How to get your players to listen

As a coach, before you teach any strategy you must first learn how to control your players and get them to listen. Here are some simple, yet highly effective teaching techniques that every coach should understand before they work with kids. Establish order – clearly establish order by stating your rules before you start. Here’s how: Meet with a team in a seated circle before you start and state your rules before you begin. After you have introduced yourself, and you have gotten to know your players names, the first thing you need to do is tell your players your listening, learning and behavior rules. These rules are simple. Make sure that when I am talking you’re not. We want all players to look at the coach and not talk to a teammate when the coach is talking. All players must keep hands to themselves; no hitting or touching or pushing. No putdowns. A put down is any verbal negative to a teammate; “ you suck” is an example of a put down. Create a Learning Environment through listening cues. One of your biggest challenges is to get the attention of 12 kids with gloves, bats, balls, etc.. As a coach, your most important piece of equipment is your voice. You may choose to use a whistle or some other audible tool. If you use a whistle, it can be used to signal the start or stop of an activity. Explain to your players before you start that anytime you blow the whistle you want everyone to stop, and freeze. Once everyone is standing still, you can then give instructions that your players can hear. If you don’t use a whistle you can designate listening words that work like the whistle for example the word “Freeze” could be the signal for everyone to stand still and listen. You can come up with any cue you want but the key to their learning and your sanity is getting them to listen.