You’ve all been caught up in the magic of football be it on television or the internet, or at live football matches and many of you may even play it on a weekly or daily basis.

“The most important tactic in football is “Communication.”

No matter how good your team, if you’re not communicating effectively you’re not playing effectively! Lets get down to the basics of communication for a second. According to Wikipedia, “Communication is a process whereby information is enclosed in a package and is channelled and imparted by a sender to a receiver via some medium (mode of communication). The receiver then decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback.”

For example, there’s five minutes on the clock, your team mate finds a space and calls for the ball, you pass (and he goes on to score a dazzling goal).

In the example, four elements of communication can be identified – sender, receiver, mode of communication and feedback. These are the core elements that make up communication. In the example, you are the sender and your team mate is the receiver. The mode of communication is your team mate asking and the feedback is you passing. If one of the four elements is skipped the communication breaks down! You need all four elements to generate effective communication. Try omitting any one element and see if you get a full communication happening. You will notice it is impossible.

In football, the mode of communication is a critical component of success and can be performed in several ways – speech, body language, sign language and eye contact (If you know any other modes of communication please share your thoughts in the comments section). It is good to understand all modes of communication because footballers have their own style of play. Some of you may run into open spaces – body language. Whereas, some of you ask for the ball – speech. You may raise your hands during free kicks or long passes indicating to your team mate you are open – sign language, or for throw-ins you make eye contact to your team mate indicating to pass the ball.

Be communicative while you play because good football cannot be played without any communication.