Trainer! is a documentary about a group of coaches. No, it’s not volleyball, unfortunately. It’s soccer. Specifically, it’s German soccer. In Germany, and across most of Europe, trainer is what they call the coach. In the film they actually translate it to head coach.
And before you ask, yes. The film is in German, but subtitled in English. It’s about 2 hours long, so you’ll need to be able to dedicate time to actually sit an watch if you don’t speak German.
But enough of the minor details. Let me get to why I think it’s worth watching – even for volleyball coaches. The film follows three lower division (2nd and 3rd) coaches over the course of a season. You see them in a variety of different scenarios, on and off the field.
Along with following the experiences of those three, the film intersperses commentary from several well experienced others. If you know European soccer, you may recognized some of them. Even if not, you can still gain from what they say. One of the best of the group is the lead trainer for the German coach licensing program. He’s got some really interesting stuff to say, especially with a couple of the coaches in the program going through his course.
A great feature of the film is how well it describes the situation of coaching in the professional environment. It is something I could very much relate to from my own experience coaching in Sweden and from spending time at clubs in Germany. There’s also plenty to it that can be related to coaching in a high school or college program.
Definitely give it a watch and let me know what you think.
