A Coach Wears Many Hats!!!

As a youth coach, regardless of which sport you are involved in you have responsibilities to your players much more important than just their Skill, Technical and Tactical Development!!

Each and every time you interact with youth players as a coach you are, whether you realize it or not, impacting their lives on a potentially deeper, character building level.

In relation to sports, the role of the coach is to create the right conditions for learning to happen and to find ways of motivating the athletes. Most athletes are highly motivated and therefore the task is to maintain that motivation and to generate excitement and enthusiasm. At Between the Posts, our proven Success at Developing Goalkeepers is aided by the Environment we Provide!!

The Good coach will also need to be able to: assist athletes to prepare training programs, communicate effectively with athletes, assist athletes to develop new skills, use evaluation tests to monitor training progress and predict performance.

Therefore, you can see that it is a very difficult task and requires a very special person who can connect Effectively with each and every player under their tutelage. Each Keeper within our Between the Posts Goalkeeping Academy is a different Personality, and therefore is coached based on how they effectively develop. We are able to coach and develop EACH Keeper individually EVEN if we are working in a group setting.

Sports coaches assist athletes in developing to their full potential. They are responsible for training athletes in a sport by analyzing their performances, instructing in relevant skills and by providing encouragement. But you are also responsible for the guidance of the athlete in life and their chosen sport.

The roles that you will find you undertake as a Goalkeeper coach will be many and varied and you will find at some stage in your coaching career that you will be, but not limited to:

  • Advisor – Advising athletes on the training to be conducted and suitable Gloves and Equipment.
  • Assessor – Assessing Goalkeepers performance in training and when possible in competition.
  • Counsellor – Resolving emotional problems on the basis that sharing anxieties can be both relieving and reassuring.
  • Demonstrator – Demonstrate to the Goalkeepers the skill you require them to perform (A PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS!! – Between the Posts Coaches have ALL Played the Goalkeeping position and can coach with a more Realistic approach compared to coaches who haven’t played the position and Don’t have the ability to explain and share ‘In-Game’ Experiences with Goalkeepers)
  • Friend – Over the years of working with a Goalkeeper, a personal relationship is built up where as well as providing coaching advice you also become someone, a friend, who they can discuss their problems or share their success with. It is important to keep personal information confidential because if you do not then all respect the athlete had for you as a friend and coach will be lost.
  • Facilitator – Identify suitable teams/competitions for them to play/compete in to help them achieve their overall objectives for the year.
  • Fountain of knowledge – This may be part of the adviser role in that you will often be asked questions on any sporting event, events that were on the television, diet, sports injuries and topics unrelated to their sport.
  • Instructor – Instructing Goalkeepers in the skills of their sport.
  • Mentor – When Goalkeepers attend your sessions YOU are responsible, to their parents and family, for ensuring that they are safe and secure. You have to monitor their health and safety whilst training and support them should they have any problems or sustain any injuries.
  • Motivator – Maintain the motivation of all the Goalkeeper the whole year round. (This is why the YEAR-ROUND Coaching Program Between the Posts provides is VERY Important, as it allows steady development and solid foundation building)
  • Organizer and planner – Preparation of training plans for each Goalkeeper and Promote attendance at each session to fully benefit from the Curriculum.
  • Role Model – A person who serves as a model in a particular behavioral or social role for another person to emulate. The way you conduct yourself whilst in the presence of your Goalkeepers provides an example of how they should behave – what sort of example should we be providing to someone else’s children? Perhaps one of the most important roles of a coach.
  • Supporter – Competition can be a very nerve racking experience for some athletes and often they like you to be around to help support them through the pressures. 

All of these roles are important individually and can also be undertaken collectively

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Simon Robinson