Coach or commentator?
Match day. The pinnacle of the week. That time when you can relax and watch all of your preparation from the days leading up come to fruition....
...Or not in some cases! How often do we see coaches, or even find ourselves losing the internal battle to "do something", resulting in a barrage of instructions mid-play? The question I would urge you to ask yourself on a match day is "am I coaching, or am I commentating?"
What do I mean by this? Well commentating (in my view) on a match day would typically involve a coach commenting on every action, with little to no thought on why they are sending this feedback onto the pitch and often coming from a place of emotion or reaction. This often lacks consistency with regards the focus of feedback for a team or individual player, with no pre-planning or direction given to those in question. Feedback is typically given instantaneously and fails to allow players time to reflect and process the outcomes intrinsically, an important part of the learning process. All of the above, in my experience, come with the greatest of intentions from the coach, from our innate desire to see our players do well and our role as their "helper". But is this having such an effect on our players or are we merely stifling their progress?
When it comes to match day, more output from the touchline is not always better or indeed more helpful. Treat the game as you would a training session - dedicate time to planning your theme, individual challenges and interventions for the day. This will enable you to select which actions in the game require your attention or input, and which parts you can ignore and leave for another day. For example, if you are working with one of your defenders on their ability to play penetrative passes, this is what you will focus your feedback around during the game. Of course, there may be the odd time you wan't to interact with this player on other aspects (an example of great bravery, showing good sportsmanship, attempting and completing a previous challenge etc.) however having a specific focus prevents you as a coach jumping around and in essence filling the players' head with a multitude of instructions or feedback.
So, ahead of your games this weekend, think about narrowing down just 2 key objectives for the whole team. On top of this, choose 2 or 3 players and set a challenge specific to each of them and their current needs. NOTE, this does not always have to be an area they need to improve - consider challenging them to use and further master their own "super skill".
Once you are happy with these 4 or 5 points, write them down or commit them to memory. During the game, challenge yourself to only send information onto the pitch if you can honestly answer yes to the following...
"Does the information relate to one of the specific objectives I selected prior to the game?"
"Have I given the player opportunity to solve this problem without my input?"
"Did the event occur due to a lack of knowledge or understanding (as apposed to a pure mistake)?"
"Is what I am about to say going to benefit the player in terms of their development?"
"Am I using the most effective intervention method to encourage player development (as apposed to solving the problem for them too early)
If you can honestly answer yes to these questions, then by all means, go ahead and work with your players - after all you are there to help them develop. By having this checklist and going through these processes, we will avoid drowning our players in information and feedback, thus allowing them to develop through problem-solving and internal reflection. Our job is to support, encourage and challenge the players appropriately - opting for quality over quantity on a match day can have incredible benefits for our young players.