I’m coaching my son’s soccer team this year. It’s his first year playing and my first year coaching.
The kids are 6 years old. Most have never played soccer.
The goal is to drill in the fundamentals: move the ball down the field, pass to your teammates, don’t touch the ball with your hands, and kick it into the other team’s goal.
While reading about coaching young kids, I came across a framework called “describe, label, praise.” Most refer to it as DLP.
The thinking behind the framework is to be specific with your praise.
Instead of saying “good job” when a kid scores a goal you’d say “You passed the ball perfectly to Johnny who had a more open shot on the goal than you did instead of trying to shoot yourself, great job.”
Makes sense at the surface level. It’s always helpful to be specific when giving praise and feedback. I’ve been doing this for years with teams and my kids, but never had a term for it.