The part of the game that can’t be taught, only instructed. Don’t get us a wrong—it can be addressed in training and foundations can be constructed, but it is the player that ultimately makes these “decisions” in the game.

Of course fitness levels and levels of skill will always play a role in a player’s decision making process, so developing these areas of a player’s game will aid in making a player’s decision making skills more effective.

When you talk about soccer decisions you start to get into that 3rd realm of coaching where playing philosophies and tactical understandings come in to play—where a lack of vision, experience or ability from either the player or the coach, can hinder the overall decision making process of a player, who otherwise has the athletic talents to compete.  

When everybody on the team is working together and making the correct decisions on the field than the team will be able to maintain composure and continue playing their game. At this point, their decisions within the game are not due only to the opponent’s demands, but also to their own demands.

So the question still remains “how do you teach decision making?”  Having a seasoned and knowledgeable coach wouldn’t hurt! A mentor, or a player’s coach, that understands the game from a player’s point of view. Of course that is easier said than done.

So what can you do in the meantime? As a player or coach, you can take advantage of Virtual Soccer Trainer and educate yourself on certain soccer constants that every player must know and perform to keep progressing at their playing level.

The network capabilities of this online training facility will not only provide the nuts-and-bolts to training, but it also provides a unique communication element that can assist in the streamlining of your long term coaching methods. 

This will provide a higher level of communication between what coaches want and what players need to do. Proper decision making doesn’t come in an instant, or sometimes even after twenty practices. The more players are exposed to some standards and precepts of making decisions, the more immediate they will be able to make those decisions in the moment.

Click here to learn more about Virtual Soccer Trainer, or contact a soccer consultant at training@4skills.com to learn more about 4skills.com’s soccer training tools.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Front Volley (Ezine). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.