How do I encourage communication on the pitch ?

how young are the players?

about 18-21 - any ideas ??

I coach 13 year olds and it is very difficult to get them to communicate. One tool is to take a skills drill - say passing the ball, add a rule that the receiver must call the passers name before the pass is made, then add passer must reply with receivers name, then both use both names. I see a short term limited effect for later sessions but can't yet confirm any long term improvement.

Not very sport specific but would maybe improve team moral and communication! Initiative games!! good fun and positive outcomes!

During your sessions ask them questions and encourage them to ask you questions, about the sport your playing. Get there thoughts, ask them what is important and see if communication comes up, then ask when, where and what information is important. The environment you work in will determine the response you get at times.

That may or may not have helped

glad it's not just me with this one! I have coached a group of (now) U16s for about 18 months, and they are very quiet on the field. It is not generally a lack of understanding, as the Q&A technique mentioned does get the right responses. Talking to coaches and parents who have been with the group for 5-6 years, they have apparently "always been quiet", but it is starting to affect their performance on the field. Which is one possible strategy - do they understand the need to communicate more and how it will help their performance in games?

My current plan for pre-season is to include a lot of drills that force them to tell each other information or what to do in order to succeed. Which sounds good, but currently has me racking my imagination to think of game-related examples! So any help appreciated.

This is a bit off the wall, but might be worth a try: why not try a game in which they're not allowed to communicate at all! Without even the most basic shouts of 'man on!', 'I'm free' or whatever, I've found that people pretty quickly get the message that communication is actually really important. After 5 minutes of playing in total silence folks seem to be much more talkative afterwards...

Another approach is to ban talking on the pitch, but not from the sidelines - play with reduced numbers, and have designated 'communicaters' whose job is to talk to those on the pitch. Swap people round regularly so everyone has a chance to do each job.

Again, once players start to realise that they can have a significant impact on the game just by shouting from the sidelines, they're more likely (and have the confidence) to do it in match situations.

Cheers,
Jeff Jackson

One question I got from a pretty bright u12 footballer was, what am I supposed to say?

I thought about this together with the 'loud' players who only knew two words on the pitch, "pass" and "here". Both of which give no decent info to their teammates and places players under pressure to give up posession, which is no good thing.

I started teaching players to shout their position on the pitch or their position in relation to the person they communicated with. Either screaming "right Wing!" or "Centre Back!", this seemed to illicit a more meaningful response from the other player. The hardest thing for players hearing calls from teammates is knowing where on earth the voice came from!

Two things to work into a drill are making directional commands part of the task. (adapt this for your sport) Have a simple control drill turn into a communication drill by having the receiver turn their back on the server. The two players take it in turns to shout "To the left/right or into feet" and the ball is passed in the appropriate direction. Developed further, new commands like through ball, over the top, on my head/chest etc. can be introduced. It sounds strange but teaching players the appropriate vocabulary is crucial to communicating on the pitch in my opinion.

Then, add a third player, this player doesn't touch the ball but instead shouts the same commands to the other two, encouraging players to do an important thing. Telling teammates to pass, but to someone else instead of them. This is something rarely seen even at senior levels but it shows great awareness of tactics and the flow of the game and should be actively encouraged.
EDIT: My colleague just gave me an idea, well it was his really (hes watching me type). Make them wear ear muffs!! Or do what I did and pull your car up to the pitch and crank the stereo up so they have to shout! Just dont wear your battery out lol.

Hope this helps

Would definately advise creating a code of words amongst teams as soon as you begin working with them.

This doesnt have to be complicated as simple is more effective, especially during game situation.

I have coached ice hockey for 15yrs and its also useful to work the first half of some training sessions without the spoken word so the players get the idea that communication both visual and verbal is key to team cohesion.

Late reply but let me know if this helps?

Matt

A couple of ideas: Do some passing drills where they have shout the name of the person they are passing to, or want to receive it from.

Another - start by encouraging more communication off the field in team meetings etc - get them into small groups to discuss certain aspects of performance - review theirs and others' performance, and get them to come up with ideas about how they might communicate better on the pitch in relation to the topics discussed.