Offensive Sideline Communication
How to talk to your offence from the sideline - not how to be offensive from the sideline
Every team I've been on has really valued sideline communication but what they pretty much always mean is sideline communication to our defence. Any other materials I've seen on it are pretty much the same. Offence communication is mostly ignored as a topic. But I know it can be done well. Here are some of the way I’ve found it to be useful:
1) Fielding pulls
Sometimes from the sideline you have a much better perspective on a disc that's going to curve out of bounds - or alternatively, will fall back in bounds.
Even if you don't need to help with the actual pull field there is sometimes useful information to communicate. A defender that's coming down fast that could intercept a centering pass, or the opposite where the pull chase is slow and you can look to take more yards on a centering pass or have the time to look for a return pass. On a deep pull it can be difficult for the handlers fielding the pull to both concentrate on fielding the disc and also have awareness of where exactly the defence is going to be.
2) The defensive set
On a similar note, it can be difficult for an offence to focus on how the pull is being fielding, getting into position AND reading what the defence is doing. Spotting a particular defensive set can be a lot easier from the sideline, and giving the offence that information can allow them to make the appropriate adjustments. I think when I do this well my communication is more open ended, keeping the assessment with the players i.e. 'Looks like this might be a zone' rather than 'They're playing a zone'.
3) Where the space is
The place I'm usually least concerned with looking at and talking to are the players that are in the active lane. It's further away that I find I can be more productive, particularly when it comes to helping poached players recognise they've been poached and the best space to attack. If there's a lot of motion and switching happening it can be genuinely hard to spot the opportunities quickly enough on the pitch, but also sometimes players just get too absorbed into looking at the disc and don't recognise they've been left alone. That's where a sideline voice can really help.
The thrower is sometimes the person that needs to be alerted to the opportunity. The last few teams I've worked with have all had word that essentially means "Look to get the disc to the other side of the pitch". That can be because a particular thrower clearly has tunnel vision, or it can be more generally directed at the offence to remind them not to try to squeeze the disc down one direction.
4) Transitions
I do love quick transition offence after a turn but it's not always easy for the person who can trigger that opportunity to make a good assessment quickly enough. Sometimes it's because you've spent the last few second tracking down the disc on defence with your back to everyone else so you have no idea if your teammates are ready to play. Sometimes you're just tired and it would help if someone else made the decision for you.
5) Celebrating small wins
I mentioned earlier that I like to watch and talk to the players away from the disc the majority of the time, and a lot of what I am doing is just telling players that they're doing a good job when they aren't getting the disc. Everyone wants the disc and it can be hard to recognise that you're helping the offence succeed when the disc isn't coming your way. What happens on and around the disc is very important but it's what everyone else is doing in the rest of the field that gives it the space to succeed or not. If I as the coach am not paying attention to and prioritising that part of the offence then I can hardly expect anyone else to.
Those are some of the generic areas I think most teams can benefit from working on communication. But it's definitely possible to communicate badly. I'm assuming you already know that yelling criticism at your offence about their mistakes is not really helpful but here's some other mistakes that you could make.
1) Telling someone to throw a particular throw
(apologies to throwers for the countless turnovers I have made you throw by doing this)
This can be really tempting when you can see the window for a throw and you know the thrower can execute it, but usually by the time the message has gotten through that window is shut and it's either going to result in a turnover, or waste the throwers time as the check that option but aren't able to throw it.
2) Air traffic controller
Don't try to script every pass and cut for your team. Even if it was productive (it isn't really) they need to be able to play without your voice. That goes for sideline defence as well - I always assume if my team is doing well enough we're going to end up in a game where you can't hear individual sideline voices consistently because it's too noisy.
3) Putting down opponents
If you're telling your teammate that someone is too small or too slow or too crap to guard you then you should probably reassess how you're communicating. Not only is it unspirited but I think you're just going to fire up the defender. I was called too small by sidelines multiple times as a player and I definitely played way better defence from that point on.
4) Lots of urgent shouting
To bring this back to where we started - you probably are going to play offence better when everyone is calm. Lots of panicked shouting is probably going to have a negative impact, and that's probably why most teams either ignore or completely discourage talking to the offence from the sideline. However, just because it has the potential to be misused is not a reason to shy away from it completely. Calm information or calm nudges can really help an offence succeed.