Why Making Mistakes As A Soccer Coach Is Not Always A Bad Thing

Why Making Mistakes As A Soccer Coach Is Not Always A Bad Thing

This Article is a guest post done by Laurie McGinley.
He is the Head Coach of the Cumbernauld Colts u19 and a UEFA B & SFA Advanced Children Coaching License holder.


I’m making mistakes everyday and sometimes feeling like i’m failing…

This is what I feel like sometimes when things do not go right. This is perceived as negative for a lot of soccer coaches but if you have a growth mindset then this is the most positive sentence you will hear today.

This is due to being a life learner and working hard to learn something new each day. One of my mentors Allistair McCaw says it all starts with your standards and if you’re standards are low then this will be a negative, but if you have high standards then making mistakes can make you better.

There is a lot of information out there for example the 10,000 hour rule which is flawed as you can’t go for 10,000 hours of high quality training as sometimes emotion, injury or how you are a person (self-drive) and sustain this. However, as I fail everyday I learn that I can improve at all times. Coaching can be the best job in the world but it is how you are as a coach. This means that you keep the same energy from 9am till 9pm so therefore every session will be better than the last one as you will know the mistakes from each session.

good players take criticism great players crave criticism don meyer

In Legacy from James Kerr my favorite quote is “champions do extra and it’s about how you work as a team, win as a team and lose as a team.”

Another quote I have came across is “Focus on the Process, not the Prize”  – John Wooden.

If you have a philosophy then work on it and be open to adaptation. These quotes show that if you work hard each day and learn from mistakes then you can all be better people and coaches.

Good Decisions + Daily Discipline = A masterpiece of potential.

“When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare” John Wooden.

Last week I thought about quitting soccer/football all together as I wasn’t enjoying it and really started to feel depressed as
there was so much going on, I couldn’t balance it out. However, it is not in me to give up and therefore when another opportunity comes I know I will be prepared as I have the experience to deal with bad news!

The smart people are the ones who realise how little they know.

Isaac Newton: “To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth
lie undiscovered before me.”

And Richard Feynman: “I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change
that here and there.”

And Niels Bohr: “Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a
question.”

Elon Musk has his own version: “You should take the approach that you’re wrong. Your goal
is to be less wrong.”

These are all people that I look up to as today matters! The only adequate preparation for
tomorrow is the right use of today. I get up every day at 7am and seize the day. I go to the
gym and then either go to work with a podcast in my car or listen to one while I am writing
or getting things done.

“The secret of success in life is for a man/woman to be ready for his time when it comes”
“Since you can’t change time, you must instead your approach to it!”
– Benjamin Disraeli.

“You can’t do anything about yesterday. The door to the past has been shut and they key
thrown away. You can do nothing about tomorrow. It is YET to come.”

The word YET is interesting as you get so far YET feel that I can do so much more. However
making a plan of what you can do in a day and getting it done with organization and self-
determination is key.

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out”
– John Wooden.

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If you are respectful and thoughtful then thing will work out for you, so keep to your standards and values.

“Devoting a little to yourself in everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing” Michael LeBoef.

If you want something out of your day, you must put something in it.

“There’s always a way through things if you work hard enough and look close. It all depends on your level of
determination”.
-Liz Murray

“Always have a plan and believe in it. I tell my coaches not to compromise. Nothing good happens by accident – it happens because of good organization.”
– Chuck Knox, NFL Coach

There must be a plan for everything and the plan will prevent you from overlooking little
things. By having that plan you’ll be secure and self-doubts will never become a factor.

Focus on the Process not the prize!

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Article By:

Laurie McGinley Soccer CoachLaurie McGinley
Head Coach Cumbernauld Colts u19
UEFA B & SFA Advanced Children Coaching License holder
I believe in positional play using a rondo method and study tactical periodisation.

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