Coaching Soccer: Boys vs. Girls

I was reading an article from the local North Texas State Soccer Association called The Pitch a few years back and I just came across some notes I took from an article. I can’t recall the actual articles title; however, it was talking about the differences of coaching Girls vs. Guys soccer teams. There were some differences that I jotted down:

Coaching Boys Soccer

• Intense Motivational Techniques work well
• Coach should focus on the individuals rather than the team.
• Encouragement is not always expected.
• More distance relationship between the coach and players
• Can handle longer more intense training sessions

Coaching Girls Soccer

• People oriented, democratic approach works best
• Coach should focus on the relationships among players
• Encouragement from the coach is a necessity
• More interaction between coach and players
• Shorter training sessions

From these points, you can say the main difference between coaching boys soccer versus coaching boys soccer is not the training sessions, but the different social and psychological factors.