This term Player Development, gets deployed across the grassroots of this game... a lot. Typically, it’s an excuse to get all the ‘best’ local players together in a super team and ‘win’ things, that’s about it.
Let’s break down how this Academy interprets and defines Player development, and how we believe it SHOULD express itself:
- Experimentation: during the chaos of the game different moments introduce new challenges, which allows a player to test new ideas.
- Through trial and error, a player can discover what ideas work and don't.
- This discovery fuels improvement – refining the process, idea, or player.
- These improvements are the building blocks of personal development.
- This process repeats: as a player develops it opens the door to step (1) i.e. continued experimentation.
The essence of player development is player mistakes. Without mistakes the iterative cycle of trial and error cannot fulfill itself. Without mistakes coaches cannot correct and guide. Without mistakes players remain stagnant, never evolving into better players.
Summary: Develop: grow or enhance → Growth requires improvement → Improvement often comes from experimentation → experimentation involves trial and error → trial and error leads to insights → Insights lead to further development.
Our Academy is focused on a playing environment that incentives in-game player risks on the ball, subsequently, testing their ideas without losing confidence in the face of mistakes or opting for the short term perceieved saftey of 'booting it.'
How do we do that?
Figure 1: A youth player’s development cycle.
To develop a player they must risk in-game experimentation on the ball to experience mistakes. See text for detail.
Using the above as our philosophical foundation, we want to create a ‘risk-free’ player-focused environment when it comes to playing. Below are the following boundaries we put in place that best aids in such an environment:
- Immediately recover from perceived ‘mistakes.’ Body language, verbal cues, concentration levels. The essence of the Academy.
- No winning or losing. No leagues, no ladders, no accolades, no ranks.
- No teams. Players rotate all the time.
- No clearances whatsoever. If a player boots the ball for any reason, especially strategic = penalty against them or their team.
- Always pressure the opponent, never stand off (unless instructed to). Always putting pressure on the ball. Get involved.
- No running back to the goal to ‘pretend’ to goal keep. Very common amongst little kids to run back towards their goal when out of possession. No. No. No.
- Maximum coaching recognition, praise and celebration for trial-and-error efforts on the ball and throughout the game. Hyped cheering from coaches when required!
- 100% effort, all the time. Unless sick or injured.
We have observed a marked difference in the confidence, genuine enjoyment and appreciation of playing from more than enough players attending our Academy to take pride in this environment. The number of parents that have approached us to-date with the statement: “my child plays their best football all week at these Academy games” further lends support to our coaching model.
Remember: We argue the essence of any ‘development’ model is in-game playing mistakes. Therefore, the playing environment must be one that promotes the excessive occurrence of them!
Now, what does an Academy session look like?
Without listing the numerous references, you can find online, there appears to be two primary schools of thought on the approach to grassroots youth development in football.
- It all starts with the player and the ball. Develop the player technically with the ball, improve the player in the game, and subsequently the team improves.
- It all starts with the player and their “thoughts” of the ball. Precisely, there is a quick ‘decision’ before the player acts on the ball. Therefore, developing the players decision-making skills ultimately improves the player and subsequently the team.
In our experience the two different approaches necessitate two unique session designs.
If you are seeking out the short of our philosophy: we focus on both approaches until a discretionary point, at which time, we switch solely to approach 2 i.e. decision-making.
We now realise this is the definitive skill to refine within a player, everything else is technique. To build competence of a skill such as decision-making during a game takes far longer and far more nuanced coaching effort compared to improving a player’s technique on the ball.
How would the two styles express themselves differently in our sessions?
Currently, adopting approach (1), i.e. improving-the-player-on-the-ball session looks like:
- 50% unopposed ‘dry training.’ i.e. drills and exercises designed with repartition of technique.
- 50% opposed 1v1, 2v1, and 2v2 duels.
The very small-sided duels allow for maximum responsibility on the player. This is fastest way for them to get involved and get numerous moments on the ball. The idea is the 30 minutes of dry training introduces enough muscle memory in the player that they understand ball manipulation then it becomes about expressing that under pressure. Which pressure? The opponent.
Adopting approach (2), i.e. improving-the-players-decision-making session looks like:
- Games-only orientated sessions. Escalation in difficulty up until a final game, replicating the actual game ends the session.
- Key concepts are covered in a rotational manner across the week for each session. These include Attacking principles, defending principles, possession principles, duels, and shielding.
- Through each of these games nights we explore on of these major themes and within it heavily focus on the decision-making components that contribute to executing these principles live in play.