What is your off-season plan, as a coach?

In sports, the off-season has become a science all in itself.

As a coach, how will you spend your off-season?

When in-season, we are so busy and focused on our teams and competition, it's difficult to step back for review or find time to get involved in any kind of personal or professional development.  So when the off season arrives, how do you spend it?  There is no 100% right and wrong answer that is in line with any coaching manual.

For some coaches in certain situations, doing nothing, resting or going fishing is what's needed.  And that's OK.  But becoming a better coach will require you to invest some time.

At the very least, if you are in Canada, you should use the time to become extremely well versed in LTPD.

Some options for off-season development:

• Attend coaching clinics and courses
• Find a different group to work with for a short period
• Be an assistant to a more experienced coach
• Reading, research
• Educate other coaches
• Coaching other sports, but working on your coaching style
• Enjoying other sports as a parent

Your age, level of coaching, in-season time and travel commitment, club situation and personal goals all affect your direction.  If your coaching is a 12-month arrangement, then you need to make the time for personal development.

There is another choice you need to make.  How much contact will you keep with your players? Will you give them time away from you to do what they want?  Did you give them a plan?  This is a whole different topic from their point of view, but very related from your point of view.

If your off-season plan delivers a rejuvinated coach to your team when you start your pre-season, then you made the right decision.

If I can offer a tip that helps me get more from my off-season activities: make sure you include activities or literature that is NOT directly soccer related.  There is a lot to learn out there, and it's not always taught by the so called "soccer people".
 

Getting feedback on your session

We expect our players to accept our feedback for their own improvement.  Have you ever subjected yourself to somebody else's feedback when coaching?

This might sound crazy, but my favourite part of the coaching license process was being assessed and going through the feedback later.  The pressure of the assessor with clipboard forced you to organize the best session of your life.

I was fortunate as I've always had assessors who had constructive attitudes.  Most of my assessments went OK, but I did not pass them all and one was a complete train-wreck.  The feedback was so valuable that I always felt ready for the next progression.  To date, through all my courses I've been through 12 formal coaching assessments and several informal ones as preparation.  As a student in teachers college, I've also had many assessments in delivering classroom lessons. 

If you are at a club that has a licensed technical director or have a connection to one, ask for feedback at a level that you are comfortable with.  The more experience you have, the more confident you should be in having somebody observe one of your sessions and the more you will get out of it.

Here is a suggested process if you have a lot of experience and looking to get into the licensing process:

• Pick a topic
• Review it with your technical director/observer
• Confirm your players' attendance, equipment and location
• Deliver your session
• Review the session with your technical director and record the feedback.  Have an open mind.
• Arrange another time to be observed
• Run a few sessions without an observer, keeping the feedback in mind
• Depending on your experience level, for the next observed session, decide whether you will deliver the same session or a new one.  If you are less experienced, run the same one again.
• Review your plan with your technical director and review what could be improved from last time
• Confirm your players' attendance, equipment and location
• Deliver your session
• Receive second set of feedback.

Your technical director should be able to determine your experience level and set up a process that suits you best. Feedback could simply be asking somebody to review your plan for the night, week, month or season.  You and a peer can compare notes if that is a comfortable place to start.

Everybody can benefit from constructive feedback: player, employee, student.  Yes, even a coach.

The value of running a session as a guest coach

One of the best methods to refine your coaching technique to coach somebody else's team.

I had a good conversation with a coaching friend from Milton and it got me remembering how enjoyable it was to run sessions as a guest coach.  This past season I ran 10 sessions as a guest coach for boys and girls, over a wide age spectrum.

After being with the same group for multiple sessions/weeks/months,  you could start falling in a trap of less specific practice plans, looser themes, sloppier explanations or short cuts because the players know your methods and follow along quicker.   You always work to not get to that point, but you are human and familiarity can set in.

You want to visit a strange team, run a good practice, leave the coach with something to work with and exit the experience a little more refined than how you entered.

Running sessions for younger groups with beginner coaches really tunes you back in to reality and is a great thing for all coaches to do.  The basic of all grass roots soccer, 1 ball per player, demonstrating and teaching things again for the very first time.

Running a session for another group forces you to bring all of your coaching qualities back to square one:

• Personal appearance
• Organization/planning
• Enjoyment for players
• Explanations
• Demonstrations
• Adherence to theme of the session
• Quickly adjusting and thinking on your feet for the unexpected
• Age appropriate topics
• Knowledge of topic
• Establishing a rapport with players, quickly

If running a session makes you nervous, that is your first step in making sure you are ready to deliver the topic.  "Butterflies in your stomach" are good.

Tips to help you succeed as a guest coach:

• Review the topic with the coach and ensure it meshes with what they are doing
• Between you and the coach, confirm the suitability and availability of the field and the equipment
• Find out how many players to expect, and be ready for less or more
• Find out which 3 players can give you the best demos.  Use them first then use the others
• Do not depend on the coach to be 100% ready for you.  In fact, this is rarely the case
• No jargon, slang or inside jokes with the new group.
• Introduce yourself, where you're from, thank them for the invitation, do equipment check, tell them the goal of the session and ensure you know any and all existing injuries 
• Practice your ability to get instant feedback by reading their faces and listening to their questions, and be ready to adjust your session.
• Make and effort to learn their names.
• Have fun!
• Debrief the session, ensure everybody is OK and thank them again for inviting you

Running a guest session takes practice, but it's good therapy.  I've been doing it for 10 years and I am still cautious about all the details in advance. 

How do you become a guest coach?  Do you just "ask" to run somebody's session?  The answer is yes.  I've been asked most of the times but if I am going to a coaching course I like to prepare by being a guest coach.  In those cases, I bluntly ask.

If you are new to coaching, I would not jump into guest coaching just yet.  You have to be comfortable in your skin and trained and experienced in the art of delivering a session.  The fact is that you want to be a better coach, but you have to bring quality to the practice or your reputation as a guest coach will not be good.

Are your relationships with your stakeholders healthy?

The political end of coaching should never be ignored.

Now that it's off season you have to think back and ensure all of the relationships around your program are in order.  Your players are your number one stakeholder and always your primary concern, but reality dictates that there are other people involved who need attention.

If you neglect any of the interested parties, you're asking for trouble.  If you take the attitude that your one and only job is to coach the on-field portion, you're mistaken again.  They can't be allowed to affect your tactical/player decisions, but your actions and conduct need to be at a level that they are comfortable in their continued support of your program, with you as the coach.  On the flip side, you also need to be comfortable with their demands and conduct.

This is not about kissing anybody else's rear end.   This is about everybody making sure they are comfortable with the other parties so the on-field coaching and positive systemic support can continue uninhibited.

Examples of stakeholders other than players:

At the college/university level

• Administration
• Athletic/Recreation manager and/or Director
• Recreation Department staff 
• Athletic Therapy Staff
• Academic Success Advisors
• Players' course instructors/professors
• College academic recruiters
• Student supporters
• Alumni supporters
• Supportive local club coaches
• Media

At the High School level

• School Board
• Principle, Administration
• Athletic director / Phys-Ed Chair
• Financial supporters (parent councils, etc)
• Parents

At the Club Level

• Club Executive
• Program and/or facilities director
• League administration
• Sponsors
• Parents

I've watched good coaches, before my very eyes, implode because they chose to operate in a bubble instead of a community.  Technical and tactical knowledge is good, but it's definitely not enough to succeed.  There is a political side to coaching that is probably the most difficult part to master.

U13 Boys - confusing season with great kids

Reflecting on the past U13 season is very difficult because I still can't figure out what happened.  I've started this reflection at least five times.

This was my third year with this group as a head coach.  The first two years (U11 and U12) we made progress.  This year, not so much, but in a weird way.

If you came to our sessions, things were going well.  Attendance was good, players were ready to work and we were moving forward.  From tryouts until our last practice, things went well at training.  I stand behind the training that was delivered.

When it came time to compete, that was a different story.  Getting the boys to even work through a warm-up was a challenge.  There was no disrespect or discipline problems, there was just this lack of willingness to get into game mode.  Perhaps a new voice would change that.

Most coaches complain that their players do not come to training as focused as they do in the games.  For us, it was the reverse.   If we played as well as we trained, it would have been a different story.  At training shots were driven, chances were taken 1v1, creativity was abound and challenges for loose balls were competitive.

The year was enjoyable and the boys are a great group of guys.  They were friendly and spent time together away from soccer, and that is always one of your goals.  But I still have to look inwards as to why they did not seem interested in competing.  I refuse to just say "They were not a good team" because it was more than the score line.

I had some theories:

• It's my third year and I couldn't motivate them to play.
• What I was selling was not what they were interested in buying.
• At U13, other boys are getting big and they were not ready/willing to challenge bigger opponents.  As a whole, we were the smallest team.
• I was too demanding and they were afraid to play.  I may not be the right coach for this group.
• As a group, they were not interested in playing any higher than district level travel, rather than regional level. (not too far fetched a theory)
• Some boys were no longer interested in playing soccer  (which I found out afterwards, which opens up other questions)
• We had some injury problems, but that would only affect the score, not the enthusiasm at matches.

I am still asking myself questions before laying a final decision if I am returning or not.  My son has asked to switch sports for the last few years but this year declared his intentions in BOLD PRINT with no ambiguity.  It's funny because this was his best year, personally.  I coached before my sons played and will coach after, so my thinking on this team is independent of him.

I have questions to ask myself:

• Do I enjoy coaching this team?  Yes
• Am I the right coach for this group of players? Not so sure
• Did I present the information in a way they were able to learn from me? At training, definitely.  At games, I don't believe I did.
• Did they improve as individuals and as a team?  As individuals, I believe so.  As a team, no.
• Did the players enjoy themselves?  Do they still want to play soccer?  Not sure.  Some are not playing next year.
• Are they motivated to play with me as the head coach? I don't believe they are at games.  At training, yes.
• Is my voice becoming background noise? At games, yes.  At training, no
• Can I run an honest and open tryout after coaching the same group for 3 years?  I am not afraid to make changes after 3 seasons.  I made changes with my last group every year for 8 years.

Even after writing this, I am still unsure of how I would sum the season up.  Many parents say they would like me to come back, but they were not with us during pre-game, warm-up, half-time and post-game.  It was not always fun and I don't blame the boys.  This was my first time in 24 years that I didn't have a team's attention.  If one is distracted, it might be the player.  If 15 are distracted, it's the coach.

Games are part of the equation and I can't consider this a job well done unless the boys wanted to be there for training and competition.

I am still deciding what to do for next summer.