1. Failing to consider the health and safety of your players.
Nothing is more important than the health and safety of your players.
Playing areas, pitches and equipment, (especially portable goals) should be inspected for defects before you use them and if the defects cannot be corrected, you should not use them.
Tatty training balls, for example, should be discarded before a piece of the outer covering catches a player's eye and you should make sure players do not play with anything that has a spike on the end - slalom poles should not be used as javelins!
And children should not be exposed to extreme weather conditions. I sometimes get asked what is the best way to keep players warm on freezing match days. My answer is that if it's freezing, you shouldn't be playing!
Similarly, if your players are very young you should not train or play if it's very hot – small children do not have an effective cooling system and will quickly dehydrate in hot weather.
2. Making players wait in lines and/or giving lectures.
Young soccer players come to training sessions to play soccer, not stand around waiting to get a touch on the ball or listen while you lecture them.
You can get away with using games or drills that have an element of waiting in lines if you keep the lines very short and fast moving but bear in mind that the younger your players, the shorter and faster the lines have to be.
When introducing an activity, try to remember that you have 20 seconds at most to gain your players attention when introducing a new task during training sessions.1 If you fail to make the task meaningful or understandable in that time, they will begin to tune you out and you will need to start again.
So think carefully about how you explain games and drills.
It's best to start by telling your players why you want them to do something ("we need to do this because it will help you become better at... ") followed by a demonstration. Then check their understanding ("does everyone know what to do?") before starting the exercise.
How long should games/drills last?
The younger the players, the shorter your games need to be. For five year olds, for example, I like to change the activity every five to 10 minutes. Older players should be able to maintain focus on an activity for longer but you should always move on within a reasonable period of time – do not turn training activities into tests of endurance!
3. Being late and/or tolerating lateness.
Youth soccer coaching is all about having standards.
As a minimum, you should expect your players to turn up for training and matches on time and ideally they should arrive early. There is nothing worse than having to repeat yourself to a player who turns up late – it's a waste of your valuable time and is also disrespectful, both to you and the rest of the squad.
You need to lead by example so get to the training ground or pitch before your players, set up your equipment and start your sessions dead on time. Don't wait for anyone and tell latecomers to stand to one side until the next activity begins.
Tip: encourage good timekeeping by setting up a couple of goals and letting anyone who arrives early play a game before the session officially starts.
4. Not giving game time to players who train.
Players who turn up at training sessions deserve to play in matches, end of story.
Saying that they're "not good enough" or "the score is too close, I can't make any changes" is never an excuse for keeping a young player on the bench. Your players are children, not professionals, and they all deserve a chance to play in matches with their friends.
5. Not communicating your coaching "philosophy" to parents and carers.
You can't run a youth soccer team without the support of parents and carers. And you won't have their support if you don't tell them what approach you are going to take to your coaching.
Before the season starts you need to have a meeting with parents to discuss your plans and expectations for the season. Encourage questions and let them know that you have given a lot of thought to how you're going to coach their children.
Listen to their suggestions – you do not have a monopoly on the best ideas – ask them to help you by bringing their children to coaching sessions and matches on time (see sin number 3), help you prepare pitches for match days and raise funds for new kit and equipment.
The more involved your parents are, the more time you will have to actually coach their children and the less likely you are to suffer defections to rival teams.
6. Not smiling :(
Don't be afraid to smile. A smile lets your players know that you are happy coaching them and that soccer is a game to be enjoyed, not a life or death struggle.
So be happy in your coaching. Enjoy the time you spend with your players.
References
1. Dianne Dukette and David Cornish, The Essential 20: Twenty Components of an Excellent Health Care Team, RoseDog Books, 2009, pp.72-73.
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