WELCOME TO FORCE SC COACHES CORNER

This section is intended to help coaches of all experience levels, but especially people newer to coaching soccer. You will learn your role as a coach, as well as how to create a training session. More importantly, you will understand why you are doing what you do.

At Force SC, we thrive to provide an atmosphere of “serious fun.” When my players hear those words they understand that while what we are doing is a lot of fun, they have to focus and put forth an effort. Serious fun is a motto that my team uses at almost every training.

Methodologies used are a combination of those provided in the US Soccer Learning Center along with things that have worked well for me in the past, such as teaching footwork and technical skills early on in development.

Lastly, as a person, and as a coach, you can always become better. You are helping your team and players by seeking out education. The worst possible thing you can do is be satisfied, or believe you no longer need to grow as a coach. We highly recommend the US Soccer Licensing courses. 

Coaches are expected to develop players within the curriculum provided. There is some room for variation, but for the most part, the curriculum should be adhered to. We have a long-term plan on how players should develop throughout the years. 

As a club, our focus in training is on game-like situations.

1. To Have Fun

2. To Develop

3. To Belong

These three player needs are pretty self-explanatory, but every coach should incorporate these items when creating an environment for his or her players. 

1. Coaching Games - This is what it sounds like. As a coach, you have to create an environment that guides the player towards doing their best in a game situation in order to develop. That can be anything from altering a gameplan, to helping a player understand their role on the field.
2. Coaching Training Sessions - Again, what it sounds like. Create an environment that helps to support and guide the player in order to prepare them for games. This includes preparation for trainings.
3. Leading the Team - As the coach, you will be creating an environment that promotes inclusion as well as keep players engaged. There should be team behaviors that players look to represent, and as the coach you should model those behaviors.
4. Leading the Player - Players need personal attention from their coaches. By providing each player with attention, it allows them to better fulfill their potential.
5. Managing the Performance Environment - The performance environment is the off-the-field extra curricular items that a coach can help to create. Examples might be team get togethers, or having a messaging group that players can communicate with one another on.
6. Leadership - Leadership is when a coach takes all of the above items and is able to implement them towards team and individual player goals. 

For more on what traits that could help develop you into a better coach, please see the link for the article “Calls for Coaches.”

Find Issue → Plan How To Resolve Issue → Implement Plan → Reflect on Results (repeat cycle)

Coaches work on a repeated cycle. First, they find the issue. This happens in games or scrimmages, where the coach notices something that his team needs to work on. 

After the issue has been discovered, the coach should then create an action plan on how to handle the issue. This is by creating a training session where the team can work on whatever the issue is.

Once the training session has been created, it’s time to run it. Coaches will take their plan and have the players carry it out.

The final step is reflection. This can be done after the training session, or even after the next game. Was the plan successful? How was it successful? Could it be tweaked to get better results? Reflection allows the coach to see what worked and what didn’t work, and then change it for next time.

• Check/Adapt: Observe and check the created situation on the field, adapt if necessary.
• Give Positive Reinforcement: Motivate players by being encouraging.
• Use Key Words: Key words are words you will use multiple times per training to get players to cue in on how you want their behavior to change. 
• Ask Questions: Use guided questions (“if you have the ball and 2 defenders are on you, what can you tell me about one of your teammates?”), see if they understand.
• Demonstrate: Get in there and show them how to do what you want. If you aren’t capable, you probably have a player who is.
• Give Feedback: Collect information on the behavior of your players that is related to your objective. For example, if the objective is passing, how many successful passes did they complete in the activity? Let them know.
• Command: Tell the players what to do.
• Apply the Cycle of Coaching (see above)