ENG | Communication as a part of coaching job

Football has always had its language dealing with physical and technical performance – a simple language of instructions and responses. But football is becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. Players are more educated and independent. Today’s coach will have to deal with all of this to create a cohesive team that can handle all the challenges.

Communication, in all its forms and methods, has begun an inexorable rise to the top of the agenda, and coaches or players without the ability to give or receive information necessary for the highest level of performance will suffer. Coaches and players alike must be able to successfully interact with different people, different ways, and different situations.

Creating a communication network

Whenever I worked with a team in certain stressful situations, my main contribution was directing the club from a defensive communication environment – such as cliques, power struggles, excluding certain individuals from the group, personal attacks instead of performance criticism – to a supportive environment with positive communication and shared problems that the team faces. Within football teams, the quantity and quality of interaction will fluctuate as team membership changes, new faces and personalities arrive, but certain steps will help adjust movements and maintain a positive environment.

The following steps can help create and maintain a positive team climate:

Honesty:
Always strive for clear, principled, direct communication that is honest and free of hidden agendas. The criterion is that if it’s best for the team, there should be no problem in communicating it. One difference I have observed between an assistant coach and a head coach is that while both can deliver good news, only the head coach has the power and personality to deliver bad news as well.

Feedback:
Players need ongoing feedback, and they often don’t receive enough regular feedback on their performance and development. Coaches should be “feedback machines,” spending a significant amount of time preparing instructions and notes for players.

Stability:
Too many changes can disrupt the mental and emotional stability of the team, increase anxiety, and decrease communication. Coaches should engage in continuous discussions about the benefits of stability versus the advantages of change.

Consistency in selection:
Being part of the team is important for every player. In general, the team must deal with who is likely to be in and who is likely to be out of the team. While change always occurs, a high level of continuity is key to maintaining positive attitudes, communication, and performance.

Core and periphery:
Every team has key players – those who play regularly and bear most of the responsibility – and peripheral players who are not yet regular starters. The head coach meets regularly with key players as a group and with the captain once a week. This provides an opportunity to quickly identify warning signs and helps the coach understand the mood in the locker room and avoid conflicts.

Team conflicts:
These conflicts are extremely valuable in effectively and efficiently communicating information to everyone. For a coach with good communication skills, such conversations can be a powerful tool for shaping motivation and the team’s emotional state.

Film:
The use of videos, the most natural form of communication for some of our modern players, has dramatically increased. Teams can now easily create their own video footage and target it for motivational and educational purposes. Often, it is true that a key image has a greater impact than a thousand words.

“Focus group”:
For specific matters, such as the goalkeeper and four defenders. Coaches only meet with the concerned players and lead a discussion supported by video evidence. Similarly, I can conduct team-building exercises where we agree on team goals for the next season. Such agreements create a basis for further discussion during the season.

One-on-one:
At the end of the day, football is a personal challenge. The most important communication within the club is one-on-one discussions, between coach and coach, coach and player, and between two players. These discussions cannot be formalized; players often feel more comfortable when they occur in an informal context. Coaches must seek out these moments of contact, make an effort to talk to all players, not just the stars. Some coaches keep track of these interactions to ensure they don’t ignore anyone for too long. I have found that this is the best way to learn about the needs, desires, and goals of each player.

Communication and the Coach

Communication is the first step to the success of every player. In my observation of coaches, many of whom are former players at the highest levels, I have identified three main communication problems:

1. When coaches watch a match, they get carried away by emotions. Instead of being analytical observers, they become spectators. They may miss important points that can help the team. Halftime then becomes an expression of emotions rather than objective communication focused on winning the game.
2. Coaches have limited training in communication. Most of them do not use the power of flip charts, match analysis, or videos. One way to avoid the monotony of repeating important messages is to vary the format. If a coach is talented technically but weak in communication, it is better to involve an experienced assistant or a sports psychologist (mental coach) who can occasionally take the lead in team discussions or provide individual counseling.
3. Coaches often become so absorbed in the process of teaching football that they forget about the people involved. An example of such ineffective communication was mentioned in the Football Coaches Association Journal. Leif Isberg (1997) monitored instructions given by youth coaches to players. In three matches, coaches gave 116, 187, and 55 messages to players to change their behavior. Isberg classified 67, 55, and 12 of these as ineffective because the coaches did not use the player’s name, causing uncertainty.

Useful Guidelines for Coaches:

• All communication from the coach is important, so ensure that players cannot misinterpret your messages.
• Be proactive and communicate when you see a problem. Don’t wait and hope it will resolve itself.
• Use positive language that creates positive expectations for players. Encourage improvement rather than punishing weaknesses.
• Never assume.
• Every communication should be treated as important. Show respect to all players.
• Allocate time for each individual. Research shows that coaches spend much more time (up to seven hours more) with star players.
• Never promise something you cannot deliver.
• Never make threats you cannot enforce.
• Be aware of your body language when communicating. Lombardi (1996) shares a fascinating study by Mehrabian, who examined factors influencing communication between coaches and players. When conveying a message, the overall impact of words is only 7 percent (the words used): 38 percent of the meaning comes from voice (how the words are spoken), and 55 percent of the meaning relies on nonverbal expression (body language used).
• To strengthen self-esteem, maintain a balance between praise and criticism (the sandwich technique: praise-criticism-praise). With younger players whose self-esteem can be easily shattered, lean more towards praise.
• When communicating after a mistake, focus on correction, not the error.
• Work on improving personal emotional control.
• Learn to be a good listener.
• Learn to ask good questions. Encourage players to be self-reflective and evaluate themselves, not relying solely on the coach’s opinion. Ask: “How do you think you did?”
• Be aware of cultural differences and respect them.
• Use players’ names and learn something about their families. This shows your interest in them as people, not just as players.
• Be prepared. Follow Stephen Covey’s advice and know the outcome you want to achieve: “Begin with the end in mind.”
• Criticize only the performance, not the person.
• Avoid communication when you are emotionally out of control. Learn to wait for perspective and objectivity.
• Make the most of informal communication opportunities. A quiet word during training often works better than a formal meeting.
• Use humor: fun is a great stress reliever.
• Conclude communication by clarifying what you have agreed upon: “So let’s recap, this is what we agreed to do.”

It is unlikely that only this will help the coach understand everything about their players’ state of mind. However, the communication process gives both the player and the coach a greater chance to bridge the gap and better understand each other. The more precise the perception, the stronger the relationships that are likely to form, and the greater the chances of performance improvement.

The profile of a modern coach will inevitably follow the profile of a modern player. One dramatic change for modern players is the increased demand for greater and better communication, which helps the player understand their personal performance and feelings as a footballer. Coaches can no longer just manage players but must, as part of player development programs, build good relationships with each player. Players now seek coaches with good emotional intelligence and sensitive communication skills.

To cope with the fast-paced emotional roller coaster known as the football season, coaches need to build a communication network that players and coaches understand and trust. Players and coaches may need assistance in verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as in using modern technologies. For coaches of young players, the use of email and various mobile communication applications is essential.

Team meetings offer coaches with good communication skills an effective and efficient way to get everyone on their side while providing motivational support. I visit many clubs with performance issues, and my first recommendation is an increased and improved communication network. It’s amazing how often this alone starts the process of improvement: “Increase communication, reduce anxiety.”

In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to my video course “SVK | Komunikácia v práci futbalového trénera” available on this platform, which directly relates to the outlined topic (covering broader aspects of communication in football coaching, enriched with practical advice and my experiences working with professional football teams in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. The course has a duration of 80 minutes, key information is also included in a PowerPoint presentation, which is part of this video course), as well as my other courses.

This article was machine-translated by artificial intelligence.