Become a coach
What children want from their 'ideal' soccer coach.
A recent series of interviews with 140 young athletes in different sports gives an idea of those aspects of coaching which young athletes think are important. The opinions, which were given, may change according to sex, age, and sport; here are some of the surveys findings.
Knowledge. Coaches should know their sport well and most children prefer coaches who have participated in the sport. It provides them with credibility. Personality. Children like coaches who are friendly, happy, patient, understanding and have a sense of humour.
Authority. Children like coaches to be firm but fair, and while boys, particularly, like to be worked hard they don't like to be shouted at.
Taking personal interest. As they get older and more able, many young athletes like coaches to take an interest in the things they do besides sport.
Reaction to performance. When they do well, children like the coach to say "Well done" but they don't like them to "go over the top." (OTT) When they do poorly, they like to be given some encouragement and told what went wrong. They want to be told how to correct mistakes and not to be shouted at or ignored.
Encouragement. Most children, particularly in team sports, like to have the coach shout encouragement to them when they are competing.
Decision making. Few young children express a wish to have a say in the decisions which affect them; they expect coaches to coach and trust them to make the right decisions. As they get older and more experienced, they are more likely to want to be consulted. This may be the case with13+ children
Organisation. Children like coaches to be organised and present structured coaching sessions. They also like them to take responsibility for seeing that they are in the right place at the right time
Instruction and feedback. Children do like to be shown what to do, how to do it and to have mistakes corrected. In short: teach them!
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