The energizing effect of a good training session

Players are always ready to work hard and enjoy themselves.  Make sure your practice plan doesn't screw that up.

This morning my friend Randy, who coaches football at Eastdale Secondary School in Welland, asked me how our practices were going with the college team.  He never asked about our season or record.  I love talking about training sessions.

Nothing matches the feeling at the end of a productive training session.  The energy of the players, the level of competition among them and the crazy chatter that goes on all contribute to the positive training atmosphere.  But you shouldn't be so quick to take complete credit for that.

It's my belief that your players show up ready to work hard and learn every session.  It's your job as a coach to make sure your plan taps into the energy they brought with them.  If they are goofing off while you are talking, look inward at the cause before sending them for 10 laps.

You have to look at it as the players maximizing their time with you, not the other way around.  And if you think your session shouldn't be "enjoyable" you are as wrong as the existence of "Cherry Coke".

Suggestions for a successful session:

• Pre-planned and written on a card you can refer to
• Organized and ready to go (balls pumped, cones laid out, pinnies set, etc)
• Let them play!!!
• Only coach what you need to coach and what you see.  Don't make up situations, over-coach or be long winded in your corrections.
• Identify-Correct-Demonstrate-Rehearse-Restart

I learned a good lesson from one of my son's hockey coaches.  We showed up one morning, the kids started goofing around having their own 7v7 game with goalies and were flying back and forth and trying things.   They were playing so hard that he ended up letting them continue for the entire hour and did not leave his bench or blow his whistle.  I've done that on several occasions and the players appreciate it, as long as it didn't turn into a circus or somebody was excluded.

When your session is over, ask yourself:

• Was I organized and ready?
• Was the environment safe?
• Did I understand what I was coaching?
• Were my coaching points timely and brief?
• Did I allow them to play?
• Do they want to come back with me as their coach?
• And most importantly, was the session enjoyable?

Having a productive session motivates your players to keep working hard, motivates you to put in the extra time to keep planning good sessions and strengthens the bond between you and the players.  A good session tells the players "Hey, I know what you like and I am going to help you learn more through a session that you will enjoy". 

Take the time and go watch other coaches' sessions.  Watch the content, delivery and players' reactions.  See what you like and don't like and keep those in mind when planning.

Don't neglect your goalkeeper's ball skills

I always say the goalkeeper should be the best player on your team.  Experience has taught me that not being demanding of them does them a disservice.

When I was 17 years old, I was training with a local semi-pro team for 4 months during the off season.  One player was 6'4", dominated most of our scrimmages in the gyms and tough as nails.  He was a very good player.  Just as the snow was melting we were invited to play a friendly on rarely available artificial turf (This was 1983).  In the dressing room I was shocked to discover that he was the KEEPER. It was new for me to see how often the ball was played back to him and how effective he was in possession.  That game changed my view

My goalkeepers do all of our player drills at training. I was always big on that, but working closer with Gerry, our club and college's GK coach, I am even more focused on a goalkeeper's ability with their feet.

Tonight at our college session, we had a 45 minute passing component and then a revolving 5v5 game and our two goalkeepers spent the entire night playing with our players.   They did not have one shot taken at them.  That will be tomorrow night.  :)

I expect my goalkeepers to:

• Be able to handle balls with their feet as if they were a fifth defender
• Understand our system and be an active part of it, not just a shot stopper
• Actively support our defenders from behind
• Come out to play balls played past our defenders
• Accurately play balls out to teammates from their feet
• Take goal kicks and free kicks from certain areas in our half of the field

I can't see how a team can compete at the higher levels if they do not have a GK that they can play the ball back to.  I can't see how a team can keep shape moving forward and the opposing players honest if the GK cannot take the goal kicks and free kicks.

You want your goalkeeper to be able to consistently put a goal kick past half by age 15.  This allows you to move your players up and prepares your GK for success at higher level and older age groups.

The occasional young keeper that I inherit is usually in a state of shock when we make them assume all of those duties.  I am told that I am hard on my keepers and there is too much pressure on them to play the ball.  For this, I make no apologies. 

Canadian coaches are becoming more aware of the importance of their goalkeeper in possession.  The expectation of this increasing awareness is that it reflects in their coaching and goalkeepers improve in their ability to be the 11th man in possession.

Why wouldn't you want your keepers to be very competent with their feet?  They are your last line of defense.  If they misplay the ball it ends up in the net.  If your defenders can't pass to him, they are forced to put the ball out or turn (and be dispossessed).

Goalkeeping is a position of pressure.  The better equipped your keeper is with their feet, the better and more confident he is at handling that pressure.

What is your measuring stick for success?

If winning is your your only measure of success, and only one team wins, does that mean the rest of the teams failed?

I'm feeling very torn right now.  I am not frustrated with our college program, but I am frustrated for the players. Personally speaking, I enjoy winning a lot more than drawing or losing.  But it can't be my only point of evaluation.

We've done a lot of good things off the field in terms of setting up a program and the guys have been more than competitive and focused  on the field.  The only thing that hasn't happened is a win.  Everybody is beating each other but we haven't been on the right side of any of those scores.

I say I am not frustrated myself because I can't afford to be.  My job is to keep a steady hand and keep the guys competitive and ready to play.

But how can I be frustrated?  Things we work on in training show through in games.  We have good competition within the team for getting on the game-day roster.  The players have been second to none and attendance at training has been very good. 

Through suspensions and injuries we've had to juggle our roster and line-up and haven't skipped a beat.  Everybody has been able to step in and compete.  The coaches can try to take credit for the system but it's the players who have the attitude and willingness to embrace and support each other on the pitch.  25 players have stepped in and out of our roster and been effective.   Not many teams can make such a claim.

We do have two very specific things to address before next game and have three sessions to do that.  And I expect, again, for our next game to reflect the adjustments we made in training.

In terms of a program philosophy, we have a large number of players returning next year who understand the system and what's expected.  This year we had 6 returning players from a team I did not coach, so I have to treat it as an all first-year team learning a system.

We're generating chances, defending well, staying very even in game stats.  The guys are also learning what it will take to make the successful transition from youth soccer to competitive men's level play.

If I was to walk up to another coach and describe our level of play, attendance/intensity at training, school support, knowledge of assistant coaches, game level focus and ability to stay organized, good attitude of the players and the level of respect everybody is showing each other, they would have to correctly assume I am very happy with what I see.  Our record does not change that.

But, I can say all that for a first year.

Eventually, all of the ground work has to justify itself through our record. I am being paid to produce for Niagara College and establish a program that will make recruiting easier in the future and project success in the media.  The players need to know that while I am happy with what I see, I need to keep working toward substantial results.

Looking for the scoring touch

If finishing was easy, we would all be millionaires.

Our guys have been frustrated that our competitiveness and chances haven't converted into goals.  This week was more about being a therapist and less about being a trainer.  After our initial warm-up, we spent the entire session withing 30yds of the goal.

Last night Luciano ran them through a lot of repetitions towards goal.  Tonight I looked to tap into the same spirit.

We started our session with two passing exercises to get some positive touches on the ball.  Some struggled with what we were doing but once the patterns were working it all got better.

We then took the guys, U9 style, and just went through a lot of repetitions redirecting the ball with the foot and head toward goal.  Instep, laces and head.  Then combinations from far post back to the target in the middle.  No goal keeper.

We had our GK do all the player drills including the redirecting towards goal. 

We then broke the guys into 3 teams and made the keeper active.  We played 6v6 in the penalty area and the third team were support players for the team with the ball, around the outside of the area.  Those players could combine with the team in possession via passing or a cross.

We were looking for the guys to compete for the crosses and to take the quick shot when they head a view of the net.

We had some success as we were getting the guys looking to attack the near and far post on crosses and trying to create space for a shot.  Making contact with the ball with the intent to score was on everybody's mind.

We then moved the playing area out 12 yds.  We now had a marked off area the size of the penalty area (18x44) with the baseline 12 yards away from the goal.

We had great attendance again and the competitive juices were flowing.  That always makes the session more enjoyable.  We had players looking to shoot more once we moved the area out, but were getting a lot of crosses in both set-ups.

A portable net at training would have given us the flexibility to run more competitive finishing games, but we work with what we have and it went OK.

My plan was to do a 30 minute phase-of-play practice and work on forwards and midfielders combining to penetrate, but the guys were enjoying what we were doing and in a groove, so why mess with success.

Tomorrow is our last session before our next game.  We need to keep the momentum moving forward towards Saturday's kickoff.  After that we select the 18 players who will dress.

Painfully winless, but not detered.

I am fully aware that every game that passes without 3 points brings out more doubt and questions about methods and philosophies.  That's OK, but it's not OK to panic and implement knee-jerk reactions.

I am as far away from panicking as you can get.

We film and review every game.  We keep our stats from a variety of areas and every game has been as evenly matched as can be.  And the way the league has been playing out, everybody is beating everybody and we seem to be the lonely dudes not getting the results.

Our formation is working for us and generating chances.  The formation also makes it easier for the team to be consistent when making changes and also dressing different players every game.

Every session we fix little things from the previous game and we show improvement the next time we take the field.  The guys have been great learners in-between matches and that makes our work a little easier.

The above process is my favourite part of coaching.   I take what the coaches see in the game, listen to players' feedback, watch the video with my stats page and decide where to go from there.  The coaches know their stuff and their information is invaluable.  The players feedback is very important because they are living the reality of our plans.  The video is cold, blunt and not phased by the tension or emotion of the game.

This week we will be working on our organization in the final third, and play in the penalty area.  Our goal output has been low so we'll put as many balls as possible in the net during the week.

The main thing is that we do not do anything drastic or panic.  We're not so out of touch with the league that we have to overhaul anything.

Our goal of a consistent philosophy and system is coming together and the guys coming back should be able to step in and carry it forward.  Everybody seems to understand how it works and what everybody's job is.

We'll what the last 3 season games brings us.