Coaching attacking philosophy in Soccer

Abstract

Background: Coaching attacking philosophy in soccer can be done in many ways. Traditional coaching approaches are based on skill practice where the coach tells the player how to perform a certain skill. More recently some approaches have been developed, where different types of games are where players learn and the coach guides the players by asking questions. This study describes the pedagogy used by coaches on the elite level in Swedish soccer. Method: The Game Sense approach has been used to create meaning of the qualitative data collected with semi-structured interviews. Results: The result shows that the coaches’ use game-centered but not as much playercentered coaching. This might be influenced by the lack of experience of player-centered coaching. Conclusion: The study can be used as a discussion material in formal coach educations, which lacks of player-centered coaching. The results show that it is possible to implement the Game Sense approach on elite level in order to create theoretical and practical understanding.