Will the simple and choice reaction time experiment be available today or tomorrow? Thanks

This is a great and much needed thread!

I read somewhere they are loooing at 11v11 starting at u15.
U7-8 4v4, u9-10 5v5, u11-12 7v7, u13-14 9v9.

FA update on the future of youth football in England Read more

England taking positive steps to make youth soccer (football) better. I wonder how long it will take the US to follow suit?!?! Just kidding we will continue the race to 11v11 and ignore all research that says the contrary 🤦🏻

www.englandfootball.com/articles/202...

YouTube video by Danny Hatcher Why you can't mix coaching philosophies

This is a good discussion about why mixing ecological psychology and cognitive psychology ideas is inappropriate to guide coaching behaviors and practice design 👇
Regarding theoretical underpinnings “It’s not a pick and mix approach”
m.youtube.com/watch?v=aOSW...

Would like to give that a read.

Make it enjoyable. Kids come to have fun and play with friends, not stand in lines doing the same thing over and over.
Have a laugh with your kids, make coming to practice a fun experience - they should want to come back!

Have some evidence-based beliefs. I am an Eco Dynamics guy, so all my coaching is underpinned by its central tenets. My practices look quite different to other coaches, but I ignore the noise and stick to what I believe in. Your beliefs should hold up when questioned, if not change your beliefs!

Let them play. Most of your practice time should be doing something that resembles the sport they signed up for. 1v1, 2v1, 3v2, 5v5 are all great, kids love them and they will learn more game relevant skills.
Remember in those activities they are learning to dribble, pass and shoot too!

Use your feedback wisely. You don’t have to narrate the drill, quality feedback at the right time is more valuable that lots of surface level feedback.
Catch them being good, don’t be so focused on correcting mistakes - encourage them to look for different solutions. When they do it well tell them!

2. Set problems, don’t insist on certain solutions. Provide opportunities for your players to problem solve and make decisions. By setting problems they can explore multiple ways to solve it - some may work others will not - that’s learning.

1. Coach for the people on the field (players) not parents. Prescribed, rhythmical, repetitive passing patterns may look good to parents - but they don’t matter as much as your players.

With ⚽️ coaching starting back up next week, I have been 💭 about a few things: 👇

Nice touch!!

That looks eerily familiar. Surely some sort of copyright infringement!! 😂

Whatever it was Nick I love it!!! They have been guilty for years - shown by Der Speigel article how they were cheating finances to support their excessive purchases and wages.

Kids don’t need to learn how to dribble, pass etc before game based training.
Can we admit that they ARE learning how to dribble and pass in GB opposed activities, and it is more likely to transfer to the game.
Embrace the messiness coaches!!!

I have recently watched videos of some greats of the 90’s such as Roberto Baggio. In the 2 minute clip, he didn’t do a step over once, just shoulder fakes, change of direction. Why do we persist on coaching skills that are hardly used?

Oh I feel ya! Principle based theme works best for my group over several weeks.

Reflecting on performance, reflecting on one’s role in those performances, designing for that particular team - this is what coaching is people!
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

I said it 2v1s and 2v2s are superior to 1v1s.
2v1s & 2v2s presents more opportunities for action. 1v1s only present dribbling as an option, whereas in a game we generally have 3 options - dribble, pass, shoot. If you want to create better attuned decision makers 2v1/2v2 is the way to go!

I hope this helps! 👍🏻
1. Stop holding cones up for players to name
2. Stop making players check shoulder for no reason
3. Stop prescribing repetitive single solutions
#soccer #coaching #scanning

Incentivize scoring
1pt for ball through river
3pts for connecting through Att players in river.
First team with 10pts against has to do a forfeit.

Example 2
I play over the river groups 4s or 5s, where two of the receiving team must be in the river with 2 defenders (penetration preventers!) to play through the river.
This creates a 4v2, 2v2 in river and 2 receivers. Once played through 2 Att in river join their team.

E.g.
receive pass, play back
Scan for def behind who chooses a target player (to block passing lane)
Receive 3rd pass and turn/pass based on info you picked up from scan
Can add a 3rd def option, pressing the central receiver, which they should simply play the ball back.

So how do I teach scanning?
Create practice activities that require/encourage it usually with a passive or 100% opponent
There are lots of activities where they are scanning and acting based on the random movement of opponent. Avoid prescribing one way to do it, its not the game.

Scanning is not separate
It shows the importance of perception-action coupling, I scan to perceive opportunities to act.
Gibson “perceive to act, and act to perceive”
Therefore we must teach it in context - i.e. with relevance to the actions of an opponent.

Scan and name color of cones 🤦🏻
Very popular at the moment. However, that is also not the information/droids 😁 you are looking for. Does it transfer to the game? Unlikely. Why not use the movement of a passive opp? Way more authentic and higher probability of transfer to game

Scan b/c coach said to
This is problematic (see 👆) b/c players are now NOT scanning for useful information, they are doing it b/c you told them to. Repetitively checking shoulder in a prescribed drill does not help attune the player to relevant info - e.g. position of opponent.

Why are they scanning?
The concept of scanning is to pick up information in order to act a effectively. Therefore, there needs to be a reason why I am scanning, the best and most transferable to the game reason is an opponent