Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alex Ferguson, Manchester United, motivation, soccer lessons
[Taken from our sister site, Better Soccer Coaching)
Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, sees four main characteristics that make a good coach.
- Observation
- Perseverance
- Imagination
- Communication
Ferguson says that observation is vital - if you are too involved you miss a lot of things. It is a good idea to stand back sometimes and watch someone else coach while you observe the players.
He says you need perseverance because coaching is not easy and you have to come back after a defeat full of confidence for the next game. "You have to keep the fire in your belly," confirms Ferguson.
Imagination is important because when you are asked what was your best ever goal as a coach you want to identify a perfect goal that you influenced. This is down to your imagination and how you get things across to the players in your training sessions. As a young coach Ferguson thought up creative ways of coaching to inspire his players. "you create a chain reaction which produces thinking players and this is a wonderful thing to develop" he says.
And simple communication is vital. Ferguson believes making it clear what you are after in a coaching session should be top of a coach's list. "You see those training sessions where the coach is talking all the time and the message is lost - the words get lost in the wind."
The players want to get on with it so don't ramble on. "Talking too much is a big danger for a coach."
Watch this clip of Sir Alex when he was inspiring Aberdeen in the 80s to winning everything in Scotland against all odds. Listen to what he has to say about being an inspiring manager:
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Team Management | Tags: abuse, Alex Ferguson, coaching young rugby players, rugby abuse, rugby festivals, training to play, young rugby development
In the UK, at this time of year, it is FESTIVAL TIME!
Across the width and breadth of the country, hardy souls tramp across valley and dale to sit in the sun or rain or wind and watch a flurry of foreshortened games against a range of teams.
On the one hand there is plenty of rugby on show. On the other hand, that tends to be if you are one of the better players.
Let’s consider Under 11s and below.
The coaching departments who roll out the Level 1 courses say that this age group is all about training to play. They don’t endorse leagues.
Yet these festivals have “cups”, leagues and all the incumbent competitiveness that goes with it. It unfortunately brings out the worst in the adults.
Here are a couple of things I heard “shouted” at a tournament on Sunday:
“Legs, legs, you have got to bloody tackle, am I speaking a foreign language or something, don’t you understand?”
“If you play like that you won’t play another minute in this tournament.”
This was to nine year olds.
The tournament was beautifully organised, there was some thrilling rugby. But festivals cannot be run on this basis unless there is no cup. One of my fellow coaches noted a number of teams who kept on their best boys throughout the tournament. Where is the “train to play”?
Not good.
