Coaching High School Soccer: Discover Confidence In Players
If you are like me, you probably know that in coaching high school soccer, the journey to becoming a complete player begins by building confidence. As a coach, when you declare that your players are under pressure, you are really identifying in them a lack of confidence to deal with a situation. This is because it is only with confidence that we expect success.
Confidence is a choice and your players have to first choose to become confident. In the course of coaching youth soccer, this point can be made clear to them by describing the behavior of two parrots that sit on either shoulder.
One parrot is a positive parrot that constantly motivates the players to take every challenge that comes in his way by saying “You can do it.” The second one is a negative parrot that is always cautioning the player “You can’t do this.” And clearly they have to choose which parrot to listen to.
Once the players have made up their minds, teach them to become liable for their acts. The players may have to make this decision on a daily basis. Develop brilliant players in your team by constantly reminding them of their participation in past successes to boost their confidence levels.
Train the players of the fact that in soccer coaching that putting the blame on something or someone else is a mark of insecurity. As a matter of fact, players should be trained on taking every setback as a lesson to become even more confident and not to feel discouraged.
Similarly in coaching high school soccer, the most important self-conversation for any player missing an opportunity to score is the phrase “I’ll get the next one.”
Thus, confidence for the next strike is remains unaffected because of the distress of the miss.
In a team, caliber, mental strength and judgments regarding a player’s ability to survive the demands of competition, hold the key for its success. In football coaching, there is always a close call between judging physical and mental readiness, but in the end, physical readiness wins the battle.
To facilitate this type of judgment, look for clear messages. It is necessary to deeply go through the player’s spoken and unspoken messages about his or her knack to succeed in the game.
Confidence comes from success. Success in Soccer comes with the belief in yourself that you are well equipped and ready for every situation that may build pressure. In order to make the players emotionally power-packed, a phrase “If you are not preparing to win, you are preparing to fail”, is frequently used.
Confidence grows up with experience. The players must be accustomed to their doubts, mistakes, defeats and condemnation so as to establish the experience they need. It is the feeling that he or she has the knowledge, has been there before, and knows what to look forward to.
Make no mistake about it. In coaching high school soccer, constructing confidence is a daily task and hence, players should intimate on the key steps to find out their positives.
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Andre Botelho is known online as “The Expert Youth Soccer Coach” and his free ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players’ skills and make practice sessions fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: Soccer Coaching.
