gameplay tactics will win eventually over the ‘kick it and run’ approach that some employ. As players learn their game will improve and the team will become stronger.
Do not be afraid to have fun. Good football coaches produce engaging sessions and make them fun. Humour can have a part to play and it is okay to laugh, but make it interesting and set boundaries that allow this, without your session being derailed. Building an engaging learning environment will build team spirit as well as enhanced performance.
Learning opportunities that involve everyone, whether coaching drills or small-sided games, must ensure that nobody is left standing waiting around for a turn. If you are organising dribbling activities, use more cones to set up more lines. Removing long waiting times avoids boredom, potential disruptive player activity and ensures you maximise the time spent coaching as the players are always busy.
Allow your players opportunities to make decisions throughout the training, have plenty of ball touches and set up sessions where clear and realistic links to the game can be recognised.
Some game time at the end of a session is not only what the players love, but more importantly, gives a chance to consolidate newly learned skills. It is a fun way to finish a session.
Do not seek to blame individuals when you don’t achieve the desired outcome. A team game means all members must share responsibility. This includes the team coach, so when things fail or the players have not shown what you wanted, look at yourself too. What can you do to help them understand what they need to do to achieve success. View any poor results as a reason to review your methods and what you can change.
Top-flight managers and coaches never stop learning, and this is equally important as a grassroots football coach. Never stop or be afraid to learn, look at what makes a great manager or coach and get the results that you too desire.
Many teams seek to blame goalkeepers when they lose, however, the important message should be, it takes a team to win and lose. For a goal to be scored there will have been things go wrong before that. From a forward who didn’t score when they had the ball, a midfield who didn’t intercept the ball, to defenders who didn’t keep the ball from a goalkeeper. If the ball doesn’t reach the goalkeeper they do not need to make a save. Encouraging a culture that takes team responsibility and accepts that you can all, football coach included, learn from failure, will help your team to improve.
Encourage your players to constantly listen and learn more about the game. Every player and coach should seek to improve their performance and contribution to the team, whilst remembering that they cannot do it alone. It takes a team who lose together with dignity to learn how to win.
Take the time to self-educate, with the way the game is changing, keep watching, reading and learning, no matter how good the results you are achieving. When you stop learning you will start losing. Teams will learn your strategies, to stay ahead you need to create players that continue to grow skills and tactical knowledge. Learning a wide range of tactics and skills will help you as a coach and enable you to create a team that can shape the game and outsmart the opposition, no matter how good they are.
Take the team’s appearance seriously. If your team has a training kit, make sure you are all wearing it at every session. Coaches should also consider wearing customised garments that complement the team kit such as a Football Coach Jacket or Tracksuit. Wearing personalised apparel has been proven to build a sense of togetherness and develop pride and loyalty throughout a team and club. How you dress for training and match days will affect how seriously your team believe you take the game and will have an impact on how they treat you and their game. Also make sure you impress upon your players and coaching staff that clean boots and clean kit matter.
Get to know your players, and let them get to know you. Where younger players are involved they need time and opportunities to learn about the different positions, part of your team development should allow for players to play in lots of different positions and formations. Even more developed players may find their game improves by a change of position. Understanding the skills required across every position and having an awareness of how and why your team members play as they do, will improve a player's understanding of the game and benefit the team as a whole. It is the coaches job to enable this.
Training sessions should involve all players in learning the skills required for every pitch position. Even goalkeepers will learn from understanding the various positions and tactics. You may find your goalkeeper is a budding forward in the making or that your forward could become your best line of defence. A flexible attitude fostered throughout the team will allow for everyone including the coach to reach their full potential.
Grassroots football is a chance for all who take part to have fun, learn skills and develop a sporting ability that may take them onto greater things. A football coach that can develop a team who play as one, developing players who enjoy their game, leave the field with a smile on their face, and learn when things don’t go to plan, will be a success, whether they win or lose.
