Get the most out of game day!
The game is the most exciting part of everyone’s football week, be it the over excited players who have been counting down the days since their last game on a weekend morning, or the equally excited parents and loved ones keen to see their sons and daughters emulate their heroes on the thousands of pitches across NSW.
The game is also a key part of your week as a coach as it gives you the chance to see your team in action and trying their best to put into practice all of the things you have tried to help them with throughout the training week.
To help you have the most effective and enjoyable game day, below are three tips to help you before the referee’s whistle blows this weekend!
1. Have your team line-up and substitute plan organised.
Team line-ups and substitutions are the hot topic on everyone’s lips, no matter the level of the game be it Saturday morning at a park in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, or at a major stadium as the Socceroos & Matildas do battle against the world’s best in FIFA tournaments. The level of the detail that you go into will depend on the age and stage of your team, however look to ensure you have a game day plan including your starting line-up and formation, as well as a substitution plan. In this substitution plan, work out who is coming on/off and when throughout the game, This will ensure that when the game kicks off and your mind gets a bit busier, nobody is left behind or forgotten! Look to use a team manager or a trusted parent to help you monitor the clock and also monitor how much game time your players get each game so that you can balance this out throughout the season.
2. Don’t overthink your game day tasks.
The tendency for us as coaches is to try and give our players lots of information pre-game for them to focus on. This is ultimately done with the best interests of the players at heart, however sometimes we need to take a step back and think about the impact we can actually have on our players on game day. Look to focus on 2-3 key things you want your players to do within the game, this will again vary in detail and complexity depending on the age and stage of your players. For instance in junior football it may be 2-3 things you would like the players to try and do individually be it looking to control the ball when it comes to them rather than offloading it straight away, or looking to try and dribble and beat a player when they have the chance. Then as players develop it may become more group based and tactical based for instance how to work together to try and win the ball when pressing, or how to combine as a team using width and depth when in possession. Look to avoid overloading your players with multiple things to do within the game as you want them to focus on playing and enjoying themselves!
3. Connect Training To The Game
To follow on from the previous tip, look to connect your game day challenges/tasks to what you have practiced during the training week. This will then allow you as a coach to observe your players trying to implement this in a game against an opponent, from here you can then provide greater feedback and support as to how they fared and then ultimately decide if some more time needs to be spent helping the players develop this further in future training sessions. Linking training to game day can also help you keep your players motivated when the game may not go their way on the weekend. For instance in junior and youth football you may have weekends where by half time the scoreline could be out of your favour, this can be a good challenge for players resilience and you as a coach can keep them motivated and having a taste of success by not just focusing on the scoreline but by how the players are going at putting into play what was worked on at training. For example you may have worked on at training looking to take positive first touches with the ball when passing and receiving, this can then be a focus of success within the game if all of the players are doing this and putting this into practice.
Give these tips a go as you prepare for your weekend game day with your players, and always keep in mind that the game is for the players to enjoy and have a go at being their heroes! Do everything you can to make the game the best part of your players week!
