while i applaud their enthusiasm and willingness to help out, the question that must be asked is 'are they doing more damage than good'?.
just because i drive a car and havent been involved in any major car crashes, it doesnt mean i can teach others to drive let alone mechanically repair one.
how many senior coaches let alone junior coaches apply the following methodology???
In previous articles we have written about getting the most out of your training sessions, but we felt that we could provide more detail on the coaching process so that you have a more structured approach to developing your players.
Soccer Coaching Process
There are 6 key stages to the Soccer Coaching Circle
• PLAN
• PREPARE
• CONDUCT
• OBSERVE
• ANALYSE
• FEEDBACK
We will take each stage of the process and look in more depth what you can do to get more out of your session.
PLAN
Each training session conducted should have a very clear aim. E.g. to improve passing technique, develop an attacking move, practice build up play etc. Once you have the aim you can then set specific objectives for the session.
Objectives should follow the SMART principles, in that they are
SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ACHIEVABLE, REALISTIC, TIME BOUND
For example, if you were working with U11's then you could work on direct play out of the back four up to the front men. This would be your aim. The specific objectives could then be something like this:
"To ensure that the back four can create an opportunity to pass a direct ball over 30 yards into the strikers with an accuracy level of 7 out of 10 passes by the end of the training session."
Once the objective is set, you then plan how to achieve this following the key structure:
• Warm Up & Stretches
• Technical practice / Function play
• Skill development / Extended play
• Small sided game / Half pitch practice
• Cool down & Stretches
PREPARE
The second stage is the preparatory stage, where the old saying "fail to prepare then prepare to fail" really applies. After spending time focusing in on objectives and planning the session, the next step is to prepare for your session so that it is effective and efficient.
You should aim to arrive at least 15 minutes before your players, this will allow you to set up the goals, cone off squares, grids, warm up and cool down zones. Always ensure whether playing indoors or outdoors that the environment is safe, no broken glass or animal foulings, now ripped astro turf or unsafe goals. Make sure all balls are properly inflated, have the bibs out and any other training aids that you require. You can save so much time by being organized, simple things like having a spare ball to hand to keep play moving, a few spare bibs to quickly change team dynamics, as play is going on you can keep an eye on what’s happening and change the size of the area by moving a few cones. If appropriate, ask parents / guardians to mark out areas while the training is going on.
In part I of this series we looked in particular at the first two stages planning and preparation which is where the foundations of your session are built. Once established its important then to get the session going. In part II we will discuss conducting and observing, that means getting the players involved and you observing them.
Lets focus in on what each of these stages means...
CONDUCT
When the players arrive for training you should be very clear in your mind what the session looks like, how it is going to develop and what each phase of the session is geared to achieve. This is all built from the planning and preparation.
It is a great advantage to set up the session in advance of the players arriving, although I know that facilities are not always available to do this. A possible solution to this is to get an assistant to facilitate the warm up or depending on the age of the players, let them take the warm up session, this allows you a valuable 5 minutes to construct the session.
Once this has been achieved there are 5 key elements to the conducting phase
1. Initial instruction - Some coaches seem to take forever explaining what the purpose of the session is about and what specifically is going to happen etc. While this is all very important so the players can relate to their development, the more time they are spent listening the more distracted and demotivated they will be. They have come to training to train not listen to the coach for ages. Therefore, keep your intial instructions very brief and to the point. It should not take any longer than 1 minute to explain and demonstrate. Get them going quickly, you can always add commentary as the players are practicing.
2. KISS - Keep it short & simple, instruction should be clear, concise and straight to the point
3. Demonstrate - a picture paints a thousand words. Use demonstrations to effectively get your instructions over to the players. Players learn by being involved. I remember a saying that goes... tell me & I'll forget, show me & I'll remember, involve me & I'll understand.
4. Questions - ask your players a couple of key questions to make sure that they have understood what you are asking them to do. Also allow them time to ask questions of you too, just in case they haven't. All of the group need not have to listen, they can be doing the drill or exercise. If you feel that the point in question has merit for everyone, stop the group explain then get them going again straight away. Always praise a good question.
5. Environment - when you initially start your session, check whether the environment that you have set up is conducive to the players succeeding.
Once the session is underway, this is when your fourth key stage really kicks in...
OBSERVE
There is a difference between watching and observing. Lets look at a dictionary definition of what observing means as this will help in the context of the fourth stage of the soccer coaching process...
1. To be or become aware of, especially through careful and directed attention; notice.
2. To watch attentively: observe a child's behavior.
3. To make a systematic or scientific observation of: observe the orbit of the moon.
What are you observing when you watch your players? If you are looking for a particular skill or execution of a technique then you will be actively observing their performance. If say you went along to watch a local team play just for sheer enjoyment, then you would be watching the game. Observing means that you are watching with a purpose.
When running your training sessions there are sepcific elements to technical development and skill / drill execution, this should be your checklist to observation. In your players look for postives that you re-inforce. If you observe a learning or performance error, note it the first time, the second time look for cause and effect, the third time step in an correct.
When observing try to take notes. This helps clarify your thoughts and can enable more specific feedback for players on area's for improvement or positives.
If you use a template for gathering data this allows a far more structured approach to observing and a template will provide a prompt to ensure that you are looking for the same information consistently. For example, if you are observing your team in a training match against a local rival team, you may use the individual perfomance template in the download area to ensure you measure all players on exactly the same key metrics.
In part III of this series we will cover off the the next two stages analysing and providing feedback to your players during your coaching sessions to really boost individual and team performance.
In part I & II of this series we looked in particular at the first four stages planning, preparation, conducting and observing. The last two phases of the process involve analysing what you've observed and putting that into meaningful feedback for your players.
Lets focus in on what each of these final stages means...
ANALYSE
When you coach your players its important that they get to practice. In the last phase of the soccer coaching process we discussed observing which means you keep quite and watch with intent at your players. If its during a practice game or a small sided game at the end of training you should have an idea of what speifically you are looking for. For example if you've been coaching younger players on technical aspects any of the key coaching points checklists provided at the bottom of this page can be used to analyse player peformance. If your working with older players on more tactical situations, look for movement, communication, covering, marking, compactness, depth, width and a whole host of other positional related stuff. The thing is you must know what it is you are looking for.
These three questions should help you decide what your analysing...
Question 1 - What option did the player select from a range of possibilities?
Think about...Did they chose a reasonable option? Were they aware of what was around them, either pressure or supporting players? Should they have held the ball up or released it quickly? Did they exploit any space that was available? Did they run the ball too far? Did they make the best use of the possession? Did they get drawn out of position and leave the team vulnerable? These are just some examples of the types of questions I ask myself when watching my teams play. You can't tell the players what to do in the heat of the game but once they have made their decision, this leads to the next part of the analysis process
Question 2 - What technique did they employ?
Again think about... Once your player made their mind up what their option is you should observe what technique they used. Was it appropriate in the circumstances? How well did it serve them to achieve their goal?
Question 3 - What was the quality of execution (technique) like?
After your player has decided what they are going to do and how best they think they should do it they need to carry out the task. Look for correct technical performance, their body shape, footwork, balance and attitude. By answering these three questions you should be able to evaluate your players training needs. But these questions can easily be adapted to analyse team performance, like:
• how well they counter attack,
• how they re-group when they lose possession
• is there penetration in attack
• do you concentrate the defense
• are the team playing with width
By analysing the decision making process of the team to arrive at an option, their collective movement and communication and application of skill you should be able to arrive at a team developmental needs. Read more about the soccer decision making matrix.
By asking yourself these three simple questions you will be able to identify any shortcomings that you can then build into your next training sessions. Remember the three questions:
1. What option did the player select from a range of possibilities?
2. What technique did they employ?
3. What was the quality of execution (technique) like?</OL< body>
Remember though, don't jump in and over coach if a player gets something wrong the first time allow them to have another go. Look for trends when analysing performance, if something is repeatedly being done incorrectly then make the diagnosis and build the feedback.
FEEDBACK
Quite often coaches jump in and offer their advice to their players too quickly as we said in the last paragraph. Not a problem when done at the right time, but what if the player hasn't made the connection between them making a learning or performance error and the information that the coach is giving?
Particularly in younger players, they are less likely to comprehend and make sense of what has happenend and therefore find it difficult to match the feedback of the coach to their performance. This is partly due to them lacking experience, as this grows through practice and playing games, so they become better equipped to make the connections.
So when giving young players feedback it is important that you consider the following seven points:
1. Ask questions to promote self discovery about what actually happenend and what they think should of happened
2. Explore what their actions were and how things felt e.g. movements, outcomes, feelings. If working with older players, discuss situational observations and re-create plays as they occured to give the players more visual feedback
3. Allow them time to think and internalise their own answers
4. Provide verbal and visual feedback (remember a picture paints a thousand words)
5. Keep information short and simple (KISS)
6. Use feedback when things are done well too, not just to pick up errors
7. Avoid commentating, this type of feedback that provides a running commentary of what the coach observes is not effective.
If you use the template for gathering data this allows a far more structured approach to providing your feedback and will provide a prompt to ensure that you cover all the key points.
Once you have provided the feedback to the players they must be allowed to practice and demonstrate that they have made the connection between their performance and their newly acquired knowledge. Once the feedback stage is over, the players re-commence the training session or game and its back the Conduct phase of the soccer coaching cycle. This is where you again must observe, analyse and then provide feedback and so the loop continues. Remember to offer positive feedback too. Try to catch your players doing things well and reinforce good technique!.
Hey MegaBonus...you seem to know an awful lot about coaching. Are you qualified in any way? I'm reasonably new to Adelaide so maybe you could tell me who the better local Clubs are as I want to start coaching here at Federation level. Have had some overseas experience in the UK.
haha see ya sunday mate!!!
