16: Grow Coach Newsletter

Football Coaching: 6 Tips to become a better Football Coach.

Apr 11, 2024

A warm welcome from JustCoachMD. We are happy to have you on board. We are looking forward to providing you with helpful content.

Here is what to expect:

Education: 6 Tips to become a better coach.
Activity 1: Scanning in a 3v1, 4v2 and 4v3 to goal.
Activity 2: Build up play in a 3v3v3 game plus GKs.
Session Commentary: What to coach and what to look for.
Coach Project: Individual session support.

6 Tips to Become a Better Football Coach

Coaching is a rewarding profession, and becoming great is not easy. The time and effort you put into your self-development will pay off. Coaching is a profession where you get out what you put in.

Being a Great Coach

Becoming a great coach will take a huge amount of time and investment. Learning how to develop individuals and the fundamental skills required to play the game. It takes hours of practice on the field to hone the skill set. There is no quick fix to becoming a great coach.

The skills you require to coach such as communication, leadership, and empathy can only be improved by practising regularly in front of groups that you wish to coach/develop.

This article will provide a brief insight into 6 areas you must develop on your path to coaching greatness. They are in no particular order as they all feed into each other.

1. Learn the Game

The best coaches understand the game of football. They have done the courses and spend time learning and developing their understanding of the individual’s needs, the game moments, and the tactics to help create success.

Individuals

Individually coaches must be aware of the player’s options before, during and after they receive the ball and help to coach players in these moments.

It may seem trivial to preach about scanning before a player receives the ball, but the long-term benefit of this can be huge for the player’s composure and understanding.

Paul McGuiness, a coach educator who worked for the English FA, suggests some skills are essential for developing individuals: scanning, movement, timing, deception, positioning, and technical skills. Each of these skills can be coached to the player.

Game Moments

Good coaches balance the time they coach, between the various moments of the game. Four main moments can be coached: in possession, out of possession, regains of the ball, and losses of the ball. Regains and losses can be coached alongside the in and out of possession moments.

The coach could dedicate a suitable amount of time to coaching the moments of the game so players get a good blend of each moment and develop an understanding of the game.

Tactics

Tactically coaches must try to stay up to date with how the game is being played. Are teams building up from the back? Playing through the thirds of the pitch? Pressing or defending deep? These are basic tactics that coaches could deploy within their teams and gain an edge over their opponents.

Always remember the individual and their needs first. The tactical stuff is difficult to develop without some mastery of individual skills. Most coaches work at a level where they are trying to develop the individual rather than the team. Therefore, supporting player development ahead of team tactics should be prioritised.

2. Develop Leadership Skills

As a leader of a group/team of people, your main goal is to share your club/own values and beliefs with the players and then hold the players accountable to these values and beliefs. Challenge them if they do not show and praise them when they demonstrate.

You need to lead the players towards success but be careful of your definition of success. As previously mentioned success for younger players is not always about winning it is about development, for example:

A weaker foot pass is completed numerous times in a game.
A player regularly scans before they receive the ball.
Defenders reading the game and intercepting a dangerous pass.

Each of these examples is successful leadership and a vision of success being achieved. Yes, winning is important; every player and coach wants to win. Just be careful of the fine line between winning and development.

People will not remember if your U10 team won the league but they will remember the exciting prospect produced by your club who has just broken into the professional game.

Football and leadership are journeys, your job is to identify what part of the journey you can influence most. Work tirelessly to make it happen for each player you work with.

3. Learn To Communicate

Communication is vital to the success of a soccer coach, the lines of verbal communication between players and coaches, parents and players, club management, and staff.

What You Say Matters

Clear concise messages must regularly be provided so everyone comprehends where they stand, what the expectation is, and how they can achieve it. If this information is regularly shared then most people will be clear.

From a coaching perspective how and when you communicate will often determine the quality and tempo of your session. If you communicate messages wrong then the practice may break down, if you are too aggressive with your communication then players will be scared to try things.

Use a range of coaching styles to communicate your message, and help as many players as you can understand the expectations.

Body Language

Think about your body language when delivering a session. Do you look happy and enthusiastic to be there? Are your arms crossed? Is your posture tall? Are you actively watching and listening? Are you invading the player’s space when you talk to them? Are you towering over them when you make coaching points?

Adjusting some of these things for the benefit of the performer can make a real difference.

On a matchday try to stay calm and neutral, if you are all tense, worked up, and jittery quite often the players will reflect this. Learn to master communication and you will be well on your way to becoming an excellent coach.

Listen

Listening is a vital aspect of communication, remember it’s a two-way process and you are not always right so checking what people think or what people have heard can help to improve your communication.

4. Care About What You Do

If you want to be great at something you must care. What does this look like for football coaches?

Be prepared and have a plan.
Getting to know every player you come into contact with.
Take time to learn and develop yourself.
Show an interest in the person, not just their ability.

Make time for others, whether that be a concerned parent, a new player, or a coach who wants to watch you. Give them your time, share your knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Sometimes people will agree other times they will disagree but whenever possible make sure you share your opinion of the topic under discussion.

5. Think Outside of the Box

Be curious about non-technical and tactical topics. Be on the lookout for things that will help you to become a better coach.

Many sports talk about marginal gains in teams to try and help them win. As a coach where are your marginal gains? And who is showing them?

Always be on the lookout for things you can borrow and make your own. Try to be open to new ideas, and not too dismissive about how others go about their business.

It could be a tip about how a coach organises a practice or communicates with a player. It may be how they praise or make a practice competitive. It could be their style of coaching. Be aware and on the lookout for these things.

Try not to copy, it may start with you copying then once you are familiar you must evolve, adapt, and progress to make it your own.

6. Develop Your Observation Skills

The best coaches do not always follow the ball, they look away from it, they watch individuals, they identify weaknesses of the opposition, and they watch the units of their team. They are aware of the pre-, during, and post-actions, they think short-medium, and long-term, not just the present.

When coaching, observe for a moment and get clear with what you want to help with. Take the time to know and understand what you are going to say and how you are going to say it. Your coaching points should guide you as well as your players.

Keep watching and being aware of the individual’s needs along with the team’s for the session.

If you work with more than one coach at a session try to use each other to develop yourselves by sharing the workload. Rather than both coaches coaching the same topic, maybe one coach could lead the main practice and provide the coaching points and the other coach could work with individuals on some of the skills mentioned in tip 1 such as positioning or movement.

Then next session flips this around so everyone gets a good opportunity to develop themselves both from a team perspective and an individual player development perspective.

In Summary

The 6 tips described above will go a long way to helping you become a great coach. It is your responsibility to find ways to utilise each tip effectively. Put your swing on each of the tips to make it work for you.

Do not try to incorporate all 6 straight away it will only confuse you and the performers will be questioning where their coach has gone. You have to be patient and think about discreet ways you can implement.

Take 1 – 2 of the ideas presented and run with them. Adapt them, evolve them so they become part of your coaching skill set and you use them naturally rather than unnaturally. This way you will learn something thoroughly as opposed to doing something for one session and then forgetting about it.

Good luck with your implementation and I would love to hear your feedback below in the comments section. Feedback helps us learn. It is an accelerator, use feedback to your advantage to progress quickly.

Training Activities

1. Scanning to Exploit Opponents | 3v1 into 4v2 into 4v3

Created on: @TacticalPad

Aim: Keep possession whilst spotting the right time to attack using an overload.
Set Up: Section the pitch as shown within a 30 by 20 space. There should be a central zone (split diagonally) and two outer zones.
Place a pair of mini-goals in each of the outer zones. The game starts as a 3v1 in one of the central sections. In every other section, there is a 🔴vs⚫️ to start.
⚫️s connect 3 passes in the 3v1, then the game opens up to a 4v2 in the central area.
⚫️s look to complete another 3 passes in the full central zone then chose an outer zone to attack in a 4v3 to goal 🥅.
Scoring: ⚫️s complete the passing section of the game then score in an outer zone. If 🔴s win the ball in the central zone of the pitch they look to break out and play 3v1 in outer zones with their teammates.
If the 🔴s win the ball in the 4v3 aspect of the game they attack the opposite direction to the team of 4.
Notes: Players should be constantly scanning to look for the next pass or select the best option to progress the attack.

2. Constant Build-Up Play | 3v3v3 (+GKs)

Created on: @TacticalPad

Aim: Play through the gaps in the manikins and back to the opposite GK. Create a constant back pass into a build-up situation.
Space and Equipment: 60 by 40 yards pitch space. 3x Manikins spaced along the halfway line. Cut off the sides of the pitch into a triangle pitch on both sides. Add 2x Large goals, one at each end of the pitch.
Scoring: GK always starts and receives a back pass from the attackers. The game then goes live in one half of the pitch.
There are 2 ways to score for the build-up team:

Pass through one of the central gaps on either side of the central manikin.
Pass to a player who has dropped into the gap between the central manikin.

Pressing team: If the pressing players win the ball they try to score in the big goals.
How to play: 🔴s vs 🔵s vs⚫️s The ball starts with 🟡 GK who plays out to 🔴s. The 🔴s try to use one of the 2 ways of scoring to progress into the opposite half.
The ball is then passed to 🟢GK who plays into a ⚫️.
Once a team has played into the opposite half they become the defending players so 🔴s then press ⚫️s.
⚫️s receive the ball off 🟢 then use one of the 2 methods of scoring to play into the other half. If successful, they press the ⚫️s in the opposite half.
The Practice is continuous.

Session Commentary

Coaching Process: This is a method you could use to coach the session to the players.

What: Show, tell, or ask the players WHAT you would like them to do.
When: Show or ask the players WHEN is the best time to do it.
Ways: Get the players to think about how many WAYS there are to achieve it.

The coaching process is often something we forget about. Use this to keep you on track. Whatever you want to coach consider the three W’s as a process to communicate the information.

Activity Aims:

Give players opportunities to work on individual skills and team tactics.

Activity Objectives:

Individually: Work on scanning, timing and anticipation skills.
Collectively: In attack, build up play and escape pressure. In defence press and tackle to regain and score.

Individual Coaching Deatail: Scanning Activity

Scan: Can you check for pressure, options, and space before the ball arrives and prepare your body to receive the ball?
Show: Give a support option at the right time that takes opponents out of the game.
Share: Anticipate the movement of a teammate and pass into space for them to receive.

Coaching Points: Build-Up Play Activity

Spread Out: Make the pitch big to stretch the opponent.
Shake Off: Lose your marker to create an opportunity to get on the ball.
Secure: Keep the ball under pressure and play forward where possible.

‘‘Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their performance, It is helping them learn rather than teaching them’’

(T, Galway)

Coach Project

Individual Support: Design a 1v1 and 2v2 activity to allow you to coach individuals on some of the following skills:

Scanning
Deception
Movement
Timing
Positioning.

Start with the 1v1 and teach scanning and deception. Then introduce more players (2v2) and coach, movement, timing and positioning. Can you build up the session from start to finish? If you are struggling with ideas use the image below to help you design your 1v1 and 2v2 practices.

For each skill you could consider the following:

Scanning: When is the best time to scan and what are they looking for?
Deception: Can you make the defender think you are going to do one thing, then do something else?
Movement: Show me some movements that can help to create space for yourself or a teammate.
Timing: When is the best time to…
Positioning: Show me the most hurtful position during this attack.

Design the 1v1 and 2v2 activities for around 4 - 6 players to work on these important individual skills.

Please feel free to get in touch or share your ideas, actions, and interventions. We would love to hear from you. If you have any questions, post them here; we will do our best to answer them.