When I was in graduate school studying to be a teacher, classroom management monopolized much of the curriculum and the focus of study. From the beginning, our professors and teachers who worked with us said, “everything begins and ends with classroom management.” Meaning, no matter how skilled a teacher, how great the lesson plan, it did not matter if there was a lack of classroom management. From the moment the students step into the classroom to the end of the class, everything that happens is important. This is true for coaches. As teachers, in a bigger classroom and a different topic, the focus of “classroom management’ is just as critical. Without it, a training session will never reach its potential to impact the players’ learning and development.

Let’s take a look at how classroom management can be applied to your team’s training sessions:

When the Players Arrive

I have seen two types of teams. One in which when the players show up for training, their bags are thrown all over the field, and the players are all doing something different. Some are shooting at the goal, others are running and chasing each other, some might be wrestling or squirting each other with water, while others just sit and watch the chaos. The second type of team, the players arrive and all place their bags in a designated area (normally lined up), and then the players are all engaged in the same activity. They might be partner passing, juggling, playing keep away (rondo), or getting right into a small sided game on their own.

Which team do you think will have a more productive training session?

The second team is going to be ready to start training when it is time, and is already in the proper mindset to get the most out of the training session, while the first team will probably take much longer to get focused and be ready to practice.

The activity does not matter as much as the understanding that there is an expectation of what should be done by the players upon arrival. Think of the coach of the first group, and the moment he tries to start practice. How long do you think it would take him to get the group organized and focused to start training? With all the players disorganized and running around, there will probably be a lot of wasted time getting everyone “settled down” before training begins.

Coaches with good classroom management have set clear expectations with their players about what is expected upon arrival and how training will begin. With all the players already participating in the same task and on the same page, when practice begins, it can be set up to be a smooth transition into the first activity (we will talk about transitions later).

Another benefit to this is when the coach is running late or coming from another training session that ends when the next session begins. Many coaches either work another job full time or have other teams they coach. Often, it can lead to coaches running late, or arriving just as practice is scheduled to start. A team that knows what to do when they arrive, will not waste any time and can utilize all of their practice time. It is impressive to watch a coach arrive a couple minutes late to training and their team is already warming up, or playing a rondo, until the coach is ready to start. It is a much better use of time than the players standing around not knowing what to do.

Flow of Activities - Transition

One of the best pieces of advice I received as a student teacher from a mentor was to eliminate “dead time” in my lesson plans. He called it “dead time” because nothing would be going on, and those were the moments your lesson plan was most likely to be “killed” by losing the kids’ attention. Progress made during the class can be stalled or even reversed. When nothing is happening, the kids will fill the time for you, and you might not like their choice of activities.

When moving from one activity to the next in a training session, transitions need to be:

Quick - 2 minutes at the most (much less with younger players) Active - there needs to be direction in what kids are doing during that time.

The more time you give kids to find distractions during activities or get themselves into trouble (for lack of a better term), the harder it will be to get the next activity started in a timely manner or have the players’ full attention. Often, when too much time has past, the first moments of the new activity are spent dealing with behavior or focus issues versus the substance of the activity.

Any break should have clear expectations of the players. The players may be instructed to get water, and then collect all the soccer balls in a certain area, or assist in moving cones/goals. I have seen some coaches have the players get water, and then “juggle” until called back on to the field. Again, no downtime. No opportunities to “check out” of the training session.

Coaches can assist with this by the setup and flow of their activities. When designing sessions, as it is taught in many coaching schools, layout the final activity first and then build down into the first activity. Ideally, coaches only need to remove a few cones or add a few cones for the next phase of training to be begin. Coaches should try to avoid situations that everything needs to be picked up and then reset again for the next activity. This usually causes a much longer pause in the training session, and even players who have been instructed to do things during the break, will lose focus due to there being an excessive amount of time between activities.

The kids want to play. Most behavioral and focus issues for players are born out of boredom from too much down time during training.

Proximity

To help with focus and attention during training, it is important the coach finds a way to move between the players and give individual attention to each player. When coaches tend to just stand in one spot, leaning up against a goal, talking to other coaches, checking their phones, and simply not fully engaged with the kids, there will be a significant lack of focus and effort among the players (on average).

Players pick up on when coaches are not really paying attention to what is going on, or seem to not particularly care. This tells the players what is currently going on is not that important. I am going to use a classroom example. Often when students are working on an activity at their desk quietly, teachers use the opportunity to sit at their desk and get work done. Understandable as free time during the day is limited, but it does send a clear message to the students about the importance of the activity. I found when I would walk around the room and stop at students’ desks to ask questions or assist, not only did the quality of the work improve, the students showed more of an interest in what they were doing. As they saw me walking around, they were more likely to raise their hand or stop and ask questions than when I would be sitting at my desk.

Same is true for coaches. As kids are training, by getting around to all the players, not only does it help significantly decrease behaviour and focus issues, but it sends a clear message that what they are doing is important. You are engaged, interacting with the players, and they will be engaged and interact with you (and each other).

Demeanor

The leader sets the tone of each training session. What type of tone? This is up to the coach, but demeanor and approach sets the tone for everything. As the leader, the attitude and approach that you bring to a training session will permeate through the session.

If you are expecting a very high work rate and focus on very important items in training, then starting out the session in a loose or “laid back” manner way may not be appropriate. If you are joking around with the players one second, and then try to quickly transition them into a serious issue, you may find it difficult.

Your demeanor should be similar each session. If the players do not know if a clown or a drill sergeant is going to show up to practice to coach, it makes it hard for them to understand what will be expected of them each session. The trick is:

Finding a good balance of the clown and drill sergeant (depending on age/level of team). Making your tone, approach, and demeanor synced with what you want to accomplish during the training session. This is where a teacher or coach can move skillfully along the spectrum between a clown or drill sergeant without getting too far on one side or the other.

Expectations

Instead of having rules and consequences as the foundation of behavior management, have a firm set of expectations for both the players and yourself (the coach). These expectations should span the scope of how players talk to each other, to the coach, being prepared, being on time, eye contact, body language when speaking to or listening to another, and how to properly and respectfully approach others when there are disagreements.

Ask the players what they expect from you? Adhere to those expectations that align with your coaching philosophy and clearly explain to the players if some of their expectations are not possible. This process should happen in reverse as well. Ask the players what you should expect from them and what they should expect from each other.

Although this does not eliminate behavior and focus issues that can slow down or halt a training session, it can provide quick and clear actions to address and correct these issues. Often, players will begin to hold each other accountable for them, relieving the coach of some of this burden. When the coach is required to correct the action or behavior, it is more of a reminder of the agreed upon expectations than a punitive action.

This is a better process than no one knowing what the expectations are and your practice is congested with an excess of “don’t do that” or “that is not acceptable.” All coaches accept or do not tolerate certain behaviors, so do not just “expect” your players to know what your expectations are for them at each training session. Also, do not pretend to automatically know what their expectations are of you. You may be surprised to hear what your players expect from you.

The Importance of “Why”

Finally, there needs to be clear purpose in everything you do with your players throughout each training session and the entire season. It is amazing the difference in the level of “buy in” from the players when they clearly understand “why” things are done a certain way. Especially, when the “why” clearly explains the way you run training sessions, the expectations you have set, the activities you use to train your athletes, and everything else you do to help make your players better, on and off the field, you will see a dramatic change in focus and behavior. Help your players understand “why” the little things are important, “why” paying attention to the small details makes a big difference in performance and success, and “why” trusting the process will help them get to where they want to be.

Like in the classroom, when you help kids understand why doing “A” helps them get to “B” which will then allow them to have success with “C”, it is a much more powerful tool to manage focus and behavior than, “Do it because I said so.” When players clearly understand your approach and reason for your actions, they know why complying with what is asked helps them achieve their goals.

The best teachers and the best coaches, not only have tremendous content knowledge of the subject matter they are teaching, but have great command of their environment in which they teach. The mastery and artistry of their craft is not just molding the child but also building a “learning center” that is conducive to growth and development. By being deliberate in how each moment with the kids is managed to support the intended curriculum, both you and your players will have more success.