Where's the Joy?

Sometimes we coaches are our own worst enemies. In the name of winning games short term, we sacrifice the long term development of our players' enjoyment of the game. Quality athletes end up dropping out of soccer altogether because it ceases to be fun. They invariably take up another sport that they find enjoyable.

So how do we as coaches and parents put the joy back into soccer? Here are a few suggestions;

1. I know that this is going to sound like heresy but cut the practice time. There seems to be this idea that for kids to get better at a sport, they must practice every day of the week. That may be true of older teenagers and adults, but younger kids need time away from the game. I know of one club that had some activity planned every day of the week. While the kids didn't have to be at every practice, they still felt the pressure to be at every event. Without time for any other activity, many of the kids got burned out and dropped out of the sport altogether. As an alternative, why not just let the players have some free time to just enjoy being together on the pitch and play a pickup game? Soccer is a game to be enjoyed with your friends, not just a competitive event.

2. Give players a chance to stretch themselves and grow by playing other positions on the field. It's just too easy sometimes to let the big, slow kid play keeper or defender. Part of the joy of soccer is learning what your body is capable of doing. Many times kids find that they have skills that have been lying there dormant for years. The great offensive player learns that he can defend well. The midfielder learns that she can play keeper. And that big kid that you think is slow actually may turn out to be a speed demon. Also, kids change. Realize that their bodies are changing and what they look like now will be very different than what they will look like in a few years.

3. Make practices fun. I know that this sounds obvious but we coaches tend to look at practices as nothing but serious work and we act that way on the pitch. There needs to be some levity in practice. In the middle of all the serious work, try to lighten things up a bit by doing something silly. If the kids see the coaches having fun, the joy will be contageous.

4. Praise Praise Praise. Several years ago I heard about the 80-15-5 rule. Basically, 80% of what you say as a coach should be praise, 15% should be challenge, and 5% should be correction. It may seem out of whack but it takes the 80% of praise to overcome that 20% of challenge and correction. Yes, there is a time and place for challenge and correction. If we don't have those elements, the praise will seem empty. But more often than not, we tend to go heavy on the correction and short on the praise. A player that is constantly being corrected and challenged will soon burn out.

Ideas? I'd love to hear your feedback on this topic.

-Joel