Saturday, January 12, 2008

Coaching Soccer Like an XBox Game

I'm coaching my daughter's 5th grade girls soccer team. We had our first soccer game today. I got to the field early and watched some of the game right before ours. One of the coaches spent the entire time screaming at his team, giving instructions. He wasn't being mean or insulting or anything like that, he was just screaming out instructions to his girls.

As I watched, it reminded me of playing an XBox soccer game where instead of using the controller, you just screamed at the players.

"Sarah, cut in left! Julie, go to the center! Pass, Charlotte, PASS!"

It didn't work too well.

4 comments:

Jake Silver said...

Yeah that doesn't sound too effective.

Kelly the little black dog said...

I recently rediscovered the library. I've starting working through a list of scifi classics I've built over the years. The most recent is Enders Game. It has some fascinating things to say about leadership styles.

Anonymous said...

That is not a good situation. I hope your daughter doesnt get upset.

Unfortunately there are some coaches that tend to get a bit carried away and forget soccer is for kids and it is not all about them and their desire to win. If you need any help or advice about how you can deal with this situation again you can contact contact me at www.soccercoachingguide.com where you will find plenty of good advice for a soccer parent.

Kind regards,
Muz

K T Cat said...

Muz, thanks for the concern. The game I was describing was not my daughter's. I coach her team and I run my team like it's a pirate ship. Do what you want, but perform.

:-)

We kicked @ss in our first game, 5-0. Our team is all 5th graders and our opponents were 5th and 6th graders. We still smacked them around.

Thanks so much for the link, too. I'll be sure to check it out.