5 tips to make the most of your guided discovery coaching
In youth football Guided Discovery coaching is important as it invites the player to think, to go beyond the given information and then discover the correct skills, tactics and techniques themselves. The combination of information and question by the coach helps determine a correct response, which is discovered by the player. It fosters the player individual skills while allowing them to improve and find other ways to perform and problem solve.
Tips to assist you when coaching include:
1. Stop or freeze the play (ensuring no players are to move). This will help positioning or replicating the mistake quickly. Also players will not remember what happened 1 minute ago, so this way the mistake is addressed on the spot.
2. Ask close ended questions that players can answer or find the answer to quickly. Questions such as “Did you receive the ball with your furthest foot from the defender?” or ‘Can you show me which foot is furthest from the defender?”. Open ended questions may confuse players and take longer to find the answer to. Also ensure the players understand what you mean by the furthest foot, body positioning and your football vocabulary.
3. Ask the player to repeat the action but this time performing the action with the intended result from the coaching perspective. This will act as the restart for the drill or exercise. An example is the player receives the ball with their furthest foot from the defender (cone representing a defender) and first touch is into space before they pass the ball to their teammate
4. Sandwich your negative comment between positive reinforcement. Players hearing only negative comments may become afraid to make mistakes and therefore stop learning, enjoying or even attending. When stopping the play or giving feedback, try and sandwich the negative comment between two positive comments. An example of this for “bad control” is “Good first touch Johnny, you received with your front foot though, good pass with the inside of your foot”. You can then stop the play and ask effective questions.
Examples include “Which foot did you receive with?”; was this your furthest foot from the defender?”; “can you show me which is your furthest foot?”; “can you move the ball into space once you receive the ball with your back foot to the defender?”.
5. Use reference to the positive action, so that the player understands what they have performed correctly. An example is “good control with your back foot to the defender Johnny”, or “good pass with the inside of your foot Jackie”. Simply saying “well done” or “good” has no meaning to the action performed or the player.
Typical mistakes or bad habits in youth coaching that you may focus on include:
When passing or kicking the ball you may want them to focus on kicking with the inside of the foot as there is more control when doing so. Examples of bad habits are kicking with the toe, or kicking outside of the foot.
When receiving the ball you may want them to focus on receiving with the inside of the foot, and with the furthest foot from the opposition relative to their body position. This way there is more control when doing so, and also because they have more time, and their body is between the opponent and the ball.
Examples of bad habits may include receiving with the studs/cleats or receiving the ball with the outside of their foot. This is because they may lose control of the ball, or because they are receiving with the closest foot to the defensive player.
When players are running with the ball. Aspects you may look at is, are they running with speed or with control. If speed then should they be using the inside of their foot? No it should be the outside of their foot, but for greater control the inside of their foot is best.
Player movement in or out of space. This may involve players moving to the ball carrier rather than away. Where is the space? Is it harder to play in a smaller area? Is there less time in a confined space as opposed to a larger space? Can I make passes easier if I have more time and more space?
Therefore players should help find the answers to effective questions regarding these actions and understand when it is best to perform certain actions. Remember our job as coaches is not to remove the creativity, but to help players understand the best time to be creative.