Yelling At Players.

This is my first season as a spectator for my son. Our coaches don't yell, but the parents sure do. I find it frustrating, I still want to coach, but I know better. I want the other parents to know better as well.

My son had a huge midfield header in the last game. We remembered today and asked him about it. He grinned, and asked if we had been yelling when it happened. He said he remembered a "Waaahhooo". I'm glad he took that away with him from the game rather than a memory of someone else shouting instructions.

 

Yea, we were playing 4v4, two-sided keepaway, the other day. It was such a clusterf- . At times they got it better than they have at previous practices [spacing and such], but that is exactly the type of exercise where I have to coach _while_ the exercise is going and with simple one-two word instructions: control, spacing, be patient.

 

We've digressed some from the original question of yelling to the related, but not necessarily identical question of coaching during a game.

I like the philosophy that practices are for coaching and games for playing, but agree with the point, especially at the rec level, that there isn't enough time. And, even then, there is no reason not to be learning when you play a game, and often the reinforcement, in a full team / full field setting that often cannot be duplicated during practice due to attendance and field space issues deprive the players of some of the best coaching opportunities that are out there.

That said, I can't bring myself to yell (or coach, if you prefer that term) constantly during a game. The players need to learn to do it on their own. I agree that they tune a lot of it out anyway, but they need to be talking with each other and figuring out how to run to space and support each other on their own. If they learn only to be a puppet at the end of your coaching strings, they may end up doing that satisfactorily but not figure out the game themselves (or feel like they're having a lot of fun as they continue to run whereever or to do whatever you tell them).

As for me personally, I'll call out to the defenders to mark the backpost if I see an opponent running in wide open and no one paying any attention or doing anything about it, but I much prefer to give them some instruction and let them try it on their own. I don't hesitate to talk with the players who are out and let them benefit from hearing while watching things unfold and trying to get them to think about how they might do it similarly or differently. And, a game rarely goes by when I don't call a few players over to the sideline while the game is going to remind them about something they've forgotten from practice or to offer a suggestion for how they might make different runs, or look for different passes, or tighten up or adjust aspects of their defense. But, in the end, you have to let them play.

 

For you "yellers" out there, consider occasionally experimenting - start the game with your personal style, but then try to go 5, 10, or 15 minutes purposefully staying quiet. Then resume as you feel necessary, and repeat if you can stomach it, and so on. Do your best to observe the results and to note any differences in the play.

Does your left winger not make the run if your not yelling for it, or does he make it, but only a few seconds later than you might have yelled for it, or something else? Maybe he doesn't need as much direction as you think. Does your team communicate more or less if your quiet? Do particular players get stronger or weaker under these circumstances?

Depending on what you see, these observations might well lead to some decent questions for your players at the next break. "I got quiet for 5 minutes at minute 15 and we stopped making square passes, why is that? Let's try to focus on that as we go out for the second half." In the end, it ought to be about coaching, and if you can find additional ways for them to learn (and hopefully to have some enjoyment too) more power to you.

 

Yell at the players. Positive or Negative. If you don't your a push over. Yelling is motivation.

 

I believe the change was made in 1993 through a "decision" rather than a change to the language of the Laws. Previously, exceptions were made typically by national organizations allowing positive comments by coaches during youth games. Even today, the decision only allows "A coach" to issue "technical instructions."

 

Please tell me this made you realize this player has turned into a robot unable to think for himself and that you will no longer instruct players from the sidelines.

 

It is in the rules in North Texas. It isn't enforced much but, it is in the rules.

 

My reaction is somewhat similar to the one Jeffenbauer expresed to this post. I want my players to learn to think for themselves. Don't get me wrong. There is a fine line here, and probably no right answer for every situation or every player. But, I would be asking myself a little bit about a player who thinks he can only play when he's being directed around the field by a coach, and I would be asking the player about that.

Numerous analogies here to raising kids as well, and again no clear answers as to how much direction and how much independence is right, and again that question is going to change at different ages.

To go back to your example, I hope the scores in these two halves don't forever resolve the issue for you. Perhaps, for u8s, going an entire half is too long to go without any assistance. Maybe a five-minute or three-minute interval might be more appropriate, as well as some analysis of what the issues were.

 

True. Ages matter.

In my case, I'm typically dealing with u12 to u19. No question, the younger kids need more direction, and more reminders. And, yes, I would be yelling at a kid/adult at any level who got confused at the half and was heading in the wrong direction!

 

Intent also matters.

Two scenarios (both U10 boys and different coaches/teams):

1) Defender has time to clear the ball either to the end or side line. He choses the end one. The coach yells, "XXX, think about it, do you want to give a corner or a throwin?"

2) Attacker gets past defender and scores. The coach yells, "Get your head out of your butt!"

Can you guess which one I want my son to play for? Can you guess which one my son has told me he doesn't want to play for?

I've seen plenty of Rec coaches (including myself at some points) who seem to yell to influence the results of the game at hand. What I've noticed with Academy coaches (presumably also either currently or soon to be competitive coaches) is that they tend to yell instructionally for the most part. The goal is to influence games in the future.

 

referring to your first scenario, asking questions and getting them to think, can be a very effective coaching technique. one of the reasons that i've found it to be effective not to yell constantly is that it requires them to do that thinking (as opposed to just following my directions). also, this may be splitting hairs some, but i think your post also highlights a distinction between coaching/yelling after a play is over (intended to have it done differently the next time) and coaching/yelling during the play (essentially trying to move the players and the ball around the field as if playing a lifesize videogame).

as for your second scenario, ,,,, oh, nevermind. not wanting anyone i know to play for such a person is an understatement.

 

This is the big difference between your coaching philosophy and mine. I believed my job was to challenge the kids so that they can grow. I prepared them so they could succeed, and then let them perform. I did give technical instructions during the game, but very limited. My biggest coaching tool during a game was encouragement and praise. And this positive reinforcement is a very strong coaching tool. Silence is still a message but much less stressful than negative comments. This is also a good example to set for the parents and players. (Everytime I hear a parent yell "Don't pass it backwards" I want to scream at them, but I don't!)

Maybe the difference is because how I view a game. To me there is a difference between a game (a match) and a scrimmage. A scrimmage is training. A game (match) is not training, it is what you were training for. Maybe in your league the games are considered scrimmages. I have been in a league where that was the case in certain age groups, but that was expressly provided for by league rules. The coaches were allowed on the field during play in order to coach. Coaches were allowed to stop play and in fact functioned as the referee and assistants.

Some parents encourage their kids to play sports expecting that it will build self-confidence and character. Don't neglect that aspect of a coach's role in your own coaching philosophy.

 

again, kids that are "greateful" when they get instruction during the game are that way because they can't think for themselves. They can't think for themselves because they've probably always had coaches telling them what to do and where to go every second of every game they've ever played.

oh well, if that's how you coach, go ahead, just let me know where you are and what teams you coach so I know to stay away.

 

You can be emotional and vocal on the touchline, but you do need to consider the developmental age of your players.

When I'm coaching, I try not to yell at players. I don't always succeed. The number one reason I try not to yell is the indecision I see it install in kids. Constant yelling conveys that the child is incapable of doing anything correctly. After a while, kids will shut down.

 

We're digressing some from the original topic. As you note, the soccer game is not life or death. Ergo, why react as a coach as if the failure to see the open player on the wing is the equivalent of the 3-year old meandering across the 6-lane highway? Yes, I say that somewhat tongue in cheek, but also with a certain amount of seriousness given some of the sideline behavior that I have witnessed over the years.

And, yes, I have seen kids extremely upset by the way they have been treated by coaches, none of it staged for any type of video. And, I have also seen kids very upset about mistakes such as the own goal you reference, and seen how that has been compounded or alleviated by a coach who reaffirms the life or death nature of the mistake as opposed to the coach who is positive and able to provide some perspective on the error. Is the player upset because s/he scored the own goal or because his/her coach and/or parents have instilled the concept that this is such a grave mistake? And is it better to tell that player he really screwed up and should take his head out of his --- or might I instead remind him that I saw Rio Ferdinand score an own goal this weekend that cost Manchester United the game (and perhaps the title) and that it happens even to the best of us on occasion?

I also, in thinking about this topic further, think as general matter that many of "my" players are too safe and do not take enough risks, and I try to coach this out of them. (I'll make this personal to my experience and my players, but think it is a general issue that needs to be addressed in U.S. soccer). For example, I want my defenders to pass back to the goalie if they are under pressure (and then get wide for a square pass) rather than just boot the ball out of bounds. I want my goalie and defenders to be thinking about playing the ball out of the back rather than just kicking it up field. To be creative in the midfield and perhaps try to beat a player on the dribble before playing a through ball. To play short corner kicks to draw defenders out and create different running lanes, even though it occasionally ends up with the ball never getting into the penalty area and/or leads to dangerous counters. Just some examples, but in encouraging such play - play that in my opinion is positive - I accept that playing in this manner is, undoubtedly, going to lead to some mistakes, perhaps some easy goals for our opponents, and, gasp, even some losses. Do I want them to play smart? Sure. But can I truly expect them to take such chances and to try such things in games if they have to worry about me lighting into them if things go south? Part of my philosphy is to create an atmosphere where they feel free to be creative, to take such chances, and to play, in my words, in a positive rather than negative manner.

Again, all of this oversimplifies everything, and we are now merging many concepts and talking in many generalities. I agree that there are no right or wrong answers, and in any event that any real "argument" about what is right or wrong has to take into account the age, skill, and objectives of the players. And, as noted, there are a variety of different types of "yelling" that may take place during a game, that may serve very different purposes. And, there are a variety of different types of players who may respond very differently to different types of "encouragement" and "motivation."

 

Another way to look at what blech is saying is that players have to learn why doing such things are dangerous. Why is kicking a goal kick into the middle such a bad thing that coaches yell their lungs off? We know because it is risky and that forward sitting there looking right at the goalie is going to cherry pick a goal.

But how do the kids not only know that, but instinctively know it? They can tell you it is bad, but can they tell you why? If you take out the other team's forward, is it a bad thing to do?

The only way to get them to be instinctive is to let them play the game. Let them mess up - you don't learn much if you don't have mistakes to correct. To use a phrase that gets pounded into you at the coaching licensing, "Let the game be the teacher."

I watched the TSC 91 boys last year in a 3v3 tournament. They didn't bring a coach. Instead the boys coached themselves. They switched out lines every 2 minutes to get equal playing time. Oh, and they are 2 times Region III champions. They've had good coaches, ones who do what blech is advocating. And as such, they were able to play great games without
their coaches being present.

 

Good points. It is very cool when you just see the kids just playing on their own. As I said before, I'm dealing more with u14s-u19s now so obviously different than Goru's u10s, but I truly get a kick out of getting to practice early and seeing the players doing a juggling game or starting up their own scrimmage rather than waiting for me to tell them what to do.

A couple of final thoughts about Goru's experience when he tried it. If the kids have never played without constant yelling/direction, it makes perfect sense that they would initially struggle without it. To conclude that this example proves anything would seem faulty "science" as one would expect them to struggle in a new environment. Like anything, you want to give them a chance to succeed. Along those lines, I mentioned before that someone experimenting with this might try to transition by alternating between "normal/vocal" and "quiet" for shorter periods of time, rather than going cold turkey for an entire half. Provide some guidance at times, but ease back more slowly.

Another valuable idea may be to explain to the players beforehand that you're going to do it and why - "I want to start the game with less yelling from the sideline. So, for the first five minutes, you're not going to hear me say anything. What is that going to mean? What are you guys going to have to do on your own?" (And then maybe highlight one or two things that you really hope to see them do on their own, such as support for a square pass or play wide or pass after beating the first player on the dribble or whatever it may be that you've been working on, as well as remind them that if the coach is being more quiet that they are going to need to become more talkative, letting each other know when they're getting open, etc.). In Goru's example, his players may well have been wondering where there coach was. They may need some prodding, so in my experience it has always helped to tell them what's going on, often before and certainly afterwards.

 

And developmentally, there is a point where players start to get it. You can let them kick it over the middle as much as you want and a U8/U9 might not see why it is a bad idea. But some U10s and U11s will see it right away.

One of the things I'm starting to appreciate with my U10 is that he is now getting it. Instead of starting off a post-game discussion with what he was doing wrong, I've learned to ask probing questions. "Why were you hanging back all the time?" becomes meaningless when I discover he wasn't the forward, he was a midfielder. He wasn't the one out of position, it was the forward who never played up and made me think he was the defender.

Then the discussion goes to how he could help push his forward up into position.

BTW: The whole postgame discussion thing is new to me. Normally I would be his coach and wouldn't have to talk to him about the game afterwards. As a spectator, I can't wait to chat with him about the game.

The way this drags back to yelling at players is that while it seems natural to yell at younger players because they don't understand the nuances of the game, you have to learn to curb that urge. Goru, you've mentioned how he got that great grounding in Coever methods at a young age. Just as he learned to apply that static training with cones to a dynamic game, it will help if you can teach them to apply the training you provide during the week to games.

You don't tell him how to fake out a given opponent while dribbling. Developing a tactical awareness that he can apply should be another goal of yours.