In coaching high school soccer it’s a proven fact that self-control is a choice and players have to choose it just like they do for confidence. In soccer coaching, it’s the relation between emotions and thoughts that concludes the self control strategies. All of us know our mental state influences our passions that accordingly enhance our performance.
With a view to help the players in learning the skill and discipline of self-control, there is a 12 step strategy which I shall discuss with you. Still, it is better that players take up these steps only when they feel that it is going to be of value to them.
The players should be ready to accept full responsibility for their acts as well. The strategy has been given below in 12 steps for your reference.
1. Awareness: Help the players figure out their weak points during the course of coaching youth soccer. Allow them to investigate when, where and how loss of control happened on field in their past.
2. Understanding: Make the players realize why their thinking changed and how it caused them to lose their emotional balance.
3. Differences: Let the players recall situations in the past when they did and did not lost control. Have them decide the differences in their attitudes, behaviors, and emotions.
4. Problem: When it comes to coaching high school soccer, try to point out the real problem. For example: A players may be feeling responsible of letting the entire team down because of his actions.
5. Belief: The players should manage to raise their expectations from them including self-control as one of the behaviors. Persuade them that they can change.
6. Reinforcement: Behavior change is accelerated by reinforcement. Therefore, you must not forget your duty as a coach to recognize and honor the improvements of players so that they stick to these.
7. Goals: Start with multiple smaller goals, so that you can take your players along the path to changes. Guide the players in understanding the correlation between way of thinking, thought process, and actions.
8. Techniques: To maintain the confidence level, employ a set of behavioral practices. For example: Players must know which path to follow in a certain situation.
9. Plan: In football coaching, teach the players to pursue their goals in a planned and systematic way.
10. Progress: Tell them to learn the skill of patience. Let them know that improvement always comes in a series of ups and downs.
11. Setbacks: Teach the players on how to live with the setbacks that are unavoidable. Therefore, try to learn something new from every setback.
12. Remembrance: Last but by no means the least, make the players understand that they are trying to change for a reason. They must understand the importance of what they are doing. What would the change mean to them for their future?
For a soccer player to achieve a perfect performance state, the player must be trained for relaxed swiftness. This simply means use of full energy without stress.
This is of utmost importance. Coaching high school soccer must include relaxation techniques so that the players can learn to be in-charge of their emotions to save energy and kill any fears.
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Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching and has already helped thousands of youth coaches to dramatically improve their coaching skills. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make training fun by downloading your free ebook at: Soccer Practice Drills.
Tags: Coaching high school soccer, coaching youth soccer, football coaching, soccer coaching