Developing Thinking Players

Developing Thinking Players By Rene Maulensteen


What should be the coaches aims for the session?

-Create drills/games which revolve around technical challenges

-Cover all learning methods during the session
-The final aim of the session should be shaped and achieved by the technical challenges-Structure the drills as much as possible but remove the structured coaching
-Avoid complexity
-Each challenges should be built on as templete for the full game scenario
-Perform the same skill on both feet
-The aim is mastery of technique in a problem solving setting
- the more techniques a player is able to do and the more intelligently they can be applied the more effective they will be during performance
-Give the players time with the ball when ever possibleDeliberate practice within the context of the game 1
-Deliberate practice should not be focused on just one movement but should make use of variable pracitce to maximise results
-Drills/games should flow easily to keep high interest
-Use game realistic circuits which involve all of the following

1-Moving off the ball revolving around switching positions

2-Movement of the ball with patterns based on non switching positions

3- Continous movement

4-Contact on the ball using a variety of parts of the foot/other body parts.

Preferably ending with a shot at goal each should have a few basic progressions.Deliberate practice within the context of the game 2

Build on the pattern play above to create problems within the specific context of the game during a small sided games using 2v2 and then 4v4 games.

2v2

-Start from 2v2 to coach the first player to the ball and the supporting player combined with the player on te ball and support player-Use vairations of end zones, goals and nuetral players or wing/target players

4v4

-These should be built on the technique challenges of the previous 2v2

-Use 4 main formats:
-4v4+GK 25x25 yard grid
-4v4 two goals game 30x25 yard grid
-4v4 four goals game 25x25 yard grid
-4v4 end line/zone games 25x20 yard grid


Main coaching points during this part of the session:-

Ball Control
-1v1 skills
-Creative play
-Passing and movement at high speed

What advantages will this give?

The main advantage is to give the players the dual benifit of deliberate practice and guided discovery. By repeating variations of techniques within problem solving settings players begin to think more effectively during performance. Using the above two formats the players can do this in the context of the principles of play while still getting high touches.

Internalising the coaching points

It is not enough for coaching points to be practiced they need to be internalised mentaly.

Use the Speak, Show and Do method.

Tell the player as simply as posibble what you will do, show via drawing a diagram then perform the finished move, skill, pattern ect.Covering all learning styles and using three layers of reinforcement of the coaching points to focus plyer mentaly. Deliberate practice with out understanding and motivation can cause deteriation of skill level both on a physical and mental level.

The main coaching areas for development

-Good positioning both attack and defending
-1v1-Fighting for second balls-Movement off the ball both attacking/ defending
-The use of techniques to solve tactical problems
-Understanding of tactics-Passing and possession
-High speed of play
-organisation of set plays

When creating problems for players to solve players should be asked how they would use techniques combined with right tactics to help them solve situations where the teams against them are capable of aspects of any of the above of their sub groups.

Six variables contributing to winning games

-Winning 1v1 situations
-High work rate
-Team cohesion
-Playing to set system of play or game plan
-Winning mentality
-Goals and saves

Six factors of effective performance

-Athletic skills
-High range of techniques mastered
-Game intelligence
-High speed of play under pressure

After considering the development of players for the game in order to get peak results the aim should be to take a players natural potential in as many of the above 10 areas as possible and enhance it as much as possible .....then keep them there for aslong as possible. Development should be judged by how much a player contributes with individual factors to the above team factors.

Dar Young Africans Vs Simba Sports club

Tommorow (saturday 31/10/2009) is one of the big days in Tanzanian Soccer. Tanzania's soccer giants Yanga (young Africans) and Simba will clash at the National stadium in Dar es Salaam.

The match is expected to attract many spectators than usual, we expect revenue collections to be high.

Actually we look forward to watching this big event.

In the midst of expectation I can not stop myself from wondering what actually will happen tommorow. I wish to very advanced soccer tactics from the big teams, I wish to hear from TFF that they have collected as much as they expected as gate collection, I wish to see fair officiating of the match. I wish to mature and fair behavior from fans, i wish for a lot good things to happen.

But I know one thing for sure: It is possible that I wont see any of my wishes coming true. It is possible to hear from TFF saying that they run deficit from the match collection.

We may end up seeing the usual none fair play game from players, players from each team may turn to a non sportmanship fouls. There is a possibility of seeing the match slipping away from officials control and turn to a violent one. We may be seeing bottles filled with urine and water being thrown to officials and players from the stand.

Who is to blame hear? TFF? Clubs? Fans? all parties should take the blame but TFF should bear more. Why are these clubs dormant until now? this is a question I can not answer.

It is possible for briliant soccer from Tanzania clubs but we need to invest more in good governance in Tanzania sports industry.

By the way I will still go and watch the game

Referees Banned for Life

This week Tanzania's football took what I call a positive move.

In a number of occassions for many years there has been complaints from football coaches and players to the soccer governing body. Many complaints directed towards officials;clubs and coaches were complaining that the way matches were officiated showed some indication of favouritisms.

The source of these favours were mentioned to be corruption,although many complained about this no one had evidence to support these claims.

This week as a swahili saying "Za mwizi arobaini" meaning a thief has only 39 days to wonder around but he will eventually be caught on the 40th day of his crimes. Three well known and complained upon referees were given a life ban from officiating any soccer match. TFF came up with such a penalty after the said referees confessed that they took bribe of TZS 200,000/= (equivalent to USD 170/=) from officials of Majimaji sports club.

I commend TFF for taking this brave action to send a message to all other corrupt officials, that the dark era is over. It is time now to build a strong clean soccer nation.

TFF should not end there it is time now to turn to club administrators who are paying these bribes so that their teams can win.

One of the officials is the well known Osman Kazi

Goal keeping

The visual functions are very important to goalkeeping - what the goalkeeper sees and how he processes what he sees is important.

Vision

Visual acuity - Write letters on goal post 10 feet above eye level and ten feet below; jump up and down and stay focused on a certain letter

Ocular mobility – the ability to track; it's important to keep the eyes moving and the head stationary; train by watching a mini-ball move in a circle.

Speed of recognition – one goalkeeper in goal with two goalkeepers seated near the penalty spot; a server take shots from out side the area; the seated keepers save what they can and deflect what they can't save to create problems for the keeper in goal

Peripheral vision - focus on one object, yet be aware of details around them; two players passing, but looking each other in the eye, not ball watching. Players can also practice by walking down the hall or street, being aware of surrounding things, without looking at them.

The gift of failure
· it is the BIG fear, but it is really a gift;
· teach players how to fail,;
· taking risks (winners take more risks but fail more often);
· mistakes are the perfect stepping stones;
· there is absolutely nothing you can do about mistakes except learn from them and then forget them;
· post competition analysis is very important;
· one must fail to succeed

Why do most players fail to develop mental toughness – they don't pay the mental dues; it all starts with training; you must train with emotion in order to cope with emotion during prime time. The Japanese cultural history makes it difficult for them to recover from failure. They tend to dwell on the failures. It is not uncommon to see a team win many matches in a row and start a long losing skid after one bad outing.

Unforced Errors in Soccer

Courtessy: lawrence of Fine soccer

Today's topic deals with unforced errors.
Some coaches seem to spend a great deal of time looking at the statistics of soccer. Things such as time of possession, number of bad passes, shots on goal etc.

If you are going to chart loss of possessions, I think you need to break it down even further into four categories.

* Forced loss of possessions (flop)
* Unforced loss of possession (ulop)
* Risked loss of possessions (rlop)
* Good loss of possessions (glop)

There is a big difference between the three and it's important for coaches and players to understand the differences, and to know when some are acceptable and others are not.

A flop occurs when the player is under pressure and loses the ball. This could be the result of receiving the ball while already under pressure, or having the situation change and finding yourself surrounded by opponents.

A Flop occurs when the player loses the ball even though there is no pressure on you at all. This could be from a square pass to a player who has already left that space or a mis hit pass that goes directly to an opponent.

A rlop occurs when a player sees an opportunity and takes a chance and it doesn't work (this might be trying a through ball that is hit too hard, or a shot on goal or trying to split two players with a dribble because space is seen behind them)

A glop occurs when the team loses possession but for a good reason. The most obvious one would be when there is a loss of possession because your team scores a goal. Coaches will "accept" this type of a loss of possession every time. Another example might be when the ball is crossed in from an opponent you you clear the ball to safety although it does result in possession for the opponent. While some would classify this as a flop, I believe it belongs in a the glop category
If you are going to track statistics, it's important to realize these four types of losses of possesion are quite different.

If you track these, you want to first emphasize the ulop. As a coach, you would love to get rid of all ulops. However, reality is, some will occur. They happen to the best players in the world and they will happen to your players as well. The key is to work to minimize them as much as possible. To pick a random number, if your team averages 20 ulop's a game, you can set a goal of reducing it to 10 a game. If successful in reaching this goal, you would see a marked improvement in play.

The flops should be tracked as being directly result of the player losing the ball or a result of them losing the ball due to receiving it under pressure. For example, if a player receives the ball with no pressure and then dribble into pressure and as a result of this pressure loses the ball, this would be one category. A completely different category would be the player who receives the ball under pressure and while trying to work the ball out of pressure, loses the ball. The second example is much easier to accept than the first one.

The rlop's would be generally considered to be worthwhile losses of possession but only f done in the proper time and location. If the team is winning 1-0 with one minute to go, that is NOT the time to try to dribble through a couple of opponents in your defensive 18.

The point I'm trying to make is that while it can be worthwhile to track loss of possession, it would be much more worthwhile if you do it in a specific and measurable way.

Each of the 4 categories above result in the opponent receiving the ball but they shouldn't all be considered the same. Glops are good all over the field. Ulops are unacceptable all over the field. The other two are understandable depending upon the situation.

As you can see, not all loss of possessions are the same. If you can limit the ulops, have the flops occur in limited quantities and have the rlops occur in the right time and place, your team will be more successful

Feyenoord Quick Passing Drill

Source: Worldsoccer Coaching

Description

The set up of this drill is very easy. Create a grid that is ten yards by ten yards. It would be recommended that you make it bigger for kids that need more time, but don't go any smaller, as the previous drill suggested. Place a cone in the exact middle of the grid. Place one player per ball in the middle of the grid. I would suggest beginning with just one ball and one player in the middle. Place two players on each of the cones outside facing in towards the center of the grid. Place a soccer ball on one of the cones with one of the players to start. The drill begins with the player with the ball passing to the central player then advancing halfway between their cone and the next cone. The middle player makes a one-touch pass back out to the player halfway. The player receives the ball and passes to the player on the next cone. The drill continues the same around the entire grid. Encourage players to pass and play the ball quickly. The drill should be continuous. The coach should interject to make technical and tactical corrections. Some points to observe would be the timing of the checks made by the outside players, the timing of passes, making sure the pass is played to the appropriate foot so that the drill can continue and flow, faking with the hips in the opposite direction so that the receiving player can get used to being deceptive in passing and receiving, and so on.

Recommended

DurationBe sure to switch sides so players can work on their right foot and left foot equally.

WORKING WITH DEFENDERS

Courtesy: Dick Bate, English FA


With changes evolving almost on a daily basis, the nature of the game and therefore the
responsibilities and requirements of the modern-day player are different from yesteryear.
Most of the large clubs who operate at the stellar levels of the game and some other
smaller clubs, recognize the significance of preparing players to their optimum for
forthcoming games and their future in the game.

Positional coaches have long been employed in the game of American football but soccer
has been both dilitary and negligent in doing so. Some clubs toy with the idea of
enhancing the positional capabilities of players and on a regular basis delegate this task to
the sports scientist/athletic trainer as opposed to a football teacher or coach. Whilst sports
scientists will no doubt enhance many of the athletic capabilities of the player the finer
arts of teaching the defender the positional technical and tactical requirements may well
be secondary in their work.

The purpose of this session is to examine and develop the positional and movement
requirements for defenders in general, and in some cases for specific positions.
Minimal equipment is necessary and high numbers can be catered for. The contents of the
session could be the catalyst curriculum for a club’s defenders who are assembled every
coaching session for specialist attention, before they return to work with the rest of the
team in their technical and tactical program.

Every activity conducted in the session is specific for defenders and is directly related
and relevant to the defenders role and responsibility. His ability to move quickly into
position and the signals to do so, his ability to influence opponents activity, his ability to
respond to ball movement, his ability to shift both position and balance and his
understanding of just how to ready himself and make the necessary movements will be
examined.

This is not a team “tactical” session; it is largely although not exclusively directed at the
defenders response once he has made his decision as to how to defend. Some of the
activity is about decision making and operating as and when the ball moves and changes
location but primarily it aims to cover the important facets of a defender’s specialized
movements and actions where he is confronting an opponent.

Defending is as much an art as creative attacking play but seemingly invites less time and
attention from coaches. All and any of the activities involved in this session can be taken
away by any coach working at almost any level of the game and used in the development
of quicker, more agile, more assertive and more responsive defenders. Much of defending
is about dictating and denying as well as it is about dis-possessing opponents and those
aspects will be covered along with positioning and tactical adaptability in the challenge
for supremacy against a determined opponent.