Many young footballers dream of being able to play for their favourite team. When they play football they will try and emulate their favourite players, copying moves, skills and mannerisms they have seen on TV. Their bedrooms will be adorned with all the latest club merchandise and they won’t be seen out without the shirt of their favourite team on with the name and number of their favourite player on the back.

Instead of playing for the team, players with stars in their eyes will play for themselves and only worry about how good they look. They aren’t interested in the result as long as they can score some goals or put in a good performance. These players will want their egos stroked and people to praise them by giving them man of the match awards, captaincy and have people singing their praises.

 

Unfortunately the sad reality of football is that only a very tiny percentage of children who play football will go on to make a living as a professional footballer. However, due to the way footballers are perceived with the media attention they get, the money they get paid, the lifestyles they lead and the fame they receive it makes youngsters want it even more regardless of how small the odds are. Young people have more belief than adults and regardless of how many times you tell them how hard it is going to be they won’t comprehend it. So whatever you say, you won’t deter them from their dreams which in a way is a good thing as young people need to be allowed to dream because if they are prepared to work hard enough they can achieve their dreams.

 

Players with stars in their eyes will usually play for more than one team and will only stay with a team if they are winning. As soon as they start losing they will not turn up for training and show a disinterest in the club, paying more interest in

 their other teams. If you let them, some players will refuse to turn up to training but expect to play in every game as they think they are untouchable, acting as though you need them more than they need you. Players like this will always try and threaten you as a coach telling you that they are going to go to another club or speak openly and outwardly about how rubbish they think the team is, showing no respect for you as a coach. They will think that they are the reason the club performs so well and think it has nothing to do with the coach their training and their tactics.

 

As a coach your training sessions will be one of the most important times of the week. Training is where you get your players ready foryour next game and where you help mould them in to better players. You will normally only get one training session a week which lasts for one hour so you have to make the most of it.

 

Training is also a time where you have to get important information over to your players like details for the next game, where you are going to meet and what time you are going to meet. It is where you need to get your players focused and paying attention. During the later Spring, Summer and early Autumn you will usually train on grass and you will have sunlight until late in the evening. These training sessions can be good as you aren’t as tight for time as if you had booked on to an Astroturf surface so if you are running behind on your schedule you can extend your training session at no extra cost and still in daylight. As you play your league games on grass the more time you can spend training on grass the better. The only problem can be with the great British weather you need to make sure your players bring the right footwear depending on the weather and conditions. If the weather is torrential it may mean you have to cancel training if you are on grass whereas the benefit of Astroturf is that you can play on it in any weather.

 

If the weather is good, training in the summer is a good test as the players will also have the heat to deal with during pre-season training which will help them get fit and lose any extra pounds as they sweat through pre-season fitness regimes. It will get colder as autumn draws in and in the few weeks before you switch over to Astroturf you will also have to deal with fading light which will get even earlier each week leaving you with little training time or having to train in the dark.

When it comes time to switch to Astroturf you will no longer have the luxury of having extra training time and being the only team using a huge pitch. Normally most astroturfs are heavily booked and you are only allowed the hour you paid for and no more. So when you get to the Astroturf for your session you will normally have to kick off the group that was on there before you who have overrun which will cut in to your time and then at the end the next group who are on after you will come early and hang around the pitch before trying to get on as early as possible. On Astroturf you will normally get a smaller pitch than you are use to on grass so everyone will be on top of each other and you will have less space to work with.

 

To have a good training session it takes a lot of pre-planning. You need to plan the session and have a goal of what you want to have achieved by the end of the session. Planning also means making sure you have all the equipment you need and that everything you have is in the proper condition like pumping up balls, washing bibs etc. As a coach you should set the example by being the first person to get to training, if you are coaching out on the grass you can set up early but if you are on an Astroturf you need to get on there as quickly as possible so not to lose too much time setting up your equipment.

The pre-season is the most important time for any team. If you are keeping the same team from last season it is your first chance to assess where they are at with their fitness and skills since the Spring/Summer break from football.

 

The date you set for the start of pre-season is very important as you need to give your players a big enough break from football but you need to get them back early enough to make sure you hit the ground running at the beginning of the season. If you are continuing with a team it is important to set and announce the date that pre-season will start before your players go on their post-season break so everyone is aware of it.

 

As a coach you have to be aware that your players will go away with their families over the summer break but you can’t wait for everyone to get back from holiday to start training. With this in mind you have to set a date knowing that you will be missing some of your players on some weeks but as long as you can get the majority of the team together on a weekly basis you can get some work done.

 

Regardless of whether it’s a new team you are starting, or a team you are carrying on with, pre-season is a time to look at what you are missing and if you need to bring in any extra players. It’s the time where you assess where you are weak and where you need to improve.

Fitness should be the major focus of your pre-season training. Some of your players won’t have done too much sport over the holidays, they may have been doing a lot of TV watching and playing on computer games. It is important that by the time the first game comes around they are fit enough to last a full game so training sessions over the first few weeks will consist of a lot of running and conditioning work.

 

Before you start pre-season you should have a plan of what you want to cover each week and know what level you want your players to be at by the time the first game comes around. This season you may want to test out new tactics, new formations, or players in new positions. This is your time to do this as if you want players to play in different positions for you during the rest of the season they need to be comfortable playing in them.