Player development

Discussion in 'Coach' started by Doriano Jösefnaldi, Jul 26, 2015.

  1. Doriano Jösefnaldi

    Feb 17, 2015
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Did world class coaching help Ronaldo(or any top player) to be where they are today or could they have gotten to the top without being in the best academies with the best coaches ?
     
  2. rca2

    rca2 Member+

    Nov 25, 2005
    #2 rca2, Jul 26, 2015
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2015
    I really have no basis to say one way or the other, but that won't stop me from commenting. The most important time is prior to U14. If the kids do not have good training opportunities during this time period, they will not be good enough to join an elite academy. If they did have good opportunites and took advantage of them, then the kids only have to be better than most of their peers who also had good training opportunites and used them.

    "World class" coaching, whatever that means, is not necessary to teach young kids fundamentals, but good coaching is necessary. In a soccer culture it may mostly come from older siblings, parents, neighbors or even other children. The problem is that most kids are not lucky enough to have parents that are or were professional athletes or coaches.

    About age 10 is when kids start making independent choices. I am not sure that I could have made a difference, but my own kids weren't interested in training and I don't believe in pushing kids into something that they don't chose. You end up with 15 year olds who learn to hate playing. The teenage years is when "world class" coaching is going to bring out the best in a player, but that best may fall way short of an international player, may even fall short of a professional carreer. Professional academies typically only move 1% of the players from U10 up eventually to the senior team. Moving up to U11 is tough enough. Lots of turnover.
     
  3. nicklaino

    nicklaino Member+

    Feb 14, 2012
    Brooklyn, NY
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Every player is different. To reach them requires different things. Best coaching and the best facilities in the world can help a great deal.

    Look at Messi he was with a club as a young boy. He had a growth problem as a boy. The club got him growth hormones to help him grow.

    Plus he had other problems and look at him today.

    So I would say yes it helps.
     
  4. matherold

    matherold Member

    Oct 2, 2011
    Club:
    AC Milan
    Coach_Hayles and rca2 repped this.
  5. elessar78

    elessar78 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 12, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Was reading this book called "Talent Code" and it said the opposite about facilities. The author toured the hot beds of places for soccer and tennis like the favelas or Brazil and Rosario Argentina. And he noted the places were dumps. He quoted a couple of brazilian pros, saying they never got to kick a ball on real grass until they were 14 (Ronaldinho). It was all futsal on concrete floors.

    But there's also places like Ajax.
     
  6. saabrian

    saabrian Member

    Mar 25, 2002
    Upstate NY
    Club:
    Leicester City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Clearly good coaching helps those young players. But I think it's top competition that really pushes them to an elite level more than anything else. If you can dominate matches without giving more than, say, 70%, you will never develop your potential regardless.
     
  7. rca2

    rca2 Member+

    Nov 25, 2005
    Saabrian: In youth development you don't need an elite division to challenge superior players, although that is a way. The simpler solution is to move the player up an age group. This is an advantage of the academy organization. The trainer has a lot of flexibility and doesn't have to transfer a player to challenge him. With girls, you can put them on a boys team. Good coaches can always create sufficiently challenging exercises during practice sessions, but after U14 matches are important for teaching team tactics.

    By the way, I don't believe your scenario is realistic. Superior players don't dominate matches by not using their superior abilities. The realistic expectation is that the superior player is ready for a faster speed of play and more combination play. From a curriculum's viewpoint, however, you would be looking at whether the player had sufficiently mastered the skills appropriate for the current age group before moving him up an age group. Match performance may reflect superior abilities in the physical and mental aspects rather than technical mastery. In fact it often does.
     
  8. Coach_Hayles

    Coach_Hayles Member

    Dec 23, 2013
    Redmond, WA
    Club:
    Newcastle United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    With regards to Ronaldo specially, he trains and trains and trains. According to the things I've seen he has been that way since he was a kid. His talent was hard won through hours of pushing himself after practice when everyone else goes home.

    That's why his technique and speed of execution is good. It's also why he's in great shape.

    The biggest thing going against him as a kid was his personality. Despite his cocky reputation he didn't have much of a winning mentality, came across as feeling a little inadequate. I don't think he was very confident. Like he was a talented kid playing with men. Which is understandable when that was often literally the case. Add to that he's always been the outsider, an unfashionable kid from a little island, kinda awkward when he was younger.

    I think the turning point for him was working with Ferguson at United. You can see his confidence in his ability grow. He starts to use his talent to dominate matches. He becomes a game changer. He always had the talent and the mentality to work hard, but he needed to believe he could be that winner.

    So to answer your question: World class coaching got Ronaldo to his current level. Without it he would have still been a pretty good player but probably the type who has regular dips in form due to lacking confidence some weeks. Drifting in and out of games.

    Working with Ferguson (and the locker room) at United made him.
     

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