Coaching Tip #82

Tagged Practice Management, Team Development, Coaching Practice

Coaches like to control things.  One of the things they like to control is who can talk to the players.  It is a very important part of the development process for the messages that players receive to be consistent and coaches must rightly pay attention to who is speaking to them and what they are saying.  Some coaches will even restrict the conversations players have amongst themselves, especially in practice.

Ultimately the limiting factor in performance is what happens during the match, and the biggest component of that is the quality of interactions between the players.  Coaches can prepare through practice, and communicate some solutions during matches, but for the most part players must solve problems between themselves.

For that reason, when players talk amongst themselves during practice, let them.  They may be sharing technical and tactical information that coaches can’t.  They may be discussing who should play which ball and when.

Either way, they are solving problems in language that is meaningful to them, as well as creating relationships.  When they do, forget the drill, don’t get upset, wait a few seconds and let them talk.  The benefits far outweigh any short term discomfort the coach might feel from not being involved.

A collection of more Coaching Tips can be found here.

For more great coaching tips, check out the Vyacheslav Platonov coaching book here.