How to Improve Player Registration

The location of tournaments or jersey colours isn’t what drives players to attend tryouts and, ultimately, register for the season. It’s the coaching strategy that makes the team appealing.

Behind a good coaching strategy is an individual who creates an engaging environment, provides frequent feedback, and challenges their athletes. Let’s dive into each of these areas below.

1. Create an Engaging Environment

An engaging environment is a space where athletes are motivated to show up & put in the work and want to continually evolve. Ultimately, it comes down to the strategies coaches implement from day one while maintaining consistency in their approach.

a. Emphasize Fun

With each practice session, ensure there is a balance of structure and enjoyment. I.e., Introduce game-like drills at your practices to help athletes build upon a core skill while reducing the pressure that is typically associated with regular practice drills.

In the realm of soccer (or any sport where running is a fundamental skill), the tic-tac-toe game is a great game-like drill to incorporate at any practice.

b. Celebrate the wins

When you take the time to celebrate the wins, big or small, it reinforces your athletes’ dedication & hard work and motivates them to work harder.

While there are different levels of progress to celebrate, let’s highlight a few:

Winning a game: While this is the most obvious kind, every victory should be celebrated with equal enthusiasm. Be sure to acknowledge all team members for their strategy and execution, not just the ones who score.

Player progress: Maybe you noticed a player improve their dribbling technique throughout the season. Or, maybe you noticed better communication between a few players during a practice game. Recognize these small wins with verbal encouragement to keep spirits high.

Mental/emotional wins: The fear of failure, or even making small mistakes, can hinder any athlete’s performance. So, if you notice an athlete staying calm under high-pressure situations or bouncing back after a setback, then a pat on the back is well-deserved!

c. Encourage team connection

When teammates share core values such as respect, passion, and honesty, they are more likely to communicate and push towards a common goal. Encourage pre-game chants, let athletes lead huddles, and plan team-building events outside practice. You can even add icebreakers or other “get-to-know-you” games during the early stages of your season to kick things off.

2. Challenge Your Players

Encourage your players to recognize and strive towards their full potential. Athletes often need a coach’s encouragement to kick-start positive self-talk, which, as we know, plays just as important of a role in performance as physical ability.

Now comes the question, “What is the best way to challenge my players?” The key is understanding their self-perception and working with them to improve the skills they perceive as “weak.”

Let’s walk through the process with SkillShark’s athlete self-assessments to see how this works:

1. Create an athlete self-assessment. Ask your athletes a series of open-ended questions, such as, “What would you rate your dribbling?” or “What would you rate your passing?”
2. Athletes will answer these questions on a fixed rating scale of 0-10
3. After gathering all this data, identify which athletes perceive themselves as “weak” in specific skills.
4. Work these insights into your practice plan. For example, if an athlete rates themselves a “2” on their serving ability, incorporate more serving drills into your practices, provide verbal feedback, and acknowledge/celebrate any progress.

3. Provide Frequent Feedback

Providing feedback at multiple points throughout the season is what propels an athlete to work towards their full potential. Coaches get an opportunity to communicate to athletes how they are performing, and with this information, athletes will know what areas need more work.

With the help of SkillShark’s athlete report cards, let’s outline the process of providing feedback:

1. Conduct athlete evaluations using the SkillShark app.
2. Send athletes a copy of their report card, complete with scores, comments and videos. *With videos, athletes can see themselves performing a skill.
3. Have a clear communication policy, answering any questions that may arise as athletes review their report cards.

Repeat this process at every evaluation throughout the year, from tryouts to clinics to mid-season evaluations and more.

Note: Parents also want to know how their child is performing just as much as an athlete does. Send them copies of their child’s report card, or have meeting hours after practice to answer any questions.

Wrapping Up

While these are just a few primary strategies to improve player registration, one common factor stands out: athletes want to feel valued. Coaches who invest in their athletes’ growth & development throughout the season will reap the rewards — an increase in athletes eager to join their team year after year.