Manuel Montero

If I were hiring a soccer coach, I would ensure they know how to use essential office tools like Word, Excel, PowerPoint. Often, people and coaches forget that administrative work is essential for the success of the program. The coach will also need to know how to use TeamSnap as that gives them the ability to communicate with all parties within the team. The coach will also need to know how to use software to plan out their sessions (Sport Session Planner, The Coaching Manual, Academy SoccerCoach). That will ensure they are prepared for their session, and I would know the coach also has a structure on how to conduct their practices. If I were hiring a Varsity coach, I would want the coach to understand how to use Hudl to break down film and a recruiting tool.

One of my biggest frustrations with technology is the time required to learn new software. Depending on the complexity of the software, the learning curve varies. Although most software is now user-friendly, you are often missing out on the software’s potential by only using the main tools. That allows all of us to take advantage of that software to an extent. To fully take advantage of the new software and hardware, you need to know the system’s ins and outs. That requires a lot of time. Not only do you need to learn what the technology can do, then you need to know the steps on how to do it. Even after you know how to do it, you will then need to do it for yourself. Most of the time, the first few times you utilize new technology, it will not be your best work. After you use it multiple times, you will start to create good content or use it to its capability. By then, a lot of time has passed, and you have sacrificed other aspects of your life or technologies that could have been used.

New technologies are beneficial; however, they specialize in doing one job very well. That means that someone has to learn how to use multiple technologies. The time needed to learn and master various technologies only adds up.

1. Although many technologies can significantly improve our programs, how do you determine when to stop adding new technologies to your program?

2. Productivity and quality of the final result are usually the driving factor determining if we invest our resources on the equipment. When deciding to learn new technology, do you pay more attention to the learning curve or the ultimate final product? Why?

In soccer, a new trend is the increased use of monitoring devices and video to gain a competitive advantage. At the professional level, ten years ago, it became somewhat of an arms race. Who had the better equipment, and who had the best analyzers? Moneyball revolutionized sports as they try to find the most meaningful data. Now, technology use at the professional level is no longer an edge; it is a pre-requisite. However, it has now tricked down at the college and club level, and prices are now affordable enough to use that technology. Many colleges are now using GPS systems to prevent injuries and improve fitness levels. Video analysis has now reached club level, which allows the player’s IQ to improve, and for recruiting to be more accessible. 

I expect these technologies to continue to improve, and prices to drop.  As a coach, I need to become an expert with these systems to use it as a recruiting tool and for my athletes’ benefit. What I see the difficulty of these can pick a provider. The market has so many providers that it is challenging to choose which one to use. It makes it challenging to collaborate with other coaches with multiple providers, making it difficult to share information. The other issue that I see is privacy issues. Although there are already privacy rules, society is entering a transitioning phase when it comes to filming. Conversations and events are no longer private, and anything you do and say is more likely in someone’s memory card. Now more than ever, everyone’s behavior and words have to be measured. Although this is a good thing for society as a whole, it will affect many lives negatively in the process.

Social media has had a significant impact on teaching and coaching. Information travels instantly now. Thanks to that, everyone can share and research any topic they want at any moment of the day. I feel I have only scratched the surface with social media because I have been reluctant to commit to it due to privacy, other people’s opinions, and how time-consuming it is to post. However, I have done a better job of looking for information through social media as I like to create variety in my activities. Although the same or similar topic might be covered in the activities, I like the variety of activities to avoid monotony and bring up coaching points in different ways.  Groups on Facebook and influential people in Tweeter share some great information, whether simple, complex, or new.

As educators, we need to stay up to date with the latest technology and find ways of improving our teaching methods. Social media gives us the platform to create content, collaborate, and learn from other like-minded individuals. One of the issues with social media is that the content creator puts themselves in the world’s eyes. With one wrong word or one lousy thought, individuals can come hard on the content creator. For me, this has been one of the reasons that have prevented me from creating content. Slowly, I have changed my mind, and I am in the process of creating content.

Social media is such a weird topic for me, as I am not necessarily a fan of it. When it first came out, I was one of those who made the comments of “I don’t care that you are eating ______.” Even now, I find it annoying when people are posting every single thing about themselves. Other people post the same thing over and over. A few years ago, it was a way for me to stay connected with the family of friends that I no longer had physical contact with. In the last few years, social media has become a way to get the news. Twitter was probably one of the first ones to go this route. Now Facebook has been doing the same thing. In a way, now, I am more open to the idea of doing more posts and sharing more. Generally, I do not enjoy creating posts as it feels like a chore and the time required. It takes me a long time for me to put a single post. Often, I get mad at myself for wasting so much time on a post.  

The primary social media forms that I use are Facebook and Instagram. In the last few months, I have been working on creating video content on YouTube. To my surprise, I found out the hard way that editing videos are a lot harder than it looks. Although creating video content is still ongoing, it needs to take a back seat to schoolwork. Probably next year, I’ll be able to dedicate a lot more time to social media.

I also want to start doing more posts through twitter. I have read many articles on the benefits of twitter. What has prevented me from following through is that it feels like a chore to me. I will become more active through social media on most social media platforms. My other challenge is that I do not care for “going viral.” I want to share my ideas and be informative to my athletes and parents. If anyone outside of that wants to access my information, that is an added benefit.   

After reading some of my classmates’ posts, I agree that I need to be more proactive and have a social media account for my teams. That will help get my players the exposure they might not otherwise have. I also want to start streaming my games for parents and people interested in my players. I already have all the hardware, so once we go back to competing, I will most likely start streaming my games.  

I need to start embracing social media and stop making excuses for why I am not taking advantage of it.

What are your struggles with social media?

           Over the last decade or so, technology has profoundly impacted sports, athletes, fans, front offices, injury prevention, and much more.  Although soccer has not been affected as much as sports such as baseball (Moneyball), and basketball (“small ball” and parameter shooting) it has had profound changes. 

           One of the biggest changes has been data collection during games, training, and even during time away from the sport.  Through all of the data collection, new philosophies have emerged on training, injury prevention, recovery, and even tactics.  A change that has taken place in best coaching practices has been periodization.  In the past, teams would do fitness training before games, and players even trained through injuries.  According to periodization principals, energy is not limitless, and the body takes time to recover.  Coaches need to take into account when the game will take place and plan their training week accordingly.  Leading up to the game, coaches need to provide enough rest and resistance to build fitness level, injury prevention, and the athlete to be at its peak level for the game.

           How powerful computers and software have become and how accessible it is becoming; I see technology continuing to have a profound impact on my profession.  As a soccer coach, I see the individual coach being the limitation.  The reason being is that all data needs to be collected, analyzed, understood, and applied.  Each one of those steps creates barriers for coaches.  Resources and ability also limit coaches.  To counteract those barriers, coaches need to keep up with technology, and above all, continuing to educate themselves. 

What technology have you used, or are you using to aid your coaching that you would recommend?  How has it impacted your coaching?