Evolving Soccer Coaches Produce Evolving Soccer Players

If you are coaching soccer the way you were coached when you played, then I must tell you that you are probably not helping to create players capable of coping with the demands of the game today. Coaching methodology has changed over the years in order to develop the type of players our country needs to be successful at the international level.

Many critics say that we lack creativity in the final third as a national team. Well…where does that stem from? What type of coach introduced these players to the game? The development of creative, clever, and intuitive players is heavily reliant on the coaching style and demands.

The trend today is game centered training, because it facilitates transference from practice to matches. The game presents realistic problems, so the players are forced to make relevant decisions. They are allowed to interpret game situations by themselves. There certainly is not an absence of instruction, but a guided discovery approach needs to be utilized. Too many coaches still use soccer drills that lack realism, so the players struggle to transfer what was done into a game setting

Too many coaches still give instructions instead of asking questions. The result is a player who is coach dependent instead of self sufficient. The focus is the coach. He creates the exercise and directs the practice in all phases. He provides solutions, tells players what to think, and creates clones.

What we need today are coaches who are cognizant of the fact that the game is player-centric. This means that the focus of his/her practice is on the player. The environment he/she creates challenges the player in all four components of the game, he/she provides options and asks the players questions to promote independent thinking. This produces quality soccer players.