Coaches Shouting Instructions: Seeking Ref's Perspectives

[Shackleton]

I am interested in ref's opinions about coaches shouting instructions from the sidelines, and, in particular, for youth rec games. I've coached my daughter's coed rec team from age 7-10. Most of the time, my yelling from the sidelines is encouragement ("great job," "nice play," "good defense," etc.), and I'm am never abusive. But, I often do shout general instructions from the sidelines to specific players, such as "challenge the ball," "step up," "let's hustle," "watch out for the cross," "mark number X," and similar comments for players who are out of position, don't know what to do, or appear disinterested. Nothing nonstop, but maybe once every couple of minutes (about the same frequency as my general encouraging comments). Is there anything inappropriate about this? Just curious about youth ref's perspectives.

[intechpc]

At a rec level with those age groups, as a Ref I'd be shocked if you weren't yelling instructions most of the game. They're out there to learn and as long as it's strategy related instructions (as opposed to derrogative) then by all means I'd expect to hear it. As a parent, I'd be a little upset if you weren't giving them instructions, that's your job as coach in my mind.

[NHRef]

One thing to keep in mind is that the more you say, the less they hear it. When they are on the field they will eventually downgrade your voice to the status of white noise. Not intentionally, but it will happen.

Save the shouts for good job/encouragement and very important strategy. Do the majority of your coaching when you can talk one on one, and/or in practice. At this level you have unlimited substitutions, probably, so use them wisely.

Also, sooner or later the kids need to learn to talk on the field themselves, trying to play and listen to you and talk with each other is a bit much.

[jkc313]

We had a Silent Saturday about 5-6 years ago and no coaches or spectators were allowed to say anything during the games. I was coaching and refereeing at the time and it was amazing how well the players did when the coaches were quiet! What you are yelling is certainly allowed. It's tactical advice or encouragement and no referee should tell you to stop. That said, I agree with the others that as coaches we tend to say too much and the players tune us out.

[ctsoccer13]

We had a Silent Saturday about 5-6 years ago and no coaches or spectators were allowed to say anything during the games. I was coaching and refereeing at the time and it was amazing how well the players did when the coaches were quiet!
We have this twice a year (once each season) and I found the same thing. I was coaching U14 rec girls and they spoke more when everyone else was quiet. It was very educational for all of them.

[Law5]

I agree that coaches tend to say too much during the game. The players can not physically respond to your instructions fast enough for the instruction to do any good, if you are yelling things like "Look at Johnny!" By the time they look up, find where Johnny is and then pass the ball in Johnny's direction, either a defender is in the way or Johnny isn't there any more.
When my wife was coaching, our U-8's were playing 7 a side, with keepers. She played a 2-2-2 formation, with the kids who had a clue on the far side of the field and the others on the side nearer to her, so they could hear her instructions. It worked pretty well, considering it was U-8. The only problem was that she couldn't tell kids whether they were left or right forward until after the coin toss! :p
By the time players get up to, say, U-13 or 14, what the coach is saying (never mind what the parents are yelling!) just blends into white noise. As a referee, I can tell you that your well thought out instructions are absolutely lost out there, unless the player is within 15 yards of the coach. We had a college men's coach (D1 even) who had a player who would respond to every instruction by yelling "Right, coach!" One day the coach yells out a string of nonsense syllables and the player turns to him and yells "Right, coach!" He'd just been shining him on all season! :rolleyes:

[bluedevils]

good posts by Law5 and NHRef.

I might add, one thing some coaches do is take the opportunity to teach the players on the bench based on what they see the players on the field are doing. Much better chance that a kid on the bench can listen/hear/process/understand what you are saying than a kid on the field who is running around worrying about what he needs to do next.

[DerbyRam54]

From my experiences as a youth ref, I'd agree fully with what NHRef, Law5 and others have to say re white noise. Most of what you shout won't be heard, what is heard might not be understood, what is understood may be ignored.
There was one coach that this didn't necessarily apply to. He was a boys JV team coach, Eastern European, extremely loud and booming voice. He could be heard all over the field. One of his players was a lad called Jimmy, and Jimmy liked to dribble. Actually, that's all Jimmy did, despite his coach's urging him to get rid of the ball.
Eventually, after another of Jimmy's mazy runs to nowhere, Coach Megalungs bellowed out at gale force 9, "Jeeeeemy!!!! You do that again, you outta da game!"
Laughing, I turned to the centre half and said, is your coach always like that? The kid smiled, rolled his eyes and nodded his head...

[IASocFan]

One of my fellow refs had an experience with a college coach. Both the referee and coach were Hungarian, but the coach didn't know the ref spoke Hungarian. After listening to listening extensive and loud yelling and swearing from the coach in Hungarian, the CR told him in Hungarian that he'd had enough, and that he needed to 'cool it'. The coach's son (a player) thanked the CR after the game; he said that was as quiet as his father had ever been at a game.

[ThreeCards]

From a referees perspective; I've had a few of the young referees that work for me complain that a U8 or U10 coach was constantly yelling instructions during their games. Although nothing bad was being said, they still felt that someone should say something to the coach. Like the players on the field, a young referee is trying to concentrate on the job he's doing and really vocal coach can be a little distracting to both players and referees. My guess is that you may have had a referee ask you to tone it down, and my suggestion from a referees perspective would be to continue to issue instructions, but use as little volume as necessary. Most of the coaches that I see yelling don't even realize how loud they are. My suggestion from a coach's perspective would be not to yell specific instructions to the players on the field, but instead direct most of your comments to your subs, who can then go on the field and show that they understood what you were asking for.

[Gary V]

...the kids who had a clue on the far side of the field and the others on the side nearer to her, so they could hear her instructions. It worked pretty well, considering it was U-8. The only problem was that she couldn't tell kids whether they were left or right forward until after the coin toss! :p Not a problem - just assign them as "near-side" and "far-side". The kids will figure that out easier than left/right anyway. It is kind of amusing to hear the coach yell out, "Julie, you're on the left side" and Julie has a dumb look on her face until she figures out the left side is the other side.

Shouting out play-by-play instructions (dribble, pass, shoot, go left, go back, etc.) doesn't work at any age. At the younger ages, it takes the kids too long to process the information, even if they do hear it. At the older levels, the speed of the game has increased. Either way, by the time the kid is ready to act on the instruction, the moment has passed and it's too late to do what the coach has yelled.

Parents - ugh, don't get me started. Let's just say that if I had a dime for every incorrect instruction I heard from a parent, I would nearly double my ref pay.

[shawn12011]

My girlfriend and I both coach U-17 rec. On numerous occasions I have spoken to her about her "gameday" coaching style :rolleyes: of constant instructions. She yells instruction as if it were the same as having a giant joystick to control the players. She stays on the attacking end and I concecntrate on the defense, we found we could not be on the same end, here static just annoyed me. I will call out occasional encouragement and instruction and she would drown out any instructions I might have given. I have even had the players talk to her about it being nothing more than white noisebut it did not help. What I have found out through the years it that, as with anything else, it depends on the kid. Some kids do respond to constant instruction. Others can take some on-field guidance and still others only can listen on the sidelines.

[Shackleton]

From a referees perspective; I've had a few of the young referees that work for me complain that a U8 or U10 coach was constantly yelling instructions during their games. Although nothing bad was being said, they still felt that someone should say something to the coach. Like the players on the field, a young referee is trying to concentrate on the job he's doing and really vocal coach can be a little distracting to both players and referees. My guess is that you may have had a referee ask you to tone it down, and my suggestion from a referees perspective would be to continue to issue instructions, but use as little volume as necessary. Most of the coaches that I see yelling don't even realize how loud they are. My suggestion from a coach's perspective would be not to yell specific instructions to the players on the field, but instead direct most of your comments to your subs, who can then go on the field and show that they understood what you were asking for.

Happy to say I've never had a ref or parent or kid ask me to tone it down; if anything, I probably tend to shout instructions less than average for the coaches in my league. The thread was prompted more by a post I read in the coach's forum, a negative experience with another coach from last season that constantly (and I literally mean almost non-stop the entire game) shouted instructions to his team, and in general posts I've read in this forum making me aware that even limited and occasional shouted instructions might be considered inappropriate for youth rec games. Just wanted some wider perspective on the question. Thanks to all for their input.

[Rufusabc]

Here's one for you...last game of the season this spring...I am an assistant coach and our game gets postponed and rescheduled to another field in a different town. No refs can get there. I have my card, and both head coaches agree to let me officiate (also a call to the assignor as well). The game has no bearing on the season standings as the team we are to play has already clinched and we are the solid third place team. I center with 2 young ar's. Every coach should have the opportunity to watch the game the way I did. First of all, the amount of chatter between players was amazing, and they followed NONE of either coaches instructions. And it was non-stop instructions from both sidelines! Since I knew our team so well, it was just so eye opening to be in the midst of this game as it unfolded. Now, as I begin the new season this saturday as a head coach (U14G) I have made a silent pledge to remain as quiet as possible in the TA, and just watch what happens. There is no possible way the girls can process (or boys for that matter) what is being yelled to them across a very wide windy pitch! Coaches would be much better served to coach in practices, and leave the game to develop on its own terms. Talk to a player while they are a sub, not while they are playing trying to cope with an attacker. My comments Saturday will only be to remind the back 4 to "get out" so they push the opponent up the field a bit. But that will be all. Everything else will have been discussed in training and hopefully it will go as planned.

R

[Stan]

When my oldest daughter played, she had a pair of coaches who spoke/shouted to the players on the field, but almost never to the player with the ball, except when she had no opponent near her. The instructions were usually in the form of suggestions, and delivered in time for the player to hear them, process them and do something about them before getting involved in the area of play. At other times, they were after the fact suggestions...such as "that pass was OK, but did you see so and so?"

They also knew who could handle criticism and who could not, and even the criticism was delivered with the edge taken off. What they were doing is teaching the kids how to think on the field by showing them what was possible, rather than trying to video-game the players.

This year I had the chance to referee one of their U-11 teams. It was clear that the kids were responding well to this approach. They made mistakes, a lot of them in fact, but they looked like they were learning and enjoying themselves, even though they lost the game.

This was in marked contrast to a couple of other games where coaches were unremittingly negative and the kids were afraid to make mistakes.

[Nesto]

When my oldest daughter played, she had a pair of coaches who spoke/shouted to the players on the field, but almost never to the player with the ball, except when she had no opponent near her. The instructions were usually in the form of suggestions, and delivered in time for the player to hear them, process them and do something about them before getting involved in the area of play. At other times, they were after the fact suggestions...such as "that pass was OK, but did you see so and so?"

Those were a couple of very saavy coaches. My comment doesn't really have much to do with refs, but it's interesting that in coaching classes, we're taught to look carefully for the "coachable moments" during practice. Not every moment is coachable at that time that it happens - some things you see you just have to store away for later or else you'd just be the ADD coach - constantly trying to correct every mistake that happens.

Too few coaches take this concept of "coachable moments" onto the game field. When your player is battling in a 1v2 - it is not a coachable moment. But as Stan's example points out, there are some coachable moments in games when you carefully look at correcting one particular thing when a player is not directly involved in the play.

[seanT]

I did a U14 game a few seasons ago where the coach yelled "Who wants it"
non stop. It was making me crazy, I can't imagine what it was doing to the kids.

[Dr Jay]

One of the things I try to do coaching youngers (U-12 and below) is to try to save my in-game comments to off-the-ball players. The number one thing I end up saying is "push up" to the defense to remind them to maintain shape.

Coaching the player on the ball tends to be counter-productive.

[macheath]

I coached girls for about 10 years; they don't hear a lot out there, so keep it simple, and repetitive. You're allowed, as others have said, to give your team tactical instruction. Refs will get concerned the more that any commentary involves the play of or is directed at the opponents, and the younger the players, the more concerned refs will be. But, as a coach, you have to recognize that they won't hear a lot (remember your playing days--how much did you hear from the sidelines), and that one of the great things about the game is that it relies on the players in a continuous flow, not on stopping and starting every ten seconds so coaches can exercise their "strategy."

[lmorin]

1. Don't "coach" the player with the ball. She won't hear you and, even if she does, it won't do any good.
2. If there is need for a generic, "Push up" or some such word, make sure the nearest target of that instruction understands not only to push up, but to transmit the info to the others similarly involved. Axiom: players must talk to each other.
3. If you feel that something can be accomplished by verbal communication with a specific player, either pull the player to the touchline for a discussion or have her stop and face you with uninterrupted eye contact while you provide a concise and understandable instruction. Continued active participation during the instruction will simply the words to go in one ear and out the other.
4. In keeping with #3, only provide instruction to those that can actually hear and interpret what you are saying, i.e., players near you. The kids on the other side of the field must wait to be enlightened.
5. Keep all instruction to a minimum during the game or you will be relegated to being part of the noise.

For what it's worth, a parent of one of my better players once told me that my voice was the only adult voice to which her daughter attended during the games. The rest were just so much noise, particularly as the kids realize that those shouting were suggesting all sorts of inconsistent or wrong advice.