For decades, soccer has been the top sport in terms of followers and fans. The soccer industry has been growing vast ever since it earned an official state in late 1800’s. Since the beginning of the 21st Century, the industry has been growing even bigger and it may continue thriving.
With more clubs and leagues being introduced, the opportunities for new players, coaches, and managers are growing really fast. It is possible that you are also mesmerized and attracted by the soccer industry and want to become part of it as a coach.
If that is the case, then there are many things that you must be mindful of when becoming a soccer team coach. According to Avram Grant, an expert in soccer has talked about the major attributes that you must develop within yourself to become a successful and a great soccer coach.
Avram Grant has laid out some of the major attributes that you must develop within yourself in order to become a recognized soccer coach.
A Coach who communicates well
It is extremely important that you form a strong bridge of communication between yourself and the players. It is a critical need if you truly wish to recognize the achievements and the performances of the players.
If you see that a few of the players are not giving in a hundred percent of their performance or are not performing similar to the other players, then you have to deal with it very strategically.
You cannot go and humiliate them in front of others, which may not only embarrass them in front of others but also lower their confidence, and make them lose respect for you.
According to Avram Grant’s coaching expertise, this is the worst thing that a coach can do when humiliating the players for not putting in much of an effort.
Instead, you can ask the entire team to put in extra effort and fix the problems they are facing, and even let you know about them. You have to choose your words very carefully and when talking to the entire team, give them a message in the most polite manner.
Encourage such players to ask for help if they are facing issues learning something or they feel they lack a particular skill/attribute. Keep commending their efforts and hard work and take time to praise each player to boost their confidence.
If there is criticism, do it in a productive manner and choose your words very carefully. This way, you can control a very tense situation and defuse any potential argumentative confrontation by the players with others or yourself.
Work on their Development
If you want your players to perform well, you have to keep working on their development. You have to make sure that you do not keep them going through the same training sessions. Keep improvising on the training sessions and continue adding more drills to the trainings.
This way, the players will get to learn so much more than just some typical training sessions. Remember, each player will have their own stamina, skills, and expertise. It is your job to closely monitor their performance and their activities on the field during training sessions and drills.
This way, you can identify where each player lacks and what kind of training they would need in order to develop their skills better. Become a role model for them and show them exactly what you need them to do on the field.
Apart from teaching them basic stuff related to soccer, you must also focus on their overall development and character building. Pay close attention to improving their teamwork, determination, patience, and discipline. This is a skill that is hard to achieve but your close focus and attention on the team will eventually achieve the goal.
Motivate Your Team
As per Avram Grant, to become a successful and a highly demanded coach, you have to become a marvelous motivator. The moment you start coaching a soccer team, you have to kill all aspects of negativity. You can never motivate your team if your judgment and thinking is clouded with negativity.
No matter what is going on in your personal life, be it a family related issue, or a player growing a personal grudge, you have to leave it all aside. You cannot make the entire team suffer just because you’re having a bad day.
You have to motivate them with all the positive thinking. Losing a single match does a lot of damage to your team, resulting in your team losing a lot of confidence and motivation. During this sensitive time, your negative words would only make things worse.
Therefore, you have to keep a positive mind despite the most negative of situations. You have to think rationally and fix things in a positive manner. Tell your team that they did well and will dominate and overcome all the obstacles if they perform better next time.
Show them a broader picture, giving them a strong hope, which would definitely build up great confidence and motivation among your players. However, do make sure you remind them what you and they have been hired to do, so they take everything seriously.
Always Keep Your Teams Well Prepared
Never carry out a training session or a drill without proper and adequate preparation. It is very important that you must ensure that all the things that you need to carry out the training or the drill are ready before the session takes place.
Most importantly, you have to keep in mind that the session has to be well-timed. You wouldn’t want your players to be fully exhausted when they are done with the particular sessions. If they have a match the next day or in the next few days, it can prove to be disastrous for them.
Therefore, you have to focus on adequate preparations, which would prove extremely beneficial for you and all your team members.
Ending Thoughts
Coaching a soccer team may sound easy but it is not as easy as you may have thought it would be. It is a difficult and a very demanding responsibility but with the right advice and practices, you can make it happen. If you think you have what it takes to be a good coach, then you can set foot into the industry.
