Xbox Coaching

Xbox Coaching

It had been about two years since I was directly involved with a youth team in the UK. In that time I had completed many hours working within schools, but there was no team that I could call my own. After spending a lot of time in Canada, working with a wide range of ages and abilities, there are some similarities, but I believe I had forgotten about the state of youth football in this country.

This was my first game in charge of my new U11 girls team that play seven-a-side football on a Sunday morning. Walking across the venue, one was surrounded by many intense games. Young boys playing small sided games, lots of pitches, lots of parents, and lots of excitement. The FA is doing a lot to increase standards and participation, and it is evident here. The small sided game has really taken off, and that is the right thing. Less players means more touches per player, and a smaller pitch means that you learn far more about attack and defence, and all other roles and responsibilities within the game.

The parents there had given up their Sunday mornings. The groundsmen had supplied many good pitches to play on. Volunteers had given up their free time to sell food and drink to parents. The setup was brilliant, and there are lots of people out there doing very good things for the state of the game in our country. The parents were enthusiastic, passionate and interested. What more can you ask for?

The learning of these players is greatly being hampered by the environment in which they play. I’m not talking about green grass and blue skies, but instead the ability to play without fear, to make their own decisions, and to learn from their mistakes, and this is where I have seen what I call Xbox coaching.

Whenever a player on the opposing team got the ball, before they figured out what to do next, they were being bombarded by barked orders. PASS! TURN! SHOOT! GET RID OF IT! I’m not questioning the validity of the instructions, they often seemed to be the right decision to make, but the problem was that the players weren’t making these decisions for themselves. Now this is not beneficial to their learning and development as a player.

I do not profess to be an expert on development, but I do know that young players need to learn for themselves. If they are constantly being told what to do when in these situations, they will never learn how to deal with it themselves. They will not be able to adjust to the spontaneity that is a real live situation. A player is faced with so much sensory input, taking in audio, visual and kinaesthetic information. Where are the opponents? Where are my teammates? How is the ball moving? How far am I from goal? What direction is everyone moving? The more a player is in this situation, the quicker they can process all this information. Quicker thinking makes for far better players.

Now if a player is having all their decisions made for them by a coach or parent, they are not engaging their brains. All I have ever said is that the most important thing for football is having a brain, but if your brain is not being engaged, you are not becoming a better player. Becoming a better player is the main priority of youth football. A coach that tells their players what to do throughout every incident in the match may as well be playing Subbuteo or be using puppets.

When coaching a young team, one has to make adjustments. You cannot tell your players what to do. It’s not that they’ll disobey, it’s because they will listen. There’s nothing wrong with a manager or parent being passionate and really into the game, but ultimately it is not their game. The game is for the players to win or lose, the game is not for the parents to win or lose. It’s the kids that should be taking credit for the good decisions that they make, and it is the kids that should be given the help and support to improve on the bad decisions that they make.

Ultimately, as the games get more tense, the parents become louder, and there is a notable anxiety in their voice. When taking to someone, if you sound worried, it passes the panic on to the receiver. This is very much the case with young developing players. “You sound worried, is there something to worry about? Oh no!” This becomes unnecessary pressure or your young developing bunch. The advice from parents becomes particularly frantic when they believe a mistake is imminent. They don’t want their kid to be the idiot that makes the mistake and loses the game for the team. It is in these situations that you often hear shouts of “Kick it out!” or “Get rid of it!” What does this teach players? It teaches them to panic, it teaches them to take the easy option, and ultimately it says don’t try and do anything complicated, you’re not good enough.

Do we want our kids to grow up with that mind-set? Do we want them conceding throw-ins and corners all over the place, rather than learning to turn, dribble, shield and pass? If they do make a mistake and the opposition score, that is your opportunity to affect the learning, once they realise the consequences. From here, with careful coaching advice, they’ll be able to learn what to do in future. Now they know how and why, and they are better players for it.

Now I’m going to talk about the biggest sin of all. This is when a parent’s shouting overrules or conflicts with the instructions from the coach. When it comes to things like positioning, don’t go telling your kid to push up, stay back, get wider etc. It might be that the manager has told them to be there. It might be that they are making the correct decisions in the eyes of the coach and within the overall vision of how the team should play. Think of it this way; if your child is in the wrong position, the coach will correct it. Don’t think that it’s your job.

At times, as well as conflicting my instructions, parents have also shouted over me. Whilst I might be trying to explain to a player that she should run away from the ball at an angle to create more space for herself, some idiot has to pipe up with GET RID OF IT!!!! Helpful, thank you. I know I bang on about it a lot, but what do shouts like get rid of it and kick it out actually mean? What is “it”? Where is “out”? What are you actually telling them to do?

I’m sure if these offenders knew what damage they were doing, they would stop and change their ways. It all comes from education. I know not to do these things because I have learnt otherwise through all sorts of courses. Some parents and coaches don’t have the time, money or even knowledge that the opportunities exist. It is all for the benefit of our youngsters and the future of our game in this country. We can’t carry on like this. Should I just hope for them to shut up and suddenly realise what they are doing? No. As a coach, it is my responsibility to thank the parents for their support, but limit it to encouragement. As for other coaches, if I made any suggestions, I’d get a smack in the mouth. Most dads that are coaching are far older than me, they’ve been doing it for years, they give up their time on a Sunday morning, I’ve got a lot of nerve, and I don’t even know I’ve been born. See the problem?

When working with youth players, remember that they need to learn for themselves. They need to experience failure and success. They don’t want to be shouted at, and no one likes being told what to do. I’ve told my players enough times in training to spread out wide when our keeper has the ball. I don’t need to tell them to do that during a game. What happens if they don’t do it during the match? SPREAD OUT! No. In fact, I ask the question “Where do we need to be when our keeper has the ball?” or “Where can you go if you want to receive the ball?” It puts it into context, it doesn’t make them feel they are doing anything wrong, and it gets them to solve their own problems.

When the players are on the pitch, chasing the ball and battling for space, they see a lot of different things to what we see on the side. What spectators think might be the best option, the players may see something completely different. Don’t coach the game from your narrow view. Don’t make the decisions for your players. Don’t blame or criticise. Encourage and make adjustments. If you’re going to tell every single player what to do in every single situation, you may as well have a controller in your hand and be playing FIFA on the Xbox.