Coaching objectives

• Positive play
  
• First Touch into Space
  
• Maintaining behaviour

Sunday’s game ended in another 2-0 win over Blyth Town, this was a good result considering the extrinsic factors hindering the player’s performance. The wind did not help at all and to be fair it was a scrappy game, however it was good to see positive play from the players, in the second half we battled hard against the wind with opposition using the environment to their advantage, fortunately the defence stood strong, this built the foundation to go on and win the game. I stressed the need for movement off the ball from the players when we are attacking; this term is described as the action of the team mates of the player in possession of the ball in order to support him. (McAvoy, 1998). The term I wanted to install in to the players was a quote commented by Alex Ferguson and that was good teams are awake when the ball is dead, (Sir Alex Ferguson, 2002), the cognitive process the players experienced in order to put these actions into work seems to suggest the players were in the top down model, there was no reliance on much feedback or instructions from myself regarding movement off the ball and movement dead ball situations resulted in two identical goals scored from two free kicks. Relating to the second goal, it was clear the team were experiencing Learnt behaviour, relating to a positive experience, the instructions before games relating to set plays relates to Mahoney’s research in the late seventies as he identified that Imagery rehearsal of physical movements is best accomplished when the individual is familiar with the task (Mahoney, 1977). A lot of work goes into set plays before the game as unfortunately due to a restricted area at Gosforth Complete Football Centre the ability to coach the fundamentals of set plays are limited. Again this seems to suggest that the players are in the top down model of motor control models as they are able to interpret instructions make any adjustments through their command centre, a high function of local operators seems to support the players converting two identical goals from set plays, as they were able to consistently able to carry out instructions. It was important to warn the players against complacency, 2 games in a row without conceding a goal will do wonders for the players confidence and anxiety levels, however it is important to keep their feet on the ground and remind them every game brings a different challenge, being honest with your performers is a vital element of qualities of a coach, (Sabock, 1979), it is important for myself to influence the players to meet the demands of their environment (Sabock, 2004). This seems to contradict Holbrook’s (1979) theory of how respect may be gained that showing confidence in the team gains respect of the coach, my instincts were telling me that if some players got ahead of them selves they may loose concentration regarding the goals of the team, this could result in them setting individual goals, although individual goals are just as important as team goals, it would be detrimental to the cohesion (O’Neil, 1994), that has been worked so hard on developing.

The drills implicated in tonight’s session involved encouraging the players to take their first touch when controlling the ball in to space away from the opposing player, this gives the player with the ball the advantage as the first touch becomes a closed skill as he has control of it (Bidzinski, 2003), in order to work against this the defenders cognitive emotions have to change in order to move back in line with the ball this includes the motor recruitment stage where the defender will have to correct the movement errors made when closing the down the ball. Encouraging players to control the ball into space assists them on having more time on the ball; this creates more time to process from the brain what foot to use to pass with. Is there a chance to dribble? And this is achieved by considering the shape of the body when receiving the ball positioning themselves side on so they can see in front and behind them to attack the space. (Little, 2004). A 20x20 grid was split up into quarters with 3 players in each; one player was standing beside one cone leaving a cone spare inside the smaller grid. The movement I wanted to get off the players was that of a triangle shape, the player who passed the ball moved to the spare cone, the coaching points that were implicated and emphasized at the cognitive stage of the drill was communication first touch into space where the next pass was going to be and the quality of the pass, this continued until the drill became autonomous. The drill was progressed; a defender was installed to add a element of realisation as the players are not going to get the time in a real game to have the luxury of passing in triangles as the opposition will be closing the ball down, further suggestions identify passing in football as an open skill as it has a clear start and finish and it is hindered by extrinsic factors i.e. the closing defender. I was cautious of last week’s scenario where tackles were hard and at times ridiculous, so I reduced the defenders to intercepting the pass, this could have a contrasting effect on the players during a game, they become dysfunctional with tackling firm but fair during a game as they may become disillusioned with the technique as they wont be familiar with the task, this contradicts the findings by Maloney (1977). However I was quick to state that the only reason I restricted the defenders to closing down the ball was to reduce the risk of harm, the players understood and respected the decision, this supports the statement addressed by Sabock (1973) that a coach must maintain a concern for their performers.

A 40x40 grid was set out with two goals at each end of the grid, the drill was installed with the skill theme which was first touch in to space and supporting the player on the ball relating to the positive performance of the Sunday just passed. It was clear to me that some players were not putting the effort into the drill, this was addressed within the first 10 minutes of the game related drill, I wanted the players to perform at match tempo so they got the feel for supporting the man on the ball and doing this with conviction, I also allowed the players to work out for them selves at each 5 minute interval how they could support the man on the ball in order to create a goal scoring opportunity. This was not working as the same player’s effort rate were not to the same level as of their team mates, this in turn was showing frustration to the team mates who were putting the effort in to make their ideas work, this idea of mine was resulting in the team cohesion becoming dysfunctional. The drill was stopped, the reasoning behind it was to maintain the behaviour shown in the warm up and in the technical drill, behaviour has to be consistent with the goals of an educational setting (Siedentop, 1991). I stressed the time and effort that I myself give up for their development and enjoyment, I prompted them how for only 165 minutes of the week the only thing I expected was for them to put the effort in to the drills and in the games on Sundays, maybe I should have ignored the inappropriate behaviour as what was said may have caused anxiety in some cases. I quickly reverted back to the team goals that have been set and that the behaviour shown in the final drill may be detrimental towards them goals as it was seen that some players were getting frustrated by their team mates antics, this is not good for cohesion and moral, I also asked the players if they wanted to be treat like children, this is the second time this season I have given the players the opportunity to experience drills for themselves in order to become autonomous with what they are doing, instead I have had thrown back in my face on both occasions, it was important for me to be completely honest with the players yet again (Sabock, 1973). This resulted in me cutting the players playing time and telling them to go home and think about what they want from this season. Being a strong disciplinarian has advantages and disadvantages, I was trying to provide direction for the players and install values, maybe I was trying too hard to remind who was in charge and be the leader of the team as coaches with good leadership qualities confront the players when problems arise (Martens, 2004), however my actions seem to contradict the statement installed by Martens (2004) as I did not resolve the problem entirely. My premonitions are hoping that an inappropriate debrief may hinder Sundays performance, in contrast to this suggestion Hagger (2005) states that punishment is very effective in maintaining behaviour, this could suggest a good performance on Sunday.

Bidzinski, M. (2003). Soccer Coaching Handbook. Reedswain Inc.

Hagger, M. Chatzisarantis, N. (2005) The Social Psychology of Exercise and Sport. McGraw – Hill International Publication. P118

Little, T (2004) Soccer Conditioning Part 1http://user84004.websitewizard.com/files/unprotected/soccer_conditioning_1.pdf [online] accessed 13/11/07

Mahoney, M.J. (1977) cited Rushall, B.S. (1997) http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/coachsci/vol26

McAvoy, N. (1998). Teaching Soccer Fundamentals. Human Kinetics Publications

Martens, R, (2004). Successful Coaching

O’Neil, H.F. Drillings, M. (1994). Motivation: Theory and Research. Lawrence Erlbaum Publications. P 161

Sabock, R.J, (1973) The Coach. The University of Michigan

Siedentop, D. (1991). Developing teaching skills in physical education. Mountain View, Mayfield Publishing Co.

Sir Alex Ferguson (2002) Roles of a Coach [Online] accessed 30/11/07

Coaching objectives

• Showing dedication to the team
  
• Use of Feedback
  
• Resolving Conflict

Tonight’s session could have been cancelled as I was invited to a dinner to meet an important guest, however, I knew that if I let the players down this might have an effect on them letting me down in reply. In the introduction to the session I stressed on who I turned down to meet, the guys reactions were obvious, as their naivety took over, they could not believe how I turned down to meet, I emphasized that the reason I turned down the offer was because I didn’t want to let them down and be dedicated to them, this is only the fifth week that I have known these players, although they say I have their respect it is still early days and remains to be seen Sabock noted during research in the Seventies that earning the Respect of the players is an essential quality of being a coach, Sabock further noted that dedication to your players relates to qualities of being a coach (Sabock, 1973). Sabock went on to define dedication as doing the best possible job year round, making the sport the best it can be for the performers (Sabock, 2004). The research that has been taken place here suggests that the dedication shown by myself tonight will make an improvement in the performance of not only the player’s but me as a coach.

Sunday’s game ended in a 2-0 win against arch rivals Walker Central, it was important to give terminal feedback on the game, this plays an important role linking back to goal setting that was emphasised last week. In the feedback it was important to identify the two components of feedback, the knowledge of results is crucial in team goal setting , Nadler (1979) noted that team feedback provides motivational effects which result in a increase rate of effort shown by the players (Nadler, 1979). The players showed a great effort in all three drills tonight, this result seems to suggest a relation to these findings. I also emphasized the positives from Sunday’s performance, relating to the end result being 2-0 it was important to make the feedback of their performance relative to the goal that was set in previous weeks( O’Neil, 1994). In the context of the feedback it was important to highlight individual feedback relating to performance and goals, as if individual holds specific goal their performance tends to be higher to that of when these goals are absent (Locke et al, 1981). Researching in the eighties Ilgen cited in Motivation: Theory and Research by Harold. F. O’Neil described the importance of feedback relating to performance and goals, it could result in the feeling of accomplishment and other effects seen as being beneficial to the performer (Ilgen et al, 1987). Feedback can act as source of effecting a performers behaviour, comparing the difference between the team goal and team performance feedback, suggestions may conclude that this could be influential on the team, effecting the individual performers cognitive processes (O’Leary – Kelly, undated), O’Leary – Kelly goes on to further suggest that individual team members may interpret their own implications on team feed back which is something that I do not want to happen as it part of the coaches role implement these goals for action to take place. It was important to install quality feedback to the players and refrain repeating myself and focus on being precise, it was fantastic to see the players who crossed the white line perform to meet the demands of the goals set, however it was important to direct the attention to the part of the performance that could be improved, this was converting our creating chance to finishing chances ratio, although we won by 2 goals, I stressed that on another day, the chances missed could have a significant effect if opposition was to a better standard, my only worries of that part of my feed back was that I hope that suddenly changing the positives to a slight negative may have installed some anxiety to some of the players.

The final drill of the night was competitive, it was set in a 40x40 yard area, the area was split in half and goals were added, the aim of the drill was to encourage the players to have a shot on goal at the first opportunity as quick skill acquisition gives the attacking player the advantage making it harder on the defenders cognitive process (Reilly, 2003). The players were highly competitive, some I felt were above their state of arousal addressed bye Yerkes and Dodson (1908), this resulted in a conflict between team members as tackles were flying in left right and centre, previous to this I intervened in the session to just instruct the players to calm down. It was obvious that competition for places was taking it toll on some of the players in their aim to impress me. One ridiculous challenge resulted in the player who was tackled confronting the other player during the drill using a threatening manner, I stopped the drill and warned the players about their behaviour, expressing that on a Sunday by all means go in for strong tackles but in training there is no need to be harming a team mate, after the drill and the debrief I pulled the two conflicting players aside to reflect on what happened, the idea being that confronting the conflict would be the best method to find the solution to the problem (Foster, 2004), it was important to listen to both players views on what happened and then determined what both players wanted individually and for the team, balancing their demands had to be made essential (Foster, 2004), so there was no favouritism shown by myself as a coach, this may have enhanced the respect for myself from the two players, treating them the same is suggested by Holbrook (1979) as a way of gaining respect of the players. Although it would have been easier to use a passive method of resolving this conflict which is the most common method used (Foster, 2004), allowing the players to resolve the problem them selves, this would have allowed the players to develop their own experience but may not have provided a solution to the problem as I did not want this to create a dysfunctional outcome for the team and the team’s goals. It was pleasing to see the two players collaborating to reach a solution, relating to the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode instrumented by K.W. Thomas and Kilmann (1974) this result displayed my assertiveness to a high standard in order to get to the bottom of this problem. I also felt it was important to install my leadership qualities to the two players as I had already confronted them when the problem was raised, I felt it was important to motivate the two players to pursue the goals of the team (Martens, 2004) , they were in agreement, here the installation of values gave the players an idea of where the line is in the drills and that conflict was not the solution to achieving these goals.






Foster, T.S. (2004). Managing Quality: An Integrative Approach. Pearson Education, Inc., 2. pp. 325-329

Holbrook & Barr (1979) Respect May be gained. [online] http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/FunSchool-6095-DrChung-Coaching-Process-Skills-Qualities-CoachSabock-1973-Management-Monitoring-Athletes-drchung-ppt-powerpoint/ Accessed 6/11/07.

Ilgen. (1987). Cited in: O’Neil, H.F. Drillings, M. (1994). Motivation: Theory and Research. Lawrence Erlbaum Publications. P 161

Locke. (1981). Cited in: O’Neil, H.F. Drillings, M. (1994). Motivation: Theory and Research. Lawrence Erlbaum Publications. P 161

Martens, R, (2004). Successful Coaching

Nadler. (1979). Cited in: O’Neil, H.F. Drillings, M. (1994). Motivation: Theory and Research. Lawrence Erlbaum Publications. P 161

O’Leary – Kelly. (Undated). Cited in: O’Neil, H.F. Drillings, M. (1994). Motivation: Theory and Research. Lawrence Erlbaum Publications. P 161

O’Neil, H.F. Drillings, M. (1994). Motivation: Theory and Research. Lawrence Erlbaum Publications. P 161

Reilly, T.A, Williams, M. (2003). Science and Soccer. Routledge Publishings. Liverpool

Sabock, R.J, (1973) The Coach. The University of Michigan

Sabock, R. J. (2004). Coaching: A Realistic Perspective. Coaching (Athletics) Vocational Guidance. P79

Thomas, K.W., and R.H. Kilmann. (1974) Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. Sterling Forest, NY: Xicom, Inc.

Yerkes, R. M., & Dodson, J. D. (1908). The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation. Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, 18, 459-482


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