Coaching Help and Links
This page is intended to help you be a better coach. It's not the be-all end-all of coaching information, but it will give you a few tips and point you toward some excellent resources.
So, You’re a Coach – Now What?
First, count your blessings. Any parent who gets the chance to coach her/his own kid is absolutely blessed. Personally, I happily traded in my Saturdays and evenings to coach my son. And I wouldn't give a day of it back for the best Jenks-Union or OSU-OU game, presidential debate, or a perfect lawn. No. That time with my son is more valuable than all of it -- combined. And I'm more than a little upset at him for growing up! So, count yourself lucky and go enjoy every minute of it.
Second, soccer is a lot of fun -- if the coach makes it fun. As coach, your attitude will lead the team's attitude. In other words, if you blame the refs for a loss, the kids will too. If you smile and strive to do better the next time, the kids will too. In the end, you can have as much fun in soccer as you decide to have. Kind of like life.
Third, coaching is a learned skill. So, don't assume that just because you aren't a natural athlete that you won't be a great coach. Have you seen Vicente del Bosque (Spain), Luis Felipe Scolari (Chelsea), and Mark Mangino (KU)! World-class coaches that aren't exactly "in their prime" athletes.
So, if you can learn it, how? You probably need a little direction, huh? OK, let's get you started...
Take Advantage of MTsc's Coach Orientation & Clinic and Player Clinics
MTsc has already set you up. We plan three things near the start of each season that will help you get going. Here they are:
1. Mandatory Coach's Orientation
From an administration perspective, everything you need to know is typically covered at the orientation, including signing forms, picking a practice field, and getting a copy of "The White Book" (which covers pretty much everything you'll need to know administratively that is NOT covered at the Orientation).
2. Mandatory Coach's Clinic
From a "how do I coach these kids" perspective, it will give you some basic tools (written and hands-on) to conduct a training session. The more of this kind of stuff you can go to, the better. And at the end of it, you'll have some basic drills that you can run at your own training sessions.
3. Free Player's Clinic
Don't go to participate, but to watch more experienced coaches do their magic. You can learn a lot from them. Listen to how they encourage players more than correct them. Watch how they set up training games and quickly transition from one to another. First-person exposure to good coaches is invaluable, and if you're interested in getting more of it, contact a TSC coach. They'll be happy to help.
Now that you've done those things, let's get you into some training session guides.
Building Training Sessions
There is no magic or "right answer" for training sessions. There are many approaches. Which you use will probably come down to personal preference. But, they all take a little planning -- not much, but some -- and deciding on which approach works best for you will probably take some trial and error.
Finally, rather than writing a completely new guide here, I think it makes more sense to direct you to some web sites that are already dedicated to it. So, here are some sites that I have found helpful over the years and some other sites that I might not have used, but upon reading through them recognize that they appear to contain some valuable content. But, just to be perfectly (and legally) clear...
Metro Tulsa Soccer Club has compiled this list of web sites and resources to offer information about soccer coaching and training. But, MTsc does not endorse or recommend any of these materials. They are provided here to help coaches make appropriate choices about activities and training for their teams. These resources contain information that is not appropriate for all ages or teams. Coaches should always consider each player’s age, skill level, conditioning, special needs, and medical conditions when selecting training activities.
Now, here is the list:
There are many, many more resources out there. Just search the internet for “soccer drills” or “football training” or any of a myriad other combinations of words that make sense to you. Go look. Do some reading. Try them out. And remember that you just need to be two steps ahead of the kids!
See you on the pitch.
