Articles

How to create clever a CM!

Everybody wants that creative midfielder – someone with the ability to change a game with a moment of brilliance, a footballing magician.

We think of Pirlo spraying passes and creating chances; rewatch scholes with a vision that most can dream of. So how can we help to create those characteristics?

Well we know that the ability to see those special passes comes from a combination of trained movements and skills (pattern play and repetition as a collective group) and random game play (SSG’s and unpredictable game realistic practices.

Below are 4 things to consider in your practices to help to create a clever CM:

1 – allow for opportunities to play in game realistic sessions. This may be in the form of conditioned games and SSG’s. It can also come in the form of phases of play and prolonged functions.

2 – condition and constrain specific outcomes. Want your wide players to ,are diagonal runs with the CM playing a straight pass to break lines? Then cut the corners off the pitch and enforce/encourage the type of run you want (take it away as a progression and check their learning).

3 – sometimes, set a boundary and then observe. This does not mean facilitate and not coach… it means set set a challenge within your session aim, set timers and have game periods. Coach in between game periods (but step in during games if needed).

4 – create an encouraging environment and culture that is open, yet challenging at all levels of the game.

There are many ways to create clever players, and there are even more opinions on the topic but if you are to take one thing from it, don’t coach the creativity out of a player, embrace it.

Twitter: @LloydOwers

—————————————————————-

Developing coaches, and yourself as a coach

You’ve probably sat around and thought ‘I could do that’, or ‘I could do a better job than them’… (We probably all have at some point!) but the elite level coaches are there for a reason.

So… what makes a great coach? Which characteristics do they show?

When developing coaches, or just yourself as a coach, be unique. Be yourself. Be someone who takes the best from people (and worst, when needed!) and apply it to your own style and beliefs.

Make a list of what you perceive as key attributes or characteristics of a great coach. For me, I could name a few that I deem important: Key Communicator; Impactful; Adaptable to name a very small amount of some that I deem important.

Now what about for you. Which attributes or characeristics do you think align to what you just listed?

If you were to do this again, how can you get more of the ‘desirable’ list onto your own list? Do you need a mentor? Watch more sessions? Speak to more coaches?

Why is this important?

Well, firstly, to get an idea of where you’re at. Secondly, to understand how you can put yourself to where you want to be. Thirdly, to realise and reflect on what you perceive as key and how you can adapt it to your own style and be unique.

Be realistic, be sensible but be ambitious, but mostly, be focused on your own development.

___________________________________________________________________

What is your philosophy and why is it important?

Everyone coaches differently, even those with similar ideas and it comes down to those individual idealistic elements – “I want my team to play this way because…”, “I want my team to play like …” – now this second one may be dangerous if you don’t take your own group and their environment into consideration!

In short, a coaching philosophy isn’t just about which formation you want to play or your attacking principles… it’s much more than that!

An academic look at Coaching Philosophies:

• Your coaching philosophy is a set of beliefs and principles that guide behaviour, allowing you to be true to your values (Burton & Raedeke, 2008)

• “Coaching philosophy a defined set of values and behaviours that serve to guide actions (Wilcox & Trudel, 1998)

• (They are) “A personal statement that is based on the values and beliefs that direct ones coaching” (Kidman & Hanrahan, 1997)

But what should determine your philosophy?

•What is my motivation for coaching?

•What type of coach do I want to be?

•Why is coaching the right fit for me?

•What is it that I would like to achieve with my coaching?

•What will I achieve for myself?

Consider these points and you may start to think about the basis of your philosophy before you can get to the technical elements.

So now considering the above,

• What are the values of your coaching environment (club, organisation, sporting context)
• What is actually lived out or are they are just ideas/ideals?
• How do your own coaching values relate to the environment?

Tying the aims, environment and technical elements together:

You may have an idea of the club values, your own values and now you need to combine it with your technical preferences. Is there a unified formation across the club (for example, playing the same way as the first team or the age group above to ensure a smoother progression for players)? Are there specific principles you must adhere to? (Maybe these are specific tactical principles).

The purpose of this? To realise there is a lot more that should go into a philosophy than just the technical components.

Twitter: @LloydOwers

___________________________________________________________________________

How to create creative players

Coaching creativity is seen as a tough task sometimes as it is an area where although coaches recognise the importance of ‘creative players’, they aren’t fully sure on how to create them.

My Masters dissertation was based on creativity in football, specifically in youth players in academy settings and it was interesting to see that all of the participants in my study wanted creative players but were either restricted in their planning/delivery or didn’t align their practices to their aims of creating creative players.

So… how do we create them?

Well… the participant information in my study had similar common themes, and this is coupled with other research into the area which outlines the following key components of creating creative players.

Positive environments:

Creating a positive environment where players and staff enjoy being there without a fear of failure and allowing everyone the opportunity to enjoy football is a key ingredient in creating creative players.

Allow for mistakes:

Want to create creative players? Don’t worry if they make a mistake – instead, encourage them to try it again but guide them on the the problem.

Democratic coaching:

We all know there’s a time and a place for autocratic, direct coaching but if you want to create a creative player, be more open and democratic and allow players their chance to offer their thoughts and opinions. After all, they’re the ones playing the game!

Guided discovery to Problem Solve:

It is vital for a player to solve problems in order to become a creative player, so set tasks and challenges and within small boundaries, allow them to find the answers.

Inclusivity:

This links back to the democracy of your environment. Encourage an open, inclusive setting.

Difference makers:

It’s good to be different. Embrace it.

These key components can be utilised and encouraged in any setting and it is important to ensure that the feedback is also positive within the environment. There are times when there may need to be corrections, boundaries set and instructions to follow but where possible, in specific areas, encourage the difference maker and maybe you’ll start to see more creative players in your teams.

Twitter: @LloydOwers

________________________________________________________________________

Want to use The Coaching Labs fantastic Match Cards? Let’s have a look at the use of them in training and games…

As you’ve probably guessed from reading previous articles that I’ve posted
here recently, I’m a SSG advocate and think there are so many benefits from
learning through game play. Personal belief is that you need those technical
aspects in sessions, you need broken down tactical elements and you can connect all of these in smaller sections via SSG’s… this is where the match cards can come in.

Predominantly aimed at the younger age groups, they can still be relevant to
older players if the correct ‘constraints’ are selected.

Constraint based coaching:

Ben Bartlett has excellently promoted and developed the use of constraint
based coaching in recent years, demonstrating the use of challenging players in situations that connect to the game itself.

How does this link to the Match Cards?

Well… rather than a tactical constraint, how about a super power for your
players to use to gain a technical advantage? Or an individual challenge that
you want to set to a player who is either finding it hard or finding it
easy?

Want to encourage your young players to move into spaces? Throw in the
‘lava’ card which means they have 4 seconds to move after passing. Maybe you have a player who is a role model to others? Offer them the ‘manager mode’ and encourage their leadership skills whilst also allowing others to flourish.

How can they help you?

As a coach, they’re useful to use as a fun ‘tool’. They promote a unified
feeling in the group (in my experience!) that keeps up competition levels as
well as being another method of challenging players to meet session aims. There are many cards that link to possession based games, attacking/defending situations, finishing sessions etc and these can highlight understanding very well.

For players – who doesn’t want a bit of fun? I’ve tried these with u10
players, u14’s and even u23’s (these guys were sceptical but did see the
benefit once they started playing!)

How much are they?

There are 3 types on offer based on target age ranges but the common ones
are The Coaching Lab Match Cards at £25 – but if you’re reading this
and want a 10% discount, apply “CD10”.

http://www.thecoachinglab.org/shop

_____________________________________________________________________

Why should training sessions be a tougher mental challenge than matches?

Thomas Tuchel is a strong advocate of ensuring training is tougher than games.

Utilising his differential learning methods, he explains that creating
environments for players to be challenged in unusual ways makes the game
‘easier than the training sessions’. This is due to the increased thought
processes, increased decision making and the often decreased space available,
i.e. when the players get onto a full size pitch with more space, there is more
time to make decisions.

There are various factors that occur in matches that need to be accounted
for in training – another key reason to make training harder than the game
itself.

1 – expect the unexpected! How often does a situation occur
which hasn’t been planned for in a game? Maybe it’s the oppositions formation
being different than expected. Perhaps it’s a specific individual causing
tactical problems for your team. Help it by offering game play in your
training sessions and encourage random situations.

2 – this breeds confidence, something of which is needed
when playing matches. This may be individually or collectively but having a
feeling of ‘we’ve faced this in training, it can’t be harder than
that/different to that’ is only going to be helpful, surely?

3 – psychologically prepared players are confident,
decisive and effective game changers who are prepared for all possible outcomes and don’t fear those unexpected elements. Create a strong group – team bonding and fun elements in each session. Create learning opportunities within settings that players want to be a part of.

4 – push physical limits: why? If training is harder, games
become easier! Appropriately plan your sessions across the season within
suitable ability levels but challenge players and demand more. Tip: periodise
your sessions, i.e. SSG’s having time based rounds, for example. Another bonus for this is that players become used to working under tiredness… this can be helpful in games, especially late on.

5 – create problem solving opportunities in sessions.
Coaches aren’t on the pitch in matches so you need leaders and thinkers
everywhere. Create your problems and let players discover the solutions within your set boundaries.

6 – make training game realistic. Why have sessions that
are low intensity all the time when a game is higher? You can set the desire
for a group in training and if they can do it with their team-mates, they’ll
certainly be able to do it against others!

Overall, the conclusion is based more around those senior players (but tweak
these to suit your your players *) – include game play in training sessions.
Demand a high intensity and a desire to succeed in training sessions. Allow for problem solving opportunities and ensure the fun element that everyone wants to be involved with.

*please don’t push a desire to win with your youth players – they’ll
want to win naturally so focus on the technical and tactical understanding and
the test will come with performances.

@LloydOwers (Twitter)

_____________________________________________________________________

Communication and it’s link to sports coaching (and some tips!)

We know that communication in sport is key for players and coaches both on and off the pitch. Coaches at all levels have the common saying (along the lines of): “we’ve got to talk more”. Well, how important is it and how you can encourage it from an early age?

From the coaches perspective, sometimes talking less, is more. Too much information can affect game play and decision making so ensure you communicate effectively – be punctual and informative in your message.

How can you recognise your current communication? Film yourself/record your coaching and look out for your communication. Do you think you talk too much? Too little? Did you repeat a specific word too often? (Mine used to be “ok?”). Did you communicate more with individuals or the group? Does this need to change? This also then doubles up as a good reflective tool but remember, same as coaching, stick to your aim – you’re looking for your communication.

It may be worth getting feedback from peers, observers or your players. Ask them what they think of your communication. Would they change anything and why? (Parents may want you to talk more – you might have to ignore some of that if it goes against your principles!)

Try to recognise:

what is your communication style generally? command, questions, guided discovery etc.
How open or closed is your body language?
Were your messages informative and important?
What was the tone of your communication like?

But what about your players communication? How can you encourage them to talk, and to talk effectively?

Encourage democracy and challenge players to solve problems in their play within your coaching session structure. Allow them to talk and discuss best outcomes. Prompt when needed to further their thinking and communication.

This can then be a great learning tool for their playing as well as communication improvements as they are learning from each other and trialling their ideas. It also includes them in the process and allows them to have ownership.

A way of doing it in game situations could be allowing players to speak first during game breaks, ie half time. What are their thoughts? Could your points adapt based on their ideas?

Remember to continue to question and challenge players but also yourself. Question support coaches and those around you and encourage that open communication in your coaching environment.

Ultimately, the more able players are to communicate with one another both and off the pitch about problems, solutions and ways they can work with one another to achieve success the better your group of players will be at communicating based on what they see and feel.

Twitter: @LloydOwers

___________________________________________________________________________

Environments and ideas for Coach Development

We know that creating a positive environment can help players due to the encouragement and willingness to be creative and explore new ways of displaying talent, but what about for coaches?

The coaching environment could be the day to day (or week to week) sessions and this could be positively developmental or negative, depending on the set up. Factors could include negativity from support staff, or a lack of enjoyment due to a lack of support or feeling valued from the club context you work in. You could also view it as the environments you’ve been exposed to to aid your coaching development – which is the same as for the players: the more situations experienced, the better you’ll become.

So which environments or situations could you benefit from? Where can you gain experiences?

Watch coaches. Go and observe coaches in different settings. You might coach adults but you will certainly learn something from a youth coach, and vice versa!
Try to coach in as many different situations as you can. It may be hard to fit time in of justify volunteering in different coaching environments but if you can, do it – exposing yourself to new skills will only benefit you and your regular group.
You’re reading this, so im guessing you’re on social media…. Follow coaching pages – Twitter is great for those, as well as spiralling off to new connections who post great content.
What about books? Reading can be a great switch off and an aid to learning, so you might as well upskill your coaching wt the same time!

For me, I think my time in previous roles working in community coaching helped me. Pay as you play sessions with no set number of players, players rolling in and out throughout with limited equipment gave me chances to learn how to be adaptable as well as managing big numbers!

Mixed ability sessions in and out of schools helped to differentiate.

Advanced sessions honed my game understanding. There are many more experiences but the point being, try to coach as much as possible and test yourself.

I think my biggest, and most enjoyable learning opportunities however came from coaching in Canada for a few summers. It became a second home personally, but professionally, the level of play and the seriousness of coaching improved my confidence and determination as everyone wants to know why something is happening, so you have to justify it. I would love the opportunity to return to Canada and show my developed coaching ability since I was last there (any offers, readers? 😉 ) – but the point of this is – get out there and practice, read, watch and immerse yourself in something you enjoy. You will only benefit from it.

___________________________________________________________________________

Could positional coaching work in soccer as well as it does in American Football?

Looking at the coaching process through a philosophy aspect, coaches often
base their own process on experiences, past events or either their own, or
surrounding individuals’ feelings (Cross, 1995; Saury & Durand, 1998;
Gilbert & Trudel, 2001; Cushion et al., 2003; Jones et al., 2004),
which can allow them to stray away from their own beliefs.

This can be detrimental to them and their team as it can lead to a reactive
approach to coaching as well as making rash decisions due to the emotional
state they are in. This can also be a reason for coaches deviating
away from their philosophies due to the fear of failure and anticipation
of regret, providing a reason to avoid excessive risk-taking (Loomes &
Sugden 1982).

A question that I have wondered, and would like to open out to the readers
of this is ‘can position specific coaching that links to a
philosophy work in football coaching?’ – an example being if a
coach wants their team to play a long ball approach with full backs switching
play, could the full backs and opposing wide players spend a period of time in training working on the specific passes and runs being repeated continuously, almost as a pattern practice? I am fully aware that football (soccer) isn’t as “drawn up tactically” as American football, but could these small patterns between specific pairings and units work in the game format? Are there any other position specific examples that you could think of that could be worked in a similar way to connect to a philosophy?

Chelladurai (1993) suggested that coaching “is the art and science of
decision making” so if the decisions are set out with a wide range of back up
scenarios and plans, could this improve the amount of success a
player, and their team, has in possession?

This approach could maybe have a psychological affect on the players in a
positive or a negative way. Positive – players know what is expected and how to execute the plan; Negative – boredom could occur. However, if I was to try this approach, I would only do it for small periods of time – 20 minute blocks in a training session before the group reunited to work on team based activity.

This approach may be different, it may not work, but it would certainly be
different than a coach using observational behaviour coaching based on previous experience and it would certainly be a risk taking opportunity for the coach, opposing existing elements of the coaching process which can be criticised for being too simplistic (Lyle, 1996; Cross & Ellice, 1997; Mathers, 1997).

Could this work in soccer to aid positional understanding and act as another
coaching tool?

__________________________________________________________________________

Constant, variable and random – when, where and why?

Having looked at trends around behavioural, cognitive and philosophical approaches to coaching, the one that stands out to me as most intriguing is cognitive, with Abraham, Collins & Martindale (2006) suggesting that coaching is a decision making process, something of which I am hugely in support of.

In terms of coaching, there are many ways in which coaches can get their point across and just as many ways of how players can receive said message, and it is important to recognise a players preferred learning style – the preferred way of using one’s abilities. (Sternberg 1994).

The effectiveness of training can be maximised by the type of training the players are engaged with (Schmidt, 1975). In regards to football coaching, we can look at the constant, variable and random approaches in sessions.

Starting with constant (or blocked), this type of practice ‘is typical of some drills in which a skill is repeated over and over, with minimal interruption by other activities’ (Lee and Schmidt, 2014). In a training context, it is repetition of a skill, passing and receiving the same pass with a teammate, for example. The idea behind it is to build confidence in trying the skill without external factors to put the player off – could it be good for beginner players due to the opportunity to practice without too many decisions to make? Could it be used in a tactical sense for elite players, maybe with pattern plays?

When we look at variable, this is the change of either the technique itself between repetitions or the introduction of an external factor creating more factors to think about, putting the technique under pressure to be performed in decision making situations – when, how and why to use this technique. Volleyball Canada (2016) suggest that this type of training isn’t suitable for players in the initial stages of skill development. Personally, I can see both negatives and positives of this for all ability levels as it is realistic to game situations which can benefit players technically and psychologically, however, on the opposing side, it could potentially be too much, too soon for some players.

Random practice is the game setting. It is the decision making process for everyone involved, especially the player in possession. Who do they pass to? What type of pass? Why that type of pass? If they don’t play the pass quickly, or at all, what may happen? This is the stage in which random practice created initially sloppy appearing sessions with less improvements immediately but with more self sufficient players who performed at a more consistent level eventually (Breakthrough Basketball, 2017).

What are your thoughts on constant/blocked, variable, random practices for beginner players? And elite players?

What is the best approach for tactical detail, rather than technical detail? When and why would this approach change?

____________________________________________________________________________

Proactive and Reactive Coaching – influenced by relationships?

Who do you think of when asked to provide a ‘Proactive Coach’? What about a ‘reactive coach’?

It is (probably) easier to name more proactive, forward thinking coaches
than reactive, maybe because of the elite status names on the tip of your tongue.

Is this because of the expert/novice paradigm where better executions and
decisions are carried out during games by experts (Abernethy, Thomas, &
Thomas, 1993) making them more successful, longer lasting and ultimately more memorable?

Is being a reactive coach, at any level, always a bad thing? Is there a good
time to be reactive? Reactive behaviours can be seen as having unclear goals
(Wallace, 2018) which in a coaching context could be damaging to the long term processes as well as the immediate situations – an example being a coach scared to make a positive substitution but forced to after conceding a goal; now chasing the game.

Frese & Fay (2001) state that proactivity is goal focused towards a
long-term aim acting on future challenges, not those presently faced.

Coaches do this through session planning, game planning and ultimately season planning through their micro, meso and macro cycles – phase working towards various goals, structures and content of a planned training programme (The S&C Coach, 2018).

Coaches at the elite level, especially those with the privilege of starting
the season at their club, have a season and long term plan, dependent on their philosophy. Some will go with youth players for the future; some for ‘the now’ with the experience to win; others a mix of the two, but in any case, this is usually proactive. It is those who take over mid season who can be
reactive as the coach may be under pressures from above and below for results to turn, as well as in-game scenarios that can cause it.

Horn (2008) later concurred with Smoll & Smith (1989) by discussing the
coaching behaviours that are influenced through a range of factors including
behavioural, cognitive, and situational variables. To me, this shows
the link between a proactive coaches long term aim and the way in which they make decisions to steer their team towards that aim. As well as the
coach having decisions to make in those situations, players can also help the
coach to achieve the proactive targets if a strong relationship is upheld with
research suggesting that in-game behaviours influence coach/athlete
relationships psychologically (Smith et al., 2007).

__________________________________________________________________________

Teaching and learning through games in football

“Can we play a game?” – as a youth coach, you’ve definitely heard this at
least 500 times in a session! You’ve probably heard it a few times each session
with adults too, so is it a bad thing?

Often, coaches will dismiss the question until the end, and then it can lack
direction and guidance with no connection to the rest of the session.

Games in sessions are often seen as ‘lazy coaching’ but with the correct
constraints and conditions, they can be hugely beneficial due to the realism
and relation to the game itself. There are many arguments against blocked
practices due to the ‘stop, stand still’ nature and limited decision making,
although there are the obvious technical benefits due to the unopposed nature… so games… when can they be used?

Well… anytime! According to Martens (2012), Whole part Whole is a style of
coaching where you break the skill down to correct mistakes with
the intention of improving the overall skill. In coaching terms,
start with the game, have your session with its aims in the middle and finish
with a linked-to-the-session game to check if any learning occurred
(hopefully!). This is one method of a games based approach.

TGfU, (nope, I’m not swearing at you!) is another highly beneficial method.
“The Teaching Game for Understanding (TGfU) principle (Bunker & Thorpe, 1982) employs a game led, tactical and problems based approach focusing on cognitive development or game sense, opposing the
traditional skills based approach focusing on specific motor response or
technique development” – in short, games built around specific learning aims
with limited coaching interventions.

Pros: Fun and realistic.

Cons: Potentially unchallenging for some in limiting environments unless specific constraints or challenges are placed.

How about various forms of SSG’s? They can be linked to any area of football and due to the continued ball rolling time, can be beneficial to learning the game, as well as specific components you may wish to coach. A tactical theme?
Condition it in SSG’s. Technical outcomes? Give any of these methods a go!

You do need to coach and there are many times when you need to “stop,
listen” and coach your points but can it be done in a punctual and clear way
before letting the players do what they want to do, play? 100%! So, don’t worry if people are thinking you aren’t looking “busy”. As long as you’ve planned it,
coach what you need to coach and the players are in realistic situations and
learning – job done!

Why not give me a follow on Twitter? – @LloydOwers

Often, coaches will dismiss the question until the end, and then it can lack
direction and guidance with no connection to the rest of the session.

TGfU, (nope, I’m not swearing at you!) is another highly beneficial method.
“The Teaching Game for Understanding (TGfU)
principle (Bunker & Thorpe, 1982) employs a game led, tactical and problems
based approach focusing on cognitive development or game sense, opposing the
traditional skills based approach focusing on specific motor response or
technique development” – in short, games built around specific learning aims
with limited coaching interventions. Pros: Fun and realistic. Cons: Potentially
unchallenging for some in limiting environments unless specific constraints or
challenges are placed.

How about various forms of SSG’s? They can be linked to any area of football
and due to the continued ball rolling time, can be beneficial to learning the
game, as well as specific components you may wish to coach. A tactical theme?
Condition it in SSG’s. Technical outcomes? Give any of these methods a go!

You do need to coach and there are many times when you need to “stop,
listen” and coach your points but can it be done in a punctual and clear way
before letting the players do what they want to do, play? 100%! So, don’t worry
if people are thinking you aren’t looking “busy”. As long as you’ve planned it,
coach what you need to coach and the players are in realistic situations and
learning – job done!

Why not give me a follow on Twitter? – @LloydOwers