2019 Coaching Thread

Discussion in 'Coach' started by stphnsn, Mar 11, 2019.

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  1. rca2

    rca2 Member+

    Nov 25, 2005
    #126 rca2, May 22, 2019
    Last edited: May 22, 2019
    People using different vocabulary can cause confusion. A good example of this is the "principles of play". Just about every author uses different words (not to mention different languages), but everyone is talking about the same ideas.

    Soccer is characterized by random movements, and to be game-like training should be too.

    Repetitive drills where one movement is repeated are an example of "blocked" practice.

    Small sided games are an example of "random" practice.

    Repeating one task in isolation is better for short term learning. Small Sided Games are better for long term learning.

    The classic session structure uses both. It typically starts with warm ups that include training techniques in isolation prior to exercises using the techniques in a game-like context. The drills increase the likelihood that the technique will be properly performed later in the session. The game-like exercises increase the likelihood that the techniques will be properly performed in the future.
     
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  2. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I should specify that I think one tournament per year is fine. This is our third. Older teams playe 4 PLUS ECNL or equivalent regional league.
     
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  3. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Fantastic explanation. Thanks
     
  4. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
  5. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC

    Studying more about this. Random practice leads to much higher retention in the long-term than block practice.

    As far as I understand, you don't need to change the sessions much—make sure you just have them do something different/random/"random" each rep. For example, in block—a player would do 6 reps of the same move. In random they would do six reps but each of a different move (scissors, stepover, matthews, cruyff, etc).

    Additionally, seems to work best using a Recognize-Decide-Execute format. Changing the stimulus each rep helps enhance long term learning. The caveat seems to be that players in practice will look less good in that practice, but long-term retention is much better. Explains a lot of why I've been underwhelmed by my players' inability to transfer skills in practice.

    Further, at this point in my coaching journey, I've noticed kids who do a lot of "skills training" early (6-8) tend to struggle with decision making. Or their ability to spot options isn't very well developed. It's mostly me solving problems by dribbling. But they struggle to see the pass or shoot options.
     
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  6. rca2

    rca2 Member+

    Nov 25, 2005
    Session planning is really easier than it might seem. SSGs inherently provide random practice specific to soccer. You can adjust the SSG and add restrictions to induce the learning of the desired movement, whatever technique or tactic is your coaching objective and regardless of whether the movement is on or off the ball.

    Planned exercise not working as intended? Just change it until you see the intended movements performed.

    I am a firm believer in the classic progressive session format, which ends in performance under game-like conditions.
     
  7. stphnsn

    stphnsn Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
    I had a new experience last night. My team was thrashing our opponent, and their players were getting so whiny and mouthy with the referee that the opposing coach and I decided to have him call the game. They had 2 players sent off for dissent and showed no signs that they were able to control their mouths after that. We ended up calling the game with 25 minutes left to play. We play the same team at their place on Saturday. Hopefully their coach is able to adjust their attitudes before the weekend.
     
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  8. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    would topics also need to be randomized throughout practice or would you still stay with a single topic?
     
  9. rca2

    rca2 Member+

    Nov 25, 2005
    #134 rca2, May 30, 2019
    Last edited: May 30, 2019
    It is the activity, i.e., what the players are actually doing, that needs to be varied and involve multiple tasks. The opposite of performing a single task in isolation.

    What the coach is looking for--the coaching objective--is irrelevant to the type of learning players get from the activity.

    Small-sided games provide the ultimate training flexibility for long term learning. Most of the time coaches focus on offensive skills and tactics, but SSGs include defensive play too. If the objective is defensive, SSGs include offensive play, of course.

    For practical purposes when doing session design, I was not thinking about learning type. I was thinking about making training progressive, i.e., activities building on what was taught earlier in the season. My coaching objective might be passing, but the exercises would include marking and tackling too. And at some point finishing too.
     
  10. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Ran across this too regarding block vs random:

    http://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/nick-winkelman-blocked-serial-random-practice/

    When you are first learning a skill you do blocked practice—steady and predictable repetition of the skill–until participants can execute it with some reliability, until, as Winkelman put it, the skill is ‘stable.’

    But then you have to get beyond blocked practice. If you don’t participants are likely to forget the skill or to not be able to translate it into performance settings.—they can do it in practice but not in the game. To ‘get beyond blocked you move to interleaved practice. In interleaved practice you practice a variety of skills, alternating among them. You do this because the best time to practice something is when you’ve begun to forget it. Then recalling it is more difficult and your brain works harder to recall the concept. In working harder it creates a more durable neural pathway.

    That’s very important but not new to many students of retrieval practice. But Nick then went a step farther and he pushed coaches to think not just about variation within drills but in the structure of drills within a training sequence. Could you do twenty minutes of hitting, twenty minutes of fielding and then go back to 20 minutes of hitting? More importantly, the most significant way we “block” our practice is in doing a session long focus on something. It might be better, Nick suggested, to spend a total of 80 minutes on a skill but break it up into four 20 minute segments spread across five days than to spent 90 minutes on the activity all at once one day and then move on to something else.

    This struck me because on the playing field and in the classroom we often build for blocking: As coaches we do a 90 minute session on building out of the back. As teachers we do 60 minutes of close reading. And indeed this is a good way to do it until the skill is stable. Learning to build out of the back or close read a complex texts takes some time and focus. We want to concentrate on it and eliminate distractions, but once the skill is stable, we drive it into long term memory and prepare participants to be able to apply it if we spread the practice out and intersperse it among other skills. 15 minutes of building out of the back a few times a week; short bursts of close reading in the midst of other tasks in response to the novel.
     
  11. rca2

    rca2 Member+

    Nov 25, 2005
    It isn't that simple. A lot of the movements we train in soccer are not soccer specific. In other words they are general athletic skills. Almost every movement off the ball falls in the category of general athletic skills (or general movement skills). On average about 5 minutes out of 90 minutes in a match are spent playing on the ball. That means players already are accomplished at most of the skills involved in a game of soccer. It is the play on the ball that involves soccer specific skills, but even kicking and throwing a ball is considered a general athletic skill.
     
  12. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Pay to play youth club in my area just tweeted about successful tryouts with the hashtag:

    #breedthem

    I get what they are trying to say, but it's very awkward at best to use it in the context of youth sports.
     
  13. DaBurg

    DaBurg Member

    Apr 18, 2019
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not even sure what exactly they are trying to say.
     
  14. rca2

    rca2 Member+

    Nov 25, 2005
    At best, it is dehumanizing. At best.
     
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  15. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    More talent in the pipeline?
     
  16. CoachP365

    CoachP365 Member+

    Money Grab FC
    Apr 26, 2012
    Waiting for one of the big clubs that has completed encircling the city with East/North/West branches to tweet out #GottaCatchThemAll
     
  17. Timbuck

    Timbuck Member

    Jul 31, 2012
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  18. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    The sponsor is some car dealer?

    But yeah. WTF
     
  19. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Returning to the role of Director of Player development for a club here. Player registrations from the u6 level and older has grown considerably over the past few years. So increasing numbers isn’t our main concern at this point but increasing quality further on many fronts. Further improving the quality of the players that come into the club. Improving the quality of the experience for the families. Improving the quality of our referee program (numbers will probably need to grow). Improving the quality of our volunteer coaches. We’ve managed to increase revenue but are still one of the top 3 most affordable sports programs in our area.

    If you have some great things that your club does and would like to share what you do and how you do it-would love to hear about it.
     
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  20. MPOster

    MPOster New Member

    Nov 2, 2015
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's probably one of the goofiest things I have read all year. Not even pro tennis does such a thing and their tournaments are really named ridiculous.
     
  21. jmnva

    jmnva Member

    Feb 10, 2007
    Arlington, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    [QUOTE="elessar78, post: 37832173, member: 169602"Further improving the quality of the players that come into the club. Improving the quality of the experience for the families. Improving the quality of our referee program (numbers will probably need to grow). Improving the quality of our volunteer coaches..[/QUOTE]

    Referees is probably the hardest. We use an assigner for 7th grade and up and have an in-house program for 2nd-6th grade. We assign 8th graders to the youngest games. We've developed a coaching class that is pretty similar to Grade 8.

    For volunteer coaches, we have a curriculum we ask them to follow for practices. The sessions were drafted by 2 experienced coaches that serve as our Coach Educators. We also hold all sorts of sessions for the coaches. For example, last night we did a "welcome to 3rd grade" session for rising 3rd grade coaches where we walked through the rule changes and gave some coaching tips
     
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  22. jmnva

    jmnva Member

    Feb 10, 2007
    Arlington, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Spring season is done. All 3 teams had their moments of awesomeness and total suck.

    The biggest issue I had was commitment. I never had all of my players at game for any team. With my 8th graders, we had far too many games that we didn't even have 11 players. Not completely sure why it happened but families didn't make coming to games a priority.

    It will be interesting to see what happens in the fall. One of my teams is going to dissolve because most of the girls were seniors. I will combine the remaining girls with my rising 10th graders, The bigger question is how many of my rising 9th graders come back and whether I keep them as a separate team or merge them with my older team or another 9th grade team
     
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  23. danielpeebles2

    Dec 3, 2013
    After all the ups and downs, having suffered from cleft chest and perceived asthma that went with it, having surgery, recovering, and playing on 2 soccer teams since winter, my oldest boy will most likely be playing for a club team for the first time of his life as a trapped 8th grader u-15 in the fall. I just have to talk the wife into it, and may just do it anyway.

    (trapped 8th grader means, he lives in a state where 8th graders are not permitted to try out for high school, but still eligible to play club ball; however, most clubs lose their most roster in the fall for that age group due to kids born in the same year already being in 9th grade)

    Due to this, it's very hard to to find a team. He tried out for 3 teams, one seemed to be fine keeping it's roster of mostly home schoolers. the 2nd only sent a "sorry" email, it's obvious they were consolidating from 2 teams down to 1 due to the high school problem. But at the third, the coach was nice enough to talk to us and admit that they won't be having a team this year for his age group and recommend us to another club who was looking to round out their roster with able players. The third try out was his best performance of the 3, he's not a technical standout, but he plays good defense and manages to place good passes and score.
     
  24. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    This is one of our issues too. One reason why I went to pay to play side. The “entrance fee” at least forced participation.

    Going to try to attack this from a habit formation standpoint.
     
  25. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    One of my best friends-their kid tried out and made a team at another club after their team folded. The coach of the kid’s new team is, IMO, a poor human being and isn’t someone I want coaching my own kids.

    This coach has been arrested multiple times (as an adult). Was dismissed from a previous club -Had an affair with a parent on the team.

    Soccer wise: is known to plays poor performing preteen players five minutes a half. THEN asks same players to attend individual skills training for an extra fee.

    Do I need to give my friends the heads up? Their kid is not a strong player yet. They Struggled to find the player another club. So this is probably her only option in the near term.
     

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