Most clubs I have been a part of have some kind of annual or bi-annual “player assessment”. For the most part, it’s a simple pencil whipping exercise for coaches to evaluate players and provide feedback. This is not to say that coaches don’t provide some form of feedback throughout the season but based on my experience and observations, it is not consistent and/or formal. And trying to put it all down on paper 6, 8 or 10 months into your season typically leads to generalized, hi level fluff that’s not particularly helpful to anyone.
If we’re really trying to develop each player to continuously improve, they need to hear, see and reflect upon the feedback from their coaches. Not just once per year, but consistently: every day, every week…
That’s easier said than done. It’s extremely time consuming to document, transfer, compile, visualize, present and then “tell the story” of a player’s development journey (opportunities & challenges). I have definitely struggled to be the best coach I want to be, juggling giving my all to my players, my family, my career and my responsibilities.
So with my background in Organizational Management, Psychology, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People workshop instruction, Design Thinking, Lean Six Sigma and David Allen’s GTD system, I have been designing tools over the last 10 years to help me be more efficient & effective in documenting key items from training sessions and matches so that I could gain a better micro/macro understanding of individual and team performance and development.
So, does this make me an expert?
Nope.
But it does mean that I am constantly trying to evolve and understand how I can improve by delivering better feedback to the players and their parents that help them grow, develop and love the game even more. To help them “Shine“.
I began with quite a few parameters/metrics to measure what I felt were key contributing factors to better players. But I eventually simplified them to meet what I felt were the basic requirements to development & improvement for younger players:
- Does the player show up? (attendance)
- Does the player give their all? (effort)
What if coaches took 60 seconds to collect this information after every training session and every match and had an app that summarized the data into presentable information that could be easily shared with players and parents?
Could we have better, more proactive conversations around a young players opportunities to improve themselves?
I think we can.
Enjoy your futbol!
-Coach Eddie