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Coaching for Clarity, Not Control

It's Just a Sport warns that over-tacticizing football can strip players of themselves.

Cam Jolley

Cam Jolley

Co-Founder & Academy Coach, Coach Central

The argument here — that football has borrowed too much from chess and warfare, games run by one commander moving obedient pieces — lands hard for me, because the second I'm treating my players like pieces to move, I've stopped developing them.

The critique

The piece traces tactics back to warfare and chess — systems built around one leader controlling everything — and argues that copying tactical blueprints wholesale replaced actually understanding the game. When every coach installs the same system, the players stop being asked to think. The proposed fix isn't to throw out tactics; it's to shift the coach's role from control to clarity: direct attention, create understanding, embrace adaptation, and start from the actual players you have.

Why I needed to hear it

It's a good check on myself. The temptation, especially when you want to win, is to over-control — script more, instruct more, take the decision out of the player's hands so nothing goes wrong. But a player who only does what I told them hasn't developed, they've complied. Start from the names on the back of the shirts, give them clarity instead of commands, and let the system serve the players rather than the other way round. Winning and developing aren't enemies, but control and developing very much can be.

How I'd use it this week

In your next match, catch yourself every time you're about to shout an instruction that makes a decision for a player. Swap three of those for a cue that helps them see, and let them choose.

Takeaways

  • Tactics borrowed a command-and-control model from chess and war — copied blueprints replace understanding.
  • Shift the coach's role from control to clarity: direct attention, build understanding, adapt.
  • Start from the players you actually have; a complying player isn't a developing one.

Read the original

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