- HOW TO GET THE MAXIMUM

PERFORMANCE OF YOUR PLAYERS

MOTIVATION IN
FOOTBALL
“Don't try to be the best on the team,
Try to make your team the best”
MOTIVATION IN GRASS FOOTBALL PLAYERS

David Perez Asensio

WWW.LACLINICADELFUTBOL.COM

The coach of young soccer players must keep in mind that training is not a
game in which he can use the children as he pleases, depending on their
degree of bad mood. In many cases, coaches act the same as if they were
training adult soccer players.
That is why it is very important, although it may seem obvious, to remind
them that they are training children. Beyond teaching them technical,
tactical or physical issues, they have to assume the role of educator. The
coach is a model for his athletes and they often tend to imitate him, so his
behavior is very important. Above all, you must treat them with respect,
avoiding any type of contempt or insult. You must support them to progress
appropriately, in a constructive way, establishing objectives that require
effort but are achievable. It must be assumed that errors are another part of
this learning process.
In order to carry out this job successfully, the coach needs, in addition to his
knowledge of football, psychological skills that will help him in his daily
work. The ideal would be to have a sports psychologist on your coaching
staff to help you plan daily tasks, both for training and competition.

Below I present some psychological variables, the control of which can

help coaches in their work. Obviously it will only be a brushstroke, since
treating these variables in depth would be very extensive.
THE MOTIVATION
We have the advantage that the majority of children have a very high
motivation to play football, an advantage that people who have them in
other activities, for example teachers, do not have.

The coach must take advantage of that initial motivation to practice sports
and must take into account that if it is not nourished, it will not last forever,
on the contrary it can become a stressful experience, which will cause you
to end up abandoning your practice.

One way to enhance motivation can be the use of models, on the one hand,
famous athletes that you know, which will encourage your interest in
imitating them, on the other hand, closer models, such as players who
started out just like them and are now in The first team, in this way, does not
see the athletes who succeed as if they were from another galaxy,
impossible to reach, but sees them as close, who have walked their path,
with joy but also with effort to achieve something.

Another way to increase motivation is by reinforcing your behaviors.

Reinforcement is one of the most important psychological techniques, and
we cannot ignore it in the field of motivation. And we can achieve this in
many ways, the limit is in our imagination. First of all, training sessions
should be fun, with a pleasant atmosphere. Too many times we have seen
training that would make even the most fanatical child hate football with
repetitive and boring exercises. And contrary to what many believe, learning
and having fun are not at all mutually exclusive. In the previous sentence I
have exposed two concepts, learning and having fun, which may seem very
vulgar but I believe they are the basis of training. Forgive my insistence but
I have seen
too many training sessions in which nothing is learned, where the coaches
do not stop screaming instead of explaining to them when they make a
mistake, what the alternative behavior to perform should be, and also
encouraging them when they do it well, thus ensuring that they repeat said
behavior the Next time. At the same time, they must set objectives that the
children can achieve. If they set impossible objectives, the only thing they
will achieve is that the child will lose confidence in themselves.
It is also important to let children participate in decision-making, for
example when choosing the team captain, also when creating the code of
conduct with its rewards and punishments. They cannot be consulted on all
decisions, but we can consult some of them and we will get them more
involved in the project,
seeing that their opinion is
taken into account.
Another important point is
to achieve good group
cohesion, since we are
dealing with a team sport,
and a good atmosphere,
support among teammates,
and respect are very
important, since in addition
to individual motivation,
there is collective
motivation. that the coach must also work. Hence the importance of having
a sports psychologist on the team to be able to collaborate with the coach on
the work plan, and on any difficulties that may arise.
We could say many things about motivation, there are many books that talk
about the subject. But what is written is just as important as what many
coaches have learned with the experience of years of work. There are many
ways to motivate, sometimes you just have to use
imagination, for example, in the form of prizes, going to the beach to train
one day, making a video session about the mistakes we make, a snack, etc.
We could make an endless list. I would sum it up with the two words I said
before: learn and have fun.

SELF-CONFIDENCE
Self-confidence is the confidence that footballers have in their resources to
achieve goals. When it is high, motivation also increases, on the contrary if
your self-confidence is low, motivation will also be low.
Self-confidence has often been confused with positive thoughts, statements
like "we will surely win." But self-confidence is knowing our real
possibilities, when faced with a goal, and managing our resources to get the
most out of it. But we have to start from a real knowledge of our potential.
Coaches often, out of ignorance, handle this issue very poorly.

Some considerations that may help are:

- Realistic analysis of the situation and resources available.

- Set realistic goals that are achievable.

- Study the difficulties that may arise and how to deal with them.

- Analyze whether the players have self-confidence at a general level,

globally or only in specific, concrete situations. In many cases you only
have self-confidence in situations that you already know; when new
situations appear, doubts appear and self-confidence is lower. In this case
the coach must take advantage of the training sessions to help the players
regain their self-confidence.
- Be prepared for both success and failure, and serve as experience on
future occasions.
In addition, it will help the athlete to carry it into their daily life. Today
many young people have very little confidence in themselves and when
faced with any challenge they throw in the towel very quickly. And the
knowledge they learn in sport can be extrapolated to other situations outside
the field of football. Achieving this is very important, since we never have
to lose sight of the fact that above all, coaches are educators in the broadest
sense of the word.

THE SELF-ESTEEM
Self-esteem is an important variable at such an early age and therefore the
coach must know it and must influence it in a positive way.
In children and adolescents, self-esteem changes very easily, depending on
the variations that important aspects of their lives suffer. Therefore, in sport,
successes or failures can affect their self-esteem, and in some cases they
associate sporting success with their value as people, and sport can become
a stressful activity that harms their development.
The coach's mission will be to ensure that children have a reasonable self-
esteem based on their age and that does not depend on success or failure in
sport. The coach's influence is very important for children and that is why I
insist once again on their preparation to be able to handle these situations.
Some tips to positively influence can be:

- Correct children constructively.

- Recognize their efforts no matter how small.
- Be patient when objectives are not achieved and extend the deadlines to
achieve them.
- Be very careful when raising criticism, since children can take it as a
personal attack and reduce their self-esteem.
- And as we have said before, make them see that their overall value as
people is independent of their sporting results.

In short, the coach

must take advantage
of the practice of
sport to improve the
child's opinion and
self-esteem.

THE ATTENTION
Attention has a very important influence on learning, and much more so at
early ages. Therefore, it will be important to take into account the correct
attentional functioning of athletes in training.
Some aspects to keep in mind that can help are:
- Their attention span is limited; they cannot be expected to attend to many
stimuli at the same time, especially when the tasks are new and complicated.
- Children maintain attention on the same stimuli for a short time, the coach
must organize short exercises and the explanations be brief.

- Ensure that children stand as little as possible, we will avoid boredom and
distraction from other stimuli. Active participation with novel exercises is a
good antidote to monotony.

- When players have a high level of activation and are nervous for various
reasons (a mistake, expulsion, fight with a teammate, etc.), their attention
span is lower and they can only attend to brief information.

- Tiredness also affects attention. When athletes are tired, they assimilate
information less well and make worse decisions.

- The coach, together with the psychologist, must detect situations that
affect the players' attention (referee errors, score against, etc.) and work,
either individually or collectively, on these factors that negatively affect
attention.

GROUP COHESION
Soccer is a sport in which you do not compete individually, but rather it is
the union of many individuals at the service of the team. An important job
of the coach is to keep this group together. It is clear that it is not an easy
task, since in the same locker room, diverse groups are formed by affinities:
age, schoolmates, starters and substitutes, etc.
The coach must avoid problems and confrontations between the various
sensitivities that make up the group and be able to anticipate problems that
may arise.
If the players cannot be made to understand that everyone must make
sacrifices and personal sacrifices for the benefit of the team, it is difficult for
it to work well. If you can give them examples of how great players who did
not play as a team never won anything, and vice versa, how cohesive teams
without figures achieved great goals.
In short, the coach is a manager of many disciplines that must be applied to
the group to get the most out of it. It cannot continue being like in other
times when they were limited to walking around the field, playing a game
and taking a shower. Today you must take advantage of the advancement of
knowledge in all sciences related to sports.

SUBSTITUTES IN BASE FOOTBALL

In team sports, it is normal for all and the vast majority of players to be
substitutes at some point during the season. Although substitution, as is
normal, is hard and unsatisfactory, players must learn to accept it as an
inherent part of this sport, adapting to it without accommodating
themselves, as soon as possible, above all avoiding problems and/or
conflicts with the coach or the players. companions.
To do this, they must quickly make a mental adaptation that allows them to
train with the appropriate degree of motivation, the self-confidence
necessary to persevere in the effort, the appropriate level of activation and
concentration at all times, and sufficient emotional self-control and
tolerance for frustration. to continue progressing and be prepared to help the
team when the coach considers it appropriate.
The loss of ownership can be very stressful for many athletes, as it generates
uncertainty (they are not clear about what the coach expects of them or their
near future), conflict with other teammates (having to compete for the same
position), pressure due to constant evaluation (coaches, teammates, family
members...), loss of self-esteem (feeling guilty for letting others down and
not getting what is expected of them).
Faced with this very threatening situation, it is very important to try for the
player to be as objective as possible, to be able to control it appropriately,
becoming alert and looking for resources that allow him to cope, that is, to
prepare well, being patient and constant, making an effort. to the maximum
in training, making the most of the opportunities that arise or the minutes of
play that the coach gives him. Otherwise, the player is likely to become
demotivated and give up, if he perceives or interprets that he lacks the
appropriate resources or that the cost is too high to confront or neutralize it.
Another important risk that we must be alert to is “excess motivation” by
trying to quickly resolve the situation, which will cause the player to exceed
the intensity, making serious mistakes and reacting impulsively, potentially
even injuring or harming other members. of the team.
For this reason, it is very important to psychologically strengthen athletes
through training, adequately managing motivation and self-confidence,
setting achievable objectives and
challenges that force them to exert
extra effort, mobilizing all their
resources and skills in a controlled
manner, that is, say by correctly
handling successes and failures, so
that they can learn to function
correctly, overcoming difficulties and achieving the objectives set by the
coach.

In this way, when faced with a negative situation (loss of ownership), the
player is able to turn it into a challenge (getting a place on the team again)
and feels motivated and confident, since although he knows the difficulty
involved in achieving his goal (becoming a starter again) he is clear about
the resources and skills he has or must develop to achieve it (perception of
control), because he has already gone through similar situations with
success and failure.
In order to carry out this physical and mental overexertion, the player must
focus on what depends on him, making an effort and
taking advantage of the training 100%, enhancing
his strengths and working on his weaknesses.
Finally, we cannot forget that in a team all its players
are important to achieve maximum performance.
The best players, whether starters or substitutes, are
those who have a constructive attitude towards the
rest of their teammates, they are clear about what
they need to improve. They know that if everything
works well between them, the benefit is for the team
in general, that alone, each one on their own, no
matter how good their performance and that of the
team are, it will be worse.
PARENTS IN SPORTS COMPETITION
I give you an example of what is heard several Saturdays and Sundays in
youth football.
In a play that runs along the right wing, a young player skillfully drives the
ball towards the rival goal. At that moment, and before the shouting of the
public, the coach clearly shouts “Walk around. “Walk”
while the father of the child,
Parents, we want to play excited about his son's possible
with these 10 rules goal, exclaims "Tiiiiiiira." In
turn, an unmarked classmate
shouts “Ehhhh, I'm alone.”
1- Don't yell at me in public The child looks from one side
2- Don't yell at the coach
to the other and finally... an
4- Don't look down on my colleagues opponent steals the ball and
5- Don't lose your cool
6- Laugh and have fun watching me play sends it to a corner.
7- Don't give me lessons after the game
8- Don't forget it's just a game In this situation (real or
9- Think that I will always do the best I can
fictitious, let everyone think
what they want), an 8-year-
old boy who only plays soccer for pleasure has received at least 3 orders
in an interval of 5 seconds. And as is logical, he has not made any.
One of the possible functions of the sports psychologist is to attend to the
training, learning and development of young footballers.
In the previous example, I have no doubt that the parents' intention when
giving those orders was none other than to help their children become better
players.
However, in each weekend's competition there are a series of circumstances,
such as the pressure of being evaluated or the fear of doing poorly in front
of their peers, which mean that parents must take into account a series of
guidelines:

• Parents should have fun watching their children play.

• They should feel satisfied that their child is doing physical activity,
with all the benefits that entails.

• Parents must be a model of behavior for their children, respecting the

players and coaches of other teams and the referee
• You should never criticize any player, either publicly or privately, as
this can have a negative impact on performance.

• Finally, parents must respect the work of the coaches, not getting
involved in their decisions.

In conclusion, it is worth saying that the competition already has a

component of stress and nervousness for young players. Therefore, the
parents' job in this regard is not to add more pressure despite their good
intentions, since then they would be creating negative stress in their child
that would have an impact on their development as a person.

SPORTSMAN

FATH RENADOR
ER

DEALING WITH PARENTS OF PLAYERS

Regarding treatment with the fathers and mothers of young people, A.
Gordillo (1992) offers some guidelines within his work on sports initiation
aimed at preventing and achieving a good relationship climate with the
families of athletes. However, when the expected collaboration of the soccer
players' parents does not occur and the common goal does not exist, sports
practice suffers. To prevent this possibility, from Sports Psychology our
experience of working with young soccer players (Pulgarin et. to the. 2009)
and those of other similar experiences (Morilla et. al., 2002) show us a high
degree of effectiveness of the following strategies:
a) Establish the roles that each party plays
b) Establish particular and common objectives
c) Propose a joint work guide
And in view of the possible types of parents that may be an obstacle in our
work as coaches, we propose:
• With disinterested parents, frequently absent from their children's
sports activities.
1) Try to increase parental intervention by assigning them observable tasks
that they can perform: accompany the soccer players to matches inside and
outside the town, collaborate in specific events held by the sports entity,
attend group meetings at the beginning and/or end of the season, support in
some way evident to the club, etc.
2) Establish the limits of the parental role and your own before the
footballer, to avoid emotional confusion in the player
3) Let them know that the coach sees it as positive to maintain some type of
contact with them, even if the circumstances are sometimes adverse. Be
open to interaction, but without pressuring them to go to the sports club or
school

• With critical parents. They are parents who show a non-reinforcing

attitude towards the short-term achievements of their children, since
the levels of demands they impose on them are always far ahead of
the goals achieved. A variant of this type of parents are those who
also show little emotional control and become vociferous in training
and, more frequently, in matches.
1) Keep them as part of the team, with duties and rights, and let them see
from within the difficulties that come with doing our work and why
sometimes it looks incomplete from the outside.
2) Show the convenience of giving coordinated messages in front of the
players, so that they can perform as much as they can
3) Maintain your own space and an atmosphere of respect. Set an example
with our behavior and ask for reciprocity in it. Never get into direct
disputes, as we would reinforce the negative position of these parents. Learn
and practice strategies at all times so as not to lose the necessary serenity
that working with children requires.

• Shadow coaches. Frequently, these parents are within the previous

group, since their levels of demand make them personal trainers for
their children, so that they make decisions and instruct outside the
guidelines of the technicians. The work guidelines are very similar to
those of the previous point, to which we will add that we must favor
the "deactivation" of these parents as coaches, at least within the
sports entity, for which we will seek the support of people different
from us. in this work.

• With overprotective parents. This role usually occurs in parents,

especially when the children are young. On other occasions, it is
observed that one of the parents, still in disagreement with the
overprotection that the other admits that the other exercises over their
child, adopts a passive attitude of "not being able to do anything" in
the face of the situation, and acceptance of the dynamic even
knowing the harm that this causes to the child. The work with this
group of parents should be aimed at:
1) Initially offer them all the information they need so that they can
positively evaluate the work that is going to be done with their children.
Insist on the professionalism of those who work with them and clarify any
initial doubts they may have in this regard.
2) Be willing to maintain contacts within what is established as the school's
operating rules. Show that over-involvement can be detrimental to the
child's functioning and that with regulatory channels, the right to receive
information is fully covered.
3) Encourage children to make decisions for themselves and express their
feelings and ideas, to ensure that both within the sports entity and outside it,
parents are forced to readjust their role in relation to their child to
accommodate them to the desirable situation.

A FATHER TOLD HIS SON: “BE CAREFUL

WHERE YOU WALK.”
... THE SON ANSWERS: “BE CAREFUL,
REMEMBER THAT I FOLLOW YOUR
FOOTSTEPS.”_______________________
TYPES OF MOTIVATION IN BASELINE FOOTBALL
In general, most parental actions are aimed at motivating their children.
However, you have to be very careful with this issue, since there are times
when your attempts to motivate can exert negative pressure. Therefore,
parents should know that there are basically two types of motivation:

• External or extrinsic motivation.

It is that motivation that leads the person to carry out activities to
satisfy needs that are not covered by carrying out the activity itself. In
the case of soccer, a soccer player may be motivated to get trophies,
praise from his teammates and coaches, money,... Although in the
short term it can give better results, players with this type of
motivation usually lose interest in the game. sport when those
rewards become difficult to achieve, thus causing abandonment of
sports practice.

• Internal or intrinsic motivation.

This type of motivation occurs when the simple fact of carrying out
the sporting activity is in turn a reward for the young footballer. That
is, a child who plays soccer for fun or to improve as a player would
be dominated by intrinsic motivation. This type of motivation is more
stable, long-lasting and satisfactory, since it does not depend on
external factors and therefore can be controlled more easily.
Therefore, it is essential that rewards are a means to an end, that is,
motivating the athlete to learn and improve as a player, but preventing
external rewards from being the end in themselves.
The mission of a coach is to integrate his objectives with the goals of the
group. To do this you must work from different places. Today I will focus
on motivation. To motivate, there are several topics that the coach must take
into account. To begin with, distinguish what kind of motivation leads them,
external motivation focused on results, or internal motivation focused on
constant improvement.
Let's assume that the same question is what the coach should also ask
himself: Why do I train? What do I want to achieve? How am I? What am I
looking for? Lead, teach, figure, command, no one knows how I do? Why
do we do things in life? For example: Why do we train the sport we are
passionate about? To get tired, to sweat, to waste time, to say I just went to
train, to fulfill, to reach goals, to break records, to fulfill an obligation, to
appear, to have fun?
Motivation is linked to will and, together with instincts and impulses, they
mobilize us to action. It implies needs, desires, expectations, a reason to set
out towards obtaining a desire is to put on your shirt and make it skin. Many
times coaches have been players, and the change in hierarchy and role leads
them to think from their own subjectivity. Although it implies rich gaming
experiences that they have lived through, that does not create a parallel in
thinking that their players will have the same motivation and love for the
sport.
Each player has a different story that identifies him in his uniqueness, not all
of them come from playing in teams nor do they have the same gaming
experience. They cannot be expected to think, act, or have the same
motivation, attitude or playing style as the coach. These are things that
sometimes are not thought of, but are demanded of the team, the line is
lowered and they are given as understood. They do not conceive how a
player does not
can learn a technique, or is a little clumsy, or does not meet the necessary
expectations. Let's think that there are no innate skills, they are skills to
work on that require patience and dedication from their teacher. One is not
born, one is made.
The concept of knowing how to motivate or activate a team is not always
well understood. Motivation is related to emotion. Motivation is the force
that activates and directs behavior. Activation is related to action. It is the
amount of energy, more or less, in response to an action.
In motivation we find evaluative emotions, related to the result, such as:
disappointment, sadness, joy, anger, or emotions related to overcoming the
self: courage, passion, pride, worth, etc. The second are the ones that really
matter and are related to growth as people, as players to achieve a goal.
External motivation is related to
shame, internal motivation to
hope.

- The coach's words are essential

Activation is what coaches and
athletes relate to loss of
concentration since it is related to
the use of the body's energy to carry out activities. The activation is related
to the harangue, to exalt the player. Many coaches confuse it with
motivation, but they are not motivating, they are activating the team. That is
why they believe that before competing, costume techniques such as
shouting and strong speeches should be used to raise spirits. We do not deny
the importance of this group technique before a competition, but space must
also be given to “that word” that excites, exalts, that touches that intimate
fiber and makes them think why they are here, why they have come, What
do they come to look for? Behind a harangue we heard: “you have to give
everything, to die on the field.” These words only manage to put pressure on
the player and over activate him: he loses concentration, there is a tendency
to injury, greater aggressiveness. Everything is fast, clumsy, he wants to
take all the balls, he doesn't think, he tackles everyone, he loses control and,
worst of all, he uses up his energy all at once, leaving him with no rest.
Saying: “we are going to go out and win” does not work. We are already
talking about a determination to fulfill and, when it is not obtained, it
generates frustration. The “we are going to do our best” marks a more real
objective where fear does not refer to fulfillment.
We know that fear paralyzes, blocks mentally and physically. Sometimes
that emotion is so great that it overwhelms the player entirely, interfering
with learning and execution. The coach can investigate. What do we fear?
To win, to lose, to the coach, to what they will say, to the rival, to
relegation, to being removed? When players can give a name to their fears,
they realize that fear does not exist, that it is formed only by them, they face
the game differently.
How do you face fear, what tools do you use? Can the coach talk to the
players after a loss? Do you have any positive reinforcement to immediately
get them out of that losing spirit? Can you position them in hope for a
future?
Fear and defeat must be faced, gone through, never avoided or postponed
the problem for fear of speaking. If the coach can tolerate it, the players will
too. We must constantly talk about fear, pressure, what emotions or
thoughts do they hide?
Players who are intrinsically motivated do not need to be motivated. They
know why they play, they meet their objectives, they accept defeats, but as a
learning to go back out into the arena to play “with everything we have” and
not from “everything we lack” to achieve the objective for which they work
so hard. has been worked on.

SPORTS AND STUDIES

Another aspect that worries parents the most is the fact of combining sports
and studies. During the first stages, such as baby and fry, it is relatively
simple due to the light load of homework that children have. But as we
move forward, some parents think that sports practice and academic activity
are incompatible. Thus, relatively frequently we find parents who do not let
their children go to training or matches, citing lack of time or who even
threaten to take their children out of sports if they do not achieve the results
they want.
Below we are going to propose a series of guidelines or advice that can be
used by coaches when trying to convince parents that removing their child
from sports is not the best option:

• Physiological, cognitive, social and emotional benefits. First of all, no

one doubts the benefits of playing sports, but we do not always
realize that by trying to make the child learn a lesson, we are
probably causing him harm.
At a general level, it reduces the risk of heart disease, strengthens
bones, muscles and joints, helps prevent cancer, etc...
At a cognitive level, it contributes to the development of
understanding, application and analysis processes, while improving
intelligence capacity when solving problems.
In the social sphere, they develop socialization, become familiar with
teamwork and learn to respect opponents, referees and rules.
Finally, in the emotional sphere, it covers their recreational needs,
facilitates integration into a group and improves their self-knowledge
and their tolerance for frustration when having to accept decisions
with which they probably do not agree.

• Motivate without pressure

It is also important to make parents see the difference in results that
exists between, on the one hand, stimulating and motivating study
combined with sports and, on the other hand, threatening and
pressuring children to get better grades.
From my personal opinion, I believe that a reward or reinforcement
will always be better than a punishment, therefore, we are going to
reward the efforts of the child in question to combine both.

• Source of self-esteem
Many times, sport is the only source of self-esteem that children have.
When the ball rolls, children forget about possible problems at home
or how bad they had the previous day in math class.
Removing that source of self-esteem does not help their growth.

• Coaches' interest
The task of combining sports and studies is not simply a matter for
parents.
The coaches of any grassroots football club must also give their
opinion and show interest in their players' studies.
We must not forget that coaches also act as a model for the players
and must act accordingly.
But if I finally decide to remove my children from sports... have their
academic results improved? Experience confirms that in most cases
academic results do not improve after abandoning sports practice. What's
more, on numerous occasions school performance is favored by sports
practice.
It is everyone's job (parents, coaches and sports psychologists) to teach
young players to combine studies and sports, two aspects of enormous
importance for their development as people.

ACADEMIC PROBLEMS
The youth soccer coach works with school-age children. Throughout this
period of more than ten years, the footballer must combine his academic
obligations: attendance at an educational center, passing the subjects in the
curriculum and learning the values and norms of group coexistence, with the
practice of his favorite sport. . In most cases, this coexistence does not have
to be problematic, since the school will provide the footballer with the
necessary basic training for life while sport will complement this training
and reinforce the values of respect, improvement and habits. healthy
lifestyle that both education and sport promote.
However, with the passing of the years and the succession of academic
courses of increasing difficulty, together with prepubertal and adolescent
changes, along with the assimilation that family values transmit to children
regarding the importance of studies and the influence increasing of equal
friendships, to the detriment of the predominant role of parents, can cause
either sports practice, academic performance, or both, to suffer a brake on
their development.
Frequently, the primary importance of completing compulsory schooling
and the lack of organization in study habits result in families deciding to
suppress, separate the child from practicing sports, in search of the expected
success in studies that will allow the student to continue without problems
with their academic development.
On a significantly smaller number of occasions, the balance leans towards
sports practice, and parents are encouraged to abandon their studies in
search of a sports career that will ensure a job in the future.
In this situation, our position as professionals must be based on the
following principles:
• Avoid at all times falling into the false belief that football is an
obstacle for the child to achieve adequate academic development. As
we have already said before, both have common purposes, in such a
way that at no time can contradictory messages be given from sports
schools or undervalue the facet of the young footballer as a student.
• Show interest in the academic performance of our footballers. Since
they are on a long path whose results will be seen in later years, they
need incentives that remind them that what they are doing at school
also matters in the sports club or soccer school they are in. Know the
academic results by trimester and/or school year, investigate the
causes of possible school difficulties, be understanding of the
moments of the school year in which they must attend to studies as a
priority: exams, academic tests, etc. will help reinforce the idea that
both aspects of your life are linked
• In the face of school difficulties, and especially, in the face of serious
difficulties adapting to the school, try at all times to serve as support
for the teaching work and contribute to reinforcing in the footballer
the idea of the importance of the value of education. Sometimes,
especially from the beginning of adolescence, it is common for young
soccer players to tend to believe that "football is enough to succeed
and make money." It will be precisely our intervention and clarifying
those erroneous ideas that can prevent them from making
inappropriate decisions at this moment in their life.
• Promote the organization of academic work to be able to combine
sports and academic activities. Teach simple study habits: order,
schedule, consistency, use of books and other materials, etc. so that
both the footballer and his family understand the possibility of
carrying out both activities in parallel, with consistency and
perseverance.
• Refer those especially serious cases: school absenteeism, behavioral
and/or family problems, significant learning difficulties, lack of
motivation towards studies, to Psychopedagogy professionals existing
in the centers, to promote a specialized approach to the specific
problem. It is essential to have family support in these cases, since the
lack of family support for school can generate desires to abandon
studies and "escape" to football as a solution to the problem, a
situation that must be avoided at all costs.
In our field of work, modeling has given us excellent results as the main
technique when addressing this type of problem, since young footballers
tend to be highly influenced by both harmful and desirable examples. A
good use of these references will help them face the problems derived from
their academic activity and help them in their vocational decisions.
THE FEARS OF YOUNG FOOTBALL PLAYERS
Fear is an emotion that the subject notices when faced with stimuli, real or
possible, that he perceives as disturbing. As De Diego and Sagredo (1992)
tell us, when an athlete or coach fears "something", they experience that
situation with insecurity and think and feel in such a way that they are
unable to cope with it.
There are sports psychologists (Roffé, 1996) who have determined up to
thirty possible situations that can generate fear in soccer players. It is worth
pointing out that each athlete has their own behavior patterns and that a
soccer player may have one or more of the fears detailed above, or perhaps
feel afraid of other situations not described there, as a result of personal
experiences.

One of the coach's actions in this case is not to reinforce those fears
in front of the footballer.
But we must keep in mind
that the origin of this
process is not the event or stimulus
that causes fear but rather the
sensation that is felt and not knowing
how to handle it (Echeburúa, 1996).
Therefore, although from our point of
view as an adult and as a coach it
may be very clear that the footballer's
supposed object of fear is not worthy
of that reaction, our intervention usually focuses on influencing the
following objectives:

• Establish a means of communication so that the footballer can

confidently express and accept the existence of that fear, either in
front of the team or, preferably, in private.

• Demonstrate, through real data, that fear comes from within the
footballer, and that it probably has not even been or is present at this
moment.

• Insist on those strong points of the footballer that can help him
overcome that obstacle. Give examples in which you have overcome
other difficulties more or less similar to those that currently produce
this emotion.

• Do not set a deadline to overcome that fear. Deadlines to overcome a

problem are usually perceived as another added fear. Use messages in
front of the footballer that reassure him about when he will be able to
overcome that fear such as "You will achieve it without realizing it,
when you least expect it" or "You will achieve it at the most ideal
moment for you and your future." Short-term work objectives should
never, in these cases, make a direct reference to the object of fear, but
rather focus more on "distracting" achievements that favor the
subject's concentration on stimuli that are not a source of anxiety and
that focus their immediate energies in achieving them. So p. e.g.
Faced with fears of failure or ridicule, it is advisable to formulate
objectives based on technical and tactical achievements that
encourage a relegation of the negative thoughts and sensations that
these fears generate.

• Teach the soccer player to control the anxiety and negative thoughts
that fears generate: learn to detect those thoughts, the rigid, "non-
rational" internal language that usually accompanies these ideas,
promote alternative activities that are incompatible with the emission
of those thoughts, offer an alternative language that generates more
self-confidence in your state of mind, help stop the chains of negative
thoughts related to fears, etc.

SPORTS COACHING IN A COACH

BASE FOOTBALL
Sports coaching is a tool of sports psychology that aims to improve the
performance of the athlete or a group (team) of athletes through cognitive
processes.
This tool has proven to be very effective when you know how to use it and
although it is not talked about as much, it can be very dangerous when you
do not know how to use it. It is therefore necessary to have specific training
in this discipline and to have, as far as possible, the advice of a sports
psychologist.
With this article we are going to try to talk a little about the fundamentals on
which sports coaching is based so that coaches can extract valuable
information when using this discipline in their teams.
Sports coaching is used by a figure who is the coach, (in the case of a
football team the coach in most cases) must be a leader for the team; It must
influence the team's footballers, guiding the project towards achieving
objectives, through awareness, responsibility and motivation.
The coach must therefore have a series of skills that must be enhanced and
exercised at all times, such as:
• Hear:
The coach must listen to his coaching staff, his players and his entire
environment to best adapt his speech and work and focus it to obtain
the best possible performance. Listening is capturing the external
information received, analyzing it and internalizing it to use it later.
• Notice:
You must observe the day-to-day life of your team, both individually
and collectively, to draw conclusions about the positive and negative.
Observing is a cognitive process consisting of perceiving information
and behavioral characteristics of the external world (things, people,
processes, etc.)

• Ask:
It is necessary to delve a little deeper and if, in addition to
observation and listening, we ask our team members about specific
aspects, we will obtain extra information that will give a plus to all
our information collected.

• Analyze:
Once all the information has been collected, it must be analyzed, so a
good coach must have analyst skills.

• Give feedback:
After the analysis, the coach must correct or reinforce those
behaviors/tasks that have been incorrect or correct.

It is also logically necessary that the coach has good training, experience
and a predisposition towards new learning, that is, concerns that make him
improve.
The coach will also have to meet certain characteristics to be considered a
good leader:
• Work towards a common goal
• Put the collective before individualities
• Seek and have the recognition of the group
•theirInfluence the players with their behavior and speeches • Assume
responsibility
• Execute decisions
Once we know the characteristics and skills necessary for the coach to
provide good sports coaching to his team, we will go on to analyze the lines
of action that the coach must carry out to improve the personal and
collective performance of his players.

• TEAMWORK:
To put the collective before individualities, it is necessary to work as
a team. The best way to work as a team is to divide tasks but always
seeking a common goal. It can be done with the technical team, that
is, the coach, physical trainer, physiotherapist, psychologist,
nutritionist, etc. They divide the work but they always have in mind
the common objective that they have previously chosen (winning,
training, etc.) This is very nice and very easy to say but it is necessary
to carry out good team work and for it not to be a simple group work
to create an identity with which the players feel identified through
individual and team knowledge, with a mission (objective) and work
processes to carry out said mission.

• THE OBJECTIVES:
We must have a clear purpose to give meaning and significance to
each of the actions we undertake every day. When the objective is
known, the work becomes clearer and gains perspective. The
objectives, as we have already mentioned before, must be specific
(what, how and when), measurable (that can be quantified to be able
to control it), achievable (attractive for the team), real (that adjust to
our internal and external reality). and temporally achievable (framed
within a time frame).

• THE MOTIVATION:
Nowadays in sports, the use of motivational tools to try to get the best
out of oneself or a team is very fashionable. Thus we see how training
places are filled with motivating phrases from great champions or
relevant people; Videos of their own or other people's great exploits
prior to the competition are used, etc. Motivation is the engine that
pushes us to achieve the objectives set. To know how to motivate,
several requirements are necessary: the predisposition of the athlete,
the establishment of objectives and a good coach/trainer with good
verbal skills who knows how to send the correct message to the
athlete/team.

• EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE MANAGEMENT:

Emotional intelligence is one of the tools that a coach must know how
to use; they must know how to be able to control their words and
behavior regardless of external situations or events. Applied to sport,
it is that you should not allow yourself to be negatively influenced by
negative results, nor be upset by good results. In the same way, he
must be able to control this in his own players. Many times teams that
in the last few days have “everything done” in the competition end up
losing championships or getting scared for not knowing how to
manage emotions intelligently.
ACTION OF THE COACH IN SITUATIONS
CONFLICTS
What is a conflict?
Situation in which two or more people with conflicting interests enter into
confrontation, opposition or undertake antagonistic actions, to achieve the
objectives.
It is a process in which there is opposition of unsatisfied interests, needs,
desires and/or values.
• Conflicts do not have to be something negative, nor be confused with
violence.

• Conflicts will only be negative if they are resolved negatively.

• A well-addressed conflict allows the growth and development of

individuals and groups.

• Learning social and communication skills are essential to manage or

resolve a conflict.
POSITIVE ASPECTS NEGATIVE ASPECTS

- Engine of social change - Deteriorates cooperation and

teamwork

Yo - Serves to increase the - Distrust increases between

creativity (search for the group members
solutions and alternatives)

- Bring to the surface the - Decreases motivation

hidden problems

- Raises the morale of the group (confidence - Behaviors are encouraged, release
tensions and create a hostile and aggressive climate among those) group
members

- Increases self-esteem and credibility - Learning new skills or good image of the
team can affect credibility.
(negotiation, creativity...)
We can highlight several causes that lead to a conflict, between coach and
player or between the players themselves:

• Relationship and communication conflicts

• Information conflicts

• Conflicts of interest

• Conflict of values

• Role conflicts

We can look for possible signs that lead to this conflict and thus try to fix it.

DISCOMFORT

MISUNDERSTANDI
NGS
STRAIN

DISSATISFACTION
INCIDENTS
• What we should not do in the face of a conflict.

• Trying to avoid conflict (it can worsen), by preventing it from occurring,

can lead to it becoming greater, which is why there are moments where it
is good for it to occur in order to reduce tensions between teammates and
the coach.

• Making assumptions, passing judgment or blaming, we must always, as

coaches and in this case judges, be clear about the reasons that lead to
this conflict and not make hot decisions, which can be wrong and alter
the work and unity of the group.

• Interrupting the person who is speaking, we can approach this as an

educational issue, we must always listen to the parties involved.

• Ignoring the interests of each of the parties, judging by the interests of

the group and not by each player's own, would otherwise drive us
completely crazy and we would be incapable of resolving the conflict.

• Allowing emotions to dominate the dialogue, if emotions, egos... surpass

the dialogue, we will not be able to bring the conflict to a successful
conclusion.

• Focus on the person and not on the problem, each person is the world,
therefore we must be clear that each footballer within the locker room is
very different, way of being, religion... therefore the most important
thing is to focus on the problem first and foremost. .

• Try to impose, always apply logic, and never impose because you are the
coach, a logical agreement must be reached within the locker room.
} Recommendations for addressing a conflict

• Describe the situation that we dislike or want to change.

• Listen carefully to understand the problem.
• Argue and express feelings in the 1st person (appropriate
emotional tone).

• Focus on the problem and not the person.

• Maintain an open and receptive attitude.

• Know how to reinforce positive, beneficial attitudes.

EQUIPMENT

PLAYERS
PARENT
TECHNICAL S
SPORTS

DIRECTORS

REFEREES
I am going to highlight several conflicts which we can encounter with
players.
• Player lacks self-control in training/matches.

• Players with an impulsive and conflictive character.

• Lack of authority from the coach

• Lack of clear rules.

• Player-coach problems.

• Problems with colleagues.

• Little interest in training/matches

Faced with these problems, we must look for methods of action to resolve
them and once again ensure that the group and the players themselves are
fully motivated.
• Know the personal characteristics of the players and know how to
communicate appropriately with them.

• Analyze the reasons for indiscipline.

• Reinforce appropriate behaviors and punish inappropriate ones.

• Make training as enjoyable and entertaining as possible.

• Address conflicts and know how to manage them appropriately.

As coaches of a group of footballers we can also encounter group cohesion

conflicts, which I think we can highlight as the most important, since they
can excessively undermine the motivation of the players both individually
and collectively.
• Little motivation, this can be due to bad results, lack of bonuses, it
does not have to be money, especially in grassroots football.
• Little confidence in the team/teammates, the group is not comfortable
during training and in the locker room and this is reflected on the
field of play.

• Few common interests, they are not guided by anything in common, it

may be that they are not well classified, and they do not fight for any
cup, which leads to having little group interest.

• Lack of communication between team members is usually one of the

most prominent, since there are teams in which it is necessary to do
great group work so that the necessary communication is not lacking
both on the field and in the locker room between players.

• Incompatibility of characters, that is what we coaches struggle with

daily, and as we have already talked about, each player is different
and has a way of thinking and working, our challenge is for everyone
to row together.

• Individualistic attitudes, the magic of each player, but some,

especially in grassroots soccer, abuse it, and this on the field affects
the group too much, as they say among coaches "he needs one ball for
himself and another for the team."

• There is a lack of a leader, a captain, who sets the pace, who is aware
of the players and how they should behave; it is always difficult to
find someone who is sufficiently qualified to carry out this task.

• Lack of common objectives, new challenges for the team that manage
to increase the group's motivation.

• Conflicts within the locker room (opposing subgroups), it is also

common, especially among players between the ages of 14-17, to find
situations in which groups form at locker room time, to work, etc.

I show you some proposals to face these conflicts between the group of
players:
• Strengthen collective work and mutual help
• (individual objectives at the service of group objectives)
• Analyze the relationships of group members, using sociograms.
• Set group objectives
• Promote constructive dialogue between team members.
• Create a feeling of belonging to the group and club

WHAT IS FEEDBACK
It consists of providing information about the results of an action. If used
properly, it becomes a very powerful learning and motivation tool.
Communication between player and coach is one of the most important
processes in the player's teaching-learning.
Until a few years ago, street games were the place where players learned
and developed their skills.
Little by little and over the years, society has been changing habits, with
sports clubs in the image of their coach being the ones that have acquired
importance to get the maximum development of their potential.
We can define feedback as the information that the coach provides to the
player about how he is executing the exercise (errors that he makes and that
he must correct, progress that he is making, etc.).
This information is nothing more than a correction or contribution to the
initial or feedforward information.
Feedback can be intrinsic (marked by the athlete himself) or extrinsic
(marked by the coach). One of the important guidelines when giving
feedback is not to give it systematically in each action so as not to create
dependency in the player, to play with the ideal moment so that the player
himself is able to analyze and apply the best response for correction of the
error or consolidation of the motor gesture.
We can also find feedback depending on the moment after the execution and
which can be presented individually or in groups to the players, there are 3
types:
• Concurrent:
Feedback that is made during execution. It is conditioned by the type
of task. In a continuous task, it is easier to give concurrent feedback.

• Advantage: That the student modifies while executing. They are more
effective from the point of view of execution, but a level of difficulty
is the student's attention, so the feedback must be concrete and
simple.

• Immediate: Feedback that is made immediately after the execution. It

allows a close memory of the activity and stops to explain it. If we
want to correct all students, it cannot be very extensive, so it is
advisable to be specific and simple.

• Delayed: It is less effective because it occurs much later than the

execution or the moment of the action, but it is often due to the
conditions of the task. For example during a match or after a certain
number of actions in an exercise.

The coach can offer feedback about the player in different ways:
• Interrogative: asking the player about his feelings and trying to get
the player himself to give us an answer about the execution. This type
of response has a proprioceptive nature and depends greatly on the
player's maturational capacity.

• Explanatory: the coach gives the causes of the error in the execution.
The player therefore does not analyze the error but does analyze the
solution for the error.

• Prescriptive: the coach gives the causes and the solution. From my
point of view it is a quick way for them to understand the causes but
it makes the players very dependent on the coach.

• Emotional: we simply reinforce the player's attitude.

Currently we find players increasingly dependent on the coach on the fields.
This is due to society and all the advances that make people and especially
youth find solutions at their fingertips in a very easy and accessible way that
makes them dependent on them and not use their intellect, causing any
obstacle a challenge, a wall from which it is difficult for them to escape and
from which they do not know how to get out on their own. We can say then
that the teaching process through guided discovery will little by little
disappear, and the figure of the autocratic coach will appear, who must
solve each of the errors of each of the players who are on the field. The
famous “trainer with a game console controller”.

Analysis of the coach's behavior in the application of feedback

• Observation phase:
The coach will make an intrinsic comparison between what he wants from
the player and the result of the action.
To do this, the error must be identified, its importance assessed and the
moment of intervention decided.

• Intervention phase:
Moment in which the coach has made the intervention decision and has
already selected the type of feedback for the intervention and decides to act
only on the player or on the group.
You must be aware that the feedback intervention has a great weight on the
student.
Finally, it is always important to highlight that sport will help form players
as people and be prepared for the bad and good moments they will have in
life.
Teamwork, camaraderie, trust, sacrifice, self-control, will be values that will
help you outside the sports field.
We must be clear that at an early age the most important thing is not to win,
but for the player to progress at a technical-tactical-physical level.
Managing this is not an easy task.
In a competitive society, where many parents see their children as potential
“Messis or Cristiano Ronaldo”, the mission of the coach/educator is to
protect the player and educate him in the practice of football.
THE MOTIVATION OF YOUNG PLAYERS IN THE
QUARRY

Motivation in the most famous sport in the world, football, really plays a
very important role in the initiation and maintenance required in this
prestigious sporting activity. Dosil (2004) specified that motivation in sports
practice is considered a necessary and fundamental element to be able to
correctly explain the issues related to orientation, initiation, required
maintenance, and abandonment that occurs in most activities. sports, Bet on
Sports predictions highlight the value and importance of motivation in
football.
It is common to observe that there are few young people who approach
professional sports, this is because a sports career involves great
commitment, perseverance, effort, dedication, discipline, etc.
But today's young people spend more time playing with their technological
devices, and carry out other activities that do not require the qualities that
must be had to play soccer. Motivation is important to put into practice so
that talented soccer players start their sports career and can maintain
themselves at an excellent level.
Motivation helps players remain faithful to their goal and not abandon their
sporting career with a great future. It should be noted that motivation is
ideal because it provides persistence, intensity, and the quality that is
required in all training sessions to have maximum performance.
Soccer players generally begin their sports careers from a very young age,
playing soccer on their school teams, or training in the youth teams of senior
teams.
But nowadays it is very difficult to recruit highly talented young players in
football, and it is also too difficult to keep these young players
demonstrating their sporting ability in competitions. The motivational work
carried out in sports not only focuses on all the qualities that must be had
when competing, but also helps to know which factors directly influence
abandoning a sports career. In the initiation stage of a young person in
football, referees, coaches, managers, and all those people who directly
influence this sport, must completely ensure that the entire activity of
playing this sporting discipline is creative, always ensuring that there is a
excellent progress in the practice of football, at the same time allowing the
beginning of a sports career to be efficient and maintainable over time.
Motivation allows players to recognize that they have the ability to improve
every day, to grow, and maintain a sporting career of great international
success.
Rogers' (1986) theoretical model of motivation. This theory argues that
children who personally choose the activities they like the most find it easier
to do work and are always motivated. This happens with soccer, children
who start practicing this beautiful sport do it because they like it, and they
are perhaps attracted by other external motivations exposed in the media
such as long trips, luggage, playing with other classmates, etc

The majority of players who leave football do so for the following reasons:
• The player no longer achieves the same results in his sports practice.
• They no longer have the same physical performance
• Their parents are very demanding and critical of the game
• The training sessions are more intense, and the sports competitions
are more demanding.

How do you have to work on the motivational aspects for the quarry
players?
The abandonment of soccer practice has almost the same percentages as in
other sports disciplines. Children can start playing soccer at a young age,
but it is difficult for them to continue practicing this sport at ages 16 to 17.

Strategies to maintain motivation when starting out in football:

• Complete motivational strategies should be used so that young
players always feel motivated to learn, learn new skills in
competitions, and perfect their game.

• The main mission of coaches and instructors is to allow children to

always be motivated to play soccer. Coaches must develop an
appropriate schedule, put into practice rules that must be respected,
and create an exercise plan that helps young people improve soccer
techniques.

• Coaches must design a plan of creative activities in the initiation

stage of football, so that players do not become demotivated by
monotonous training. In the children's categories the sessions should
not be so intense, they should only last between 50 to 60 minutes.

• All technical personnel who influence the practice of football must

receive professional training, which allows them to provide excellent
motivation to the players.
• Performance should be valued more than results.

PSYCHOLOGICAL STRATEGIES OF MOTIVATION IN

INITIATION

Our approach in this section will consist of differentiating the psychological

strategies for training and learning and for competition and improvement
since, in general, young players consider competition very motivating but
not so much attending training and learning sessions.

Monitors and coaches of quarry players.

The monitor, the coach, is a fundamental factor in promoting and

maintaining the sporting activity of children and young people. As the main
motivating agent of the apprentice player's activity, it must create enriching
situations for the player's development.

At the initiation and learning ages, sports instructors and coaches must have
good general sports and soccer-specific training.
At first, the young man who chooses the sport does so out of personal
interest since he believes that he can play well in a sport that he has seen
practiced continuously.
The beginner player plays for fun to have fun and tries to imitate his idols
and dreams of playing for his favorite teams someday.

Also, on other occasions it is the only sports option they find, because in
their environment: town, school... there are no other sports.
All children in the beginning consider soccer as a game in which they have
fun and that is how they practice it.
The beginning of the systematization of training: days, schedules, rules and
exercises aimed at perfecting technical skills represent a cognitive change
that can influence motivation.
In general, periodic attendance at sessions, compliance with the orders and
exercises proposed by the instructors, evaluation of progress, perceived
ability of the game, partial achievements, time available... will condition
and determine the continuity or not of the trainees to continue in practice.
The training of monitors and coaches in all aspects of sport is essential:
pedagogical, psychological, technical, tactical, physical to address the
problems that will determine maintenance in the sport or early
abandonment.
Below we will explicitly explain some ways and skills to improve and
consolidate motivation in initiation.

I'll I
All sports techniques, even the relatively simple ones, are difficult to
achieve and optimize to reach levels of excellence. Soccer technique is very
varied and has multiple possibilities.

It
In general it is attractive to younger people. Achieving excellence is very
difficult and requires talent, physical conditions and dedication. The initial
fundamental technique, as in almost all ball sports, consists of properly
controlling the moving object.
As a rule, and although there are notable exceptions, teaching and learning
activities tend over time to become monotonous and repetitive.
Tactics, in these early stages, have limited weight in training.
Players often train in small groups and even individually which can foster
boredom. Boredom in training sessions is usually cited as one of the causes
of abandoning sporting activity or, where appropriate, changing to another
sport.
In a few years, many future players went from saying “I like it” to “I'm
bored.” In the middle of this process there are usually coaches, monitors,
technicians with little training.

Trainers should design creative activities, preferably in small groups where

a personalized intervention can be carried out. The sessions must be
enjoyable, fun and enjoyable for the players. It is very important that they
are not long, never more than 50-60 minutes for the children's and cadet
categories, and not to dedicate the entire session to repeating the phases of a
single play or technical-tactical action. In the early stages of training, it may
be interesting to have family and friends present in the sessions who will act
as extrinsic social motivators.
This presence should lose importance with the passage of time.
The introduction of physical preparation in these initiation stages is
necessary. It is convenient that both general and specific preparation be
integrated together with technical-tactical components adapted to the reality
of the game. In short, the monitor, the organization of the technical, tactical
and physical activities, the time dedicated to them and the tasks that the
young athlete faces will be fundamental strategies to motivate in these early
stages. The importance of teamwork among specialist technicians in these
first stages of initiation cannot be stressed enough.

ATTENTION TO PERFORMANCE MORE THAN RESULTS

As we have pointed out on more than one occasion, younger and not so
young players tend to value their performance based on immediate results
(e.g. scoring goals, appearing in the starting lineup, being called up,
highlighted in the media...)

The sporting evolution of young players is usually closely linked to the

physical development of the player since this condition is decisive in the
early stages. Fortunately, the emergence of small, skilled footballers is
changing that trend. However, it is still valid in the selection of players in
the minor categories
based on an
outstanding physique.
For this reason there
are players who
manage to stand out at a certain age and when they move on to the next age,
their evolution stagnates or stops.

Currently, there is intense monitoring of the best players in the lower

categories from surrounding clubs.

Therefore, it is very important that monitors and technicians value and

reward effort, performance, general improvement and reduce the importance
of the immediate results achieved.
The formula is to encourage and value efforts and dedication while
constantly monitoring the player's general development without trying to
have short-term goals.

It is preferable to work more slowly and for the player to achieve results
consistent with his age rather than his strength at that age. Patience and
experience will sometimes show us, with the passage of time, the real talent
of players who in their beginnings could not stand out, perhaps because of
their physique.