Singing From The Same Hymn Sheet

With the first of my two planned stints in the USA now completed, it's time for a little reflection. This has been the short stint of 13 weeks with the longer one starting in the spring and going through to when I start my final year of my university degree, late in 2013.

Within this first stint, I have faced a few challenges. 

The largest was unquestionably the need for a culture change from how the teams I had been assigned were used to playing to how I wanted them to play. 

As mentioned in my first blog I was taken aback when I encountered team managers encouraging the transference of the ball from the defensive half of the pitch to the attacking half as quickly as possible via 'big kicks', with accuracy sometimes not even a consideration and always a bonus if a teammate was found.

I decided to keep my powder dry and just employ a watching brief at both my teams’ opening games and was rather astonished at what I observed.

It appeared that the ‘hack’ upfield was more beneficial to the "manager's" anxiety and stress levels than anything else. I swear you could almost see them wipe the sweat from their foreheads as the ball crossed the half-way line and the pressure subsided on our goal.

Clearly, these actions were overriding the 'learning' and 'development' of the players and something I needed to change for my own sanity if nothing else.

So one week in and my biggest challenge was clear; to convince the managers, parents and spectators to climb aboard the developmental bus, and convince them of the long-term benefits this would have on the players both on and off the field.

This took some patience on my behalf as in the process I faced a further challenge of not only convincing these people, but enforcing it on the sideline also, stressing the importance that as a team we were all singing from the same hymn sheet. 

An important point to note is that throughout the Fall season, parents would drop their child off at the start of practice and collect them at the end. Very rarely would they stay to watch any significant amount of the session and if they did, they would be on their own.

Never did the team managers attend practice. Work commitments meant that just the players and I were present.

Therefore, come game day, the watching public have very little idea of not only the objectives of each practice session, but also the high success rate that had been achieved by the players.

I had endorsed and encouraged creativity, experimentation and player led decision making which all culminate in them playing, what I consider to be, attractive 'pass and move' soccer. 

So we arrive at a scenario where I am on the sideline encouraging everything that we had practised during the week, and witnessing our hard work being undone by parents and team managers on the sideline.

When I coach youngsters, I place great emphasis on 'trying' skills without fear of failure, passing the ball to manoeuvre our way around opponents and making decisions when in possession of the ball to eradicate simply kicking it up-field as this requires no/very little skill.

So hearing managers and parents unwittingly undo this hard work with various cries of "kick it!" was a cause of much frustration.

Why? Kick it where? Kick it how? I wanted to scream but I knew that wasn’t the answer.

I was just 20 years of age and the youngest by at least a decade of the adults. How would they react to the ‘jumped up’ Brit if I overreacted?

I needed to make them understand and trust that what I was looking for the players to achieve would serve to be more beneficial in their long-term development both on and off the field.

I decided to implement a weekly communication by phone with my general managers to relay my thoughts and intentions and asked them to in turn communicate these to the parents and other spectators. I have to say that this worked to a good extent, but gentle sideline reminders were often necessary especially when panic set in i.e. when the ball was near our own goal. Of course the panic was almost entirely attributable to the parents and managers rather than the players!

The next step was to be confident enough to be honest when talking to the supporters. What I sought to achieve from the managers, parents and spectators was simply encouragement and praise, not instruction.

I'm delighted to say that my approach paid dividends. As the weeks progressed the adults present at games gradually noticed significant improvement in the style of play my teams adopted, dominating games with quick decision making and decisive short passes. In particular the last few weeks of the fall season saw us have the most fun, playing some of our most exciting soccer and watching these young players develop at such a fast rate. 

As a result, the team camaraderie as well as the rapport built between myself and the managers and parents grew stronger. We were totally singing from the same hymn sheet. On the odd occasion an instruction of "kick it!" by the manager would still be bellowed out, but before I could give a gentle reminder, the players sitting on the substitutes bench would shout "no, don't just kick it!". Invariably though, the manager's would hold their hands up and admit to getting too wrapped up in the game and concede that they're actually hindering the players development by making their decisions for them on the field. 

I read recently a quote from Nick Levett, FA National Development Manager for Youth Football who said "Adults telling young players what to do on the soccer field is similar to a parent doing their children's homework. They might score 100% the following day, but long-term their development will be limited." I could not agree more.

Without being conceited, I am proud that I appear to have opened the eyes of the managers and parents for them and allowed them to see another way of playing. The teams finished the season playing almost completely how I wanted them to play. I now believe that we share the same mindset that youth player development should override the result of games, as this will prove more beneficial in the long-term.

Whilst this was a challenge for me, I am hugely grateful for the open-mindedness and discipline shown by the managers, parents and spectators that has contributed significantly to the players' overall  development and success during the Fall season, providing greater enjoyment and a growing love for the game. May it continue in years to come. I'll find out next Spring!!

The Coach and The iPad

About a year ago, I was observing an Under 12 game in Essex when I first encountered one. A football coach with an iPad!!

This particular chap was reminiscent of Derek Trotter with his Filofax, as for the warm up and first half his proud new acquisition was held aloft for all to see but not actually turned on. This all changed at half time when the said machine was fired into life to deliver to the players a list of the second half substitutions.

  

Twelve months on and I had made the decision to invest in an iPad myself to facilitate my development as a modern thinking soccer coach on and off the field. A few weeks later and I was hooked by its multiplicity of functions and countless Applications (Apps hereafter) to act as visual aids for the players I was due to come into contact with over the coming weeks, months and years.

You will hopefully recall from my previous blog that I am coaching football (soccer) in the U.S. and this carries a high demand for Referees, Officials and Participants due to its growing popularity.

My experience is that the majority of participants tend to be from a higher socio-economic class. Much more so than say in comparison to those that play Basketball, Baseball, American Football, Ice-Hockey etc,

It appears to be similar to say Polo in the UK, for example, where a select minority of what are considered 'privileged' participants partake, where the cost for participation is greater in comparison to say football or rugby.

To put this into context, the players that I have come in to contact with during my time in the U.S. so far (ages 8 - 15) have predominantly come from this privileged background and as a result, many possess modern technology of their own.

They will in the majority of cases, either possess, or at least know how to function a device such as an iPod, smartphone or tablet, and so the initial impact of using my iPad as a visual aid was a great ploy to engage their young brains. Specifically, I used the iPad to stimulate thought provoking answers to my open ended questions about what they saw on screen, all the while heightening their concentration levels.

I have used a range of Apps including Coach’s Eye, Ubersense and Video Delay that allow recording and slow motion playback where a participants technique can also be directly compared and even overlaid onto a ‘perfect model’. These apps are particularly impressive when coaching a very technical sport such as golf or cricket. The latter is a sport where I have used various apps and software very effectively and my favourite app is Cricket Coach Plus HD.

Back to Soccer, and I love an App called iDrills. It really helps me to demonstrate the organisation of drills, games, formations etc whilst using different colour schemes to enhance their learning significantly.  My players are always intrigued to absorb what I have shown them.

Witnessing the enthusiasm for learning from my players, meant that the appearance of the iPad during practice sessions became more frequent. Some would even request that I showed them something on the tablet at the end of each practice, had it not been used during the session. A few of the players had nicknamed this "iPad time" and would often ask me during practice when iPad time would be? 

From a professionalism perspective I have found the iPad a great resource/tool both functionally and in appearance.

I believe it has improved my level of organisation and preparation as a coach both on and off the field, enabling me to store all of my drills, practice sessions, thoughts and ideas in one place, rather than using numerous pieces of paper to record such notes.

Whilst converting thoughts and ideas into drills, activities and small-sided games can sometimes be a lengthy process on the iPad, I believe the long-term benefits will prove invaluable, creating a library of knowledge and practices over forthcoming years. 

Coincidently, I attended a NBA Basketball game just last week (3rd November '12) where I witnessed Avery Johnson, Brooklyn Nets Head Coach, use an iPad during time-out periods and at each quarter interval, as a visual aid to communicate ideas and tactics. Players gathered around Johnson after the first quarter at a deficit of 27-20 and went on to win the game 100-107.  Whilst I am not naive to believe that the iPad can take full credit in this instance, I do believe that it played a part.

Amongst experts, it is widely accepted, that most of us retain approximately:

20% of what we read,

20% of what we hear,

30% of what we see, and 

50% of what we see and hear.

Success and athlete development can therefore be achieved using effective communication and visual reinforcements at both ends of the performance spectrum in whatever sport (from travel team soccer to NBA basketball in this instance). It can be argued that the visual aid provided by the iPad along with Johnson's verbal communication to his players worked simultaneously when facilitating player learning and information retention. It goes to show that an iPad/tablet can be used to develop all athletes, regardless of their age, ability, gender or chosen sport. 

So to conclude, I am sure there are other coaching tools and resources that can provide similar results for athlete development. However, I would encourage all coaches to experience what an iPad has to offer and draw their own conclusions.  I genuinely believe it has continued my own professional development, and that of my players too. 

Take a look at the pictures and screenshots below and thanks for reading.

Mark (Del-Boy)