No Sideline Coaching

Players’ Sport

Football ⚽️ is a player sport in that players make the decisions on the pitch, not the coach. This is unlike American Handball 🏈 or basketball where coaches draw up plays that players execute. We do not have timeouts or stoppages so there is no time to draw up plays. The exceptions to this are corner kicks and free kicks which don't happen that often, but can be pivotal in regards to the game outcome. Because of these game characteristics, players are the ultimate decision makers.

In order for players to be good decision makers they need to communicate with the football environment (teammates, opponents, etc,) as much as possible. We also need to reduce the communication that is not relevant. This is where a tactical principle becomes useful. With a tactical principle we prioritize communication and align players' football actions. If our tactical principle (when attacking) is Depth before Width (play the ball forward before playing the ball wide, or backward) each player on the team knows where the ball is supposed to go first. If a player receives the ball and has 3 passing options (3 lines of communication)

  • forward

  • wide

  • backward

With our tactical principle being Depth before Width, the player with the ball prioritizes passing the ball forward. The player making a forward run expects the pass because he is the most forward passing option. So Player A (the passer) and Player B (the forward runner/receiver) have aligned their actions which contribute to our tactical principle (Depth before Width). Players' conscious attention needs to be on our tactical principle(s) and not distracted by fatigue, negative emotions (fear of messing up/failing), commands from the sidelines, bad calls from referees, etc. In summary, when you coach from sidelines you are taking away players’ attention from the tactical principle and increasing the lines of communication.

Situations Provoke Actions (Situation-Action patterns)

When you coach from the sidelines the situation does not provoke the competent action, your commands/instructions do. During the game players are unconsciously acting. Most actions are reflexes from actions of the opponent which is what we want. Reflexes are much faster than conscious thinking. We do not want players to see a forward passing option and say/think to themselves "ok, there's Hyatt up there, i'm going to pass now". This process is too slow. We want the player to see the forward passing option and pass immediately on reflex. In this example the situation (forward pass option) provokes the action (forward pass). If parents are yelling from the sidelines it is

1) Situation, 2) parent commanding, 3) player thinking, 4) then an action. It should be 1) situation, 2) action. The latter is much faster and sustainable.

Coaching Players' Football Actions

Parents who desire coaches be more vocal on the sidelines, continuously shouting instructions to run faster, kick harder, pass there, etc. will have issue with our approach. Our role as coaches is to tell players WHAT to do, meaning we provide them with the objective (Depth before Width). It is the role of the players to decide HOW they want to achieve the objective. If the tactical principle (the objective) is Depth before Width (playing forward before playing wide), players can play forward in a multitude of ways. They can choose to:

  • Pass forward

  • Dribble forward

  • Shoot forward

  • make a forward run, etc.

If the tactical principle was to pass forward before passing wide, there would be situations where dribbling forward (or another action) would have been more appropriate. If we want creative players we cannot limit players actions by explicitly telling them which football action to perform. This creates robots. Players are the ultimate decision makers and should be allowed to decide which football action to perform. This is their subjective application that makes them unique. We shouldn't steal this process away. Players subjectively applying their chosen football action(s) to game situation(s) allows them to develop their strengths.

In summary, coaching from the sidelines whether it be practices or games creates robots and prevents players from developing their unique football ability. This is what makes football so exciting. Players with unique abilities, aligning those abilities to achieve a common goal.