by Jeannine Johnson

Created on: April 16, 2009

I have coached youth soccer for 5 years and in that time I have learned the most fundamental approach to coaching is knowing your players strengths and weaknesses. I know coaches who feel that their players should be versatile and learn all positions of the game. This is not always beneficial to the team or the player, because there are some players that are meant to play a specific position and when coaches have this knowledge and build upon it, it serves the team better as a whole.

I have coached the same group of girls for over 5 years with a few players added from season to season. As I have built upon their strengths and improved upon their weaknesses I have seen a growth in their skills as soccer players each year. I believe the most fundamental rule of coaching is getting your players to trust in each other and their abilities as soccer players. Soccer is a team sport. There is no way to win games with just a few good players, of course there are some players who may be more skilled than others but it is the team as a whole that wins games not individuals. I have never had star players, the team as a whole must work together and encourage each other to become better players. It is not about being the best dribbler, shooter, defender or passer, it is about attitude and commitment.

If you have parents that respect and believe in you as a coach and support you by getting your players to scheduled practices on time you are on your way to building a successful team. I realized that if the parents see that you are prepared and take control of practice on the first day, they can sit back and watch with out becoming sideline coaches. To many times parents feel the need to coach their kids, and while the player is on the field they become confused and irritated about who to listen to. I let my parents and kids know on day one that there is only one coach on the field, and during the game my voice is the only one they should listen to. Coaching is about building a bond with your players, they have to trust that you know what you are doing and that when you are yelling at them during the game to stay in position or pass the ball, that it is the right thing to do.

When your players show up for practice and want to share what happened at school, as a coach you should listen. As the players showed up I would make it a point to walk around and talk to each one of them about their day; ask them how was school, how are their grades or if anything interesting happened. When

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