FA Changes to Youth Football - The Anonymous Parents Response

Thought I would post a response from a parent to the FA's proposals to youth football, commonly known as 'Your Kids Your Say'.  This is a word for word response from one individual (who wished to remain anonymous) which I thought gave an excellent summary to the common issues in grassroots football.  Below is the original response in full:


Surely the whole point of grass roots coaches is for them to teach as many young children how to learn & enjoy the game of football? The more players we teach properly and manage to keep happy all the way up to 14-15 years old surely the more chance we will have of having a greater amount of top quality footballers?

I would appreciate if everyone reads my feelings below – I think this is something to learn from. I am sure I am not the only one who is disgusted in the way some of our grass roots coaches treat children.

My eldest son enjoys playing football but has always been one of possibly thousands of young children throughout the country who was usually an un-used substitute in competitive matches and was mainly just played in the friendly matches unless, of course, there was nothing to play for at the end of the season, then him and others might get a chance.

When we first joined the club the coach gave it all the usual, ‘it’s about the enjoyment and not the winning’, which was soon forgotten about once it was clear that the team could have a chance of winning the league.

Before we eventually changed clubs, he must have only played in 3 or 4 competitive matches in his last two seasons. I politely & discreetly asked, many times, why my son and others were not being played and not being given an equal opportunity to play, only to be told by the coach that he had a good crop of talented players, and how could he possibly drop talented players for others without the same skill level? I was even told once on the phone that my son was not good enough! All I wanted was for my son and the other less used players to come on from time to time and have a chance – Is this not too much to ask?

I would like to make it clear that I never made my opinions heard from the side lines about any of this; I totally disagree with parents who do that. It was always in private or at parents meetings that I made my points to the coach.

The other problem was that the friendly matches, which were always played straight after the league or cup match, were never really taken that seriously, and there was never the same amount of organisation or interest from the coaches. And many times it was seen more of an opportunity for the coach to try out the first team players in different positions, sometimes even in place of other players who had not yet played!

In one match my son was the only player not to be played, and yet the coach decided to take two players off and put them on again in different positions before he eventually brought my son on in the second half of the friendly game. When I questioned him about this afterwards I was told that his grandson had not had much to do in goal so he thought it was only fair to bring him off and bring him on again in an outfield position instead.

I was very close to sending in an official complaint in to the FA about the club, but thought better of it, thinking that this could have affected my son when moving to secondary school with the same players and felt he could have been picked on. I’m sure there are a multitude of unhappy children & parents all over the country in the same situation. I found that other parents actually agreed with me, but when it came to it, they were not willing to upset the apple cart, and support me even though some of their children were in the same boat.

I also think there is a belief in parents that if they complain themselves of agree with others, that this will affect their own child’s chances. How sad is that, but true!

I spoke to someone at the local FA who was urging me to send a complaint in about this, as this was totally against the way the FA want grass roots football run.

My son has always suffered with low esteem and lacked confidence. But being one of the children that was always last to be picked does not do anything to help this.
Although I always felt the actual training was good, it’s such a shame that children of different levels of skill get less chance than others. It’s not just naturally talented children who make it as good footballers, and children learn at different levels. My son is one of the younger children in his year (being born in Aug) and so this can also have a bearing on development levels. The other sad thing is because of this other children and friends have labelled him now as a bad footballer, which is very upsetting. He has also lost out on two years of competitive football and so is always going to be behind some of his friends. Which is so frustrating?

My son and some of his friends from the same team spent a while attending a local FA Skills after school course once a week. And it was so obvious to me that the brilliant coaches here got so much more out of him and he was a completely different player than when he played for his team at the weekend. He wasn’t far off the same level as some of the better players there. We were all very disappointed when the FA skills had to pull out of our area due to funding problems. Both my boys loved it, and the coaches were absolutely fantastic. Maybe the FA could look to extending this across the country more, making it available to more children and more areas.

Unfortunately my other younger son has just had to change teams due to a similar situation. However when questioning his new coach this weekend and asking if all the children would play – he mentioned that he would probably choose his best 6 players for the first match and the rest would play in the second match. Here we go again?

I feel there are far too many junior coaches in the game that put winning over development – and the funny thing is that these same coaches that think that competition is a very important part in the development of young children are the same ones who choose the best players week in week out, and want to sign up as many of the best players in the area to replace the less talented players and therefore end up winning games by 6, 7 or more goals – How is that competitive!? There was one game which my elder sons team won about 8-0 and only 1 or 2 subs were made, when there was 5 or 6 disappointed subs.

My elder son has now moved to another team and the coach is much better, all players get a chance and I really don’t mind when my son doesn’t play in a game as this usually means that other players are getting a chance. We actually came second in the league and all players and parents were kept happy, so it can be done!

I agree with 9v9 at U-11 level, but this should be brought in now, why wait? I understand that this might be difficult to implement though due to the marking out of these different sized pitches.

Although I acknowledge that children do have a natural winning mentality and thrive on competition – I also agree with just having friendly matches until the age of around 10 or 11 – In the end of the day children will still want to win each match, so the competitiveness will always be there, but I think leagues put too much pressure on players and coaches and this also forced coaches to play their best players as they have important games to win in order to keep them top of the league. I think there is far too much pressure to win games from some coaches and some parents. I also like some of the ideas of Futsal especially stopping defenders from being tackled so they can actually learn to play and pass the ball rather than being told to ‘get rid’ all of the time. Surely this will teach children more skill and give them more time on the ball which will help the game in the long run.

I also think we desperately need change the football season calendar or have a 6-8 week break over the Dec-Jan period. The amount of time my son has been on the sideline freezing cold only to come on and not be able to run or play properly because he is so cold and wet. The conditions and state of the pitches these kids have to play on, because of bad weather, is disgusting and can only put children off. The state of the pitches in icy, wet or muddy conditions can’t help the quality of the football either. Look at warmer countries like Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and Italy just to mention a few. They are all naturally more gifted and the weather must have something to do with it.

Come on FA sort this out sooner rather than later.

Agents in Football

The government announced the 'Football Governance' Inquiry in December 2010.  Unfortunately, I missed the boat with regard to submitting written evidence.  I did write to one of the committee members after the inquiry started but did not receive a reply.
I have kept the document I sent and part of it refers to the role of agents (player representatives as some like to be called) in football and thought it deserved a blog.


How much has been spent on agents?
Premier League Clubs Spent £67.1 million in 2009/10 and £70.7 million in 2008/09
Football League Clubs Spent £12.7 million in 2009/10 and £8.8 million in 2008/09


Chelsea paid the most in 2009/10 (£9.3 million) and Manchester City in 2008/09 (£12.9 million)
If you take the recent transfer of Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid to Manchester City for £38 million and a modest assumption that a 5% fee was paid this equates to £1.9 million.


Evidence Provided by Patrick Collins (Mail on Sunday) to the Football Governance Inquiry
'When Wayne Bridge moved from Chelsea to Manchester City, the agent, Pini Zahavi, was paid £900,000.  Now, Bridge wanted to go to Manchester City, Chelsea wanted to sell him and City wanted to buy him.  Both clubs had chief executives who could have picked up a telephone and done the deal in about five minutes, I would guess, yet Zahavi took £900,000 from this deal and nobody thought that was appalling.  Years ago, in 2004, Manchester United paid an agent named Roger Linse £1.3 million for renegotiating the contract of Ruud van Nistelrooy--not negotiating a contract but renegotiating it, and he got £1.3 million for it.'


Now I am not doubting that there is a little bit more to it than two chief executives 'picking up a telephone' to negotiate a deal but I am sure that there is a different way of regulation, transparency, and who is actually involved in these transactions and what they actually 'offer' to the game at all levels.


Alternatives?
What do footballers do when they leave the game?  Some stay in the game through coaching, managing, tv work and indeed many have become licensed agents since the introduction of the Premier League.  Below I have outlined an alternative structure that could potentially be used.
The main focus for me would be on ensuring that throughout the transfer process, some kind of levy is applied and RING-FENCED for youth development.  So, in the case of Andy Carroll, for example, the £35 million fee could have a levy of, say, 2% equating to £700,000 paid to Newcastle that MUST be reinvested in youth development.  An applicable sliding scale could be applied if the player had played for another club, or, more importantly had been trained at another club's Academy or Centre of Excellence.  This would be in addition to the existing compensation arrangements and sell on clauses that go some way to protecting lower league clubs investment in youth players.  An even more radical idea would be for a similar mechanism for the professional club contributing to the grassroots club the player was originally signed from.

The above structure would mean the creation of an independent organisation with relevant oversight within the game. This is something that could potentially be centrally managed by the PFA or a combination of the Premier League, FA, Football League and the PFA. The area representatives could be organised in regions that are familiar to all of these organisations and they would independently represent footballers in their transfer and contract negotiations. The remuneration and regulation of representatives would be set by the organising body and it would actually provide opportunities for retiring footballers as a means to staying employed in football.  The football authorities could even go as far as training players (as they do with coaching qualifications) in the role of a player representative therefore actually educating players during their career in preparation for life beyond their playing days.  The cost of setting up the organisation could be funded by the Premier League Clubs and Football League Clubs based on a contribution using past expenditure on football agents as a benchmark and should represent a substantial reduction in comparison to the current amounts paid to agents (and therefore effectively lost to the game). Moreover, the concerns over regulation of agents would effectively be diminished as they would be monitored as an organisation rather than a disparate group of individuals.  

What Happened to School Football?

After announcing to the twitter world I was going to write this blog my immediate thoughts were "what a minefield".  It's sad really that something that I have great memories of (school PE) is something that now needs a blog discussing the ins and outs of something that, in theory, shouldn't be a topic of debate.

I'm sure there must be an element of  looking back on school days through rose-tinted glasses but there are genuine changes that have happened that must have had an effect on the quantity and quality of physical education in schools and this blog is going to look specifically at football provision in schools.  One undoubted fact is that research has already shown that children are becoming more unfit, less active and more sedentary and, in many cases, heavier than before.  This might be due to reduced activity outside of schools but only goes to highlight the need for high quality provision in schools.

My 'rose-tinted' School Days

Boys played football, girls played netball, apart from once a year where we played the girls at netball and football respectively.  We all played rounders, did gymnastics, swimming and athletics together.  School teams existed predominantly for football, netball and rounders.  We played a game on a Saturday morning and sometimes after school in the week.  The teachers supervised the training of the teams and the attendance at matches (yes at weekends!).  

Was it perfect?  Far from it.  Coaching consisted of getting the whole of the year group involved in a couple of games for the teacher to decide who was 'best' and made the school team.  I don't recall ever being encouraged to use my left foot and only by going through my coaching qualifications, playing left midfield and a little homework did I start to use it instead of standing on it.  We played 11v11 on a fairly big pitch with junior goals.  Did I enjoy it? Yes.  Don't get me wrong here, 11v11 is not the way to go for youth football and 4v4, 7v7, 9v9 in the formative years are far more appropriate but this still doesn't happen enough in schools.  I have seen games of more than 11 a side in school PE lessons!

It's the most popular game in the UK

So why does it seem to be treated as some kind of 'unwanted relative' in the primary school PE curriculum.  If you go into any primary school or talk to anybody involved in teaching, the word 'inclusion' will be used as a catch-all when you discuss focussing on a particular subject.  We are more concerned about excluding people than we are of improving them.  "We need to ensure those that don't like football get the opportunity to be included in PE" is the usual response.  Fair enough, but ask most boys and the vast majority will say that football is their preferred sport.  By all means offer after school activities for athletics, martial arts, skateboarding, volleyball etc. but lets be realistic and if boys choose football as a core PE subject (and the same for whatever girls choose as their favourite sport) surely it can only regain some much needed focus.  Why not as part of the PE and School Sport Survey actually ask the children what they want to do?  I am not suggesting that children don't experience other sports, far from it, I am well aware of the potential downside in early specialisation.  I enjoyed multiple sports at school but there was a particular focus on certain sports at certain times that does not seem to happen now as we implement this 'lets keep everybody happy' policy without thinking of the consequences for high quality sports provision.  What does Gordon Ramsay do whenever he finds a 'nightmare' kitchen?  He looks at the menu, invariably says there are too many things on it and advises them to narrow the focus to increase quality over quantity.

Health and Safety

Now this one is the subject of much debate, particularly in the tabloid press who have frequently discussed the whys and wherefores of kids playground activities.  I'm sure we have all been told about the wearing of goggles for conkers (or the complete ban of).  I recently read a quote that said..

"Children's play and education had been damaged, with some playgrounds becoming joyless no-go areas" 

This quote is from the Head of the Health and Safety Executive! who also said:

"Children today are denied - often on spurious health and safety grounds - many of the formative experiences that shaped my generation.  Playgrounds have become joyless, for a fear of a few cuts and bruises" and the people behind the rulings were often "well-meaning but misguided jobsworths".

It's well known that the 'chaos' type football that is often played in school playgrounds gives young people their early experiences of the game.  These games are often 'banned' or there is a 'foam-football' only policy! This chaos style football can get lost in certain 'sterile' coaching sessions.  To take the option away from school children also just means that we will need to re-produce this kind of football in coached situations even more than we need to now.

School Sports Partnerships

This may be controversial, but, in my experience as with many government initiatives they are poorly implemented at the local level.  In theory, the use of Partnership Development Managers, School Sports Co-ordinators, Primary Link Teachers and PE teachers from secondary schools supporting their counterparts in the primary sector is laudable.  However, I believe they have become overly bureaucratic and no way near as effective as they could be.  Too many people planning when the money could quite easily be used for up-skilling or paying for high quality provision that has been authorised by the national governing body.  The current government proposed the abolishment of them on this basis but were forced into a u-turn and came up with a compromise of releasing a PE teacher for 1 day a week to support primary schools, again in my opinion missing the point.  The fact is not enough emphasis is placed on the subject by the government, the majority of head-teachers and teachers themselves. It is particularly worrying that during the teacher training process, my understanding is that they receive 4 hours of training related to PE in their 4 year degree!  

Where are all the Male Teachers?

When I was at Primary School the majority of sports provision during and after school was provided by 2 male teachers (there were 4 male teachers out of roughly 12 in total).  Apparently, one in four primary schools have no male teachers at all.  Now it is a simple fact that it is more likely for a male teacher to be involved with the education of sports such as football and this is evident in all the schools I have worked in.  I have never seen a female teacher that has been involved in the coaching of the school football team (boys or girls) and have worked in many schools. There simply aren't enough female teachers interested in football and some other sports working in primary schools.

Surely it can't be helpful having schools that don't have male teachers (regardless of whether its for PE or not) and recent research suggests that male primary school teachers are vital role models for boys, also indicating that they are more likely to work harder and approach male teachers about difficulties with school or in the home.

So what happens?  The schools turn to the use of external coaches, regardless of quality and some I have seen have been shocking.  Schools themselves don't have a consistent policy for the recruitment, support and deployment of sports coaches and don't seem to recognise that although coaching is a form of teaching, coaches are not school teachers.  Many schools leave the coaches to supervise lessons without any training, any support and clear guidance in managing children or fulfilling the objectives of the national curriculum.  It becomes a 'tick the box' process for many schools who are happy to be able to tell Ofsted that the 3 or 5 hour offer has been satisfied.  

The government should look at specialist PE Teachers in primary schools or continuing professional development for existing teachers/assistants and sports coaches as a minimum mandatory requirement so that all those providing PE provision in schools are appropriately trained in the requirements of the national curriculum for physical education.

The English Schools Football Association (ESFA)

What was the first thing that came into my head when I looked at this website? 
http://www.esfa.co.uk/directory/council.asp

Well I found a pretty good sketch from a Simpsons episode that seemed appropriate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSpOjj4YD8c

When reading this website the focus still seems to be all about the ESFA's various competitions.  Regardless of what I have heard about the ESFA's positive response to the FA proposals on the future of the game, I cannot see any real focus on developing talented footballers on the website.  I certainly haven't seen an ESFA Development Programme.  Their AGM refers to Honorary Life Members, Constitution of the Council, Eligibility of Council Members, elections etc.etc. and then goes on to discuss Competition 'Rules'.  Even when the discussion turns to what I would assume is a modern approach to the game - Small Sided Competitions, it only talks about who can or can't enter and whether players are eligible!

There is a document from the FA/ESFA called 'The FA Football National 'Development Programme - School's Competition National Football Framework' which does outline the relevant key stage age groups, number of players (e.g. 4v4 through to 11v11) and types of football festivals and competition that can be arranged.  However, it is referred to as 'Introductory Development Activities to introduce young people to high quality schools' competitions'.  There is no guidance on coaching, who should do it, what type of programme could be used over what period.  In short, the word 'Development' in the title seems somewhat redundant.

Quote 'Football for the Brave' - John Cartwright "From its inception, I believe the ESFA have been a major contributing factor leading towards the present demise of homebred football talent.  Fed by players, self-developed on the streets of the nation, arguably the ESFA were, nonetheless, happy to organise a national structure in which these youngsters played competitive matches.  Little thought was given to player instruction and development."

.."It wasn't until the professional game suddenly realised that the stream of talent was drying up, that provoked them through the FA to demand coaching time with young players.  This request was fiercely objected to by the ESFA and although inadequate compromises were implemented, football development remained firmly in the hands of the Schools' Associations - who had no real development programme!."
After much in-fighting between the FA and ESFA the result was that pro clubs were allowed to create a national coaching school at Lilleshall and Centres of Excellence or Academies for the more talented youngsters, whilst the rest of football's aspiring youngsters were left in the hands of well-intentioned, but in terms of coaching, football ignorant parents.


Conclusions
I will leave this for you to decide for yourselves.  Personally I believe there are many challenges to overcome the issues identified above.  Will the government change the school curriculum significantly enough? This is challenging in itself let alone re-prioritising football within it.  School Partnerships will continue to 'muddle through' with ever diminishing resources and an over-complicated mechanism.  Men will continue to be in the minority of teachers working in primary education for multiple reasons.  The FA must therefore concentrate their efforts on encouraging more female teachers to be involved in football.  The ESFA I look forward to with interest.  I have heard they responded positively to the FA's proposals for the future of the game but I have this feeling that unless the organisation is modernised it will fall seamlessly back into it's comfortable competition framework.

Clichés and TV Pundit Language on My Banned List

This is a subject I have discussed with numerous people in the past and is a particular annoyance to me when watching grassroots football.


If I were coaching a grassroots team today I would personally require that along with a generic 'code of conduct' this banned clichés list should be integrated into it.  Ideally it would be strongly self-regulated by all (coaches, parents, players & managers).  I would also like it to be integrated into the coaching qualifications, courses, the FA Respect campaign and some kind of 'best practice' guide for youth football.


My I'm shouting from the sidelines, don't really know why, probably because it's what everyone has done before so I'm going to do it anyway List is as follows:


"Away" - as in get rid of the ball and concede possession as soon as possible.
"Get Rid" - as in see the above, complete negativity.
"If in doubt" - this is getting boring now.
"Clear it" - yawn.
"Row Z" - Not only is this negative, kids probably won't know what you are talking about.
"Play it simple" - This is probably the one that gets me the most along with............
"Play the way you're facing" - as in lets pass the buck to the goalkeeper or somebody who is in an even worse position on the field than me.
"Pass it! who do you think you are Messi" - I am convinced that this is the reason why possession based football in this country is so far behind that of our european counterparts.  What really annoys me is that even if a young player takes on two or three opposing players  but there is no 'end product' people from the sidelines automatically dismiss the innovative part of beating opponents with a negative remark about why the ball needed to be passed in the first place.
"Second ball" - I have a mental image of the kids looking for another ball to play with!
"Hit the channel" - Again, adult language that will just go over most kids heads.
"Get stuck in" - This is crazy and is just Sunday League pub football stuff.  Young players will always want to win the ball back if they haven't got it and they certainly don't need this kind of neanderthal comment.
"One of you" - For me, kids will learn a pretty quick lesson by bumping into their team-mate and this is a classic that everyone else has heard so think I'll say that!
"Noooooo! not there" - I don't get this.  For me, football is a game to be improved on in the development stage by experimenting, seeing what works, what doesn't work and doesn't need somebody from the sidelines preventing this kind of self-learning by criticism or negativity.  If something doesn't work in a game ask your player why it didn't work, what can be done differently in that position next time and where on the pitch it is more likely to work next time.
"Do we want this! or Don't we want this!" - What's that then? Me to be able to go to my mates in the pub or at work and say how my U9's 'destroyed' the opposition? Kids will always 'want this' as in they will always want to play.  They won't 'want this' if somebody from the sidelines keeps questioning whether they are even trying.
"Put him under!" - Under what exactly?
"Get your head up" - I've actually seen this happen where a lad just looked up into the clouds!
"Line it" - Just think about this from a 10 year olds perspective and ask yourself what exactly you think this might mean.
"Easy ball" - See Play it Simple.




Feel free to send me your own 'favourite' clichés, TV punditry and general useless comments that may have been heard from the sidelines and I will add a list at the end of the post. 

Passing & Receiving - Premier Skills

I have finally got round to producing this blog after attending the Premier Skills Academy Coaches Course at West Bromwich Albion and thought it would be interesting to post a blog of one of the sessions that Roger Wilkinson (co-founder of Premier Skills) put on.  


It uses the Practice Play methodology.  Practice Play is about re-introducing the chaos learnings of street football whilst carefully developing game understanding through advanced coaching.


The Practice Play methodology:

• Concerns itself with gradual increases in difficulty - through adding opposition or decreasing area size or combining both.  Difficulty is increased in gradual stages while maintaining continuity in the work.
• Involves practical realism at all stages.
• Develops the individual first then teaches the individual to share the benefits of their skill with team-mates.
• Has a skills and tactical spine that runs throughout the work from junior to senior football.

I have adapted it slightly below for numbers.  Also, although on this occasion they were not used, target gates are used to run through for points or as a visual guide to create angles for runs and passing.  Also safe zones at the side or ends of the pitch are regularly used in Premier Skills sessions representing where space is normally available in a game.

Part one - Small Group Work Plan

Have players in groups of three with a ball between the three.  Numbers can be increased and decreased along with the playing area size to maintain the session ethos.  Here I have 12 players in a 20x20.

This session started with the ball on the floor, but with most Premier Skills sessions this can be with the ball in hands to begin with.  This helps players take in the detail of the coaching points and organisation of the practice, especially for the youngest players.  Players did not have bibs on which will encourage scanning and awareness of team-mates, you may want to change this for really young players. 

The groups of three pass and receive the ball whilst moving in and around the 'chaos' of the other groups of three and the following points are gradually introduced. 

• Player in possession should keep their 'eyes up' to be aware of team-mates
• Soft touch pass to left or right.  Make sure pass is not "fired in" and look at how and where the player receives (on the safe side of any 'opponents')
• Introduce "Running In" where instead of receiving and looking to pass the player in possession runs with the ball through the 'chaos' before passing.
• Carefully introduce "take-overs".  Player in possession needs to communicate this by telling receiver "change".
• Encourage receiving players to use open turns (little pressure) or closed turns(when being pressured)
• Look where the space is (look before receiving and soft  touch into the space).

With all of these points, the players are encouraged to call out the name of their intended action.  For example "soft left" when playing a soft pass to the left foot of the receiver.  This can encourage greater communication between the players.
Tip - check to see if the players are attempting all of the above or just the last one you mentioned!

Progression - half way through narrow the area to 10x20 to see how the players cope with the same skills with less time and space.

Part Two - Small Area Work Plan

In the same area 20x20 Move to 2 groups of 4v2 each in a 20x10.  You can either have a defender winning possession swapping with an attacker or to challenge the defenders to keep the ball themselves.  Ensure rotation of roles.

• Use coaching points from above and start to introduce the following
• Open shoulders (half turn) to scan before receiving the ball (no blind spots)
• Find space to "touch and move" into asking players to "look for the inches of space"
• Touch away from & shield from the defender

Progression 1

Move to 3v1 in one half and 1v1 in other (still 4v2 overall) to introduce the development of passing & receiving whilst moving from one half to the other.  Once the ball is played into the 1v1 the two attackers join to continue 3v1 in the other half so creating an overload each time it moves through the halves.

Progression 2

Move to 2v1 in defensive third 1v1 in middle third & 1 player in the attacking third for the attacking team in possession to get the ball to (still 4v2 overall)
You will probably want to mark out the thirds more clearly than I have shown below.

• Can players advance the ball through the thirds (one player can move between thirds to overload and 1 defender can move into attacking third when ball moves there)
• Look for longer passing options (distance rather than height)
• Look at rotation to see if players can keep the above formation

Part 3 - Game Work Plan

Move into a 6v6 SSG using the 20x20 and GK/2/2/1 with a small 'safe zone' (represented by the blue cones here) for a back player to move into if needed. This will mean players at the back can start again and hopefully encourage patience in possession.

• Now goals are included look to see if passing is 'forced' 
• Patience, start again from gk if needed and 'govern the ball'
• Again look for all previous coaching points to see if they are now integrated into the game - eyes up, soft pass, running-in, take-overs, shielding, touch into open space
• Open body shape - half turn position, check shoulder before receiving
• Advancing the play through the thirds
• Rotation of players to overload or cover
  

Matthew Syed - 'Bounce' & an alternative view.

Firstly, thanks to Michael @thecoachesbench for giving us all the opportunity to listen to Matthew Syed in person whilst attending the Newcastle United Academy.  The link to the presentation is here.  http://bit.ly/mpsJA6


I found it to be a fascinating listen and it was good to hear his book 'brought to life' as he described his views regarding learning in general, across other sports and in football.


The main point I would take from this for coaching would be around the Stanford University research that sampled two groups of students and the praising of one group for effort against the other group for 'talent'.  After going through three rounds of testing (the second of which was offered as an easy/hard option choice to the two groups) there was a 40% increase in the attainment of the group that had been praised for effort.


I thought this was great information to provide to players and parents and the damage that the 'your talented' label can give to players versus the extreme improvements in achievement that can be attained through praise for effort.  Not only this, but the motivation of the player goes up with the praise also.


There was also what I thought was a fantastic question from the audience about how an autistic savant (think Dustin Hoffman in Rain-man) can appear to have an innate talent for recall without practice (ie a counter argument to Matthew Syed's assumption that it takes years of quality specific practice).  Matthew explained that an autistic savant uses the same part of the brain (although 'damaged' part) that a non autistic person needs to develop through practice to have the same level of memory recall.


Also, a young lad in the audience asked a great question along the lines of 'Has anyone who HAS put in the quality practice hours' not made it!


An Alternative View
Now this is strictly my own view. What I was not quite so sure about is the connection Matthew is trying to make with regards to the level and type of practice for football.


The examples he gave in the audio were quite enlightening:


Table Tennis which is his own sport where he had access to a fantastic coach and a 24/7 table tennis club. Golf - Tiger Woods and the fact that he had started at 2 years of age and put in years of practice.  Tennis - the Williams sisters.  Many tennis players in particular are well documented for starting early and having the 'pushy parent'.  Chess, where years of practising strategy mean a grand master can recall many scenarios. Also I believe he mentioned how Mozart became a brilliant pianist and Picasso the painter.  All of these people used the slow engraining of technical skill over a long time with the will and passion to continue to keep training.


Football, unlike any of the sports shown above and certainly unlike the non-sports mentioned above is not an unopposed technical process.  It is actively competitive with constant pressure from opponents for time, space and possession of the ball.  Even in an opposed sport such as table tennis or tennis you don't have somebody who is trying to take the ball from you or knock the racket/bat out of your hand whilst performing a shot.  You certainly wouldn't have seen Mozart pushed off his piano when trying to play or Garry Kasparov grabbed around the torso whilst moving his knight to C6! Football, along with other 'invasion games' is uniquely different in terms of gaining that technical skill.  Those that have read my blog before will know that I don't think this technical skill can be obtained in isolation from how the game is actually played.


Although some skills based coaching methods have 1v1, 2v2 and SSG's a large part of the work is still unopposed, repetitive technical skill based practice.  It is believed that this repetition will over a period of time engrain the technical skill as described in Matthew's presentation.  For me, football is more about learning the skill whilst opposed, with interference from other players.  From the start to the end of a session there should be a theme that has various degrees of interference and opposition until the learning is progressed into the full game.  One simple example I can think of is why encourage a defender to pass to an attacker before going into a 1v1 or 2v2? Would you want your defender to do this in a game? Is it realistic? Why not just start with the ball with the attacker(s)? Also when learning something like a turn, I believe this should be done under pressure and moving in a logical direction.  Why have a drill that performs a 'zidane' turn only for the player to be moving back towards their own goal and without anyone in the way or trying to win the ball!


Skills based coaching 'methods' can offer benefits to footballers, particularly in the form of 'homework' or extra training for players but for me should be integrated with and not form the sole basis for learning.  Coaches who are new to football can sometimes get caught up with new ideas or effective marketing by coaching companies.  I personally think that as many options as possible should be considered and coaches should take the bits that work, those that they and more importantly the players enjoy and adapt these to form sessions that are 'game realistic' through ALL of the session. 

Football for the Brave

Having listened to Talk Sport on 13/6/11 regarding coaching in England and the UK I thought I would produce a blog about John Cartwright.  For those who don't know John, amongst other things he was Arsenal first team coach, England Youth Coach and technical director of the FA's school of excellence at Lilleshall (the predecessor to academies & centres of excellence).


I have met many coaches, young and old, male and female, professional and grassroots. In my time in coaching I don't think I have read or heard a more convincing analysis of football and coaching in this country than his.   I had the pleasure of meeting him on a Premier Skills coaching course recently.  John has not retired from the game and still actively coaches the coaches through Premier Skills courses.  As far as I know he is no longer involved in the professional game.  I believe this is probably through exasperation as I have recently discovered his critical appraisal of coaching has been consistent over many more years than I realised, probably going back to the 1980's if not earlier.


To give people a flavour of what his views are on the game and how it is coached I have picked out a few extracts (with the appropriate chapter headings) from his book "Football for the Brave" and hope people on twitter see some similarities in his views compared with those often advocated online.


Introduction
It is my belief that individual skill is the core of good football performance.  From the very start of my involvement with coaching I was determined to champion the skillful player.


Hope or Despair
A 'winning at all costs' attitude infects all levels of the game. 'Winning Methods', lacking skillful performance can be seen in junior games through to international football at senior level. 
A pre-occupation with 'tidy practice' and over organisation has strangled realism, spontaneity and individualism amongst our coaches and players.  The importance of decision-making on time and space in both practising and playing has been largely ignored by the coaching fraternity.  Too much emphasis has been given to 'choreographed' and 'regimented' practice to produce technical ability.  We have not understood that football is not played with technique but with skill.  Our coaching methods have not produced ideas or methods for practices in which kids can develop skills realistically for easy transfer into competitive match-play.


Skill-The Game's Important Core
Skill is pressurised technique.  If it is skill the competitive game examines, surely, players should develop skills in pressurised practices suitably arranged for ages and levels of work.   I find it hard to understand how 'drill routines' supposed to improve skill quality can be used so much when they offer no considerations or decisions on time and space to players.


..Little confidence is shown for players who have skill but lack a physical presence; too often the 'athletic bruiser' is preferred even at the junior levels of our game.


Football is a sideways game
Football in particular is a game that should be played on the half turn (shoulders diagonally set across the field - not straight across it!)
..Playing 'blind' (poor body positioning) hinders performance to the extent that luck not judgement affects the result.  Great players are 'tuned-in' all the time in both attacking and defending situations.  Gaining an advantage over them is difficult.  Their body positioning eliminates surprises and provides them with distinct advantages.  There is no gambling on their part and decisions are made on visual evidence not blind hope.


Be Confident Playing in Tight Areas
The game of football involves players moving the ball and themselves around the field of play; a player or players in one area of the field interlinking with a player or players in another part of the field.  It follows that players should practice what the game demands of them - become confident and skillful playing in small areas and able to link effectively from area to area.


..There has been a significant over-use of unopposed 'drill' practices combined with an explosion in the use of 11v11 match play at too early an age.  This is not the way to produce individualism and high quality players.


Run with the ball in a Positive Manner at Every Opportunity
'Don't run with the ball! Pass it! Give it easy! Who do you think you are, Ronaldinho?'


How often have we heard these damning words or similar expletives screamed at young players?  All too often, talent, in need of encouragement and guidance, receives abuse and ridicule.


Here, both young and even older players are dissuaded from running with the ball to add to the excitement the game offers.  The 'picture' of the game here is only in black and white.  The addition of 'colour' might lead to mistakes!  Failure should always be a concern but not a restriction on the development of young players.  Unfortunately, failure often represents a knock to someone's ego in the coaching fraternity, so simplicity is sought in preference to invention.


Have the Skills and Confidence to Dribble Past Opponents...
So often in the game today you see a player receive the ball to his feet with space around them.  What does he do?  He passes the ball to a colleague who is being marked.  What does this player do?  He passes the ball, and so it continues - pass, pass and pass.  Like factory produced 'clones' - mediocrity prevails.


Where is the individual? Where is the player that can beat an opponent and, in a single instant of individual magic, destroy the best-laid plans and strategies of the most formidable of defences?




This is just a brief flavour of the book and there is a lot more detail about the players past and present who represent 'brave' footballers.  Hope it has been interesting reading and I would recommend all coaches get a copy.