Soccer Playing Tip: Attacking 1 v 1

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about the importance of winning your individual battles/matchups and how doing so help you stand apart from other players and help your team win games. That week, I looked at things from the defensive side of the ball (you can read that article by clicking here). This week, I want to shift our perspective to the attacking side of the ball and teach you how to win your 1 v 1 attacking matchups.

First things first is knowing when to attack and when to maintain possession for your team. Attacking 1 v 1 is a risk, but it’s a risk that pays dividends if it pays off as it leads to high-quality scoring chances. My general rule of thumb is this:

If you can read the numbers on the back of the closest defender, then you have the right to go forward.

If this is the case, it means you are already beyond the closest defender and can likely attack open space and isolate one of the defenders. This means moving smartly before you get the ball to put yourself in a dangerous position when you receive it.

Now, once you do receive the ball, here’s how you win your matchup:

1.       Drive with speed. Speed kills in soccer and is lethal in 1 v 1 situations. Particularly if you have an outside back isolated, being able to get that player moving backwards puts you at a significant competitive advantage when you are attacking 1 v 1.

2.       Push the ball past the defender. This is where a scissor or shoulder fake may come in handy to get the defender off-balance, but at the end of the day, we are trying to get both the ball and our body beyond the defender so that they are no longer involved in the play, or are forced to pull you down and concede a free-kick.

3.       Take a big touch into the open space and change your pace. Once you are past the defender, you cannot let them back into the play. If you drove with speed, they are already on their heels, if you put them off balance, then you are already past them with them facing the wrong direction, so now you just have to make it a footrace to the ball that you can easily win.

There you have it. Your step-by-step guide to winning your attacking matchups. Move proactively to put yourself into a dangerous position when you receive the ball, drive with speed to get the defender on their heels, get them off balance and push the ball past them, then take a big touch to make it a footrace that you will win.

A Solid Foundation is Key to Success in Sports

Parents will often approach me and ask what their son/daughter can do to get better at sports. Success in sports requires proficiency and eventually mastery of 3 main skills:

1.       Sport-Specific Technical Skills

2.       Athleticism

3.       Tactical Understanding/IQ

Of course, there are other elements at play, but the systematic development of these three skills will drive a player’s success in sports.

In this country, I don’t think we do a particularly great job developing any of these skills at our youth levels. I’m going to use soccer as an example because it’s the sport I’m most comfortable with, but the concepts apply to all team-sports.

If we want to develop mastery of these three skills, we must start by building a strong foundation.

For technical skills, this means starting with mastery on the ball. Young kids should spend the majority of practice with a ball on their foot. The more touches they get at an early age, the more comfortable they will get, the more confident they will become, and the more success they will have as they grow and develop higher-level skills.

For athletic skills, our focus should be on developing fundamental movement skills through play. With early specialization running rampant and physical education continuing to be cut from schools, this responsibility now falls on the sport-coach. Every practice, kids should be jumping, skipping, hoping, crawling, balancing, rolling, and developing the foundational skills they will need to have future sporting success.

Lastly, tactical skill development comes down to practice design. Drills should be designed in ways where kids develop foundational tactical skills while developing their fundamental technical skills. For example, simply having players dribble in space while playing red light/green light rather than dribbling through cones will teach players how to find open space, become aware of their surroundings, and react to a constantly changing environment, just like they will have to in the game.

If you are a parent who is coaching your child’s soccer team, and would like help designing impactful practices that will build a strong foundation for the players, email us and we’ll set up a time to chat.

Play More Handball

Handball is the single-greatest and least-utilized training tool we have for coaching team sports. I’m going to use soccer as an example, but the concepts apply to all invasion sports.

Playing handball develops tactical skills that can be very hard to teach, in a way that translates directly to the sport. Off-the ball movement, supporting teammate, finding open space, closing open space, communicating, defending as a unit, stretching the field, and moving the defense are just a few of the many attributes this exercise develops.

The best part about handball is that coaches can teach these skills without being limited by the technical limitations of the players. All these tactical skills can be taught through a possession-type game, but if half the group struggles to receive or pass the ball, it’s going to be very hard to coach these skills because the play won’t develop. By taking these technical skills out of the equation, coaches can teach foundational tactical skills.

See for yourself in the video below:

So, how does this apply to you and your kid? First, I strongly encourage you to share this email with their soccer coach. When done consistently, this simple tool will take their team up another whole level. Next, encourage your kids to play it with their friends. When they get together, rather than sitting behind their screen, show them how to play and watch them have a blast. You’ll be amazed by how much they smile, giggle, and laugh because handball is really freaking fun. You can gamify it by having them play to an end-zone like Football or Ultimate Frisbee, or you can play with small goals that they have the throw the ball into. 

Playing handball also develops fundamental movement skills and foundational athletic skills that will lead to future sporting success. Catching, throwing, running, cutting, jumping, changing direction, and striking just to name a few.

If you want help designing impactful practices that maximize the experience for the players, email us and we’ll schedule a time to chat.

Soccer Training Tip: Practice at Game Speed

One of the keys to having success on gameday is practicing like you want to play. This starts with the coach by choosing exercises that actually translate to the game, but it then trickles down to the players to practice at game speed. While this seems apparently obvious, it happens far less than you think.

In my 10 years of coaching, I’ve had very few players who bring the “game-like” intensity on their own without needing to be pushed, and I’ve been there too. Unsurprisingly, these players have been the ones who have had the best careers because every time they step on the field to practice, they aren’t just going through the motions, they are actually preparing themselves for what’s going to happen in the game.

At the highest level, practices often become faster and more intense than the game itself. Bill Walton once said that when he played for John Wooden, the game was actually significantly slower than what they had been doing at practice.

So my challenge to you is this: if you want to become the best player you can be, come to training with a new mentality. Come out with the intention to practice at game speed. Move hard off the ball, talk relentlessly, play firm passes, defend like an animal; play at practice like you want to play in the game. Do this for one season, and I promise you you’re going to get noticed, you’re going to improve, and you’re going to do better on gameday.

If you want help developing skills like this that will take your game to the next level and the coaching to accelerate the process, then check out our Soccer Academies. Our academies are the perfect complement to your school training as we help you maximize your potential and become an impactful player on the field.

Practice like this:

Your Fall Season’s Over…So Now What?

As the weather gets colder and fall seasons come to a close, I want to take a few minutes to discuss some viable next-steps for the winter depending on your age, goals, and ability level, to improve at your craft and come back next fall ready to take the world by storm.

First, let me make something extremely clear. I am adamantly against early specialization. For those that don’t know, early specialization is exactly what it sounds like, specializing in one sport at an early age/early in athlete’s development. Early specialization has become a huge problem in this country for many reasons, and is far too expansive a topic to dive into in this blog, but be on the lookout for deceptive coaches pushing athletes to specialize early for their own financial gain. Without going too deep, early specialization leads to overuse injuries, a lack of physical literacy, coordination, and movement development in children, and early burnout.

With that in mind, it’s hard to pinpoint an exact age or ability that children should begin to specialize in one sport, because in an ideal world, they never would. Playing multiple sports allows them to develop their athleticism safely, utilize different muscles/movement patterns, and be introduced to a plethora of different stimuli that force them to solve new problems. Not the mention they will develop great social and character skills by playing multiple sports.

With all that being said, in today’s cut-throat sporting landscape, it’s hard to feel like you child isn’t falling behind if they aren’t investing copious amounts of time/energy to their sport, and it sort of makes sense. At the end of the day, consistent effort will most likely breed success, so the more consistently an athlete invests effort into their sport, the more they will develop. While this principle bears out, an athlete must train smartly to ensure that he/she is developing appropriately and avoiding the common errors of early specialization and winter training.

So, with that context established, let me give you some viable options for this winter to continue to develop without worrying about putting your child at risk or in harms way.

1. If your child is younger than 14 years old, get them in some sort of movement-based program, martial arts, or gymnastic-type training to compliment their primary sport. The components of these kinds of activities will build the fundamental movement skills and coordination athletes need to have success in their sporting endeavors, while doing so in a fun, exciting, and safe environment. Putting your child in a program like this is far and away the best thing you can do as a parent for their long-term athletic development.

2. If your child is 14 or older, get them in some sort of formal strength and conditioning/athletic development program. Do NOT allow them to join the gym on their own, where they will develop bad habits, put themselves at risk to be injured, and most likely set back their athletic development, making them worse at their primary sport. At this age, training harder is not always the best option because athletes typically don’t know what they are doing. Training with smart coaches who will keep them safe, teach them lifting principles, and get them comfortable in the weight room, is a much better option.

3. Look for a 1-2 day/week sport-specific program. Here’s where the magic of balance truly happens. Once your child is playing a different sport/enrolled in some sort of movement/athletic development program, find a program where they can work with a coach 1-2 days/week for sport-specific development. I would steer clear of anything more than 2 days/week, and 1 day/week truly is the sweet spot. It’s the spot where athletes can continue to invest effort and improve in their primary sport, without being subjected to the risks of early specialization.

There you have it. Hopefully you now have a clear picture of what to look for this winter, and what to steer clear of, if you hope to continue your child’s development in their primary sport. As a conclusion, I want to give you as a parent a quick checklist to follow to simplify this process:

1. Enroll child in secondary sport.

2. Depending on age, enroll child in some sort of movement development/athletic development program with a coach who will keep them safe and develop them properly.

3. Enroll child in 1-2 day/week sport-specific development program.

If you want to inquire about working with us for any of these services, please do so HERE.

Thanks for reading, we hope to work with you soon to safely develop your child and allow them to reach their athletic potential and dominate their sporting endeavors.

Until next time,

-JL

Playing Tip: Movement off the Ball

Movement off the ball. A skill that is underappreciated, underdeveloped, and incredibly impactful. When we spectate soccer, we tend to follow the ball. We see the magnificent shots, breathtaking passes, and extraordinary dribbles. What we often don’t see is the player’s movement prior to receiving the ball to properly position him or herself in a dangerous spot to make those game-changing plays when they get the ball, nor their teammates’ movement that opens up the space that allows them to get into those dangerous positions.

I think Kevin De Bruyne and Man City do this as well as anyone or any team I’ve ever seen. Sure, De Bruyne is sensational to watch with the ball at his feet, hardly ever making the wrong play and often leaving the audience breathless, but his movement, and his teammates movement without the ball, pretty much never stops. He’s constantly moving to better position himself to make game-changing plays when he does receive the ball, and his teammates are constantly moving to open up that space for him.

With this picture painted, we can begin to understand that smart movement typically precedes breathtaking play, and all players have the potential to dramatically impact the game without ever even touching the ball. With this in mind, I’d love to share a few tips that will improve a player’s movement right away.

1. Move frequently behind defenders. The more you move, the more defenders have to account for you and the higher the likelihood they lose track of you. This becomes infinitely harder if you build the habit of moving behind defenders. Don’t run in their field of vision, run behind them, where they have to physically turn their head to see you, drop to cover you, or let you go free, trusting another teammate to pick you up. The rule I tell my players is this: if you receive the ball and can read the number of the closest defender, you have the freedom to go forward, if you can’t read the number, you are probably going to be under pressure and can’t move forward. Thinking this way forces players to move smartly prior to receiving the ball so that they can attack when they receive it.

2. Don’t suffocate the ball. When a teammate has time and space on the ball, move AWAY from the teammate. Doing this allows you to break a line of defensive pressure, and puts you in a dangerous position when you receive it. On the other hand, if your teammate is under intense pressure, move TOWARDS the ball to become an easy outlet/passing option to relieve the pressure.

3. Run in behind. The more the defense becomes stretched, the more space for your teammates to work. One easy way to stretch the defense is to make frequent runs behind the oppositions’ back line. Like the first tip, it forces the defense to account for you and makes it significantly harder on them to stay organized. It also pushes them backwards, creating more space for your teammates to move into. Lastly, when you do receive the ball, it leads to great goal scoring opportunities. It’s a high effort to low reward ratio, meaning you may have to make 10 hard runs behind the opposition before you even receive the ball, however, when you do receive that ball, you are going to receive it in a position to make a game-changing play.

Hopefully I’ve painted a picture of the importance of movement off the ball, and given the reader a few quick tips to become a better mover.

Want to work with us to improve this skill (and others) to maximize your ability? Contact us to schedule your initial consultation. We hope to hear from you soon!

-JL

What Makes a Good Athletic Development Program?

Like coaching, strength and conditioning is an industry without best practices or professional standards. It’s riddled with different beliefs and opinions on the best ways to get results, and contradicting information runs rampant. Everyone from the 30 year veteran still writing programs like it’s 1980, to the unqualified fitness influencer citing sources from 1912 explaining how water is inherently bad for athletic development (yes, that actually happened), puts out information, muddying the water for those of us trying to simply do what’s best for our athletes. With that in mind, I want to lay out a few components that make a good (and safe) athletic development program, so that the reader can begin to understand what they should look for.

1. The program keeps athletes safe. As crazy as it sounds, this isn’t the first thing many coaches think of when building/designing their programs. Far too often, coaches have other priorities that supersede the athletes’ safety. Look no further than coaches who use fitness as a punishment to see that this mindset still exists. A safe program will be extremely simple and will feel like it’s building you up rather than breaking you down. Beyond that, safe programs won’t ask you to do anything you can’t currently do. They will meet you where you’re at and progress from there, rather than asking you to start from a level you aren’t ready for.

2. Speaking of progression, a good athletic development program will slowly and appropriately progress athletes. The idea behind a great program isn’t to crush athletes, it’s to apply just enough stress to stimulate adaptation so that their bodies can adapt at an appropriate rate. Over time, a good program will slowly apply more stress after the body has adapted to continue this progressive adaptation process, a process aptly named, “progressive overload.”

3. With that in mind, a good athletic development program will always feel manageable/attainable. Sure, it may be challenging, but it will never feel overwhelming. If you feel like it’s asking you to do too much, it probably is.

4. Check your sourcing. Avoid programs or tips that come from people who are not qualified to give them. Instead, look for tips and programs from people who develop athletes similar to you for a living and have a collection of success stories.

5. Lastly, and most importantly, a good program will put the athlete first. It doesn’t necessarily need to be personalized to you, but it needs to fit your needs. Make sure that the program you complete will actually help you reach your goals and improve your performance on the field/court/ice/etc.

Hopefully, sticking to these tips will help you weed out the bad information/programs from the good ones, and will allow you to reach your goals and have success in your sporting endeavors. If you want to avoid wading through the weeds all-together, simply contact us, and let us work with you reach your athletic potential.

Three Easy Recovery Tips That Few Do to Improve Performance

Recovery. Something that everyone knows is beneficial yet most people completely ignore, or at best, have at the bottom of their priority list. I get it. Life is stressful, there’s so much going on. We all have social lives and other responsibilities outside of athletics. With the hectic nature of daily life in mind, I wanted to give you three easy tips to increase your recovery with the end goal of improving your performance.

First, a super brief overview. I look at recovery as the process of maximizing adaptation (physiological development), and returning the body to an appropriate level to perform or train again. Recovery methods, therefore, are any focused, intentional, or deliberate implement we use to increase adaptation or speed up the time it takes to reach that level where we can train/perform optimally again. With this definition in mind, there are a ton of recovery methods we utilize to reach this appropriate level, however, I want to give you three incredibly simple ones that you can do on your own that are habitual in nature and can become a part of your daily routine.

1. Drink more water. Obvious, of course, but something that few do. We all know that hydrating properly will improve performance on the field. What many fail to realize is that proper hydration will also increase recovery post game/workout. Here’s my recommendation to build the habit: track your water intake and shoot for a gallon a day. Simply tracking the amount of water consumed will force you to become aware and deliberately focus on the goal. To make it even easier on yourself, invest in a 1 gallon or 1/2 gallon bottle and set the goal of drinking it (2 in the case of the 1/2 gallon) by the end of the day. Start early and sip frequently. By the end of your first week, it will become habitual and you won’t even be thinking about water intake anymore, simply reaping the recovery/performance benefits.

2. SLEEP. The achilleas heel of most high school or college athletes, sleeping is the almost always the best investment they can make. There is no greater habit change these athletes could make that will reap more benefits than improving the duration and quality of sleep. I get it. I’ve been there. With the obligation of life, sleep is very often pushed to the bottom of the priority list, and we almost celebrate those who function on less sleep. We paint an unrealistic picture that we must sacrifice sleep in order to achieve our goals. This is pretty silly and idiotic since sleep enhances pretty much every physiological and neurological function, allowing us greater opportunity to achieve our goals. Adequate sleep allow us to function optimally and enhance our recovery and performance more than just about anything else. Here’s my tip: PUT THE PHONE AWAY. Set an alarm for 30-45 minutes before you want to go to sleep, and when that timer goes off, put your phone on a charger outside your bedroom and leave it. I promise you, your social life will be fine, and your quality of life, recovery, and performance will increase exponentially. This little strategy will not only force you to close your eyes and go to sleep, it will also start the habit of a nighttime routine, which is a great way to fall asleep faster and increase the quality of sleep.

3. MOVE. At the end of the day, all our deliberate recovery methods come down to one main goal: push blood through the body. Blood is what carries the fresh oxygen and amino acids we need to recover throughout the body, as well as carrying away the waste products that leave us unable to perform. The best way to speed that process up is to move. Cal Dietz, who is known as one of the greatest strength and conditioning coaches of all time uses one method: 2-5 hours post game, go for a 30 minute walk at a brisk pace. That’s it. That’s his main method of recovery for his athletes, and it makes perfect sense. Think about what most of us do post-game. We crash. Completely. We left it all on the field and are totally spent. However, doing this does not push the blood throughout the body and slows down the recovery process. Here’s my tip: build the habit of walking into your post-game routine. The trick with this one is it has to come at least 2 hours after the game so that your body is already in a recovery state and you can just enhance it. Sooner than that, and your body thinks you’re still performing. Bonus tip for this one: build an actual post-game routine. One that truly sets you up to recover. Here’s what I would do if I were in your shoes: I’d drive home, shower, rollout, drink a protein shake, eat a nutritious post-game meal, relax or nap, depending on the time, then go for a brisk 30 minute walk and reflect on the game while I do so (walking is great time for focused thinking, the psychology is over my head but essentially your brain is optimized to think and reflect while you walk).

There you have it. Three simple habits that you can implement right away to increase your recovery and as a result, your performance on the field.

Happy recovering!

-Jer

What Drives Winning (At the NCAA Division III Level)

In my last few blogs, I explored the concept of consistent effort and how our practice design can and should be influenced by it. Continuing to expand on these ideas, I’d like to address what I believe actually drives winning at the NCAA Division III (DIII) level and how we can use this information to consistently invest effort into areas that actually impact the results on the field.

Before I start, I want to clarify that these are just my beliefs and are subject to change as I grow and learn, however, they are grounded in sound logic and experience and I believe are the core components that drive winning at the NCAA DIII level. I also want to clarify why I’m choosing to differentiate DIII soccer from other settings such as club, professional, and even other divisions. There are certainly aspects that translate to these other realms, however, collegiate coaching is extremely niche with each division having very strict rules and regulations that greatly impact what drives winning. For example, at the DIII level coaches only get access to their players 18 weeks/year, can’t mandate off-season activities, and have unlimited substitutions on gameday. Obviously, rules like this greatly influence the processes that drive winning in this setting, and just don’t apply in other settings. Lastly, throughout my writing, I’m sure the reader has come to realize that I’m pretty results-oriented. I’m obsessed with transferability, and making sure to focus effort into the areas that actually lead to results on gameday. I say this to paint a picture for the audience about the amount of time and energy I’ve invested into these areas, even analyzing how I coach to ensure it’s done in a way that translates to better results on the field. Let’s dive in.

Across every sport at every level of NCAA athletics, recruiting is far and away the most important aspect that drives winning. Recruiting is the lifeblood of any strong program. Pretty much every aspect of a program begins with recruiting. The ability/talent level of the team, the team’s culture, player’s character, style of play, even down to academic achievement, it all starts with recruiting. I plan to dedicate an entire blog in the near future to my recruiting approach and philosophy, so keep an eye out for that coming shortly.

Next is player development/team culture. I put these together due to the rules I mentioned earlier at the DIII level. With the inability to mandate off-season activity, a team’s culture must hold the players accountable to working hard in the off-season, which is where development actually occurs. I relay this message to my players constantly, that true development happens BETWEEN seasons, and that the fall is simply the opportunity to showcase the amount of work that was put in since the previous year. In order to drive player development, as well as winning, I develop a competitive and professional culture that fosters growth. I want my players to compete relentlessly in everything they do, while simultaneously exemplifying professionalism, so that I can provide them with the best possible playing experience. Not the belabor my previous point, but to help me set this culture, it’s something I consider/introduce during the recruitment process. I make a point to show up early and watch the warmups so I can see how professionally they take the sport, I watch to see how they react when they (or one of their teammates) makes a mistake or loses the ball, and I really dive into these concepts during the recruitment process while communicating with athletes and their families. I’m brutally honest with who we are, what we stand for, and what we are looking for. Players who resonate with this professional/competitive culture really gravitate towards it and fit in immediately when they arrive.

Next is character development of the players. It’s imperative at this level that players grow and mature. Most players arrive at college in transitional phases of their lives, and it is the coaching staff’s role to help guide them through that transition. I want to develop skills that will help them succeed in every aspect of their lives, not just on the soccer field, however, developing these character skills certainly helps drive winning. The big ones for me are: self-confidence, competitive drive/spirit, internal motivation, selflessness, perseverance, consistency, resiliency, effort, passion, and discipline. I believe that by developing these character skills, I will develop well-rounded student athletes who will succeed in all aspects of their college career, and be set up to excel immediately as they transition into young-adulthood and move on to either the work force or graduate/professional school.

Next is practice design. I really dove into this concept in my previous post, so check that out for more details, however, in short, coaches should consistently invest effort into areas that lead to better results on the field, and do so in a way that actually transfers to game. It is during practice that coaches truly put their players in the best position to succeed and set them up to have success on gameday.

So far, we’ve touched on recruiting, player development/team culture, character development, and practice design. I would say that together, this makes up about 97% of what drives winning at the DIII level. If a coach recruits strong players, creates a culture that fosters growth/development, and puts them in the best position to succeed, they are going to win a lot of games and have a ton of success. To me, the last 3% are the details. Attention to detail is what separates the good coaches from the truly great ones. These are the coaches who have every detail accounted for and every aspect of their program dialed in. These include but are not limited to:

• Coaching Style/Philosophy

• Gameday Management/Tactics

• Player Management

• Off-season Training Programs

• Schedule Building

• Opponent Scouting

• Game Planning

• Film Breakdown

• Relationship Building

• Budget Management

• Networking

As the reader can see, there are so many aspects/facets that go into building a successful program at the DIII level. As a starting point, recruit strong players, create an environment that fosters growth/development, and put them in the best position to succeed. After that, start to chip away at the details and the results will skyrocket.

Thanks for reading,

-JL

Do We Have Practice Design All Wrong?

In a previous post, I wrote about the power of consistent effort and the impact it can have on achieving success in any endeavor. In this post, I’d like to further explore that topic as it relates to practice design and player development.

I’ve had the good fortune of observing and learning from many different coaches with many different philosophies and ways of planning and conducting practices. These experiences have helped to shape my perspective and philosophy on practice design, and have shown me that some ways to design practice are far more effective, and lead to far better outcomes, than others.

Traditionally, I find practice design falls into one of two categories: fully random or systematic. Fully random practice design follows no clear system of design, whereas a systematic practice design follows some sort of pre-set template. For example, in a fully random setting, no two practices will look alike and there will be little to no distinguishable patterns that emerge. In a systematic practice design, each day clearly follows a similar pattern, let’s call it a “template,” with small variances dedicated to specific situations. While coaches have certainly had success with both methods, in my experience, those with pre-conceived templates typically have far more success than those with a fully random design. Let’s dive a little deeper.

I’ve found that coaches who follow a systematic design have a clear vision for their style of play, what it should look like, and know what they need to consistently practice to achieve it. Relating this back to my previous post, it makes a lot of sense. A systematic design simply holds coaches accountable to consistently invest effort into the areas they want to improve. Beyond that, it streamlines and speeds up the practice design process, leaving more time and energy to focus on other areas that lead to success, such as recruiting, scouting, or player management.

Now that’s not to say that a systematic approach will always work, because it won’t. I’ve been around a couple of coaches who follow a systematic approach, but invest their time and energy into the wrong areas; they invest practice time to drills and exercises that don’t actually lead to or translate to success on the field. Beyond that, a systematic approach to practice design doesn’t account for HOW a coach may coach, HOW they treat their players, HOW well they prepare for the upcoming opponent, and many other important aspects that lead to success on game day. All this is to emphasize that while a systematic approach will help streamline the process, it doesn’t guarantee success.

Let’s take a look at a couple of templates from coaches who have had a ton of success at the collegiate level:

Template 1:
Dynamic Warmup
Technical Warmup
Transition Activity
Competition
Finishing

Templates 2:
Dynamic Warmup
Technical Exercise
Positional Work with Positional Coaches
Group/Team Activity
Competition

When we compare these two templates, a few similarities stand out:

1. Both coaches invest in a proper warmup at the start of practice. While this seems strikingly obvious, it’s not something to take for granted. I’ve been around a few coaches, who even at the highest level, don’t believe in the values of properly warming a team up. A proper warmup not only reduces the risk/occurrence of injuries and physically prepares the body to train at it’s highest level, it also mentally prepares the athletes for training and gives them the time they need to mentally transition into the session. Both coaches essentially spend 20 minutes physically, mentally, and technically warming their players up so that they are firing on all cylinders when they get into the meat of their practice. Also, having been around these coaches, I can tell you that the warmup truly sets the tone for practice. The dynamic warmup is taken seriously and the technical warmup is done at game speed.

2. Both coaches emphasize competition. Competition is prevalent and is clearly a priority for both coaches. This competitive mindset is imperative to the culture of their programs and is part of the reason for their overwhelming success.

There is also one major difference to analyze:

1. One coach chooses to invest in the transition phase of the game, the other into positional development. I think this comes down to their philosophies/beliefs as coaches, and it’s seen in their style of play. One program is dynamic in transition and puts their chances away (they invest in finishing at the end of each session), while the other program is extremely organized and positionally strong. The way each team plays really showcases what they invest in at practice. Both are equally effective, but a great example of different styles.

I think what this shows is that there are certain principles that should be included in your practice design, and certain principles that you should include based on your own beliefs and philosophies. It’s also important to note that these coaches don’t follow these templates to the letter each and every day, but they serve as strong guidelines as they design their practices.

For me, my template pulls aspects from both of these, while including categories that are entirely my own. It’s important for me to properly warm my players up, get their hands on one another (to get comfortable with physicality), to compete, and to be dynamic in transition. As such, my practice design reflects that. I also want to bury our chances, so we work on finishing at the end of each session. Lastly, I think it’s important to develop composure on the ball for when we can’t go forward right away, as well as to let the game teach, so my general template looks like this:

Dynamic Warmup with “Hands On” Partner Work
Technical Warmup with Competition
Transition Activity
Functional Work/Tactics/Rondos
Open Play/Large Sided Game
Finishing

Doing the same thing consistently also allows players to develop a rhythm and know what to expect. There are no surprises which really streamlines their development because they aren’t worrying about what’s coming at practice; they know what’s coming and can focus on getting better.

Lastly, practicing this way allows coaches to properly evaluate the effectiveness of their training. Because of the consistent approach, coaches can make small changes, and properly measure their impact. If what they are consistently doing is not leading to success on gameday, then they are able to properly pinpoint exactly what’s not working, whereas with a random approach, there are far too many variables to consider.

I’d like to leave the reader with one last thought. It’s very common in the athletics world to take a “there are many ways to skin a cat” approach to coaching. While I understand the intention behind this belief, I personally think it’s led to catastrophic outcomes for our field at large. When we unpack this catchy little phrase, we realize that the intention behind it is that nobody cares how we get there so long as we get results. However, with this mindset in place, best practices in our field will never form and coaches will always have a built-in excuse for their poor coaching. Other professions have extremely clear guidelines in place that not only keep their people safe, but also help to move the field forward. I strongly believe that eventually, systemized practice design will be the expectation. The benefits are too immense and it’s too common across the top performers in our field, however it won’t take hold until the field “professionalizes,” but that’s a topic for another day.

Thanks for reading,

-JL

Consistent Effort

You are what you do consistently. Those who know me know me well know me as a lively, energetic, and passionate guy. While I certainly consider myself as all those things, I feel like my personality has matured and settled down to the point where it’s brought a new found sense of peace and clarity. This clarity has given me the mental bandwidth and energy needed to deeply reflect, and doing so has provided me with a lot of life lessons. The biggest one that keeps presenting itself is the power of consistent effort.

Consistent effort is key to achieving success in most endeavors. Whether it’s athletic, academic, career, wellness, business, or anything else we take on, consistent effort will breed success. While this may seem bluntly obvious, how many people actually do it? Most people go “all-in” for a short stretch of time, investing constant and unsustainable effort up front in an attempt to see results as quickly as possible, only to burn out and quit before they make any substantial progress. This type of binging effort does not lead to success and isn’t realistic, practical, or maintainable. I’ve come to realize that putting in focused effort in short bursts more frequently has allowed me to achieve so much more than my previous binge, crash, repeat effort cycle, to the point where I now believe I can use it to achieve success in anything I take on.

Relating this to soccer/training, stop worrying about the perfect plan and simply invest in the things that matter to you. Figure out what you want to develop in your players (physically, technically, and tactically), and consistently invest effort into those areas. For example, if playing in transition is important to you, dedicate time each session to working on the transition phase of the game. This applies to skill and athletic development as well. Consistently invest effort into the skills and physical attributes you want to develop. The immediate results won’t be as profound as pouring copious amounts of effort into it up front, however, it will far out-produce that short burst in the long run as your team/players continue to revisit the concepts you want to instill and the skills you want to develop.

The lesson in all of this is to change how you are putting in effort. Put in shorter, more focused, more frequent bouts over a long period of time. Doing this will lead to far greater results in the long run and will eventually instill habits of success.

Thanks for reading,

-JL

My Thoughts on Style of Play

One of the many things that makes team sports so exciting is that teams can adopt a plethora of different identities and styles of play and still have success. Sticking to soccer, if we look at (in my opinion) the three best club teams in the world currently (Real Madrid, Man City, and Liverpool), we can very quickly see that they all have different styles of play and philosophies, as well as different personalities and ways of doing things from a coaching perspective, but are all equally successful in their own right.

Real Madrid is the perfect balance between system and players. Defensively, they are as stout as it comes, allowing players like Casemiro and Alaba to dominate and only giving up opportunities that trickle into their goalkeeper. When they win the ball, they play bravely in possession and allow their game-changing players like Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, and Vinicius Junior, among others, the creative freedom to attack with no consequences. They also tend to heavily adopt their system and style of play to the opponent they are facing, and are much more game-plan oriented than the other two (thank you Carlo Ancelotti). Man City on the other hand is a methodical system. Their possession will literally take your breath away, always making the safe play and relying on teamwork and moments of brilliance from Kevin De Bruyne to provide their goal scoring opportunities. As a side note, I personally believe that they have lost the balance between system and creative freedom, and have actually stifled players like Gabriel Jesus and Phil Foden, which is why I believe they haven’t won as much as they should; they don’t allow their best players the creative freedom to make plays that win them games and are actually a little too system-oriented. Hopefully this will change with the Haaland signing. Lastly, Liverpool is a complete and utter machine. Every decision is made with efficiency in mind. They look to move the ball into the final third and create a goal scoring opportunity as quickly as possible while gegenpressing relentlessly the second they lose it. Ironically, it is this high-pressure high-efficiency system that ended up being their downfall because their style of play is extremely physically and mentally demanding, and the players just ran out of gas by the end of the season.

While the many different styles of play lead to some extremely entertaining soccer for the viewer, what’s important to take away from a coaching perspective is simply that the best teams have a defined system and style of play. I do think there are styles that tend to have more success than others, however, it’s extremely important to have that style defined (and hopefully pick one that leads to results on the field). If coaches fail to define their style of play, then they will have no way in which to judge progress for their team, and no guidelines from which to run their practices. They will end up scattered, throwing practices together in the hopes of chasing results that don’t actually build towards anything, and ultimately letting their team down on gameday.

So how do coaches define their style of play? The first thing any coach should do is figure out what they personally believe in. Envision the “perfect” soccer team. What would they look like, how would they press, how would they attack, would they be big and physical, would they be master technicians, etc., and then decide on what’s realistic for your current group. Of course, the end goal should always be to achieve that perfect style, but what does a realistic end goal look like for this team. From there, you can then design your season objectives around reaching that style and use it to guide your practice planning.

For me, the perfect team is the hardest team to play against in the country. Of course, that isn’t realistic, so I’m constantly chasing the goal of making my team excruciatingly difficult to play against; a team that other teams hate to play because we take the fun out of the game. Tactically, this means we gegenpress relentlessly and look to go forward right away as soon as we win the ball, but if it’s not on, then we maintain possession and look to move the ball into the final third as quickly as possible. It means allowing our best players the creative freedom to make plays (and as a consequence, mistakes), that effect the outcome of the game. It means a team that only worries about what they can control, don’t argue with the refs, and takes advantage when the other team reacts negatively. Lastly, for me, being a team that’s hard to play against means having physically dominant players. My teams should be athletically dominant and not afraid of contact. They should win every ball and go in hard to everything.

While some of this may sound like an oversimplification, I believe that if we consistently practice the aspects we want to replicate in a way that transfers to the game, then over time we will begin to embody those characteristics. Maybe your style is different, but define it, figure out what’s realistic, and practice it consistently in a way that translates to the game, and in time, your team will begin to resemble your vision of the perfect team.

Please feel free to weigh in,

Until next time,

-Jer

More on Transferability: The How of Coaching

In a previous post, I explained the concept of transferability and why it’s important in sport. In today’s post, I want to continue that conversation, and explore how this applies to the how of coaching.

First, a little background. Historically, coaching has been set in one of two realms, Exercise Science/Kinesiology, or Physical Education. Due to the education models of these programs, and the type of people they attract, coaches who have an exercise science/kinesiology background are typically very analytically thinking, and often spend their time focusing on WHAT to coach. On the flip side, coaches who come from the physical education model are very adept at teaching their athletes, because that’s what they learned how to do in school. These coaches tend to be very good at HOW they coach. A coach can be good, frankly, very good, by being extremely proficient in one of these two areas, however, a great coach must excel in both. In that previous post, I focused on and challenged coaches to analyze what they are programming for their athletes, and how it translates to the field. In this post, I’d like to shift that focus, and analyze how coaches can teach in a way that also translates to the field.

As a quick reminder, transferability is how well skills transfer across different aspects of life. In sport, this means how well training transfers to the game. What a coach programs is extremely important to whether or not training will transfer to the game, but how that coach delivers the session is just as important as what they are doing. As coaches, we can’t play for our players. It blows me away when I see coaches trying to play from the sidelines, as if their constant yelling positively impacts their players. I’m a big fan of stealing from people who are smarter than me, and pretty much every coach I’ve ever been around who I want to steal from, takes a back seat on gameday and lets their players play. Instead, these coaches teach and coach in a way that develops effective decision makers, so that when gameday comes, the players are not reliant on the coach and can make those decisions for themselves.

The art to effective coaching is teaching in a way that allows for players to come to solutions on their own; to take ownership in the learning process and make decisions for themselves. As such, if coaches want their teaching to translate, they must be creative enough and disciplined enough to allow their players to discover the solutions on their own. Their job becomes creating problems that athletes will see in a game, and then allowing them to solve it on their own, so that the concept "clicks” for the athlete. How that happens may be different for each athlete, and part of that art is figuring that out, but I guarantee that coaches will not have much success on gameday if they are constantly telling their players exactly what they want and exactly what to do. Sure, in the short term, in that moment, the players will get it and practice may look better, but in the long term, they will not retain that information and it will not transfer to the game because they are relying on the coach to tell them exactly what to do.

So what should we do? We should teach in a way that transfers to the game. We should guide athletes rather than telling them what to do by creating problems that athletes will see in a game, and allowing them to solve it themselves so that they take ownership over their learning process. We should put constraints on games so that the only way for athletes to have success is to do what we want them to do, nudging them in that direction by what the game is demanding. And lastly, we should allow them to PLAY. Play at practice. Play in the games. Allow athletes the freedom to make mistakes so that they can discover the appropriate solutions for themselves, and support them while they do. All this means that practices may look ugly and chaotic. This is OK because it means we are creating an environment that replicates the ugly and chaotic game. If we create super neat and clean practices, where we tell athletes exactly what we want them to do, and don’t allow them to make mistakes, then we will have a team full of players who have no idea how to solve the problems for themselves when chaos breaks loose on gameday.

Transferability, or how training transfers to the game, should be a core component of coach’s philosophy, and a skill they should be masters of. When I spend time around smarter coaches, I see the power of it first-hand, to the point where I think it’s one of maybe three or four things that actually matter in coaching.

If you have any questions about transferability, or want to learn more, please contact me.

Until next time,

-Jer