Coaching is not teaching. Children can find their answers.

Coaching is not teaching.

Adults tend to guide their children to the answers they think are correct. If an adult takes the lead, a child cannot be better than an adult.
So ask the children to think and find their own answers. I’m sure it needs a lot of patience, as the answers can be wrong or it takes a longer time.
Sometimes adults need to wait patiently to allow children to overcome the problem after some fail.

Do not force children to follow the basics for adults

I learned it is important that the pass reaches the opponent accurately, so it does not matter which part of the foot you kick or how you swing your foot.

I used to tell my son not to use a toe kick because kicking at your toes is less accurate than push every time he used a toe kick. I tend to let my son do some basics. But it’s boring right?.
So now I introduce a game-based approach. Instead of letting your son zigzag dribble with cones, I change the way to compete with me to see which is faster. And I asked my son to place the cones wherever he likes then he makes a very tricky dribble course!
We enjoy dribbling that way.

Know what happens in a game

I also learned that 1vs1 and juggling do not happen in real games. No, actually, they happen but they happen differently.

1vs1 is a good practice to learn how to dribble, keep a ball and defend. But in the practice, there are no other offenders and defenders so children don’t need to heads up. It’s a problem if they don’t head up in a game. 1vs2 or 2vs2 practice is more realistic.

And juggling is good to learn to hit & trap a ball correctly. We usually stop juggling when we drop the ball. But it’s no problem when you drop the ball because the game keeps going.

Thank you for reading this post.

I hope you enjoy playing sports with your kids!