Team talk structure for matches « Daniel K. Theemann

Team talk structure for matches

Posted on 11.03.2011 by Daniel K. Theemann

I have been using this structure with success for 1½ years now.

1) Pre-match (team talk)

If I know something about the opposition in advance, I will focus on 1 – 3 things. Often I focus on one thing, that THEY are good at and do often and also one thing, that I see as their biggest weakness.

I then tell my players how to deal with their strength and how to exploit their weakness. I don’t give too many informations at U14, because they maybe get a bit insecure and/or confused.

So keep it simple, short and clear, what you want from them.

Afterwards I give instructions about our standard situations.

I always end this talk by trying to motivate them (PEP TALK), but here you have to be careful which words, you use.

2) Half time (team talk)

During the 1st half I write down two trend setter for them and us. A weakness and a strength. Based on them I give my half time team talk.

How to deal with their strength and how to exploit their weakness. I also tell my players about our strength in the match and encourage to keep using it, but I also tell them about our weakness and how to correct it.

Before we go out on the pitch for the 2nd half, we start with our battle cry for the team spirit.

3) Post-match (team talk)

I usually give the post-match team talk 5 minutes before the next training session. Where I explain them, how I saw the game and I point out the things we were good at and what to work on (improve).

If you prefer to give your post-match team talk right after the match, keep in mind that the adrenalin is still high, so things can easily be misunderstood.

Try to use sentences like: We played well, but we were unlucky OR we played well and deserved the win etc.

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