GroupThink: Advice for a time-poor coach

’prioritise things’

"Prioritise. Pick two or three things that are super important to you.

"There are enough hours in the day, no matter what people say. I know it’s unhealthy, but maybe you’re in a time period where you’re only sleeping six hours instead of eight because you need two more hours to get to where you want to and need to in these three months.

"That’s life. I know it’s not supposed to be, but let’s talk about real facts. Prioritize the two or three things that are important to your current environment and your growth, and then you excel at them."

Kai Edwards
Head women’s soccer coach, Southern Utah University

"It doesn’t always have to be picture perfect in the sessions.

"Focus on a small topic and build off that. You can always reuse some games and adapt them. 

"Don’t try to make everything perfect and brand new, reuse stuff and just change little bits."

Sarah Gonzalez
Head coach, Shawnee Mission High School

"Start with a game. If nothing else, play a game."

Tom Shields
Technical director, boys’ ECNL director and USL2 head coach, STA Soccer

’PLAN YOUR SEASON BEFORE IT STARTS’

"If you don’t have much time, my advice is just to be intentional about how you’re going to go through the season.

"If you’re a volunteer coach who has taken on a team for an eight-week season, can you commit at least a couple of hours before the season starts to plan it out?

"[Say to yourself] ’in the first two weeks, I want to work on dribbling; second two weeks, I want to work on passing; next two weeks, I want to work on defending’. Set those intentional things.

"The other thing is you don’t have to have a new training session for every practice. You can do the same activities twice in a season.

"Every coach thinks they have to do new activities every practice. I think that’s actually detrimental because the players are just trying to figure out the new activities all the time.

"So if you have one activity you think is really good for your team, do it four times during the season.

"If you plan out your season ahead of time, then you know that, in week four, you want to work on passing - use your favorite passing activity.

"[Tell the players] ’We’re going to use ‘play, practice, play’. So you’ll play, do the passing activity, then see if they can do it in a game situation. You don’t have to overcomplicate it.

"I think if you set that outline for the season, it will give you a little bit more structure so you don’t have to spend so much time thinking ‘What are we going to do in practice today? What weren’t we very good at in the last match?’.

"Especially in youth soccer, I don’t think you have to worry about, ‘I saw breakdowns in the attacking third in the last game’.

"I don’t think results matter. [With] my son’s u9 team, I don’t care if they win or lose, I just want them to get better at the game.

"So work on this and this during these two weeks of each season, and it makes it easier to plan your practices."

Jeremy Tosaya 
Senior recruiting coach, Next College Student Athlete

’a ball doesn’t have to be involved’

"I’ve been around rec players up to pro players and everything in between.

"If I was coaching, let’s say, a U9 girls’ team - [perhaps] it was my daughter’s team - when they got there, I wouldn’t do a long speech.

"I would do some ball work - maybe each has a ball, and do some dribbling and some juggling.

"Then I would quickly go with something competitive like relay races. Just running, even sharks and minnows where they have to have to tag each other. 

"It makes it fun. They are moving, so they are developing their athleticism. The ball can be involved, but it doesn’t have to be. 

"Then do a little bit of teaching about passing and maybe some demonstrations - here’s how you kick a ball, here’s dribbling - but not too much early on.

"And then I would scrimmage. Just let them play. Then maybe finish with a fun shooting game."

Matt Spear 
Founder, Love United FC

"Being pressed for time is a huge issue, especially for volunteer coaches.

"We appreciate them so much. We wouldn’t have the players at our level if it wasn’t for the volunteer coaches and parents that jump in and do what they need to do for their daughters and their friends, and their sons and their friends.

"Pick one particular site. Come up with two or three things that you like and use those as your go-tos. 

"Honestly, if you don’t even have time for that, it’s okay to walk into one of the training sessions and say ‘Hey, girls or boys, what do you want to do?’. Let the game be teacher. Let them play.

"Set up goals, play 3v3, 4v4, 5v5. Throw the ball out there, watch them play and see what happens. Every once in a while, interject, fix a couple of things and back off again. Let the game teach. It’s the best teacher. 

"That’s the best way to put it into practice, and it alleviates some of the pressure of having to plan minute by minute.

"Quite honestly, US soccer is a little over-planned at the grassroots and youth levels. We need to let the players figure out errors on their own."

Dr Haroot Hakopian 

Head coach, Potomac Soccer Club and Winston Churchill High School
United Soccer Coaches Board of Directors