Good advice to Secondary School Games Coaches

I know your team must be ready for the the secondary school games, this year.

Let me give you a private non solicited opinion that you are free to ignore.

1. Matches are won from the Bench

However good your team maybe, the team requires technical support.

This you can only do when you are wholly focused on

a) Your teams implementation of your plan.

b) An evaluation of the opponents strategy n weighing it against yours.

c) Making technical decisions and communicating them ‘effectively’ to the concerned players.

To this end, I advise that you SIT ON THE TECHNICAL AREA

2. Umpires are always right

On a contest between you and an umpire as a coach, you stand to loose. They have the whistle n the cards.

Umpires are human beings

a) They will be bought n swayed by their feelings towards other coaches.

b) They may not be as competent as they should be.

c) They may make a genuine mistake.

In case of

(a) Shouting at them only makes you look like a sore looser.

(b) Shouting at them makes their self esteam to focus on you

(c) Shouting at them stops them from making corrective measures once they discover their mistakes.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, The players listen to you, please if all they hear is how the umpire is bad, they csnt focus in playing cose they will think the match is already lost.

To this end I advise Ignore the umpires as if they do not exist and INSTRUCT YOUR PLAYERS TO PLAY WITH THE WHISTLE

I genuinely wish you well in this year’s Secondary School Games.