Improving Half Time Team Talks

From Gavin Pugh, Director of the Dragon Soccer Club (MN) -

Half-time is perhaps the most interesting period of a soccer game!

What happened in the first half? How do we discuss it? Who should be allowed to talk? Should we point fingers if necessary? What shall we change? Can we realistically change it? But my players just need to rest!

As you can see, half-time serves various purposes. Of course our players need to rest and regenerate, but this is an excellent tool for altering the course of the game.

As Coaches we have a very limited time to work within, it takes a few minutes for the players to come off, get a drink, and a few minutes to get ready for the game. That only leaves me perhaps 5 minutes to affect them. What shall I say? To who?

First, we should allow the players to switch off for a minute or two. Do not feel like you have to discuss every major issue that occurred in the first half, your job is to identify patterns of play / issues that you can positively change for the second half. A Coach certainly does not need to talk about a technical error, e.g. a right-defender’s mis-control of the ball, unless you saw a repetitive pattern of errors and can highlight it is a tactical situation, i.e. tactically s/he is in the wrong area of the field when receiving the ball, with no immediate support, body shape and position is incorrect, and calling for the ball each time, thus creating a difficult situation each time they receive it.

The Coach must also motivate the players. Can we be critical towards players, how will the other players react? Of course a Coach can be critical if a player is not pulling their weight, but it takes a very good coach to find the right balance of positive criticism, motivation and the correct information. We all know that a Coach who finds this balance will become a hero when the team comes out second half transformed!

Do not try to overload players with information; 2 or 3 points will suffice, but make sure they are relevant, and are issues/thoughts that can be corrected in the second half. Remember that saying something does not guarantee it will be heard, hearing does not mean understanding, and understanding does not mean agreeing. Be clear and concise. All other info can wait until full-time.

So what happens at half-time…?

So what happens at half-time?

1. “Blowing off steam” - Players / coaches talk about 1st half issues
2. Rest - Players calm down and hydrate
3. Information - Coach begins to provide his/her thoughts
4. Focusing on the second half - What / how can we change
5. Motivation - Last minute preparation and excitement
   

Guidelines for half-time talks

1. Get their attention - Don’t start to talk too soon, conversations between players is ok, but not accusations at each other. Information should be structured, easy to understand and motivational.
2. Tactics - Don’t assign them unless they are appropriate. Don’t get into drawn out discussions. Listen to your player’s problems, make sure they absorb the chosen solution
3. Create an atmosphere of trust - No hurtful or embarrassing accusations. Balance blame with praise. Do not encourage negative criticism or fear.
4. Motivation - Praise stabilizes players’ feelings of self-confidence and self-worth, use this tool wisely. Appeal to individual characters, some need motivating, some need help with self-confidence, etc.
5. Encourage change - Only choose tactics the players have already mastered. And of course, limit your comments to only the most important points.
   

Best of luck!

Motivation is More than a Question of Winning or Losing

From Darren C. Treasure, Ph.D., Arizona State University -

I once played soccer with a kid called Mark. Mark was a very successful youth soccer player who was always one of the better players in any team he played for. Indeed, Mark represented the National schoolboy U.15 team. About one year later, however, Mark dropped out of soccer. He said that soccer had stopped being fun as he wasn't the best player anymore. It was clear that Mark could only feel successful if he was number one and did not want to play if he could not achieve this goal.

This anecdote illustrates how important it is for coaches and/or parents to understand the ways in which their players perceive success in soccer, and the significant effects these perceptions may have on their motivation to play the game. Specifically, how hard they try in practice and during games, whether they persist when the going gets tough, and whether they practice skills that will help them get better even if they are not presently very good at them.

Research has found that for children under the age of 10 high ability is generally implied by learning, or by success at tasks they are uncertain of being able to complete. They do not judge ability with reference to performance norms or social comparisons. They can be induced to adopt anothers performance as a standard, but normally they make self-referenced rather than social norm referenced judgments of ability. For young children, when more effort is needed for success, this implies more learning which means more ability in their world. In a real sense, effort is ability for children under the age of 11!! Because young children cannot differentiate effort from ability, they do not have the cognitive ability to understand winning and losing.

If you do not believe me, go watch any U.9 game, for example, and listen to the first question a child asks as he/she comes off of the field. If it is not "Where's my snack," it will be "Did we win?" The child at this age understands that winning is important, loves to compete, but does not understand winning and losing in any systematic sense. Because of this, they will not feel sad until a parent or coach informs them that they lost and accompany this information with a positive or negative emotional reaction.

Around the age of 11-12 years, however, children develop the capacity to differentiate ability from effort and now understand that effort can only help their performance up to their current level of ability. For example, at this age a slow player recognizes that no matter how hard they try, they will not outrun the fastest player on the team. As a consequence of this developmental change, after the age of 11-12 individuals can choose to define success in two different ways, namely in a child like-way fashion in which improvement and effort are critical, or a more adult way in which outperforming others is stressed. These different ways of perceiving success manifest themselves in an individuals task or ego goal orientation.

Ego oriented individuals perceive success in terms of winning and outperforming others and believe that if they outperform someone with minimum effort they have demonstrated even higher an even higher level of perceived ability. These individuals believe that success is determined by ability and that cheating and deception may be acceptable behaviors if they enable them to achieve their goal of winning.

In contrast, task oriented individuals perceive success in terms of getting better and trying hard. Research has demonstrated that task oriented individuals will remain motivated even in times of adversity, for example when they are losing, as they perceive success in terms of trying hard and attempting to improve.

For example, the center forward who misses a few chances will continue to run into space in the attacking third of the field and accept the responsibility of taking shots at goal. Ego oriented individuals who are successful are likely to engage in the same positive behaviors. However, when ego oriented individuals begin to doubt their ability they are likely to begin to withdraw effort and engage in negative behaviors to protect their perceived soccer ability.

For example, you may find ego oriented forwards drifting further and further back after they have missed a few chances. They may explain this by stating that they want to "create from the back", or begin to blame their teammates for their inability to get the ball to them in the attacking third of the field. Although this behavior may seem illogical to you, it makes perfect sense to the player as they are attempting to preserve their now fragile perception of ability. After a while it could be that these ego oriented individuals who doubt their perceived ability, much like my friend Mark, choose to dropout of soccer all together as it no longer provides them the opportunity to feel successful as they do not achieve their goal of being the best compared to others!

In an activity in which performance during childhood and early adolescence is so closely linked to physiological, motor skill, cognitive and other psycho-social developmental issues, it seems sensible, to promote task orientation. By emphasizing outcome and winning (ego orientation), less mature children are likely to make inappropriate perceived ability assessments when the demonstration of high ability is restricted to those children who are currently the top performers.

For example, small children who struggle to compete against their bigger, quicker peers may choose to dropout of soccer prematurely because winning is the only way they can feel successful. In addition, task orientation should be fostered with those children who are currently the top age group performers.

Why is this important? As in other activities, children move from one soccer team to another, from one competitive level to another, and from one age group to another. When this occurs it is unlikely that the hierarchy of ability within the respective context will remain constant. In such instances, if the demonstration of ability is continually based on the comparison of ability to others, an individual's perception of high ability may weaken which may lead to maladaptive behaviors, including, potentially, withdrawal from the game. From a motivational perspective, therefore, it is important that we as parents and coaches attempt to promote task orientation in our young players.

By providing ways of defining success other than winning, we can ensure that our players remain motivated throughout their soccer career. Research with elite level athletes has shown that these individuals are high in both ego and task orientation. They feel successful when they win and outperform their competitors, but they also appreciate the fact that this may not always be possible. There may be occasions when they lose and/or perform badly and in these times of adversity it is important that they view success in terms other than outcome if they are to remain motivated. The issue remains, however, of how to enhance the motivation of our players by encouraging the development of task orientation.

Research has shown that the parent and/or coach is critical in the active construction of a child's perception of what is valued in the youth soccer context. Parents and coaches should critically evaluate what they do and how they do it in terms of task and ego goals.

For example, how do you define success for your players? Is it in terms of development and effort, or winning and losing? Do you design practice sessions that challenge your players which will lead to development, or do they repeat well learned skills that, although increasing the probability of winning, may delay development? How do you evaluate performance? What behaviors do you consider desirable? Do you congratulate players when they win and outperform others or when they try hard and improve? How do you react when the team wins or loses?

Persuasive evidence exists to suggest that by making certain cues, rewards, and expectations salient a parent or coach can encourage a particular goal orientation and in so doing affect the way a child perceives the soccer experience. If we are to ensure that all youth soccer players are optimally motivated coaches should, therefore, work hard to establish an environment that promotes task goals: a developmentally appropriate environment in which children are evaluated on their skill development and effort and not their comparative performance and ability.