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Non Verbal
Communication |
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Mike
Pline, a local coach, often has his U17 team spend 15 minutes of
a scrimmage playing silent soccer. While we work hard from
U10 on to teach the players to communicate this is a logical
step once they reach a certain level of play. At U10
- U12 we're looking for any sort of verbal communication.
Once they reach U14, coaches are looking for the players to
provide more than just noise - they want real information.
Not just "Ian" but "drop", "square", "wall", etc.
By the time they're 15 or 16 years old
communication is no longer a problem. In fact, it can
become a distraction with every player calling for the ball.
There's so much noise that players can determine which call is
appropriate. It can also become a crutch for players who
don't keep their head up when receiving the ball. And it
alerts the opposition to your plans.
Mike has his team play about 20-25 minutes of
some small field keep away to work on short quick passing and
decision making. First, he has the boys communicating by calling
for the ball. Then he likes to have them go about 10 minutes
with no talking at all. It drives them crazy, but it helps them
keep their heads up and use their visual skills more. It also
forces the lazy ones who call for the ball all the time to move
themselves into a line of sight. |
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I posted
this to the Soccer-coach-l e-mail list and received the
following responses: |
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I ran a
little fun "exercise" to begin a session on communication. I
think that it was used by a National Youth Team coach, but I
have since forgotten the original source (in other words, I did
not create this, but rather "borrowed" it). I had about 45
girls, all 7th and 8th graders. I told them to line up according
to age, WITHOUT SAYING A WORD. After they got done with the
blank stares and blinking, they set about doing it, and they had
it pretty good after about 5 minutes. It got their attention and
opened their minds to a couple points:
1) How important verbal communication is.
2) How you can relay information using non-verbal cues.
Bob Christensen |
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When I tell a team that they are not allowed to talk, then you
start seeing the clapping, or the grunting or the humming. The
thing I find interesting, though, is that with youth teams, the
verbal communication I see is all Offensive-oriented - give me
the ball, here I am, pass to me.
I sometimes tell the team that there is no
talking during keep away (for example) except for DEFENSIVE talk
- man on, here they come, I got ball, I'm your cover, etc..
It seems to me, in younger players, defensive
talk is much more difficult to instill than offensive talk. When
they are older, defensive talk seems to come more naturally.
Better understanding of the game? Better-developed vision? Able
to "see" both sides of the game? I'm not sure.
I have always told my teams that the most effective
communication is eye contact. If you make eye contact, you know
what they are doing, and they know what you are doing. I have
tried to discourage Offensive talking and highly encourage
Defensive talking, in the younger age groups (below U-14). To
me, getting the head up to make eye contact is a sign of
competent and confident soccer skills.
Tom Bachey
tom.bachey@cinergy.com
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