Opinion:What coaches ought to do instead of harassing players that are “doing it wrong”? | Sbk Sports Mail – Sbk Sports Mail

KCCA FC Head Coach Mike Mutebi with midfielders Juma Balinya and Keziron Kizito |Photo by The Football Signal

Football is known as “the beautiful game” but if the game leads to stress, then it isn’t really “beautiful” in any way.The fact is – the game does not cause stress in those who play it but it is the expectations of the coaches that do!

Worldwide, Football is all about decisions as players will always make the right or wrong ones but what’s very important is that a coach is able to distinguish the two.

As human beings, everyone has a brain which is very brilliant at remembering our own errors and talented at pointing out other people’s errors too.It bookmarks failure and highlights the disappointments.

Personally, I believe it takes some effort to think about and convey what others have done well and what others are strong at and as a coach, you should be striving to compliment every single one of your players at least a couple of times in a match.The right amount of both at the right times.

Most of us love sports. What I remember best was the fun I had with teammates, the joy of sweating, of competing, of having a mutual goal, playing for each other and shaking hands afterwards. I still find this enjoyment today when playing 5v5 with my colleagues.

According to research, football players fondly remember those coaches who demonstrate balance in their coaching, who try to teach the skills, rules and sportsmanship, who instill confidence in them, who encourage them when they make mistakes, who never ridicule to the point of making someone cry or feel demotivated.

Fine correcting or criticizing players is vital to their development and success but when a coach corrects or criticises, it should be done without malice or creating fear.

Could you imagine a game, where a player makes some horrible mistakes which lead to several goals and instead of ridiculing or the custom moans and groans from the sideline, the coach says nothing but only words of encourgement.

Imagine no coach pulls a player off or shouts at him for his/her mistakes because players are humans too putting in mind that they also understand when they make mistakes and the worst thing a coach can do is to highlight it in front of all his team mates, media and opposition players, still is the ultimate ridicule.

Remember mistakes are bookmarked in a players brain, criticism from team mates and/or coaches are also bookmarked, in big red writing.

Of recent, some coaches have become so absorbed in winning but they should also remember that they enter into coaching to help the players progress.

In football, the coach-player relationship is often one of the most important and influential relationships experienced by active footballers.

But despite the fact that coaches may have many positive influences on their players, emerging incidents also indicate problems of abuse and in fact, recent research indicates that players are not immune from experiences of physical and emotional abuse from their coaches.

Dear coaches, please note that perfection is just a concept in players’ minds and does not exist in the real world because human beings make mistakes.Always have, and always will.

We appreciate the fact that many of the elite coaches are no longer yelling and screaming, berating, and belittling players whenever a mistake is made, but the trend has not yet phased out some cases in the previous mode of reaction to a mistake and its up to the stakeholders of the beautiful game to make this a hard, firm policy at every level to ensure zero tolerance for any type of ridicule, humiliation or abuse.

And mind you if the result of making a mistake is an angry and emotional coach, players will always try to avoid this situation in the future and in most cases, this means taking fewer risks.

Dear coaches, please note that encouraging players to take risks on the field of play will, over time, give them the confidence to take risks in life outside of football. Why is this important?

There are countless adult men and women who I speak to every day, who are having difficulties achieving their true potential in life off the field because of what they experienced from their time on the field. They suffer from a lack of confidence and the fear of making a mistake.

We all have fears. However, these players can directly attribute many of their fears to their past experiences playing in the game with their former coaches and they have wired into their minds that making a mistake deserves being berated, called names and belittled in front of their peers.

So they play it safe and take minimal risk in life, despite wanting more, to avoid their boss, spouse, friends, or complete strangers treating them like their former coaches had.

Dear coaches , please note that at a certain extent you cannot control the outcome of your players’ actions, but you can control how you respond and the first few seconds after a mistake by your players will either build their confidence or crush it. It will help them find solutions for improvement or it will not since it will either create a connection in your relationship or a disconnection.

It’s your choice how you respond but there’s need for you to determine, in advance, what you want to accomplish because mistakes are going to happen. However, you only get one shot to respond in a way that will actually get you to the results you are looking for.

And by working together with your players to understand the mistake, defining the problem, and then coming up with a solution, a coach and player build trust in each other.

The player takes ownership and is now far more creative and productive on the field because the confidence is high and the fear of their coach losing his temper is no longer there.

Finally, let me be clear. This approach to coaching and communicating is not soft or weak. It is powerful because it gives you an opportunity as a coach to set up your players for success both on the field and later in life off the field.

REMEMBER , YOUR PLAYERS ARE MODELING YOU