Faith Jasper: Explaining your coaching methods

"If it is attacking transition, it’s looking at forcing those moments of transition to happen - so as soon as you win possession, you need to go forward.

"Your activity is related to the theme, but it’s not a small-sided game - it’s more of a controlled environment, [where] you’re working on what parts of that theme are. 

“It’s breaking down the moment for them. So if we’re working on our dribbling, or 1v1 attacking, we’re breaking it down and explaining that to them.

“Then the last part is your second game, which is just a small-sided game with no restrictions. That should look like a proper soccer game.

"I sometimes put in a small restriction, but if not, then it’s just a regular game of soccer. 

"That’s what my older age groups look like - the younger age groups are based along the same thing.

"With them, it’s a more introducing the basic fundamentals rather than focusing on narrowing down on the four moments.

“For a coaching lens, I still use the four moments, but I don’t break it down nearly as much as I do with the older girls."

SM: Detail seems very important to you. How do you go about getting that detail into the players that works in an effective and engaging way?

FJ: "With my older age groups, we do classroom sessions as well.

"[But] I like to make sure athletes don’t feel like they are in school. They go to school every day - soccer’s supposed to be that space to be creative, I don’t want it to ever feel like they’re in a lecture or being told what to do, because I am a big fan of creativity on the field.

“That being said, I think I have the tendency to coach a lot overhead. I coach as they’re playing, rather than stopping the game completely and bringing it in. That’s how I got taught to coach. 

“I start all my sessions introducing what we are doing that day, so ensuring that all of us are on the same page.

"We use their terminology rather than using mine. We can use the four moments of the game as much as we want, but I’m not the one playing the game any more. They need to know what they are doing, not me. My time has passed.

“I really enjoy classroom sessions. We might break down a game we had that weekend and talk about what we looked like in it and what we found was beneficial - two things we did right, two things we could work on. 

“In those sessions, I find the girls using the four moment terminology more than I did. I’m proud because I’m sitting here listening to them have these intellectual conversations and I am not contributing at all.

"We use their terms rather than mine. I’m not the one playing the game any more..."

“They’re having these conversations without me on the pitch. It’s so fun to watch the growth from when I first got them, having to introduce the four moments and break down the game.

"I had to explain to parents, ‘Hey, this might look like chaos right now because we’re breaking down the game, down to the foundation of it. In order to have a sturdy build up, you need a sturdy foundation’. 

“You’re going to look like you have no idea what you are doing. That is normal. Create some sort of peace in the chaos. Use it to your advantage."

SM: How important is having the same vocabulary with your assistant coaches as well?

FJ: "When I first moved to Manitoba from Saskatchewan, I was coaching and using words and I could tell that no-one knew what I was saying and what I was asking.

"I would yell ‘Step!’ or ‘Push!’, and they had no idea what I was saying. They would just look at me. I looked at my assistant coaches and said, ‘What am I saying wrong?’.

“So [it’s] making sure we’re all on the same track and they know what I’m saying is so important.

"I’m trying to communicate with athletes and if they don’t know what I’m saying, that communication is absolutely pointless and it’s just going to confuse them more."