Today was a day of very mixed feelings. Firstly I was really looking forward to getting back to the course. Secondly, it was my team's very first 9v9 match and I was going to miss it because I was on the course :-(
I got to Bracknell about 9:15 and was ready to start straight away. We started off with a quick recap of the first two days and then went straight into a group exercise discussing a variety of different topics. We had to present on "The birth bias and how can we eradicate it". The birth bias is basically a way of describing the numbers of young academy players and what month they were born in. Did you know that 57% of academy players were born between September and December and only 13% were born between May and August? At the younger age groups in particular, but not exclusively, players born between September and December tend to be bigger and therefore stronger. There are pros and cons to being bigger. Primarily, academies tend to look for athletic players. These bigger kids tend to use their size to win the ball and their speed to go past players. Where does that leave the smaller players? Well they need to develop their technical skills much quicker so they don't get involved in the physical battle with the bigger kids. So, on the flip side, what happens when the smaller kids grow and catch up? Funnily enough they tend to be better all round players because they have more advanced technical skills. So why do academies let the smaller players go? Short term gain over long term development... :-/
Once we'd had a coffee, we went outside to do a practical demo. Today was a whole-part-whole session, which means you play a game with a specific focus, break it down into smaller part once you've observed what you want to work on, and then play another game again and see whether what you've worked on is remembered. We did defending today. Chris told us once team was Man Utd and the other was Barca. Man Utd had got a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp and only needed a 0-0 to go through to the next round of the Champions League. We were to play an 8v8 game and should decide our formation. Strangely both teams chose to play 2-3-2. Our thought was that we didn't need to win, but if we imposed ourselves on the game our opponents wouldn't get the time they needed on the ball to generate measured attacks. we played for about 20 minutes and scored to go 2-1 up on average. We relaxed even more and could've scored another. Then Barca scored an equaliser. It's amazing how serious a few guys that are on a coaching course actually take a game that doesn't really mean anything!!!
We then broke the game down and Richard (or other tutor) took the "part" session. This went from 1v1 to 2v2, then onto 3v3 and finally 4v4 with the aim to dribble to ball through a scoring gate. The focus was on how to defend, showing a player with the ball to the side you wanted him to go and finally about dropping into a covering position when your player releases the ball.
After about another half an hour we went back and played another game. The focus was the same as the first game, but with the scores now tied it was virtually next goal wins. We decided to change formation and I dropped from up front (where I had hardly touched the ball) into a sweeper role, pushing on when possible. We used our new found defensive skills to good effect and the extra player paid dividends. It was a great demo of how to use the whole-part-whole method of coaching. After lunch we got into groups of three and decided on the sessions we will give tomorrow. We're doing "Counter attacking from deep". I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!
But the most important thing: the boys played out of their skins! They found their shape after a few shaky minutes and ran out comfortable winners. I don't care about the score, it's the performance that counts. I just wish I'd been there to see it...
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