This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching LLC, an excerpt from the booklet "Youth Coaching, 4 Keys to a Successful Season," offers general principles for coaching behavior during competition. It covers keeping games simple, modeling confidence and poise, keeping athletes the main focus, and handling post-game communication.
Introduction
This article is an excerpt from the Proactive Coaching booklet entitled, Youth Coaching, 4 Keys to a Successful Season available on our site.
Game Coaching – Style Check
General principles to incorporate into your style:
- Keep the games simple – look at what happens a lot in the game and level you coach and get good at them – be careful how much teaching you try to do during the game itself – keep notes that will help you in the next practice
- Identify and use only coaching behaviors that will help team performance during competition
- Model to provide confidence, concentration and poise – this is the single most important contribution that you can make