Great question Bex - will be interesting to see what people do to help with this. Lee Cooper  Stephen Phythian Frank Patrick Marc Hollis thoughts? what do you do? Keen to hear your ideas and tips

Great question Bex - will be interesting to see what people do to help with this. Lee Cooper  Stephen Phythian Frank Patrick Marc Hollis thoughts? what do you do? Keen to hear your ideas and tips

Hey Tim/Rebecca,

Personally, on an individual level, I like to make sure I know something about each of the players. Do they have any other hobbies? What team do they support? Then I try to ask them about that interest every week.

As a group, I think it is important to set expectations around what you expect from them and how you expect them to behave. I set team values and regularly remind them of those values: 1) Effort: always try your best; 2) Respect: show everyone respect and that means referees, players, opposition, coaches, parents etc; and 3) Support: give each other support, from communicating on the pitch to encouraging each other whether things go well or not.

I also like to give them the opportunity to call me out. Lately I've been pushing for them to not put their hands in pockets, behind their backs or get caught not being ready at every moment. I tell them to call me out if they catch me doing it too.

Teaching girls at U11, the webinar on Periods and how it can impact upon a player gave me some really good insight into ways I can be more approachable those issues and a lot of them read across to other topics and the general relationship with the team.

Excellent stuff Marc- thank you for sharing! What do you find works best out of those (or all much of a muchness?)? They all sound great to me!

Think it all depends on the players and how they interact as a group.

The individual interests point is very good for the quieter/more shy players and helps build that one to one relationship so I'd probably recommend that over anything else.

Thanks for inviting my input Tim and sorry for the delay in replying.

I think Marc has got most of what I would have said.

I think the key is to build relationships with players and parents/carers in the same way you would with anyone else in any walk of life.

Be personable, approachable, be interested, genuinely, in them and their interests and skills (parents and players). You never know whether a parent or carer has some experience or skills that can help your development or that of the team - teachers, first aiders, specialists in an area, sports scientists, analysts, coaches even!

I think if you are genuine, have integrity and are consistent in what you expect and demonstrate that all helps to build solid relationships based on mutual respect and empathy.

Hope this helps