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Are you a Drillmaster, Cheerleader, Supporter, Mentor, or just a Yeller?
Even if you have coached for a while you may not know if you are a cheerleader, supporter or mentor to your players. Most of use would proudly profess that we are mentors, when in fact most are drillmasters.
A drillmaster insists that player follow the exact game play a coach has in his/her head and gets irritated when players decide to do something else. The worst thing that can happen is that a player decided to do something that a coach yelled out, when paying no attention to the coach and scores a goal. This coach, of course will beat the chest in a proud show to all those around and will act like "See, if they do what I tell them to do during the game they will score goals."
This is the drillmaster. It may work in American football, where plays are directed by a staff of coaches. It doesn't work well in international football (soccer) where players should be coached outside of the game environment while allowing players to use their taught skills to play good soccer without touchline interference.
Even the positive coaches fall somewhere between cheerleaders and mentors. The cheerleader coach does little coaching at practices and hopes the players know what to do, even if they are bulls in a china shop. Players don't learn more than wanting to get the ball in the goal. It becomes an intensely individual game, with little or no support from the other players.
The supporter will coach at practices and support whatever the players decide to do during games. The result is a team that will never know how to correct the tactical errors that occur during games. The coach will pat them on the back and tell them they played a good game, even if they made terrible decisions.
The mentor is the type of coach we are after. He/she teaches the basics and the tactical side of soccer, doesn't yell from the touchlines for individuals to "shoot, pass, run," or whatever. This coach will direct the team to do things like "shift and sag, be quick," etc. Players learn all the important things at practice and execute them well during games without a coach's constant hollering.
The mentor is the type of coach who will hear positive comments from new players like: "I learned more in one season, than I have in all the other seasons combined," or something to that effect. It is the mentor that teaches soccer players to become outstanding in the sport both physically and mentally.
Then there is the "yeller." The yeller is the coach who, even when positive will yell so many instructions at such a loud voice, that players become irritated and quit listening, The biggest danger in this case is that the players will also quit listening to each other and the communication on the field has all but disappeared. Don't be a "yeller."
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