Andre Botelho’s Soccer Coaching Blog

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8 Qualities Every Youth Soccer Coach Must Have

Often, it is a matter of debate for most soccer coaching clubs as to what the qualities of a soccer coach should be. And its not just the clubs, even parents are interested in the fact that their kids get trained with a coach who can improve their skills, train them well, and eventually, make them winners. In the same breath, it must be said that it is suicidal for the clubs as well as the parents to change the coach every now and then. It is as unhealthy a practice as being the state of having no coach.

The longer the kids train under the same coach, no matter what the tournament or organization be, the better it is for their long-tern and proper growth as good soccer players. Let’s take a look at the few qualities that every soccer coach must have in order to train the youth for soccer.

Patience: The first and foremost quality that every youth soccer coach must have is tons of patience. Since you are tackling a bunch of 12 young kids, it is important that you are patient. Kids make mistakes, get unruly, and may take time to learn things. All of this will require you to handle things maturely. So, it is a key attribute of any good soccer coach.

Tolerance: This quality goes hand in hand with patience. All the kids are different, some active, some lazy, some great at adapting to new skills, and some a little slow. But as a coach, you have to take all of them along at the same time. Remember, it takes a lot of tolerance and wisdom to make the kids complement each others skills. Your idea is to use each and everyone’s skills to make the team a formidable one.

Be Adaptive: Each child is different, as we have discussed before. So, everyone will have their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Understand that and adapt to it as far as possible. Your job is to turn their individual strengths into team strength and weaknesses into strong points.

Ability to Inspire: Without this skill, no coach can ever think of even sustaining the interest of the kids in the game, leave alone winning tournaments. How does one achieve this? Well, there are thousands of ways; start by being a role model first. Demonstrate things yourself such as drills and executing various techniques, tell them great stories of soccer legends, help them visualize themselves as winners by creating short games, cheering up for them during the practice sessions. These are just some of the ways to fill your kids with energy and enthusiasm.

Never get angry or abusive: Coaches that do not follow this rule are sure to be doomed. Remember that it’s the kids playing and not some professional footballers. Leave room for errors and when they do happen, never shout at the kids or get abusive. You are negating your good work by being angry every now and then. Be observant and take note of the mistakes. After that, just brief the kids and teach them how to avoid making them again.

Inculcating team spirit and harmony: Kids often tend to get jealous towards their fellow players. This happens because of immaturity and nothing else. A good coach shall always work to eliminating this destructive behavior. A nice way to do this is organizing a lot of group drills and games, taking them out on picnics and excursions etc. This promotes a sense of team spirit among them and also helps them understand each other.

A nice teacher: Soccer coaching is no less than teaching. You are inculcating good values in players, making them fall in love with the game, training them to perform well, and working as a team. Hence, it is imperative that a youth soccer coach has all the qualities of a teacher.

Love for the kids and the game: Unless you love soccer and are good at it and also love being with kids all the time, you are going to have a hard time coaching kids. Both the traits are essential and only then can you succeed as a coach. More often than not, coaches are great soccer players themselves but have the inability to move along with the kids. As a result, there is a complete lack of trust between the coach and the players leading to a bad or at best, a mediocre team.

Soccer is a great game that can do wonders to the overall growth of the kids. Not only do they learn the sport but also learn team spirit as well as things like ethics, morals, and good sportsmanship. A good coach is crucial to achieve all this. If the coach takes every day of his job as a mere routine and does not have the passion for the sport, it is difficult to pass on the likeability to the kids.

On the contrary, if the coach looks forward to each day as a stepping stone to making a great soccer team, there is little doubt that the kids will not only enjoy the game, love to win every time they get in the field, but also become great players.

Yours in soccer,

Andre Botelho

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Tags: Become A Better Soccer Coach, How To Become A Better Soccer Coach, Soccer Coaching Tips, youth soccer coach, youth soccer coaching