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Parental Support - The Key to Peak Performance
Thanks to Jeff Pill, New Hampshire Soccer Association Director of Coaching
Coaches..you can print this out and hand to parents at your first team meeting
The role that parents play in the life of a soccer player has a tremendous impact on
their experience. With this in mind, we have taken some time to write down some helpful
reminders for all of us as we approach the upcoming season. If you should have any
questions about these thoughts, please feel free to discuss it with us, the coaches.
- Let the coaches coach: Leave the coaching to the coaches. This includes
motivating, psyching your child for practice, after game critiquing, setting goals,
requiring additional training, etc. You have entrusted the care of your player to these
coaches and they need to be free to do their job. If a player has too many coaches, it is
confusing for him and his performance usually declines.
- Support the program: Get involved. Volunteer. Help out with fund-raisers,
car-pool; anything to support the program.
- Be your child's best fan: Support your child unconditionally. Do not withdraw
love when your child performs poorly. Your child should never have to perform to
win your love.
- Support and root for all players on the team: Foster teamwork. Your child's
teammates are not the enemy. When they are playing better than your child, your
child now has a wonderful opportunity to learn.
- Do not bribe or offer incentives: Your job is not to motivate. Leave this
to the coaching staff. Bribes will distract your child from properly concentrating in
practice and game situations.
- Encourage your child to talk with the coaches: If your child is having
difficulties in practice or games, or can't make a practice, etc., encourage them
to speak directly to the coaches. This "responsibility taking" is a big part of
becoming a big-time player. By handling the off-field tasks, your child is claiming
ownership of all aspects of the game - preparation for as well as playing the game.
- Understand and display appropriate game behavior: Remember, your child's self
esteem and game performance is at stake. Be supportive, cheer, be appropriate. To perform
to the best of his abilities, a player needs to focus on the parts of the game that they
can control (his fitness, positioning, decision making, skill, aggressiveness, what the
game is presenting them). If he starts focusing on what he can not control (the condition
of the field, the referee, the weather, the opponent, even the outcome of the game at
times), he will not play up to his ability. If he hears a lot of people telling him what
to do, or yelling at the referee, it diverts his attention away from the task at hand.
- Monitor your child's stress level at home: Keep an eye on the player to make sure
that they are handling stress effectively from the various activities in his life.
- Monitor eating and sleeping habits: Be sure your child is eating the proper foods
and getting adequate rest.
- Help your child keep his priorities straight: Help your child maintain a focus on
schoolwork, relationships and the other things in life beside soccer. Also, if your child
has made a commitment to soccer, help him fulfill his obligation to the team.
- Reality test: If your child has come off the field when his team has lost, but he
has played his best, help him to see this as a "win". Remind him that he is to
focus on "process" and not "results". His fun and satisfaction should
be derived from "striving to win". Conversely, he should be as satisfied from
success that occurs despite inadequate preparation and performance.
- Keep soccer in its proper perspective: Soccer should not be larger than life for
you. If your child's performance produces strong emotions in you, suppress them. Remember
your relationship will continue with your children long after their competitive
soccer days are over. Keep your goals and needs separate from your child's
experience.
- Have fun: That is what we will be trying to do! We will try to challenge your
child to reach past their "comfort level" and improve themselves as a
player, and thus, a person. We will attempt to do this in environments that are fun, yet
challenging. We look forward to this process. We hope you do to!
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