This is my response to reader John, who left an excellent set of comments. The last of which I’ll address here.
Specifically:
I’d love to see you talk about specific tactics, Gary. I have no doubt that you are a very bright guy, but I wish you’d share your knowledge with us. Tell us about your games or training sessions. Tell us about your problems and how you solved them. Maybe that could be a separate section in your blog? Just an idea. Either way, I’ll continue to be a dedicated reader.
What follows is my brain dump reaction.
I’d love to do this too! But to put it simply, it’s a monumental task. One I’m not sure is even possible (or at least I don’t know what kind of hack job I’ll do of it).
I’ll start by saying that no one – that I’m aware of – has captured truly elite coaching and/or player development in some type of recipe form.
That’s what I gather you mean when you ask me for specific tactics.
Coaching is an art – particularly if you’re any good at it. It is not a paint-by-numbers.
For instance, take the curriculum Claudio Reyna released for US Soccer last year. I think it’s a great piece of work. It provides guidelines and goes into some depth with particular tactical training exercises that support the big picture philosophy.
Those are ingredients.
But it takes an artist to use those ingredients to build the final team/individual product.
The coach must know (have a feel) for what the proper execution of each of those exercises looks like. That’s an art that comes from understanding many things:
- How it should look and feel to begin with. Are the speed and rhythm correct? No? How do you fix it? Who’s messing up the spacing? What player(s) timing or positions are off? Is the weight of the pass proper? Etc …Whatever the case, the coach must be capable of not only recognizing the issue(s), but also decide when to interrupt the exercise, with what frequency, and in what tone to address the players.
- The quality of your players and their true potential. If you don’t understand this, you may be expecting too much or too little from them and then you fail with point #1 above.
- How to get to the final product you want to see come game day this weekend, come game day 6 months from now, or come game day 2 years from now. That’s a freaking art!
Let’s say you have at your disposal 100 tactical training exercise diagrams with accompanying discussions (I think that’s what you’re asking for). Which ones are you going to run in todays sessions? In what sequence? Do you repeat the same ones in your next session(s) or do you do others?
It all depends right? It depends on your judgement of what the players need individually and the team collectively. How can I help with that?
There are no recipes! Is there some compact way to capture this sort of stuff? I don’t know.
Your philosophy.
That is, how do you want your final team product to play. How do you want your individual players to play.
Your experience.
Let’s say you want your team to play like Barcelona. Well, how long have you been studying Barcelona? I mean really studying! How many games of theirs have you not only watched, but recorded and dissected the tapes into oblivion? How many years have you been doing this for? How many press conferences of their coaches and players have you heard? How many interviews? How in touch are you with the philosophy? How many other possession-based teams have you watched and studied like this?
Have you gone to see live games? Have you gone to see live training sessions? Have you had one on ones with these coaches?
Has your team ever mimicked Barca-like sequences? How did it happen? Was it a fluke or maybe due to your training? If your teams have had lots of spells where they play a la Barca, then you’re doing something right. If not, then you don’t have the experience within that philosophy yet. But don’t give up, it’s time to keep studying and trying different implementations.
Your passion.
Pretty simple: no passion, no chance! If you don’t eat, breathe, and shit this stuff … no chance! You’ll be a hack.
There are no cradle-to-grave recipes to replicate the end product. Only ingredients. This is an art!
The Good News
The good news is that the ingredients are not secret or hidden. Nobody is keeping them from you. They’re all available in the following forms:
- Technical exercise diagrams/videos/descriptions.
- Tactical exercise diagrams/videos/descriptions.
- Games on TV and DVRs.
- Press conferences and interviews involving the world’s greats.
- Media from all kinds of people with varying degrees of expertise.
- Games of all levels (youth to pro) you can attend and learn from.
- Training sessions at all levels (youth to pro) you can attend and learn from.
- Etc
How many of these ingredients have you played with? And for how long and how deep?
Since the publication of Outliers, people have been talking a lot about the 10,000 hour rule. You’d best believe it has validity here too. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to just throw my hands in the air and say: “sorry, your gonna have to put a decade or two into this”.
What I do want to get across is that I’m not so sure how to go about hyper-accelerating a willing coaches path.
I have thought long and hard about how I can possibly stitch together a program that can capture our experience. The goal being that a coach can take the program and replicate our end product to some degree.
After years, I came to the conclusion that step #1, is for a coach to adopt a soccer philosophy. Without it, you have no compass, no skeletal structure upon which you can build! You have nothing! And this philosophy can’t be summed up in a sentence, or a post, or a series of posts. It’s something that you must feel in the core of your being – like a religion.
So I embarked with this blogging effort which thus far fails miserably in the silver bullet department, but should help in the philosophy department. It is a philosophy that models itself after the best in the world [1]. And a philosophy that is not only possible, but has given us success [2].
That’s what I’ve been trying to share, and in the process hopefully lay the foundation upon which the details you may be looking for stand a chance of being built and adopted.
As an example, I have pondered filming all our training sessions and – more crucial – microphoning both myself and my brother during the session so that the way we go about practicing our art is better captured.
I know I’m not being exhaustive in my response here, so let’s continue in the comments! I’m an open book, so fire away.
Notes:
[1] This is the biggest failure of American coaches (and parents, and fans, and everybody else involved with soccer here). If you pass this, you’re already way ahead of the game.
[2] I am yet to define at length what coaching success/failure even means. Yes, it can be viewed as a function of philosophy. But I believe there is a clear right and wrong. Here’s a primer to some success criteria.
I’m not sure if I have ever been more inspired after one of your posts, Gary. Not only because you directed it a little bit towards me, but because the criteria you have set forth has made me realize I am on the right path, just in the early stages. After coaching for 5 years and being only 24 years old, I feel like I have a very good head start. I feel like just 2 years ago I started to really understand the game. Now, I’m on the road to developing my coaching philosophy, building my library of training exercises, and completely engulfing myself into this game.
One thing I learned from playing junior college soccer, ironically, was from a guest trainer who came for the day to work with us. He had set up a grid, explained the rules of the exercise, had us play, and we didn’t do so well. So, he changed the grid a little, tweaked the rules, had us play again, and we did better. He then said something along the lines of “if you want to coach you have to be able to think and adapt on the fly” …and that has stuck with me.
I’ve always understood that there is no cookie cutter system that will magically make my team play like ballers. I do look at every exercise put in front of me and think about how I can implement or tweak it to fit my teams needs. I think that was my goal in getting you dish out some of your training exercises and notes. If you’re doing a 8v8 +1 possession exercise working on points A, B, and C with your U-18 boys, I want to see if I can work on the same points while creating a similar environment for my U-13 girls. My training exercise library is growing, but is limited. I was hoping to get ideas from you and other readers.
Sort of in the same boat… I’ve never had the pleasure of being involved in a high level training session. I’ve never heard a professional halftime talk. I don’t know what these great coaching minds are talking about with their teams. I’ve done a good job of winging it up this point and adopting a style and tone of my own. I think I’ve done great, but I’d just like to see or hear something else so I can continue to improve myself based off what other coaches doing, or not doing.
I think there are several things I can take away from this post:
1) I need to get a DVR and record a lot of games and bunker down in my living room with a pen and paper, regularly. It is one thing I have ignored to some extent. Also, listening to press conferences. I hadn’t even considered that an option. Where can I find these, though? Highlights of coaches post game talks on FSC are not what you’re talking about, right?
2) I need to watch more games and training sessions in person. I’ll have to travel to do so, but it has to be done.
Questions:
How do I go about viewing training sessions from other teams?
Is there an appropriate way to ask?
Are professional teams usually open to this?
Are there any teams or coaches you can think of that are more open to this than others?
Would you ever be willing to hold an open session?
Press conferences…
Damn I’ll admit that’s a tough one!
I’m accustomed to watching the spanish channels like tyc sports from Argentina or going to any spanish language media outlets. They’re hard core in bringing the full video to their audience. Even youtube has excellent stuff (but again in spanish). For instance, Bielsa is notorious for answering any and all questions in tremendous detail. His conferences routinely go over an hour. Just this summer he even uploaded a 4-part series on all the homework he and his staff did on Atletic Bilbao BEFORE it was even certain he would get the job. See here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdm4Xl62MTE&feature=related
I even started making a transcript, so that our non-spanish readership might benefit. It was to be in collaboration with Sara Rudd of onfooty.com. But it never went very far.
I don’t see any of this rich type of information coming through the English language media. Americans are just getting soundbites and they naturally think that’s all there is to soccer. It’s no wonder they are completely devoid of any tactical depth.
Short answer: I don’t have an answer, but I’ll keep an eye out.
Viewing training sessions …
That one can sometimes get interesting.
First the amateur levels: You can go to any youth team or university and observe with no problems. Of course judging what is good and garbage is up to you. 99.9% of the coaches won’t get it right, but at least you can
1) observe the exercises being done and add them to your library
2) get a better handle of the quality of player at those levels and what they can do
3) start to distinguish between quality of coaches
Higher levels:
Again we’re fortunate that the youth and senior national teams routinely are at the Home Depot center. We’ve never asked about getting in, we just do it. Bob Bradley has been the only one who several times kept his sessions closed. Wanker! But even then, we observed from outside.
Also fortunate that many of the foreign national and club teams come for training and friendlies in southern california. We’ve studied Bielsa dozens of times. And Mourinho has been coming every summer for the past 5 years. We never fail to go.
Anyways, we’re hardcore: in the past – when we came up against a closed session – we’ve even bribed security guards at the Rose Bowl, UCLA, the Coliseum, everywhere to get access. Today we’re a bit more lucky because our network helps out. But you gotta start somehow/somewhere.
John,
Sorry I saw your commment and I just wanted to through in my two cents. But I frequent other coaches training sessions and they have always been very responsive, even the professional clubs. I live in a very remote state (South Dakota), and I’m far from everything. But there are opportunities, all you have to do is ask.
Last year I attended the USA v. Panama game in Kansas City, before I drove down I sent an email to the director of operations for Sporting KC to ask if I could attend a session while I was down. They were more than willing, and let me follow Peter Vermes around, and I had a practice plan to see where he was going with everything.
During this past summer I was helping with Region 2 ODP in Illinois so I contacted the Chicago Fire to ask if I could attend a session with Frank Klopas ( a personal hero of mine since I fell in love with USMNT in 1994), and they were very gracious! Again, I was allowed to come in and stand with the coaches and here the coaching points made. I even got a chance to pick Frank’s brain a little for about 15 minutes afterwards, and he allowed me to come back the next day and video their training session!
Division 1 coaches have also been very gracious. But like you said, distance can be an issue. So I’ve also scheduled phone conferences with coaches that I’d like to learn more from. A recent book I read was the Messiah Method that discusses a small Division 3 school in PA. The book inspired me and I’ve already spoken with Dave Brandt (currently the head coach at Navy), and I have a phone conference scheduled with Brad McCarty (current head coach at Messiah). A player of mine wanted to get into coaching a couple years ago and he was assigned to do an invterview with a coach in the field. He asked me but I told him to aim higher, so he contacted Anson Dorrance (former USWNT coach and legend at UNC) and Anson said yes! He was able to spend an hour on the phone with Anson Dorrance picking his brain.
Just ask, you’d be surprised by the responses. One of the greatest things about this profession is the willingness other coaches have to share what they’ve learned. Just look at Gary and this blog! What an opportunity to learn from coaches like him! Thanks again Gary!
I think I contradicted myself a little bit when I said:
“If you’re doing a 8v8 +1 possession exercise working on points A, B, and C with your U-18 boys, I want to see if I can work on the same points while creating a similar environment for my U-13 girls.”
I should have said if you did an exercise working on points A, B, and C and those are things that my team needs help with, I want to see if I can create a similar environment to accomplish those objectives that fit with my team. Basically, getting an idea and then adapting it to what we players, space, and time we have to work with.
Great as always Gary. Since I’ve come to this blog I’ve definitely learned a lot more and expanded my understand of coaching so talking about these issues get all of us to think and find solutions to make US Soccer better.
I really follow Arsenal and love the way Wenger teaches his players to think and play. I’ve been setting up Joga in a similar mindset and studying how Arsenal produce their football players.
This article by Wenger has been a blue print to how i want to develop my Joga Players:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2734626/Go-for-the-green-lights-but-you-must-keep-out-of-red-light-districts.html
He’s quoted as saying:
Wenger’s blueprint is based on intelligence, class, technique, and fitness. But the key ingredient is confidence, which makes individuals comfortable on the ball.
His players must always have choices and alternatives, which provide “solutions”.
The ‘Arsenal way’ is based on off-the-ball movement, with the main objective being to give the man on the ball as many alternatives as possible
Essentially, when an Arsenal player has the ball there must at least two possible passes he can make — the so-called green lights — and so on and so forth.
He said: “We work a lot on the potential of combinations between players. We plot it on the pitch and, once a player has the ball, there are red lights or green lights.
“The collective goal is to create the most possible green lights.
“That is to say to give passing solutions to the man with the ball and to leave the responsibility with that man to make the best choice possible, allowing the team to keep possession but at the same time — if possible — make the game progress towards the attack.
“So you must always offer the player solutions that allow him to utilise his intelligence around the game to the maximum.” – Wenger
Like Fabregas said about Arsenal its similar to Barcelona but they look to press the issue more and progress the game quicker into attack.
With Joga I’ve been coming up with a similar system talking about proactive football because as Americans we like to run and score. But there has to be an intelligent cohesive way to create that brand of soccer. So I’m focusing on similar way to produce that talking about being proactive in our play and off the ball movement.
I feel Barca is more reactive, using possession, tempo rhythm to break down teams and control every facet of the game, they seem to take advantage of the space afforded and at the right time, while arsenal is more proactive in their movement into attacking areas is more important to them (cesc said wenger hates if they go back when they could go forward and progress the game)
Looking at my club I played in Holland so total football and street soccer have a big influence from learning and playing there, and I grew up in America so I favor Arsenal’s approach a little more (in holland the dutch coaches told me to slow down and think more ha) but i think barcelona and arsenal are the foundations i study, and from there we are relying heavily on street soccer to give us a little edge, hip hop culture to our players and our club.
I look Brazil and how they use samba or “ginga” and at every street soccer session we got Jay Z, T.I. etc on and u see kids dancing or boppin their head while their playing. I got all different ethnic groups playing and learning from one another and ppl see us bball courts with hip hop music blaring and are like, wait what is this?
That street soccer with hip hop has given the players a little what i call “Joga Swagger” that now ppl in the DC area are seeing coming out of the players but its just the culture of the club we’re building, the idea of how we want to express ourselves that’s coming out.
So with 3 days of Training in our “Joga Way” and 4 days of street soccer is paying dividends in how we play and some players in the club are getting the attention of Europe now. So I’m eager to improve further
I am open to learning more so any suggestions etc would be great
Sorry for long response,
Keph
“As an example, I have pondered filming all our training sessions and – more crucial – microphoning both myself and my brother during the session so that the way we go about practicing our art is better captured.”
This would be great!! Not only to see the exercises themselves, but how the games are tweaked as it’s going on, the points made, and how those points and tweaks create learning for the players.
Great response Gary. I am on board with most all of what you said. After we have immersed ourselves in this game and after years of exposure to all kinds of ideas, we will eventually take out of it what we most enjoy about the game. Our coaching philosophy will be evident as we try to teach our players to emulate what we enjoy. Coaches training programs, diagrams, DVD’s, attending pro training session etc, are just aids to show us a methodology of how to teach or communicate our ideas.
Super insights……..but wrong tone.
My opinion.
Hey Brendan thanks.
Explane tone …
“You can go to any youth team or university and observe with no problems. Of course judging what is good and garbage is up to you. 99.9% of the coaches won’t get it right, but at least you can”
I can’t speak for Brendan, but the sort of tone you take in the above quote makes you sound like an arrogant, pompous jerk.
Imagine you’re going to observe math teachers do their business in the classroom.
And pretty much every single one of them is writing 2+2=10 on the blackboard.
And the masses wonder why we trail in science and mathematics. No, actually the masses also think 2+2=10 (after all, that’s what they were taught).
What do you do?
I don’t think this is a home for those analogous soccer coaches and masses. They are lost and irretrievable. My writing will never be able to convince them of anything, regardless of tone.
This is a home for people who already know of or smell something rotten. And when something’s rotten you don’t coddle it, unless you’re a pussy. And that’s not my style. I’m in your face with passion!
Right, but your passion is self-evident, its written into every aspect of this site. Keep doing what you do and those that smell the rot will be nodding right along with you while those that don’t just won’t get it. There may be coaches that think they might smell something that come here and turn away from potentially important resources here because they feel unnecessarily condescended to; and I don’t think there are only 0.01% of coaches in the US that smell the rot.
I thank the soccer gods for inspiring someone to write stuff like this . It is an art , and a coach is an artist. I would hope coaches , even at the pro level wouldn’t be so chicken and risk , if you don;t risk , you don;t win . The game tactically and physically has grown so much that only true technicians could break down some teams that bunker 11 players in their own half . It kind of reminds me of half court basketball….. Look at barca , they are eliminating positions , or better said , true forwards and true defenders , Everybody does both , Don;t need a forwrd like Ibra , or puyol anymore , you have cesc , sanchez , whoever that is tecnically good with the ball , no matter how big or fast . Its smart , possesion , patient soccer , I ahve to go get my liscence , need to stop writing ………………….. Soccer is the most beautyful game in the world and we should teach it that way………………
If you’re referring to American coaches, they see possession as risky because they don’t know what they’re doing.
And you’re right on with Barca. As soon as Mascherano and Busquets started playing in the back line, I was like: Whoa! That’s some good shit Pep!
Gary,
Really enjoyed reading your post. I’ve just recently started reading your blog, but so far there has been some great stuff. Just a couple questions though…
Related to this post why not share some of your experiences? It doesn’t have to be all-incompassing, but how about some of the top things?
I was recently involved in a seminar on how to get involved in the profession of coaching here in the USA, and the entire time I’m sitting there thinking, “if I had the opportunity to hear from experienced coaches about their journeys and what they did to get into coaching I would be miles ahead of where I am now.” I think it’s the sharing of information that makes this profession so great! I just got back from the Annual NSCAA Convention, and the field sessions were okay, but it’s the lectures and the conversations you have outside of the structure that I enjoy the most.
I think it’s Gary Collins that says we can stand on the “shoulders of giants” by learning from others who have a lifetime of experience.
So my question to you, what are three specific things you’d tell a young aspiring coach are keys to becoming a quality coach? (I’m sorry if you’ve covered this in posts past, like I said just started reading your blog a few weeks ago)
Honestly, I don’t know how to answer your question Jeremy. No clue!
Maybe you can give me a clear example of what you’re looking for.
Here I’ll say 3 things anyways:
1) Your philosophy must be centered around possession of the ball. If it is not, you ARE NOT DEVELOPING YOUR PLAYERS. Period. (And btw this has absolutely nothing to do with FCB).
2) You must get yourself at least one assistant coach that is just as passionate about the game. And you guys must talk and debate the subject of your work into oblivion. It must consume all of you.
3) Learn the art of connecting with your players. Become an expert on how to be both a disciplinarian and best friend in one. Your players must love you, and be willing to go to war for you!
Hey Gary,
I handed out the Claudio Reyna curriculum to my coaching staff at last months coaches meeting. This month i am going to hand out your “ingredients” write up. Often my coaches ask me what they should do at training and this worries me. I tell them, have them play soccer and when they do something wrong, correct it. They are always asking for the ingredients and i am trying to teach them how to cook! Thanks for your thoughts.
If you ever wanted to address my coaching staff I would love to have you be a guest speaker at one of my coaching meetings.
Matt M.
I’m flattered Matt.
At some point I think that’s something I’d be up for.
You read this yet Gary? http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/7468594/prominent-us-coaches-discuss-problems-american-soccer-leander-schaerlaeckens
Interesting take from each person love Tab Ramos quote: “”And we need to identify the players that are more skilled and have more technique rather than always spotting the biggest players. I think Barcelona has made people think a little bit more about the importance of a technical player and not seeing only the importance of a great athlete. The perception of the player is slowly evolving, but it hasn’t completely changed.”
They all make their points. Some are better than others. Some could be debated. And some of these guys are part of the problem themselves.
Only one guy (from what the editor chose to publish of course) stated the most important thing of all: “… you have to have a philosophy”.
And surprise, surprise, it came from Caleb Porter.
I came back to this blog post with an idea of what I wanted to say, but I decided to get caught up on what others had been saying the past couple of weeks first. Kind of funny how I always find something to relate to on your blog, Gary.
Going back to your January 18th post in response to Jeremy:
“2) You must get yourself at least one assistant coach that is just as passionate about the game. And you guys must talk and debate the subject of your work into oblivion. It must consume all of you.”
Last night, I arrived home at 2AM (it was my night off, had to go get a beer, don’t judge) to a pleasant surprise in my inbox. My assistant coach, a 20 year old goalkeeper, had emailed me his thoughts on our implementation of a 4-1-4-1 then changing to a 4-2-3-1 and then compared our changes to what he was learning about in his political science class at Cal Poly-SLO.
In his class, they had discussed a philosopher named Edmond Burke. Burke apparently believed (in my assistants words) “that to enact change, one should do it within the system already in place, as there is a reason a certain system is in place for any extended period of time, namely, that it is effective.” Burke was referring to political change, but it was interesting to use those thoughts to look at soccer.
We came up with this formula to enact change within our teamr:
POWER + WILL = CHANGE
CHANGE + TIME = RESULTS
POWER comes from the coaches understanding and ability to implement the change to begin with. If the coach doesn’t have the know how, the skills, or understanding of the change himself, there cannot be change. WILL comes from the players. The players must buy into the new philosophy. If they players don’t buy in and execute accordingly, again, there cannot be change. Both POWER and WILL have to be present in order to achieve CHANGE.
Most coaches simply don’t have the power. They believe that operating within what is already in place is the best bet. It’s… safe. They won’t get better, they won’t get worse. Kind of like… well… Bob Bradley, maybe? He was very conservative. A modest coach. Then, we looked at our coaching staff and team. We took over a high school program that previously played a 3-5-2. We came and demonstrated our power and switched to the 4-1-4-1. We saw immediate results in our ability to retain possession, but then noticed some struggles defensively. So, we demonstrated our power again when we switched to a 4-2-3-1.
Coaches also have to have players that are willing to make the change work. If players are not willing to give back to the system, the team, or the philosophy then it is a waste of time. Again, I’ll make a USMNT comparison. USMNT cannot not play possession soccer with center backs and a goalkeeper who choose
to kick the shit out of the ball versus playing simple 10/15/20 yard possession passes. Although Tim Howards goal at Everton was amusing, it was a display of horrible decision making. Don’t get me wrong, I think Timmy is fantabulous keeper… just wish he wouldn’t do such things so often. Referring back to our team, both times we demonstrated our power as coaches, our players demonstrated their will. They bought in. Completely bought in! It was… almost amazing to be honest.
So, once you have found a coach who has the POWER and you have the players with WILL… you can then begin to achieve CHANGE. Now, CHANGE isn’t necessarily a good thing. At first, it might be rough. Because CHANGE takes TIME. A lot of time. Days, weeks, months, years! Once you have CHANGE and TIME, you will then achieve RESULTS.
This is where (especially at this blog) we are starting to understand that winning isn’t necessarily the most important result (i.e. USA vs Spain, then USA vs Brazil 2009). Understanding should come before winning, especially at youth levels. If you have made change and given change sufficient time… the result could/should be measured by the amount understood by the individual players and the team as a whole. If they understand the new philosophy and tactics and have the correct intention when they make decisions on the field, the result should be considered positive, whether it is a win or loss at the final whistle.
Again, going back to the USMNT, 1-0 results over Venezuela and Panama would be more enticing if the players on the field were able to demonstrate something positive. I didn’t spend much time analyzing the games, but watching from a fan standpoint I wasn’t very impressed. I know it was our “B” team or maybe even our “C” team, but those players should be able to connect passes, right? Watching Spain beat Netherlands 1-0 is much different, though. Those are the types of 1-0 wins that US Soccer should strive for.
Now, I’m wondering what Jurgen’s next move will be? He has flip flopped a couple of times using a 4-4-2 (modest approach) and variations of a 4-3-3. When is he going to choose a system and demonstrate his power and demand that the players show their will? I believe that if I can do it at the high school level with high school players… that Jurgen should be able to do it at the national level with professional players. Fair assumption?
Kind of a rant, a little unorganized, but I think I got my main points across.
Side note: Caleb Porter is supposed to be speaking at this convention in Las Vegas next month that I keep getting emails about. I’m considering making the drive and paying the $150 just to hear him talk for an hour. I’m not sure when I would ever get to hear/see him again. Do you think it’s worth it?
What can I say John, your post stands firm.
I think it speaks to my advice point #3 as well:
“3) Learn the art of connecting with your players. Become an expert on how to be both a disciplinarian and best friend in one. Your players must love you, and be willing to go to war for you!”
The better a coach is at that, the more buy-in from his players he will have.
On the Vegas trip to hear Caleb speak:
I think listening to him can only be a good thing.
But I guess making the drive depends on how you value your time and money.
And what you think you’ll get out of it.
I actually just received another email about the convention yesterday. Caleb Porter’s name was no where to be found in any of the info this time. I’m assuming his duties with the U-23s throughout this Winter/Spring are more of a priority. I’m still debating about making the trip, but I’m almost more tempted to spend a little more and just go watch the U-23 qualifiers in Tennessee.
Watching the product live is best.
Hopefully he can pull it together and offer spectators some good things.
Hearing someone speak can be motivational and offer a baseline for you to compare other coaches to. You should go to the Akron website and watch his numerous post-match video interviews.
Finally getting an opportunity to see some teams train. Colorado Rapids and San Jose Earthquakes are playing an exhibition game in San Luis Obispo. I took your advice, asked the staffs if it was okay to come watch, and they said yes. Can’t wait to see what they have!
What impressed me most about the two recent USMNT games (Venezuela and Panama) is the ability to push a high line and not get scored on. I know a lot of it had to do with heroic goal tending and unforced errors from the opposing strikers, but I think JK has made his point to the player pool. Push up! We have good goalies. Let them show their stuff occasionally.
I do not know, but it could be that JK believes that sitting back stifles possession attacking. So the defensive posture changes first then the offensive comes later. It seems logical to me that when sitting back the mid-field gets hazardous and naturally leads to compacting more… then bye-bye possession hello counter-attacking.
I wonder what the high line would do against a top tier nation though… I liked watching these lesser opponents trying to beat it having obviously expected it and I especially liked the end result.
I wanted to mention one more thing regarding RESULTS.
I mentioned that we are beginning to understand that results don’t necessarily have to be measured by wins and losses. I think you said it best in a different post, though. Something like this:
1) Possession soccer must be played
2) If possession soccer is played and executed correctly, win’s should follow.
So, ultimately… if players and coaches are working within a good sound philosophy and they implement it correctly, players should not only understand and develop properly, but winning should be part of the end result as well.
Fascinating dialogue! My son is in a youth development program for an MLS team and they posted the U11 video that I’ve also seen on this blog. Thought you be interested in learning how it has spread.
My son has been very lucky because he has been coached by someone that has focused on development over winning (the focus on winning at very young ages is crazy). Most of that team has been together for four years with the same coach and not only has it been a pleasure to watch them develop, but they are now outplaying and beating teams that have given them trouble in the past. This coach has been great about letting them make and learn from their mistakes and limiting the joystick coaching that I think is bordering on the insane in youth soccer.
I’d love to get your thoughts on two things: 1. The very obvious focus on winning in US youth soccer. Is it an issue? Can we get it out of the system? I am Socio of Real Madrid, but I don’t mind admitting that I read a lot about FC Barcelona’s approach in the cantera. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read comment from their youth coaches and players saying: we don’t focus on winning, we don’t talk about winning. 2. Do you think cultural background and/or surroundings play a part in buying into your message on youth development? From my very limited observation, it appears culture is a factor (though the right coaches and environment can change that).
Un saludo,
Victor
Gracias Victor!
Let me jump straight to your questions:
1) The question of winning over development.
I have a ton of things to say about this: Mostly revolving around how it’s been overdone, misunderstood, and how people in many cases are being “duped”. I’m going to write a lot more about this in future posts. For now, I’ll point you to two articles and leave you with a hint of what’s really going on at FCB, Madrid, or the many other professional clubs out there:
(a) http://blog.3four3.com/2010/12/11/winning-vs-soccer-development-really-thats-the-problem/
(b) http://blog.3four3.com/2010/12/16/winning-vs-soccer-development-part-ii/
(c) It’s easy to not talk about winning, when your product wins. Furthermore, those pro clubs want to win! But without compromising development. They are not mutually exclusive goals.
Your second question:
“Do you think cultural background and/or surroundings play a part in buying into your message on youth development? From my very limited observation, it appears culture is a factor (though the right coaches and environment can change that).”
Yes cultural background matters.
And I’m going to upset lots of people with this, but here it goes anyways:
Most ‘white people’ just don’t get it.
Now, now, everyone calm down. There are many who are exceptions, and still more even who are coming along thanks to FCB. But most still cling on to the EPL motherland, are stubborn as hell, and will never see it. Again, more stuff for me to flesh out in future posts.
I will say however, that our parents and players (regardless of culture), have always bought in hook, line, and sinker, after repeatedly witnessing the product in action.
Thanks. I guess where you stand, depends on where you sit! My more limited experience in youth soccer leads me to think that the focus on winning at young ages is a big problem in player development at younger ages. Looking forward to more discussion on that. I’ve also heard Claudio Reyna talked about how skewed our training to game ratio is when compared to other countries. That too is part of the wanting to compete, win, etc. It’s not that I don’t ‘get’ that – I just don’t think we’ve found the right balance in this country.
I definitely agree with you regarding the cultural piece. Again, in my limited experience, you can distinguish how kids play whether or not they and their families ‘live the game’ as you mentioned in a different post. That is probably a broad generalization, but it appears to me that there is some sort of connection between cultural influence and a certain feel kids have for the game. I am not suggesting these kids are all more technical, faster, better, etc. There just seems to be a certain “yo no sé que” about their game.
I think this applies to coaches as well. I don’t want to offend anyone, but the ‘average’ youth coach in this country doesn’t understand the development process, let alone ‘live’ the game. My guess is the people visiting this blog are a part of the exception to that rule.
Disclaimer: I am not a coach but am very interested in this subject because of my boys. My observations are strictly from a parental point of view. I am close friends with a USSF scout that has been preaching a similar message for a long time, so this is ALWAYS a topic of conversation for us.
Love the blog. I’ll try to catch up on the entries over the weekend.
Un saludo,
Victor
As a “white person” myself, first off I am striving to hopefully be a part of the “damn few” to quote the act of valor, that actually does “get it”. I want to also mention that what could be considered controversial honestly isn’t in the slightest bit to me as a “white person” myself because it’s absolutely nail on the head correct!! It is so frustrating to watch most “white” parents go ape shit over a coach with a British accent when his training sessions and in-game ideas are complete and utter garbage. The majority of “white” parents and players mostly just go through the week to week grind of practices and games without any type of real passion or understanding for the game, and as soon as those games and practices are over soccer plays zero part in their lives. I could guess and probably am right about many of the reasons for the lack of understanding of us “white people” and I could go on and on and on about things that annoy the crap out of me that I always hear and see from my fellow “white people” but I just want to say I entirely agree with you so don’t worry about making that statement. I’m very glad to hear someone with the balls to say it (of course it would be you that steps up and does it!!) Haha. But I have felt that way myself for a long time and I take no offense to it what so ever. I really sincerely hope that the culture and views of the “white” soccer person can change somehow. As to one way this change could come about, here’s a clue: Eminem isn’t the best “white” rapper to ever live because he grew up in the suburbs, went to a fancy private schools, and spent his childhood around CEO’s.
The Secret of Planning – Part 1.
By Roger Wilkinson
Planning Step 1 – The Playing vision
“Great coaches always have a picture in their minds of how they want their team to play”, Vince Lombardi.
No meaningful coaching can take place, with players of ANY age unless the coach has a clear vision of his game style. The coach is like a driver setting off on a coaching journey, they must know where they want to finish up. You cannot coach a 5-year-old if you do not have a clear idea of how you want them to play when they are 25!
In soccer we have many examples of coaches who have created successful teams and have changed the way the game is played because they understood the importance of creating a game style. Helmut Schoen the German national coach in the 60’s and 70′s produced a style full of athleticism, skill and innovative positional play by changing the role of the sweeper from a destructive to a constructive player. Schoen’s vision produced the game style that ensured German International success over a long period of time because it gave SIGNPOSTS to grassroots coaches in Germany to produce the skill and tactical acumen in their young players to make them successful at a later age.
A game style is NOT a playing formation. Brazil have won the World Cup 5 times since its inception, during that time they have changed their formation a number of times from 4-2-4 to 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 but always their game style (with slight variations) has remained constant.
Rinus Michel’s the Dutch national coach in the 70’s and 80’s had a playing vision entitled. Total Football. Michel’s based his game style on individualism and high level skill allied to clever player rotation. Michel’s’ work elevated the Dutch, a relatively small nation, to one of the power houses of World and European football. Just as significant was the way the Louis van Gaal the first team manager at Ajax Football Club extended and adapted Michel’s vision at club level. Van Gaal recognized that the most important team coaches at the club were the JUNIOR and YOUTH coaches. He ensured they fully understood the first team game style and they were set to work to produce a conveyor belt of young players who eventually played successfully for Ajax and Holland.
The visionary coach can be working at any level.
At Crystal Palace in the 80’s the youth coach John Cartwright developed a game style based on high individualism combined with clever tactical play and his young players provided the base for Palace’s most successful era. The young first team were labelled “the Team of the Eighties”. More importantly Cartwright developed a coaching methodology used by all development coaches at the club based on a street football-chaos learning programme supported by tactical input. This methodology produced natural players at all ages that could con join with their team mates.
So, the message for all coaches is this:
THE CRUCIAL FIRST STEP IS TO DEVELOP A PLAYING VISION – A GAME STYLE.
How does a coach develop their playing vision? To simplify the answer to this question break it into 2 parts:
1. Watch great teams play, Brazil, France, Holland, Argentina, German, Barcelona, Manchester Utd, Bayern Munich, Arsenal who have a recognizable style of play.
2. Study their team play and break it down into the general elements of their play. For example look for these aspects:
When in possession: How do they keep possession? When do they play long and when do they work through the thirds? How do they go forward? How do they utilize space at the back, in midfield, up front and in wide positions? How do they work in the top third to create finishing opportunities? How clinical and sophisticated is their finishing in the air and on the ground?
When out of possession: How do they win the ball back both as individuals and as group of players? What parts of the field do they pressurize the ball? Do they maximize attacking opportunities on regaining possession?
Set Plays: How effective are they with attacking set plays? How do they defend against opposition set plays?
From this research the coach can select and prioritize the key elements they want in their playing philosophy/game style and put them in an order of priority. The breakdown of key elements could look like this:
Here we give example of the first stage. It is important to emphasize that the philosophy/game style is unique to each coach. This is an example of one coaches planning:
General Components
1.1. Govern the Ball: A team understanding of how to create and use space to keep the ball. To know and understand when to exploit playing long and when to exploit playing through the thirds
2.2. Going Forward With Certainty: A team Understanding of how to attack with cleverness whilst maintaining possession and achieving good possession in dangerous areas.
3.3. Create Clever Finishing Opportunities. Creating and achieving various finishing opportunities in and around the box. “Playing in areas” “2nd six yard box” “2nd Penalty Area” “POMO Situations”.
4.4. Maximizing Finishing: Hitting the stanchions, 2 score easier than 1, following up deflections and rebounds, quality heading, volleying and curling shots.
5.5. Defending aggressively:. Attacking the opposition`s possession and winning the ball back in a quick clean and aggressive manner as individuals and as a team.
6.6. Maximizing possession and finishing opportunities on attacking set plays, corners, free kicks and, throw ons.
7.7. Minimizing possession and finishing opportunities for the opposition on their set plays, Corners, free kicks and throw ons.
8.8. Team mobility when in possession players moving and creating support positions defensive shape going narrow, squeezing /dropping in unison. Controlling opposition movement
Step 2 of The Secret of Planning will look at breaking down these general components into the tactical and skill details needed to make your games style work.
sorry,,,,,maybe you responded but I can’t find….. when will your 2011 california stats be available to review?
thanks!
Learned a lot watching the video reading the blog.
However, would like something more specific in terms of advice
Do you have a couple favorite or really effective drills for both foot on ball skills and also tactical awareness. I understand that there is no single drill or single coaching tip, just hoping to incorporate something structural that you have found works well some of the time
Thanks
New to site, totally excited, understand original topic being discussed … how could anyone create a “paint by numbers” ???? Actually, I’ll offer a hint.
I can show a new Rec coach in 10 minutes what to to work on for his first attempt in teaching first level of 6 or 7 year olds. It might not be the holy grail … but it would put him ahead of 99% of most first time parent coaches that know nothing about soccer. 10 minuets flat … but I learned these things after 8 seasons with my kids . I wish someone gave me the same 10 minutes.
So a master at any level can help those below him, saving time, step by step along the way, and each recipient can spread the wealth. True, this is done in small steps, but each becomes more efficient.
If we all walk the same path alone, tracing the steps followed by the creators of this site, then it will take forever … for all of us.
Example – I simply would like to know how to help kids open it up when playing 3v3 and quit chasing the ball like a herd, quit running towards a teammate and blocking his path to a possible goal ( crowding him ) . I believe the seeds could be planted is 10 minutes, I have to figure this out, I am searching ( found this site) and have been told by coaches “they will figure it out ” and see kids doing this at U7,U8,U9,U10 … all the time.
So if the “steps” were created starting with these simple instructions, the “Paint by Numbers” would begin.
All I hear is work on foot skills, passing comes later ! And the herd runs after the ball.
Mark, welcome aboard. I found the link I’m attaching below to be helpful in my one foray into 3v3 a couple winters ago. I’m not one for 3v3 as a rule (the subculture, overly structured build-ups, focus on winning tournaments, etc.. really get to me), I prefer the 5v5 format (4v4 +keepers, regular or futsal) to be a much better developmental tool, but such as it is I found some useful things in here. At the very least, it allowed our girls to counter some of the systems/structures they saw. Nearly 90% of what we did was simply quick possession soccer based on their existing skills (i.e. knowing simply how to play the game–spacing, movement, good first touch, turning from pressure, ball circulation). The remaining 10% was reliable patterns to escape pressure or for restarts. Click on all the topics along the left-hand column of the page I linked to–each one has some valuable stuff. Cheers!
http://3v3soccer.blogspot.com/
Thanks Ken, haven’t looked at your info yet …. but soon will. I guess my question is even more rudimentary then a 3v3 strategy. I often use basketball to illustrate ideas. In BB, 2v2 games happen naturally … they spread out and actually play two 1v1 games and pass to partners. Add 2 more, ant the 3v3 will spread out and play. This happens up till 5v5 naturally and then you have a full court game.
In soccer, it starts out in a cluster with 2v2, 3v3 and stays in a cluster as kids are added. We did Coerver training this winter, My U8 was with U9 and U10 players. When they did a small game using half the field, it was sad to see them all chase each other, 6 coaches watching … and these were club coaches, and most of the times a team mate was blocking or clogging the path to the goal if a player had a shot or wanted to attack. Maybe a nice pass here or there, by accident, and i would rather see my son pass to the wall alone to at least get touches. So maybe I answered my own question. Make them play 1v1, with team mates also playing 1v1, and make them spread out and pass on occasion. It seems that there could be instructions so as players are added, the same style continues …. no strategy to attack, no tactics, just feel what it is like to pass and receive, do a move or two and pass around.
I just finished a weekend at the NSCAA National. I paid a lot of money to see how robots are made. The instructors are just a bunch of well paid college coaches that think they know what they’re doing. They feed you a load of crap and expect you to regurgitate it if you want to pass. Guess what? If you score well in their exams you might be invited to join their staff. The worse part is all the coaches attending think they are getting a great coaching education.
I wish they would just release the course content for people to read and dissect on their own. I can’t afford, nor would I want to pay, to hear those guys ramble and hear the stupid questions people have to ask. If coach and player development was the main goal… it wouldn’t cost thousands of dollars to get “educated”. I guess that’s opening up a different can of worms, though. The entire education system here in the States confuses me… 🙁
I can post the important stuff. Just don’t say where you got it.
Here are the basics. Learn when to freeze the practice session. The stoppage should be tailored to address the topic. Review, rehearse, and restart. Over-coach and you’ll do great.
“Over-coach and you’ll do great.” This line is perfect based off the USSF courses I have been at! It shows why we don’t create thinkers, we create robots. Parents and coaches always tell them what to do.
How is US process any different than a European, English, Brazilian coaching license program? Curious if anyone knows as I’d be interested.
I’m curious to know if they all have “licensing” courses? I’ve spoken with several friends from Denmark and they have all said that coaching clinics are always free and other coaches are always willing to teach what they know. They also don’t pay for any education from the time they are young all the way through college. I’m sure that plays a role in their sport education as well. I haven’t done enough research to back that up, though… just what I’ve gathered from a few personal conversations.
1) if you are new to the blog make sure to read this post
2) if you have read it make sure to read it again
3) if you have found anything anywhere that you think is most important than this please make sure to share
4) think of all the coaches you know…who has this kind of product to show & has shared this much wisdom with you?
5) spread the message and make sure to return Gary some love
This post really lit a fire under my ass. Crazy to think how much I’ve learned in a year.
Good one isn’t it? 😉
Hi everybody,
This is my first post but I have been an avid reader for over a year now. I am 20 years old and in university. I haven’t started coaching yet because I want to make sure that I am well ready so that I have a clearly defined philosophy and know how to implement it well. I’m not getting my hopes too high for when I first start out but I want to make sure that I study the game a lot more before I do. I have been greatly inspired by your work and this blog Gary so thank you for that. This is a very thought provoking environment and a great learning place. Also a big thank you to all of the regular commenters who bring the arguments to life. Anyway I came across this quote said by Otto Von Bismarck about politics and thought it very relevant to this topic:
“Politics is less a science than an art,” he often observed. “It is not a subject which can be taught. One must have the talent for it. Even the best advice is of no avail if improperly carried out.” “Politics is not in itself an exact and logical science, but the capacity to choose in each fleeting moment of the situation that which is least harmful or most opportune.”
All the best
Etienne
Glad to have you here Etienne!
I think this country may have to depend a lot on guys like you.
Thanks Gary,
I am actually from Vancouver, Canada. I’m afraid the situation here is worse than it is in some parts of the US. I am absolutely appalled at the level of coaching and playing here and we suffer from many of the same problems that I see you guys talking about. I will need a a lot of time and trial and error to get to where I want to be but being 20 I have nothing but time. I am very excited to get out there and do everything in my power to change Canadian soccer as much as I possibly can. There is lots of work ahead and I am sure it will not be easy but it is something that I really care about so I am very excited to start. Now that I have broken my duck in terms of commenting I think I will be much more active in the comments on this blog.
All the best,
Etienne
Just started coaching U8 soccer and this is my first time coaching. I constantly talk about having the ball and possession. We do spend a lot of time working on individual dribbling and “free play” soccer. I try to stay away from tactics and thought I was doing the right thing. Should I introduce any team concepts at this age? From the reading I’ve done it says no. But after reading your blog you seem to say team play and playing out of the back can be introduced earlier. I want to be part of the solution and not the problem.
We have no experience with U8.
The earliest we’ve done is U10.
I think you’re ok with focussing on the technical.