GUIDED DISCOVERY: what is it and why does Soccer Sprouts use it?

Our coaching staff at Soccer Sprouts specializes in a coaching philosophy called GUIDED DISCOVERY. It’s the foundation of what we do! To get technical, the term “Guided Discovery” refers to a teaching and learning environment where students are actively participating in discovering knowledge (of the game of soccer). Essentially, it’s learning by DOING!

Basically, from a soccer coaching point of view, it means that we don’t TELL the kids what to do and WHEN to do it or even WHY, but instead we try our best to put them in situations that allows for them to ask questions and try come up with the answers themselves. We also ask them leading questions to help them get to the right answer on their own. The theory here is that if we just TELL them what to do, they may learn the skill or idea on a shallow level, but in the game of soccer, where there’s a free flowing and thinking approach, you need to have a “soccer IQ” to succeed. If you cannot think for yourself and problem solve, then you won’t be as successful in the long run of your soccer career. (Not only that, but think for a second back to when you were a kid… If your mom or dad had just TOLD you how to do something, you would ‘possibly’ remember that lesson, but if you were hands on, learning through trial and error / problem solving and finding out the answer for yourself… well, that DEEPER knowledge discovery would be much better retained)

So, if we told our players WHAT to do and WHEN, we might possibly create good little soccer players but at the end of the day, they would be “soccer robots” and that would only take them so far in the game. They would learn to look to us (the coaches) for answers whenever there’s a problem and they wouldn’t be figuring out the game themselves. Past a certain age, the free thinking players would SPRINT past those little robots.

Here at Soccer Sprouts, we don’t want soccer robots. It’s not OUR job to control the game for them. We want to GIVE THE GAME BACK to the players! Less strict and structured learning and more “learning through play.” A good soccer coach will not be teaching all of the game to the players but will be teaching the players how to FIGURE OUT the game for themselves, and THAT is our goal. We want to spread the love of soccer through the game, by giving our Sprouts the confidence to discover on their own.

For more information on GUIDED DISCOVERY, read this article by Sam Snow, former Coaching Director of US Youth Soccer AND the amazingly talented man who trained me and awarded me my National Youth License over 14 years ago! Click HERE