All exercises and progressions are assisted by a diagram within the video. The sound was recorded using an iPhone4 that was attached to my left arm for the entire session. Interruptions occurred frequently in the second half of the session as we had to contest with difficult weather conditions. First heavy rain, thunder and lightning, then finishing off with hail. Despite the frequent stoppages, we were able to continue and finish off the session.
And the music? That's just how Mexico sounds.
Now I will attempt to do some self analysis on this video using marking guides from three different exams that are relevant to this level of football. FA Level 2, FA Youth Award, NSCAA National Diploma.
Before that, I will provide some of my own thoughts. You will notice something that is called Mexican Speed. When moving towards their positions at the start of an exercise, the players do not run or jog, let alone walk. They meander. Like water moving over a relatively flat, but slightly bumpy surface. Kind of unsure where to go, and in no hurry to get there. As Brits, we have tried many ways to get players to operate above Mexican Speed, but to no avail. It is so ingrained in their culture and way of life that attempting to change it just causes frustration from both parties.
One may also notice that there is not a high level of technical proficiency on show here. This is a decent team that I am working with, giving you an idea of the standard of girls football in Mexico. There's a lot of screaming and laughing, showing that these girls play for fun. The level of seriousness varies from player to player, and although we are an academy, we're actually far from that. Hopefully what you will notice, and this may just be my bias as a coach, is that they try to play good passing football. They may kick with their toes and may not be able to trap a bag of sand, but patterns of play, understanding of link ups and combinations, is somewhat there. I have only encountered one other girls team in Mexico to play like this. Everyone else just hoofs it long. The fat girl kicks it to the fast girl. Mine are all in pretty good shape. As the old adage goes; playing long ball may win you the game today, but playing passing football means we'll be unstoppable in three years. I leave in a month, and hope that their development continues in this way.
There are some organisational points that I should have been quicker on. The setup of the session seems to flow, despite the constant interruptions for weather. One thing I learnt early on when coaching is to arrange your session so that you can easily transition from one exercise or progression to the next. A lot of coaches waste time by taking five minute breaks to set up another playing area. No. Pick up one or two cones, move a couple, and bang, you are into the next phase. That's why it helps to have different colours. "Could you pick up the yellow cones, and leave the whites where they are", or "We're going to play from the blue cones to the blue cones, with the green cones as goals". Makes sense. What I should have done, looking back, is pick the teams myself. At Mexican Speed, they take forever to get into groups of three. All you need is two other people. And then with the bibs too, I could have been a lot quicker there at getting them on and sending them off.
Reflection Two Years Later
It's amazing what time can do. Back then, this was the beginning of a wave which was now become the way I coach. It was the basics to my ideas and underlying principles. Since this sunny, then rainy, day, I have passed higher qualifications, and worked with far better players in much more professional environments. And as such, my ideas... maybe haven't changed, but have been refined. I'm more specific in what I do. Bare in mind that at this time I had taken the Youth Module 3 and UEFA B courses, but not passed them. Now I have, and with much better experiences to go along with.
So the first thing I'd do is perhaps make the topic a bit more specific. Passing and moving is too vague. Where? When? How? What's the situation? What does it look like on the pitch? We've lazily gone over the basic principles in this session. I know that they are a group of beginners to intermediates, but I still could have found a way to relate it to the game better.
We need to find ways to get these players involved. Do we pitch it at the better players, the worst players, or somewhere in between? With experience and guidance, I've learnt the answer to this, and it's not so difficult. Always pitch it at your best players. If your best players become frustrated and bored, you have much bigger problems than if it happens to your worst players. When your worst player leaves, it doesn't affect results. They don't drag their friends with them, as it's understood that it was a privilege for them to be in the team. Your boss will see it as trimming the fat. The better players are the future. They have the skill, the commitment, the drive, and are likely to represent the club at senior level, or make name for the organisation at some point down the line. If your best players become annoyed at the standard of training, there's always another coach out there, sniffing around, looking to lure them to their club. And it's your best players that are likely to be playing football still in two, five, or ten years time, Your worst players have only just started, and due to where they are in the pecking order, they may not be around for much longer.
Remember, this isn't about standards, like attitude and commitment, this is simply the difficulty of a session.
If you've pitched the session high, and the weaker players are struggling to keep up, the argument could be made that it's unfair on the weaker players. It's like chucking them in the deep end when we haven't taught them to swim. It's not their fault they can't swim! Correct, but this is training. We can give them armbands or floaties. Who doesn't love a good water woggle fight? We are the coaches, and we are this the architects of training. We can manipulate the session however we want it. It may be challenging, and we will have to be creative, but it can be done. We can use roles, challenges, restrictions, rules etc. to create the outcomes we wish to see. It's not so hard.
We now know that this session should have been more specific, and also more challenging for the better players. It looks like I had an idea in my head, and I wanted the players to fit that. That's not always a bad place to start, but we need to be better as coaches at tailoring it to fit the needs of our group. So how about maintaining possession in tight areas? It would still encompass passing and moving, but suddenly we have a clearer picture in our minds. There's a part of the pitch that we are imagining, there's potential overloads, danger, risk and reward, and we are acting with a purpose. Passing and moving in the broader sense does not have a purpose. Maintaining possession does, and tight areas are where we are going to do it.
The exercise where all the players were moving around with a ball at their feet, attempting to hit other balls is an exercise I like. Perhaps it could have been done less, or progressed to be more difficult. Upon reflection I think it was too much of the same for too long. Everyone has a ball at their feet, the picture is always changing, everyone can experience success, there is competition, the players understand the purpose of the exercise, there are challenges. It's good. It also allows me to pull players out individually and make points, as well as stop the entire group if need be, so as the coach I can guide, demonstrate, instruct, question, and just let it flow.
Nowadays, I absolutely love rondos, and try to use a lot of them. We're not talking about the typical 4v1 or 5v2 rondo we see all the time. That's good for three minutes to stretch the legs, but apart from that, it doesn't do enough. The word rondo means round, in the sense that you are encompassed, and the ball cannot leave the area. See how that opens us up to a whole new world? 4v4+4 is a rondo. That's two teams of four competing for possession, with another team of four on the outside as wallpassers, who will keep the ball in play, making the game continuous. 4v2(4) is a rondo within a rondo. We have a team of four keeping the ball away from a team of two, but when the two steal the ball, they can link up with the four wall passers, and thus it becomes an overload in their favour, meaning it goes from a 4v2 to a 4v6. These types of rondos would still allow me to bring out what was being worked on in the early stage of my session, but would also have the benefit of a transitional element, with more decisions to be made. How can we retain the ball? How can I support a teammate? How can I win the ball back? We're looking at both attacking and defensive shape structures as well as the actual passing technique and decision making.
Here's how I would make notes if I were to use the marking criteria of the FA Youth Award. I've not ticked or crossed any boxes, as it would be hard for me to be objective here. I have been quite hard on myself. This session design would not pass. My coaching of this session would also not pass. Design can kill you, first and foremost. It doesn't matter how well you coached it, if you got the design all wrong. You could cook a really good burger, but if someone asked for a pizza, it's still wrong.
Recording sessions and analysing your performance is definitely something we should do regularly. I feel that when it's done there and then in the moment, without videos, in a group with peers, it's often too subjective. The players (or coaches as players) may have experienced something different from their point of view, and although their opinion may be worth listening to, and they may have something to contribute, it often becomes plaintiff versus defendant. Any criticism becomes a case to be defended. Sometimes, because, from a completely neutral point of view, the criticism isn't valid. Some people like to just blow hot air because they love the sound of their own voice, or desperately try to contribute by sounding important. Sometimes it's also a trivial issue. Give it a bit of time, step away, come back later with a video, and have a look with trusted and respected mentors.
Now it's time to redesign the session, and adhere to tougher metrics. I will plan this session as if I were teaching it to the youth teams at Aldershot Town.
That would be the session plan template that we would be working from, with all the parameters we have to consider. Start with a rondo, move into a pattern practice, then into opposed, and finish with a small sided game. Each progression has to be directional, include tactical patterns, facilitate repetitions, and to be competitive. We would have to note down what we want players to achieve in each part, what questions we might use, and what constraints we might manipulate to increase or decrease the complexity of the task (progressions and regressions).
For good measure, I have included the marking sheet. We then would have to grade ourselves after the session, using the following criteria.
We had something similar for match days too. As you can see, making it up on the fly just won't cut it. And you can imagine how much one would improve having to adhere to this twice a week. The planning of a session would take as long as the session itself, and then the review too.
Let's go down the list of what I first need to do for the session.
These are the videos I would have sent to the players in an email before the session to give an idea for the week.
Barcelona Possession Analysis
Barcelona 37 pass goal
Barcelona's Possession
FC Barcelona - Legenda Tiki Taka
They probably won't watch all these videos, but I will, and it will give them an idea of what the football looks like. Many kids have dads that like to seem clever and important, so will sit down with their kids and go over the videos. That's why I give them a few things to look out for, and even some questions.
Look out for:
- Body shape when receiving.
- Movement to create space to receive.
- Pass types.
- Direction of first touch.
- Identify triangle shapes made by the team in possession.
Questions:
- Why are there so many one-touch passes?
- How does quick short passing affect the shape of the opposition?
- Why is possession seen as the best form of defence?
- What does keeping the ball allow the team in possession to do in regards to player positions?
Player objectives or targets I believe are best off being set by the player themselves, but with a little guidance. Most of us know what we want to order when walking into our favourite restaurant, though when eating at a new venue, we need to consult the menu. So give them a few options, and let them choose.
By the end of tonight's session I want to...
Technical: have improved my one-touch passing.
Technical: have improved by ability to disguise a pass.
Technical: have demonstrated a range of passing types.
Tactical: have improved my understanding of how to support a teammate.
Tactical: have improved my understanding of when to penetrate and when to retain.
Tactical: have improved my understanding of when to penetrate and when to retain.
Physical: have improved my agility allowing me to change body shape quickly to pass and control.
Psychological: have demonstrated confidence receiving under pressure.
Social: have given plenty of instructions and guidance to teammates.
Pick one or two. It may depend on what type of player you are, where your skillset lies, and what you most wish to improve.
And then there's the tactics board we need to decorate for the session. The Mexican liked to do it while she was here, and the kids preferred it as her handwriting is better than mine.
This would be my board that would be at the side of the session. The topic titles are often long winded, and I like to focus on what the nitty gritty is. We have questions on there, sometimes the same as the email, sometimes different, for the players to answer in the debrief at the end. There are three main challenges, which are individual, unit, and team. These are the basics, and often I will deviate from these during the session to further extend certain players. If there's a large group, usually you can only work effectively with two or three of them. These general challenges allow for the rest of the players to still have targets to strive for while the attention of the coach is on the relevant few. And then there's a quote for the players to think about. This one is from Real Madrid's tattooed defender, Sergio Ramos. With the videos and the board prepared, we can now move onto the session.
1. Rondo
We'd start with this simple rondo. As it's an 8v4, it becomes much easier for the 8, but the game is made a little more equal by the red team only being allowed one touch. The reds and the blues work together to keep the ball from the yellows. Time it, so you can change the teams round, or give them a target of passes to achieve. Perhaps make it competitive. Maybe a time limit or a pass target for the team in possession to achieve in order to score a point, with the 8 having a higher target than the 4. It's possible the players could be encouraged to set such targets. I know it says make it directional, but I don't feel that's always entirely necessary for the warm-up, or first exercise.
The one touch for the reds evens the game out a bit for the yellows, while also conditioning them to think quickly. The blues, with a more touches, naturally look for different spaces. The reds, knowing they have only one touch, pick positions towards the outside, so they can scan and assess better, and play one touch in multiple directions. One may hang around the middle somewhere as a bounce passer. The blues with their multiple touches are able to dictate the tempo and change the point of attack, as well as draw in the yellow opponents by pausing. You will notice that there's one red in the diagram that floats into the middle. This player can distract the yellows, and by receiving on their safe side, will shield the ball from the yellows, while they have been drawn in. This is a great tool for creating an extra couple of yards of space.
For the tick boxes; it's not directional, but it does encourage one touch play, it is working on patterns, and it does encourage players to move the ball quickly.
What do I expect players to be able to achieve?
- Learn how to move one or two steps to create new passing angles.
- To be able to think and assess quickly.
What questions would I use?
- Where can you go to support the player on the ball?
- How can you create space to receive?
Progressions/regressions?
- Always make the space bigger or smaller to increase or decrease the difficulty.
- Allow two touches for the red team if players are struggling.
- Include one 2x2 box in the square which is a "no tackling zone" where a weaker player may feel like they can use it to make a pass if they are being overrun by the better players. They will have three seconds unopposed.
- Instead of giving the yellows a pass or time target, give them the challenge of breaking out of the box, like a counter, in order to gain points.
Coaching Points
- Use the appropriate surface of the foot to effectively move the ball.
- Know when to pass to the front foot or the back foot.
- When to pause/hold and when to play quickly.
- Disguise to buy more time and space.
- Check movements to create passing lanes.
2. Pattern
Above is a video that demonstrates the gif below.
As the 2 are allowed the freedom of two boxes, they have much better opportunities to move around and create the constellations necessary to support and receive from their teammates. The 4 have to stay in their box, which means the teams keep their positioning, while having to make slight and subtle movements to create better passing angles. How is the team in possession able to use width and depth to create space? The more restrictive the session is, the more you can coach patterns, and the more free it is, the more players can think for themselves and solve their own problems.
It's directional, the players are working through tactical patterns, it allows for many repetitions, and it is very competitive.
What do I expect players to be able to achieve?
- Learn how to alter their body shape when receiving.
- Demonstrate an ability to take an appropriate first touch.
What questions would I use?
- How can you use width and depth to create gaps in the opposition's line?
- What is determining whether you penetrate or retain?
Progressions/regressions?
- Allow the 2 to press the 4. That creates more traffic and will have them seeking different patterns and shapes in order to receive and create space. The 2 will also now be able to play backwards, meaning that we will see constellations for retention.
- Take away the one-touch and combination rules for the 2, so that they can dribble or score by themselves.
- Include an offside rule if the passes are being played too easily to the 2.
- Remove restrictions of movement, such as the 4 being allowed to move into any square laterally, which would aid their rotation through concepts such as takes and overlaps.
Coaching Points
- Direction of movement to create space for yourself or passing lanes for others.
- Use width and depth to create space.
- Direction of first touch.
- First touch to direct the flow of play before passing in the opposite direction.
- Up-back-through sequences.
- W and triangle shapes.
3. Opposed
This is now a more simple exercise that is beginning to look closer to the game. It's important that we never get too complex in our session design. As always most of these exercises can be used to teach a whole range of topics. Obviously in here, the focus is on possession in tight areas. The two teams are looking to defend one target player and pass into another, so they are trying to create the penetrating pass as well as deny the penetrating pass. The target player is asked to play the ball back into the opposition with just one touch, as this keeps the tempo high. It also means that the team newly in possession has to react quickly, or else the pass would be hit wayward.
You can decide upon which shape you wish to play. I opt for a 2-1-2 as it creates five lines with the two target players, and it is like the central column of a GK-4-2-3-1. There's also a 3-1-1, -1-3-1, 2-2-1 as other popular choices for the 6v6 game. These players were playing 11v11, but at that age, or any age for that matter, it's very rare to have twenty-two players at training. So we try to make the exercises in games as realistic and similar to our playing style as possible. My idea is that we create many triangles and diamonds to support the ball. 2-1-2 with two target players looks like a 1-2-1-2-1. The triangles are there, ready made for us to exploit.
Already by now we can see that it is directional, the players are working through tactical patterns, it allows for many repetitions, and it is very competitive.
What do I expect players to be able to achieve?
- To recognise movement triggers.
- To be able to use their skills and decision making to retain possession.
What questions would I use?
- When do you move into positions to support?
- How can you create a gap for your teammate to exploit?
Progressions/regressions?
- Make it a 6v6 and allow all players to score by dribbling into the end zone like a touchdown. Could have done this anyway, but I want the penetrating pass not the penetrating dribble. And I want the play to be continuous, like the rondo.
- Make it 6v6 and have anyone on the team receive in the end zone. Same again, I want that ball to be played straight back into play. These two progressions would have to take offside into consideration.
- This is where some players will really start to shine, if they haven't already been standing out. It also means others will be seriously struggling. So, like before, include a no tackle box, and perhaps challenges for the better players, like to give and receive at least one pass to and from each teammate. That means that every player on their team is being utilised and included (it's an amazing feeling for the worst player to be passed to by the best player), and it will have the best player really trying very hard to find and create space for themselves and others.
Coaching Points
- Movement, contraction/expansion upon transition.
- Using your body to shield the ball from the opposition while teammates take up support positions.
- When to dribble or turn your way out of trouble.
- First, second, and third line passes and different techniques.
4. Small Sided Game
Now we move into everyone's favourite. It's the small sided game. Never treat this as simply just "a game at the end." There are still plenty of opportunities to coach. By now I'd say it's more prod than coach. It's their game, so let them play it. We don't need tons of lectures and instructions. A question here, a drive-by there. Unless there is a fundamental flaw, we don't need to stop the game and talk to everyone, or make any big demonstrations. You can pull someone out and have a word with them. The game should also be relevant to the topic. It should look very much like the real game, but still, you need those prods and nudges. Rather than restrictions in the match, let's look at challenges. We want to see plenty of passing, but in a real game, you'd never scold a player for scoring a screamer from distance, dribbling past three players, or playing a great long pass. If it's on, do it. Still, we want to see some kind of link to the rest of training, so what w'ere going to do is incentivise it.
This small sided game is pretty self-explanatory. What I mean by incentivisation is that, we award one point for scoring a goal as normal. Extra points are awarded for things that adhere to the concepts covered in the session. We can perhaps let the players take a stab doing this, if they are bright enough. The reason for two small goals is because none of the players in this team were keepers, and also because by having two, we're still looking at these penetrating passes, at changing the point of attack, and at looking to either penetrate or retain.
It is absolutely directional, the players are working through tactical patterns, it allows for many repetitions simply by being a 6v6, and it is very competitive.
What do I expect players to be able to achieve?
- To show how to effectively support the player in possession of the ball.
- To show intelligence when making passing choices.
What questions would I use?
- How can you consider the next pass in your pass and in your movement?
- How can you pull the opposition out of position and exploit the gaps?
Progressions/regressions?
- Use the third line for a retreat line if teams are struggling to play out.
- Make one of the thirds a one touch third to speed up play.
- Add extra points for every pass made by the team in possession before scoring a goal.
- Score a point for every five consecutive passes made.
- Add incentives for winning the ball in the attacking third, going all the way back to the defensive third, and building an attack from there.
- Add extra points for a team if everyone touches the ball in one sequence of possession and scores a goal.
Coaching Points
- Backwards movement to create space to recycle.
- Triangles, diamonds, ad Ws.
- Speed up and slow down tempo.
- When to penetrate and when to retain,
Evidently, a lot of thought goes into these sessions. There's two things left to prepare. The first is the four corner diagram.
This covers, but is by no means exclusive, plenty of aspects that will be covered directly and indirectly throughout the session.
And this is the session map, showing cone and goal position. Set up your entire pitch, and then work everything within it. Have cones put down in place of where you want the goals to be, so you don't have to mark out steps to find out where it needs to go. As for the blue and red lines that go across the pitch, there would need to be four blue cones already down, in position of the start and finish of the line. When it's time to mark that line, we just need to put down an extra two cones (that you will have conveniently placed on top of these other cones) only four cones need to be placed. With the reds, it's the same kind of idea. Mark the start and finish of all four horizontal and vertical lines, and then you'd only need to put down another three, when the time comes, which is where the red lines intersect. Easy enough. Same with the two white lines that make up the thirds. And the yellow box for the rondo at the start? All four sides will be marked out, and will make up part of the pitch lines, and then only the one side that cuts through the pitch will need to be picked up when it's time to progress.
We try to do these things as best, organised, and efficient as we can, so that there's little disruption when making progressions from one exercise to the next. Sometimes we find ourselves working with limited equipment. It takes a retrieval of two or three cones, and the goals are moved to already marked out locations. It often requires a lot of thinking, but fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Preparation breeds confidence.
And then when the session is over, we refer back to the evaluation sheet. I would use the one supplied by the club for every session as they were the employers. They have a very clear, sometimes rigid way they want it to be done. They're allowed to do it as they have done their research and see this as the best way to educate their youngsters for their first team demands. It's their money that they are investing. The FA Youth Award assessment sheet looks more at how you coach, not what you coach, and not necessarily your session design. The social corner is often neglected, as well as the psychological one, seeing as the technical and physical will take care of themselves. Do we give players enough chance to lead, evaluate, discuss, and take ownership? I believe I do quite a lot for that. I consider these elements strongly. For instance, in the game, I would have the players, either at the start or half way through after they've done it my way, have a brief teamtalk, and discuss how they are going to play the game, based on many things, including; the score, their strengths and weaknesses, the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates, session topic etc.
Now that I have come to the end of this, it has been great for me to reflect and analyse. I am a far better coach than I was back then, though I wasn't a bad coach. I'm always learning and will always strive to do so. There's so many areas I wish to improve, and so much I need to work on. This piece also provides some insight, for those that don't know, in regards to how much planning and preparation is required to ensure you're doing the best sessions possible. Coaches have to spend time thinking, tweaking, planning, experimenting, and designing. If they're not, they are doing their players a huge disservice. And the end of the day, we live to serve, and it's them that we are serving.
No comments:
Post a Comment