What You Shout Says More Than You Think

Written by The Sporting Resource

We recently asked coaches a simple question, the answers told a much bigger story.

We recently asked coaches a simple question:

What do you find yourself shouting most during a match?

The answers were honest, familiar and slightly uncomfortable. Not because they were wrong, but because they were revealing.

Because what we shout, especially under pressure, often says more about our coaching than we realise.

The Shouts We All Recognise

The responses came quickly:

“Down the line.”
“Shape.”
“Press!”
“Keep it simple.”
“Love that.”
“Trust yourself.”
“REF!”

Every coach reading this has used at least one of them, probably more. Every one of those phrases carries meaning far beyond the words themselves, not just to us, but to the players who hear them.

When Help Becomes Control

Take “Down the line!”

It usually comes from a good place; we think we’re helping, reducing risk and protecting the player. But often, what we’re actually doing is removing a decision.

Players stop scanning.
They stop weighing options.
They start waiting.

And the moment players stop thinking for themselves, learning slows down, not because they lack ability, but because we’ve outsourced their decision-making to the touchline.

Structure Can Sound Like Fear

“Shape.”
“Drop in.”
“Hold.”

Again, the intention is sound. We want balance, organisationa and we want to prevent chaos. But for a 10-year-old, those words can translate very differently:

Don’t move.
Don’t take a risk.
Don’t express yourself.

Language shapes freedom, and sometimes, without meaning to, we shrink the game instead of expanding it.

The Power of Two Words

Then there are the positives.

“Love that.”

Two small words. Massive impact.

They don’t tell a player what to do next; they tell them something about themselves.

That they’re brave.
That effort is noticed.
That mistakes aren’t fatal.

Encouragement fuels confidence far more effectively than correction ever will.

Everyone Has a Default

We all have default phrases, the ones that come out when emotions rise, and the game speeds up. They’re our emotional fingerprints on the touchline, but here’s the uncomfortable truth.

If every shout is a command, we might be over-coaching.
If every shout is silenced, we might be under-supporting.

The art isn’t choosing one extreme, the art is knowing when to speak and when to step back.

The Inner Voice You’re Creating

What players hear most from us eventually becomes their inner voice. If that voice is always “press” and “shape,” they become reactive.
They wait for cues, and they look outside themselves.

If that voice is “trust yourself” and “love that,” they build resilience. They learn to self-regulate, to make their own decisions.

The touchline isn’t just noise, it’s education in real time.

And the tone we set there echoes far beyond the final whistle..