How To Manage Losing Games

Bad Result

“The coach’s face is a mirror to the health of the team.” Arsene Wenger. Nothing deflates your team and you during a game as when you concede a goal. You feel upset with yourself, your players, and the referee. You look to find who made the mistake to pin the blame.

You start to question the players on the bench, blaming, arguing, finger-pointing. You start substituting more frequently. You grow impatient and more frustrated after each goal.

It Never Gets Easier

Another heavy loss. Fortunately, the league rules prevent a greater than 6-goal differential. On a losing day, yelling, shouting, coaching, nothing seems to be working.

It was half time and I went on the field to scold one of my players who gave the ball away cheaply to gift them the second goal. I never asked the player what happened, I started by questioning his decision and his ability to pass the ball.

Losing Can Be Costly

Does this sound like a familiar practice the next practice following a loss? Suicides!. The dreaded constant sprinting back and forth. I saw a coach carrying his boys (about ages 9 to 10) through the passes at a Monday practice. I nosily inquired about the session and he pointed out they lost the tournament. Sadly, for the boys, they played the previous day, which would imply that tiredness would be a factor.

Sprinting the day after a game? This goes against the norm for any day after a game training session.

Where is the needed rest, recovery, and regeneration?

Agony of Defeat

It is inevitable, you are going to lose games. This is part of the process when you become a coach. Some losses are going to last longer than others. When you cannot control yourself doing those losses, then your team will easily lose confidence.

It is important you try to figure out why your team is losing so you can address those problems. Punishing your players physically and emotionally might provide a temporary solution, but surely won’t fix the long-run problem.

Development Over Winning

It is important to not confuse youth soccer with the professional game. Your players are learning to play the game. Mistakes at the stage is how they learn so you need to have that context when dealing with losses.

That said, you can take positive steps to give your player confidence and support their growth during the tough times.

10 Ways To Manage Losing Games

1. Take Responsibility
   Too often as youth coaches, we question and blame our players for their errors. During these times they need support. The first step, you need to raise your hand and accept you need to do a better job coaching.
   
   Too often, the loss is not accepted as a part of your coaching.
   
   
2. Be Positive
   In every loss, you can find a ‘win’. Find the positives in defeat. For example, you can lose 6 – 0 but you can earmark moments that showed growth and learning. ‘Catch your players being good’ is not only scoring goals and winning games, it is those moments that they never believe you saw.
   
   An example, the competitive to the final whistle which shows physical fitness and competitiveness.
   
   
3. Try To Understand
   The game is always easier on the outside of the lines. Your players can struggle for different reasons – field surface, opponent very physical, tiredness, injury, etc.
   
   
4. Convince Parents
   When your team underperforms that is going to start questioning your ability as a coach, especially by parents. Before the season starts you need to ‘Sell’, not ‘Tell’ your parents of your vision and philosophy. They need to understand the value of long-term athlete development.
   
   You should have a philosophy.
   
   
5. Unite The Group
   Support your players and let them know we are in this together.
   
   
6. Work In Training
   You can always improve the skills and abilities of your players through training. Plan – coach – motivate during your sessions. Your players can improve their confidence through play.
   
   
7. Players’ Wave Length
   Before you share your insights, ask players for their opinion. What do they think went wrong? What can be done to improve the team’s performance?
   
   
8. Manage Individuals
   Each player will accept a loss differently. There are those who forget the moment the whistle is blown. Sometimes, they don’t even remember the final score at the end.
   
   On the other hand, some players will be talking about plays and the opposition several practices later.
   
   
9. Back To Basics
   You need to understand the foundation of a soccer player/team is built on the fundamentals of technical, tactical, physical, and psycho-social qualities.
   
   
10. Lower Your Expectation
    You need to be realistic. Your team might have retained the same players, but the opposition may have retooled. Players constantly move around

A Winner

“A winner in life, not just in football, learns from a defeat or a mistake and comes back stronger.” – Carlos Parreira. In youth soccer losing is learning. As a coach you need to see the positives from a loss, and not react angrily that leads to punishment.

References

Jacques Crevoisier, Crisis Management, 2015 National Soccer Coaches Association of America