At the United Soccer Coaches Digital Convention yesterday I was in the presentation by Dan Abrahams on performance of your team with well being in mind. He explored three environmental approaches and combines them to help you establish a healthy and safe coaching environment for players of all ages and levels.
He put the question: “What does coaching look like?” To answer this the coach must look at the three P’s Participation, Progression and Performance. So we need to engage players to get them to play, progress their development and bring all that out on match day.
He says psycho-social drives these important ingredients of your coaching. Every player deserves to go through the three P’s “What can I do to help these players?”
Try to consider the internal that drives the external of your players. This creates a motivational climate and answers the question “What are we doing in our coaching and why”. Who are the players in front of you and what experiences have they had to make them what they are.
As a coach we need to engage in reflective practice that drives our coaching. He recommends spending 10 minutes a week researching simple techniques to help you with player relationships.
I caught up with Dan, when we were allowed to travel, in Baltimore in 2020 and he explained psycho-social to me and what as coaches we need to do.
Dave Clarke talks to sport psychologist Dan Abrahams discussing how to motivate players, social/psychological, winning/losing, working with parents and much, much more MORE
We had a meeting this week at my club, where we were discussing the changes we face in a few months time. My U10s team goes from 7v7 into 9v9 and that means we are facing offside decisions. So how does a coach go about preparing for that? MORE
As coaches we are all obsessed with keeping possession of the ball... of course we are the best teams all do it and if you've got the ball the opposition can't score. And there is just that other coach called Pep Guardiola who swears by it... MORE
Fast is a word I like to use when my teams are attacking. Do it with speed and watch the opposition shrink away from it. It makes life difficult for your opponents and helps your team to dominate when in possession of the ball. MORE
The season has suddenly taken off again after 4 months of Coronavirus lockdown. I've been coaching for 14 hours for the last two weeks in an attempt to get the players back into some kind of shape for playing matches. It has its benefits but also it has a downside. Two of my players picked up injuries, one an ankle injury and the other had what he called "tired legs". Find out how we got on... MORE
Defending against overloads can happen whether your team is in an organised or disorganised state. You can plan defending when organised much easier than when you are defending disorganised. MORE
I was talking to a coach this week about how to control balls in the air, especially when heading the ball in training is off the menu for most clubs. I imagine that there will be much more of a contest to win the ball with a volley once it has dropped from head height. So how do you coach controlling balls in the air? MORE
