The Coaching Tool Box

New youth soccer coaches have a lot on their minds the first time they step on to the soccer pitch. What I am I going to teach? Do I have all of my equipment? Are the kids going to like me? Lost in all of this, though, is how to coach and when to coach. New coaches need to realize that the best teacher of the soccer is the game itself - just let the kids play. However, this does not mean that coaches do not need to coach.

In the GSL Coaches Clinics and any US Soccer Federation coaching classes, one big topic that is discussed is the use of the Coaching Tool Box. The Coaching Tool Box has five tools for teaching on the soccer pitch, they are -

1. Coaching in the flow.
2. Individual coaching while play continues.
3. Make corrections or coaching points during a natural stoppage (goal scored, throw-in, free kick, corner kick, substitution, etc).
4. Manipulation of exercise to have the training teach the players. Example: Touch restriction which changes every time you score a goal or have a goal scoring chance.
5. Freeze (stopping the flow of the play-as a last resort).

Some of these tools can be very invasive, some not so much. Coaches should not relied too heavily on a single tool, but use all of them in the course of a training session. In the past, coaches would use the freeze method to the point of abuse and that the freeze method was the most invasive of all the tools it stop the flow of the game so much that the game no longer was the teacher that it should be.

Here is each method in more detail -

1. Coach within the flow of the game. This is successful with players whose technique allows them to process and play at the same time. The coach provides clear, brief instructions to individuals or small groups of players as the ball is moving. This isn’t an ongoing monologue! Comments at a critical time to influence play. The caution here is to not let this become noise.
2. Coach the individual player as the game continues. Here the coach stops an individual players to make a coaching point, but does not stop the activity. While the coach interacts with the player, his team plays a “man down.” Obviously the interaction must be brief and concise to get the player back into the activity.
3. Coach at natural stoppages. Here the coach addresses a group of players during times when the game is still, e.g. when the ball goes out of bounds; water breaks; change over. While being brief and concise is always important, here it is important to focus on a problem that is fresh in the player’s mind.
4. Allow the conditions of the activity to coach the theme. Here the conditions of the activity provide the problem for the players to solve. Example: Playing at least two touch to improve the player’s ability to receive passes on the ground.
5. Coach using the “Freeze” method. Here the coach “freezes” the game to make his/her coaching point. This allows the coaching to “paint” a very visual picture for the players. This method obviously disturbs the activity/game and can, if used too frequently in a session, frustrate the players. (Instructors should differentiate between “traditional coaching school” stoppage that “Freezes, Demonstrates, Rehearses, Restarts” and revised stoppage to “Freeze” a picture for the players that last no longer than 14 seconds).