Well, last weekend was the end of the outdoor season for the last of my teams. Just in time too because the weather has really made a turn to the colder side in the midwest.

All of our training sessions from now on will be focused on the techniques and tactics of Futsal. It’s almost like starting over with my teams since the skills of Futsal are so very different from many of the skills the players use outdoor. Some see this as a negative but I think they’re complimentary and will have my players better prepared when we go back outside in the spring.

This week’s question comes from Tim. He asks about the use of negative reinforcement. He shared some background information and then asks:

“Is negative reinforcement during training the prevalent model and if I move my sons to another club they will only deal with the same?”

Thanks for your question Tim!

It’s dangerous to generalize but I think that more and more coaches are taking an educational approach to training their teams and moving away from ‘old school’ techniques. You’ll still find plenty of coaches using negative reinforcement in an attempt to be successful but hopefully we’ll see fewer and fewer of them over time.

I would suggest that you look for coaches that will be the best for your kids rather than clubs. As you’ve found, there’s a range of different styles even within the same club.

If enough parents start gravitating toward growth oriented coaches, regardless of their statistical success, I think we’ll see more of a shift to that style.

In This Episode

Today I talk to a very well qualified and respected coach about his approach to technical training. We discuss the components of effective training environments. The importance of having the players experience success. As well as the methods you can use to progress your activities to ensure the greatest development and transfer of training.

The folks at Supercoach have generously offered to give Coaching Soccer Weekly listeners a free 3 month trial of the premium membership to the Supercoach app. All you have to do is download the app through iTunes or Google Play and then send an email to [email protected] from email associated with your account and they will take care of you.

Future Episodes

I’m taking next week off from the podcast for the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. I’ll be back December 1st with a new episode.