Coach calls the shots. Coach decides the tactics. Coach stops practice if it isn’t good enough. It’s all about the coach. Why? Some US sports are heavily ‘coach-led’ but soccer shouldn’t be; especially youth soccer.

As a coach, your goal should be to make yourself redundant. That doesn’t mean you are out of a job; it means your players become comfortable and confident enough that you only need to give them limited guidance and correction/advice on the odd occasion because they are empowered and self-aware, so they don’t need you screaming instructions from the sideline. They can deal with things on their own.

Of course, it does vary between ages (very young players may need a bit more guidance than older ones) but the principle remains the same; we should be allowing the players to have as much input as possible into what we do in practice and in games. After all, they are the ones playing! 

At FCE, our approach has always been an athlete-centered one but in the past year or so, we’ve given our teams/players even more responsibility and really made them feel like they have a voice and an input into how we play and practice. The results have been impressive (not necessarily game scores, although they have also been very good but more of what we see on the field in terms of responsibility and ownership) and it’s clear that the players are enjoying the process.

Players want to be engaged and excited about practice. They cannot do that if a coach sets up an isolated, repetitive drill which bears little resemblance to the real game and just asks the players to go through it like robots (back and forth passing from 30-yards is a good example of this and something that you see on club practice fields regularly). Similarly, the players want to truly understand the why behind what they are being asked to do; they cannot do that if the coach is constantly telling them where to stand, where to move and when to pass. The players need to truly feel it and for that happen, they need to be engaged and have input and ownership of what they are doing in the moment.

Being ‘adaptable’ is a hugely beneficial trait for any soccer player, especially heading into High School or College. Coaches want problem-solvers and free-thinkers who can adjust on the fly and change their approach to a game, depending on what is happening in front of them. Coaches (certainly at College level) don’t want robots who can only follow a basic 433 game-plan and who fall to pieces when the opposition set up in a different way or employ tactics that the players are not used to seeing. 

We need to equip young players with a broad knowledge and understanding of the game, of tactics, of formations and ways to approach different situations. To do that, we need them to really understand what they are doing, why they are doing it and the benefits that every exercise or training game will give them in a real game situation. If they have an input into this, they will be more engaged and more invested in working hard to achieve something, both individually and as a collective group.

If your team practice intensity isn’t good enough, teach the players how to recognize this and allow them to stop practice, highlight the issue and then restart with a renewed focus. Don’t be the coach that always stops practice and calls the players in for a 5-minute discussion on why the intensity needs to increase. Let your players take ownership of this and they will all be engaged and invested enough that practice stoppages won’t be necessary moving forward. Equally, if things are going wrong or players are finding an exercise tough, instead of telling them where to stand and what the solution is, let them discuss and figure it out for themselves. When players learn through doing, they are much more confident and long-term recall is much better than if they learn through ‘drilling’ or being told exactly what to do and where to stand.

It can be a vulnerable feeling to let players have ownership as for some coaches that means losing some of their control and power. The paradox is that by giving up some control, we are actually helping both the players and ourselves. Everyone benefits.

We must all be willing to put our ‘coach in charge’ egos aside. Then we will really see our players thrive.