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Natalie Doyle suggests five practical ways to produce positive participation experiences, boost female players’ morale and increase enjoyment of soccer.
One of the most important outcomes of taking part in sport is the positive impact it can have on confidence.
Unfortunately, a negative experience can have the opposite effect and dent a person’s morale.
Many women will have experienced this from school sports/PE lessons, if they had a negative experience that left them lacking confidence when it comes to sport.
So, how do you make sure that you are using sport, and in particular soccer, in a positive way? How can you utilise it to build confidence, regardless of ability?
Here are some top tips...
When planning your session, think about how you can challenge your high-performing players, while also providing a way to make the challenges achievable for any player that may be struggling.
Celebrate the achievements of all players, making the activity more enjoyable and increasing motivation.
When giving praise, make sure it is genuine and not tokenistic.
There will always be something you can praise for every participant – achievements, attitude or perseverance.
Praising the effort and behaviours is just as important as praising the result – often even more so, as you can’t always control the final result.
A consistent theme that comes out when I talk to coaches is how girls want to know why they’re doing something.
Explain the reasoning behind what you have planned, and try and involve them in making decisions about the session where you can.
Giving responsibility is a great way to build confidence, so let them plan the warm-up, choose between a few options as part of your main session, or decide their own rules or constraints for a small-sided game.
Praise them for taking on leadership roles and point out the positive impact this has on the delivery.
Some girls will be really lacking in confidence when it comes to taking part in sport, so see if there are other ways you can get them involved gradually outside of participation.
Perhaps they can help you set up the equipment, or support your delivery – then you can gradually start to get them involved.
See if they want to join in for five minutes, and then gradually increase this at a pace they are comfortable with.
Speak to the players about confidence, and ask them how confident they feel when it comes to certain activities.
Their parents will know about their worries and concerns. You can work together to address these and build up their confidence.
Sport can have such a positive impact on the lives of young people, and building confidence is a key part of that.
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