Soccer coaching tips to motivate and encourage young players
Getting the criticism-praise ratio right when coaching young soccer players is a vital skill and will make a big difference to your team's success.
A good tip in soccer coaching is to recognise that every person has an "emotional tank" that fills up and drains.
- A young soccer (football player) with a low emotional tank is irritable, less coachable and unable to deal well with tough situations.
- A soccer player whose tank is filled will be more cheerful, more coachable and better able to deal with tough situations.
Research has also shown that a plus/minus ratio of praise to criticism of 5:1 or better is ideal for children’s learning. When the ratio drops below 5:1, children become discouraged (their tanks become drained).
When fans are cheering for a team, those players experience their tanks filling up. We want to coach in a way that will fill the tanks of our players so they can play their best at all times.
And, we want our players to develop the soccer skills that will help them to fill each other’s tanks.
Soccer coaching tips
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