Floorball – Motivation

Every floorball coach struggles with motivating his or her players from time to time. You’d think that this wouldn’t be a problem, you’d think that that all of your floorball players would be highly motivated already. I mean they signed up to be your floorball team, right? They MUST all be highly motivated and ready for you to mold them into stars… right?

Okay, stop laughing. I know, I know… Wake up! I’m dreaming! I’ll bet you thought the same thing when you first started coaching. You entered into this with the idea that everyone would be happy to see you, and that everyone would look to you for guidance, but that impression didn’t last for ever or did it?

Floorball youth coaching drills and practices

So what can you do with your floorball players strangely lacking drive to run through a brick wall for you and the team? Well, the first thing you need to understand is that every player is different. Not all of your floorball players are dynamos of energy, ready and willing to die for the cause. No, some of them just want to have a bit of fun in the sunshine, while others wan’t to be floorball superstars. Get to know your floorball players and theire motives and their vision of being in the floorball team to find the answer and the correct ingredients to get them motivated.

Smart Youth Floorball Players

Smart and well trained floorball players are a floorball coaches best assets. Well-conditioned smart floorball players will beat less intelligent, yet bigger and stronger players almost every time! If a floorball coach trains the minds of his floorball players while he is drilling them, he will be rewarded in the long run.
The best time to engage your floorball players’ minds is when you are drilling their bodies. This goes like a hand in a glove with the idea of keeping your drills fun and challenging (a post couple of days ago)!

Multidimensional floorball practices and drills

Work on several things at once in your floorball drills (multidimensional practicing), but get the basics in place before adding more dimensions to the floorball drills.
While the assistant coaches are observing technique performance, a smart head coach will be drilling his floorball players minds, teaching them game situations, preparing them to think for themselves when the time comes. Never waste an opportunity to succeed, and make a point of never wasting time.

Floorball practice warm up

Why this floorball drill or practice?

Know why you are running the drill! You can use the leadership model on this page and apply it on your drills and practices (why, goal, how, result and feedback). Don’t just find some floorball drill in an old floorball coaching manual and decide that you can waste twenty minutes on it at the next practice. Locate floorball drills that will improve what your players have been doing poorly or strengthen even more what you are strong in. If your players are making poor tactical decisions during the floorball games, find floorball drills that will teach them to think about that specific game situation. There is no sense in running them through another floorball drill that teaches them something that they already know by heart.

The floorball drills found on this page are created to develop your players’ skills in game like practices and drills.

So, keep your floorball drills fun and challenging, keep your players focused and challenge them to think ahead. Do this, and you will be a successful, floorball coach!

Fun and Challenging Floorball Drills and Practices

Every floorball coach knows that successful floorball practices and drills involve a lot of teaching. Floorball players learn the proper techniques and skills through hours and hours of repeating the same movements, and yes, this can be boring, but should it be? Of course not, since drills and practices are the key to teaching and learning in any sport.

Good floorball coaches manage to minimize the boredom, and great floorball coaches make the most boring activity entertaining and engaging.

Multidimensional Floorball training

I try to start to build up a floorball drill from a very basic format, just to get the foundation in place, and when you see your floorball players manage the skills, you add a new part to the floorball drill, one extra player, forward or defensive player, an extra shot, or a pass. To keep the development and the challenge. Competition is also a good motivational factor for very many floorball players.

Floorball skill practice drills

Mental training in Floorball

You can also add mental training into your floorball drills and practices, each time a defensive player goes out into the floorball drill he/she could have a mantra in his/her head repeated “I’m strong and I feel confident”, or something else that is building up them mentally, so when they manage the technical part of the floorball drill, you can add a mental part to develop and challenge your floorball players.

Eliminate waiting in Floorball Practices

Another thing you can use to keep your floorball drills fun and challenging is to eliminate the waiting time, waiting and standing is waste and boring for your floorball players, keep your players activated and focused! While they are waiting to perform the floorball drill, they can work with stick/ball handling and ball controling drills.

Waiting time at floorball practice before a drill

Focus on development – avoid status quo

Make your floorball drills fun and challenging! Don’t be stuck in status quo. This cannot be emphasized enough. It is also important that your floorball coaching staff is in place, during the floorball drills, and you have clear defined responsibilities and roles in the coaching team, making sure that your players are using the proper techniques and get the teaching they need for their development.

Make your players enjoy and look forward for the next floorball practice! You have their bodies, now work on getting their brains.