“Get stuck in!” (any age is fine)

“GO ON, Son!”

“Good X” (where X is shot, pass, run, tackle, header, etc)

One other bad part of being away from the blog these few weeks is I didn’t have time to read any other blogs either. So I started catching up on some RSS feeds and like always, Josh has a post up that just screams ‘link to me’

Reme…

Depending on the age group and player, you might also need to add a directional heading and/or frantic pointing to prevent an own goal or two.

It works every time.

As a long time MN youth coach I will tell you that sideline coaching is one of the greatest issues we have to deal with. It’s downright dreadful sometimes. Especially from the parent who was an athlete him/herslef, is new to the game but thinks they understand it all even though they’ve never played soccer/football and they don’t know why the coach hasn’t got the kids winning more, because after all that is the end-all. I have had to have my team manager talk to parents almost every season. And in many a season over the years I’ve had to call a parent and talk to them after a game or give them a call on the phone and explain that there can only be one coach. For a youth who are getting instructions from well meaning but over zealous parents it can be really confusing. For instance, the plan is for Jimmy to try to take the ball up wide more often and even though Jimmy is losing the ball a lot you’ve been working on this in practice and want him to develop his skills. (were talking younger ager here) Yet father X is not liking that Jimmy is getting the ball stolen and his kid who is open isn’t getting the ball. So he starts yelling at Jimmy in a very commanding voice from the sideline, “PASS THE BALL!” It only takes a few of those and guess what Jimmy is doing. My favorite is when I wanted my defenders to start to learn to build the attack and play the ball outside and find a pass, you would have the parent who is screaming, “JUST KICK IT!” God, how I hated that. After 18 year I’m glad I’m out. I loved the training but the babysitting parents was awful. I remember 3 different times having to ask parents to basically shut up or leave the field.

So yes, positive things. Understanding the game helps a lot. Then when a kid makes an overlapping run but doesn’t get the ball, you can call out after the play, “Hey Johnny, great overlap, keep it up.” You get the point. Then Johnny’s thinking, “Oh, someone noticed even though I didn’t get the ball, cool!”

My ex used to embarrass my son by yelling things like “Beautiful!” and “Wonderful!” and other such non-soccer terms. Of course innocently and well meaning…but still.

Best advice I would say is keep it positive and keep it general. Specifics are bad!

Perhaps this is the type of advice she is looking for.

However, I’ve coached varying age groups up through the college level and began playing myself back when the Minnesota Kicks were the hot ticket in town. As a coach, I had no trouble with parental cheering, encouragement, etc., but if they began to “coach” from the sidelines, I would have a quick “discussion” with them. As a player, it’s pretty difficult to listen to anyone other than your teammates during a match, given the size of the pitch. Personally, I can’t imagine hearing my parents yelling some tactical advice from the stands and actually thinking it would be wise to follow it, as opposed to what the coach had said.

That’s what I figured. So, what should parents be doing?

FYI, when my kid is old enough, I’m going to have to sit in the car so I don’t yell the whole game…