Player accountability

Eric buirmanCoach, South Africa

Hi Brent

I use the PT aspect to enable accountability. If it is a bad pass, 10 push ups (for the whole team), bad trap, 15 sit-ups( whole team). Focus during practice will increase due to everyone being more tuned in to what they are doing to not have to do any PT and also not to let the team down.

The big thing is that if one person fails/lacks discipline the whole team suffers (cards,penalties etc) , thus this also helps with team building.

Hope this helps

Regards

Eric

Steven PortplanOther, England

Hi Brent,

I think this is dependent on the group you are coaching. It`s likely a group of kids won`t respond well to negative reinforcement, and may even input a negative attitude to the team, as one less able player may become resented by the rest of the group as their actions result in physical punishments.

As well as this, your sessions will be stopping and starting constantly. It can become quite irritating, particularly if you`ve put the time into planning a session which you can never fully complete.

If the team as a whole is failing due to a lack of effort, then taking 10 minutes out of training to do sprints can be useful (I often use the excuse that everyone must be too tired to trap a ball properly, and therefore some conditioning is required). If one player seems not to care, then having your captain talk to them could help. Knowing what makes an individual `tick` can really help with the mental side of Hockey.

Let me know your thoughts on the above,

Josh

Mick MasonCoach, Australia

G`day Brent

I am with Josh on this. Players will react to coaching style differently but one universal is that if they are keen players and they see another player not caring, and it is costing them all training time (or costing them laps or burpies or whatever) they will start resenting that players efforts. It is often seen as team building, there is nothing like having a common enemy when you want to bring a team together, but it is self defeating when you will be relying on that player come game day.

I have been known to tell players that act as if they don`t want to be there.... "If you don`t want to train, don`t. Just go sit in the dugout/clubhouse till mum comes to pick you up". And all players know that I expect 100% effort-100% of the time. Every minute you are at training and every minute you are on the pitch playing you are expected to do your best. If players don`t want to put in then I have a chat about it with their parents and try to find out what the issue is. It could be all sorts of things and you will have better chances of finding a solution if you know the root of the problem. If I discover that they are there because parents want it (not themselves) it is made clear that I see someone who doesn`t want to apply themselves as not only detracting from their own enjoyment of the game but also disrespecting the players who are putting in an effort. I do not run a daycare program, I run a hockey team.

Your own response will depend on the level you are coaching, the issues with the player (the reason they "don`t care") and whether or not the parents see them selves as partners with you and the player. Having a quiet chat with the problem players about their expectations for the year and what goals they might have might help you understand the issue, at least it has for me in the past.

I hope you find a solution

cheers

Mick