The coach as a 'more capable other'

The Tuesday evening coaching session at the Erewhon City Football Club Centre for Excellence for players aged 11-16 had come to a close. Having cleared away the balls, training bibs and cones, the coaches gathered in the club lounge for some refreshments. As was usual on these occasions, the coaches enthusiastically engaged in conversations about the technical and tactical content that they had addressed within their respective sessions, what aspects they thought had gone well and not so well, and what drills and practices they would use in the forthcoming Thursday night session. Inevitably, their discussions turned to focus on the performances of individual players within their coaching groups. In this respect, several expressed great frustration at the failure of certain players ‘to do what I told them to do’ or ‘make the right decision under pressure’. Indeed, the coaches appeared to be mystified as to why some players could not grasp concepts that to them were so straightforward. In attempting to explain why certain players were underperforming, their comments tended to focus on the shortcomings and inadequacies of the players themselves, with certain players being considered to be uncoachable or lacking the attention, motivation or the ‘nous’ needed to succeed.