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Soccer Coaching: How to Succeed, With Not a Lot of Soccer Playing Experience

Here’s a recent question…“How to succeed as a quality
coach and with not a lot of soccer playing experience?” 

Your question is a great one.  It goes beyond what I can
answer well, but here are a few thoughts.  (Some of these
are ideas on how to succeed in general, not just for coaching.)

A good place to start is to know yourself and your
vision of your goals.  Aim as high as you want.  Then
develop your plan to work towards each part of your vision. 

To succeed as a quality coach, you will want to work hard but
also work smart.  That will be important for coaches and
players of any age / experience level.  Working smart includes
learning as much as possible from the experience of others. 
So, look for the best expert coaches available to you, and
adapt their knowledge to your situation.  Make use of the
resources that experts have created, which summarize their
wisdom and experience.  For example, attend clinics and
courses;  review books or DVDs from great coaches
elsewhere. 

Plan a list of topics you need to learn and master. 
For example, 
—-  What skills, and how to teach them
—-  What tactics, and how to teach them
—-  What other knowledge (such as, “Laws of the Game”),
and how to teach those
—-  How to communicate well with players, family members,
referees, others

So this list will be of topics that you don’t know well enough,
but that you are aware of.  Keep in mind that there are things
that you don’t know, that you are not yet aware of ... keep
your eyes and ears open. 

Next, get more specific: 
—-  Figure which topics are most important and work on those
first.  Master the important basics.
—-  Decide what is the best way to learn each of those topics
—-  Plan for gradual improvement.  Don’t try to do all at
once. 

And, as much as you can, make it fun along the way, for your
players and for you. 

You mention that you have not had a lot of soccer experience. 
I suspect that there are lots of great coaches out there who
do not have lots of experience as soccer players.  Your
approach to learning and gaining experience as a coach will
be more important.  And especially, learn as much as you can
from the giants, and your other role models out there. You
might learn tactics from a famous coach’s book, skills from a
course, and how to communicate from a favorite teacher. 

All the best for you and your team

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