In coaching high school soccer it’s a proven fact that self-control is a choice and players have to choose it just like they do for confidence. In soccer coaching, it’s the relation between emotions and thoughts that concludes the self control strategies. It is a known fact that our emotional state influences our feelings and as a result of it, our performance is strengthened.
I’ll share with you a 12 step strategy to help players learn the ability and discipline of self-control. Nevertheless, it’s imperative that players agree to these steps after that are sure that it holds a lot of importance for them.
Also, players must be ready to take full accountability for their actions. The strategy has been given below in 12 steps for your reference.
1. Awareness: Help the players figure out their weak points during the course of coaching youth soccer. Help your players evaluate the reasons how, where and when they lost control on the ground in their past.
2. Understanding: Make the players realize why their thinking changed and how it caused them to lose their emotional balance.
3. Differences: Let the players recall situations in the past when they did and did not lost control. Have them decide the differences in their attitudes, behaviors, and emotions.
4. Problem: When coaching high school soccer, attempt to pinpoint the problem. For instance: It may be the guilty feeling in a player that he let the whole team down due to his acts.
5. Belief: Help the players raise their own expectations including self-control as one of the character. Encourage them to change.
6. Reinforcement: Behavior change is accelerated by reinforcement. Therefore, you must not forget your duty as a coach to recognize and honor the improvements of players so that they stick to these.
7. Goals: Set a series of small goals for players that will lead them along the road to change. Guide the players in understanding the correlation between way of thinking, thought process, and actions.
8. Techniques: To maintain the confidence level, employ a set of behavioral practices. For example: Course of action must be clear in the minds of players when a certain situation arises.
9. Plan: In football coaching, teach the players to pursue their goals in a planned and systematic way.
10. Progress: Tell them to be patient. Let them know that improvement always comes in a series of ups and downs.
11. Setbacks: Let the players understand that setbacks are there to stay. So, the better is to use these to learn new ways to tackle these.
12. Remembrance: Last but an important point is to let the players identify the good reason behind the change. They should always be clear about what are they doing and why. How important the change is for their future?
It is well known that a soccer player must act swiftly and yet comfortably to be perfect performer. It means possessing energy without tension.
You must not make any mistake about it. Coaching high school soccer must include relaxation techniques so that the players can learn to be in-charge of their emotions to save energy and kill any fears.
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Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching and has already helped thousands of youth coaches to dramatically improve their coaching skills. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make training fun by downloading your free ebook at: Soccer Practice Drills.
Tags: Coaching high school soccer, coaching youth soccer, football coaching, soccer coaching