The Daily Responsibilities of a Soccer Coach

A common trait in the world of soccer is its state of constant change. The presumptions of these constant changes are perpetual analysis, planning and prevalent decision making. Decision making is nothing more than perpetual action, which consists of organically related activity. These activities in turn are what we call part of the leadership role. In this train of thought, it is not the actions, and decisions of the game and typical playing situations that I want to focus on but on the contrary I would like to shed light on the responsibility and accountability of the decision made by coaches and club officials. I always live with the hope that all the directors, officials and coaches are very clear with the responsibilities entrusted to them either by fate or by their own volition when they agree to lead a team or a club. How does the Latin phrase put it? “Navigare necesse est” or “Everyone needs to decide!”

I would like to pepper my material with known and little known quotes by those who have influenced our universal thought process through the centuries.

“Success is nothing more than the result of a good decision.
It's in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped”

(Anthony Robbins)

These leadership functions are multi-layered and are all part and parcel to the development of the soccer institution.
A basic criterion for a successful decision is, for the deciding official/coach to anticipate and react to the constantly changing conditions expectations and opportunities. But in order to act and react there is a need for good, current and appropriate information. The peculiarity of good information is that it mirrors reality, it is defined in scope and it is timely and needed. On the contrary; erroneous information is useless to the venture and it can even worsen its state.

In order to carry out the various duties the officers/coaches are in need of two kinds of information. One is for the completion of the long term goals and its components they are in charge of and the other is for the effective operational duties of the venture; meaning the immediate short term goals, taking into consideration their constant volatility. Therefore; the long term orientation is strategic, as the short term orientation is operative.

There are three basic problems of the strategic orientation for leadership:

How to unearth all of the factors, which will only affect the venture in the future?

How to determine their existence and reality?

How to measure their future impending impact on the venture?

In order to come up with feasible answers to these questions the officials/coaches need to not only be well grounded in their preparation and schooling but they must have a high degree of openness in their thought process as well as a great degree of imagination as well. The organization of the orientation system demands a concurrent step by step method and that those involved in the information process have their functions and objectives in this realm clearly defined.

“Do not start anything of which you don’t decide the outcome”

(Hermann Kant –German Writer)

Operative and Strategic Orientation substantially differ from one another, as the source for both internal and external information necessary for orientation can be accurately defined. The ones in charge of running the operation are charged with the responsibility of unearthing and transmitting the information, in other words, those working around the officials and coaches/managers.

From the point of view of the coach who are these people?

The technical advisor
The Assistant Coach (goalkeeper coach, and other coaches)
The team physician (where available)
The masseuse
The players themselves!!!!
The office staff in charge of analyzing data

It should be mentioned that there is an inner trap or contradiction within Operative Orientation. All information seems to be in a matrix and appear objective. At the same time those preparing the information and those receiving and unearthing the information before them do not have the same goals and are not always on the same page, therefore; the objectivity of these reports and all information can at any time be brought into question. In other words, those dispensing with the information could be very subjective.

What type of situations demand a need for a decision?
Above all to solve the problem!

From the perspective of the officials/directors/coaches by forthcoming problems within the organization we mean just that, forthcoming or anticipated forthcoming problems, which were not taken into consideration at the time of initial planning of the club because none of these issues were even thought of!
Changes in our everyday life have become more cumbersome, and more numerous in occurrence, which demand immediate attention from the club/organization by the leadership of the front office and by all of the staff around them. In other words, we should immediately adept to the situation.
We could say that this demands that an organization is always in a state of “instant response” mode.
Yes!
The real positive result of this adaptability depends upon the timeliness and the quality (the how) of the intervention on the forthcoming or current changes (problems) at hand.

Timely and correct reaction demands a lot of preparation time. The quicker the leaders can identify the development of the change (problem), the more time they will have to prepare for its resolution.

Let’s be honest, in our rapidly changing world of even amateur status soccer the problems amongst team members, parents, directors, legalities keep growing by the day. The reason for this is that the requirements for a great club, draw with it more and more tension and create a myriad of problems and added responsibilities.

Leadership qualities and attributes are necessary for identifying problems, potential problems, however; to estimate the real weight of such problems and to separate them from the pseudo problems and imagined ones, it is practical and expedient to resort to and use problem solving and fault finding methods, as an elementary technique in identifying problems.


Leaders must conduct their investigations from the event of the fault (problem) to the identification of the original problem which caused the change (problem) and need for action.
What kind of leader is a coach who makes a decision based on the quote below?

Men are cowards. In need of a decision they keep rethinking it several times in the hopes that the decision could be adjourned.

(Canetti, Austrian essayist and writer)


The fate of an organization depends on constant daily decisions and decision making and on following a step by step method in these decisions leading to a set goal. Those coaches who make these daily decisions clearly understand this responsibility. When a coach brings and makes a final decision he can only count on himself and of course on the instruments and vehicles he has on his disposal. Many times we hear in interviews and conversation that a fellow coach or official states that they had a feeling….. I have often wondered if there is a sixth sense when a coach listens to his feelings and intuitions.
Earlier we have described and touched on the fact as to how important it is to gather all the information and only than make a decision.

Conversely it is also true that there is such thing as overwhelming data, too much information which can only lead to a mental block and a delay in decision. If a coach/leader wants to take every information factor into consideration they become indecisive and this state is sure to bring the wrong decision. It is for this reason that it is imperative to sort through and only keep the important information. For the coach, selection and filtering of the information at hand is the most important aspect. For this reason it is very important that coaching staff is comprised of professionals who worked together for a long time and are familiar with each others whims.


We must admit it; to make a decision is easy!
It is the road leading to the decision is hard!

There a many responsible decisions to be brought in the daily operation of a team and many more in the club. These decisions are not only relevant to team personnel, team selection or the game at hand. It is in these cases when and where the emails, comments, concerns of all those who love and care about the team and the club and their own children within it surface – all respect to them – they view everything in laymen’s terms that the team, the line up should have been this and that and their kids is not playing because of politics or if they are playing and have a bad game it is do to an illness etc. But for the coach, the line-up and team personnel is not the foremost dilemma or problem.

How close are these terms to one another?

To Give – To Receive
To Gift – To Confiscate
To Respect – To Humiliate
To pay attention – To expect
To condone – To coerce
To forgive – To get angry
To trust – To suspect
To have sympathy – To be indifferent
To believe – To doubt….

The know choice is simple,
But real knowledge is making a decision.
A good man rarely errs.

(Tacitus)

The processes put in place around the club and teams are the primary responsibility the coach should focus on! In other words, since everything around the life of the club and organization is an organic process from trash removal to scholarship awards, the coach and directors need to be in constant “momentary” contact with all those in the leadership who are present and have a voice in the everyday operation of the entity. The coach, coaches officials must inform the leadership of the everyday problems because if this is not done, at a later time this can be used against them.

The basis of a successful decision is that the coach/officials recognize the problem.

The coach needs to compose the problem, not only to himself but project it outwards towards his environment.
This is very important!
The coach must not talk about his inner bouts and frustration before certain decisions are made. This info should only be divulged to the most trusted person in his inner circle, one whom he can trust unconditionally. But the fact is that it can not be more than one or two people.

After recognition and orientation as to the nature of the problem, the coach/official must resolve the problem, namely a decision has to be made.
In the majority of the cases the solution and/or resolution is unambiguous and the decision becomes routine.
At the same time, we must be careful that our outward communication does not seem routine as this would degrade the inner struggle the decision maker has undergone and the process making decision in general.


As for the quick reasonable decisions:

Coaches and officials must intimately know the workings of their club and within them their teams, their possibilities, our competitors and the whole environment surrounding the game of soccer and our entity.
It is important to analyze collected information not only to ourselves but in their context and correlation to the whole.

The secret of highly successful people is this;
They have certain habits not prevalent in the average folks and due to this they are capable of making better decisions.

Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.

Success always sides with those who dare to innovate and are always ready to solve new problems created by the new situations.
In view of a great decision making process the coach must:

Be very clear in the hierarchy of the institution, he must know where and with whom he can turn to with any problem, without infringing on any personal interests within the organization (with the exception of the owners).

He must have a transparent view of the players under his charge, the inner structure, and public relations as well.

He must be familiar with the leaders of the players both positive as well as negative influences.

He must understand based on playing ability that are the gems of the organization.

Who are the players on whom he can always count on?

The coach must know the rules of the game, the playing system, the training method, the functionality and responsibility on each player for each role).

He must have perfect self control at all times.

He must be a good “coaching” Coach one who can read the game. One who can think ahead not only analyze after the fact.

The coach must be an individual a personality, who:

Can decide in a rational fashion in vocational questions, accepts responsibility thus helping the club.

Can also be emotional meaning that he uses that sixth sense in some aspect of his decision making, - bringing his feelings into the equation- for example when he is loyal to a player.

Can bring auxiliary decisions, meaning that he sheds light on all the opportunities and deficiencies thus bringing management to a position to face decision making


All in all coaching is not an easy vocation!