ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an initial rationale for an athlete-centred approach to coaching through the eyes of an astute parent. It then focuses on the trials and tribulations experienced by three coaches in employing Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) as part of an athlete-centred approach to coaching youth soccer. It draws from a previous study to address the conceptual, cultural, pedagogical and political challenges experienced by the coaches. It represented a conceptual challenge for one coach to view athlete-centred learning, when situated in modified games, as meaningful without prior instruction in soccer technique. In order to create an interactive athlete-centred learning culture it provided a test for the coaches to engage athletes in active dialogue and movement performance through questioning scenarios. The creation of modified games to develop athletes’ tactical understanding and the progression of those games to enhance athlete learning in context represented a pedagogical challenge for the coaches. Politically, it presented a challenge for the coaches to overcome a parental focus on immediate observable performance when using athlete-centred coaching although recent changes in the United States Soccer Federation (2016) policy may represent the beginning of a trend towards long-term athlete development as well as advocating for greater player safety.
