From the player’s perspective, a good coach is someone who…
- Can motivate and teach
- Encourages and inspires
- Is insightful and compassionate
- Communicates in an understandable way
- You can communicate with
- You can trust and learn from
- Is a tactician
- Knows the fundamentals
- Explains and can physically demonstrate skills
- Develops character first, then the athlete
**You must develop coachability in yourself. Be open to seek and implement ideas, techniques and philosophies.
To determine whether a coach is right for your child a parent should…
- Observe the coach conducting a practice
- Observe the coach in a game situation. If possible, watch in a winning and a losing situation.
- Ask: “how does the coach make the kids feel?” Is he/she likeable?
- Ask: “Is the coach involved and interacting with all the players?”
- Ask: “what is his/her tone?” Does he/she yell to encourage? Yell to criticize? Or does he/she pull players aside to instruct?
- Ask: “how do the players react to the coach? Hi-5 coming out?
A parent looks for a coach who…
- Has a personality which renders them approachable by parents and players
- Has clear objectives and a stated team philosophy which meet the needs of your child
- Has an effective style of communication
- Has good people skills
- Encourages all players regardless of ability
- Invites questions directly from players
*Source: Brandi Chastain “It’s Not About the Bra“
Hey, this seems like a great site, my family is full of soccer players. 7 kids to be exact and a soccer Dad to boot! Your site may be great for us? Not sure, I happened to find your blog as a sample to check out WordPress. Never knew about wordpress before now.
Glad you visited Tami. My kids and my coaching have taught me a lot about soccer and sports and even more about life. The winners are the ones who finish the game already looking forward to the next one. (thus, Fit2Finish is my business as well as my blog) You and your husband should be proud to have a family of soccer players. And no wonder, because you practice what you preach. Happy Mother’s Day!