Coaching in Extremes and Chaos
Coaching in Extremes - "Throwing Caution to the Wind"
(The following is an excerpt from a project I am working on, "A Que es Antes - What is Before?" Which will hopefully be available soon...)
Chaos as Curriculum
Football is not a fixed script, it is a living, ever-evolving, chaotic environment.
Too often, coaches mistake “chaos” for a lack of organisation, when in fact
chaos can be the learning tool itself. Structuring uncertainty is the truest form
of preparation. A 2v3 transitional practice, a game where the ball size suddenly
changes, or a practice where the coach remains silent; these moments force
players to perceive, adapt, and act without relying on external intervention. The
purpose of chaos is not to destabilise, but to prepare. The more often young
players interact with unpredictable game states, the more adaptable and resilient
they become. The curriculum, then, is not the repetition of patterns, but the
repetition of adaptation.
 |
| Complexity of increased connections. |
Embracing chaos isn’t about throwing away responsibility, it is about carefully constructing an environment that mirrors the complexities, uncertainties and challenges that the game provides. The larger the formats become, the more connections and complexities appear in the environment, so within our planning it is important to consider how complex we make our session design. Too complex and you lose player concentration, not complex enough and the players aren’t stimulated enough to retain information. To support the player’s understanding of chaos and the building complexity of the game, coaches can manage the load on their players by introducing practices where the amount of connections is lesser but not isolated. Introducing breaking lines principles in a 3v3+1 will provide more game actions per minute, and if designed well, more desired actions per minute compared to the 11v11 game.
In an ideal scenario, we want
our players to be thriving in complex, ever changing environments, however we
need to build their tolerance to such settings. Throwing players in at the deep
end of chaos too soon will be overwhelming and they will often miss the subtle
cues in the environment where game principles emerge. Highlighting these
moments in smaller sided settings builds the individual’s attention to the
stimuli, providing them with more exposure to your environment's priorities (and importantly to
what not to do), so that when they enter the more complex forms of the
game, they have an improved chance of applying game principles and behaviours.
This past season, I have worked with a U15 team who have spent the season playing in a U16 league in their first season playing 11v11. We made the decision at the beginning of the season to use this season to explore many different variants of the 11v11 game. Exposing the players to different systems, positions, styles of play and strategies so that they become comfortable in adapting to the needs of the game, whether they stay in our environment or move onto pastures new. Sessions often involved elements of chaos, uncertainty and emergence of problems that they have to search within their toolboxes to solve.
 |
| 11v11 practice promoting solutions in playing through central areas, on an egg timer-shaped pitch. |
Observing game moments through the lens of chaos requires us
as coaches to attune our attention to what is most desirable in the environment,
in the same way that we want the players to show this level of attention.
"Disorganisation" or "chaos" might look like playing without bibs, changing the shape of the pitch to encourage central play, restricting play for players cannot make forward passes to promote dribbling actions... leaning players into 100% of the extreme can increase the bandwidth for when a game situation requires only 15% of such extreme to occur.
Creating extremities can yield a lack of control of the direction of the session's ship, but I feel that exposing players to this uncertainty (once they have a base level of understanding of the tools at their disposal) can support them in "surviving the storm" and finding a way to solve the game problem. We have used practices with U9 players where the player earns 3 goals if they dribble from their own half and score, the reward is clear, the risk is obvious, so the players must work out how they can maximise their goals by completing desired actions. As a consequence, this supports the teammate's decision making in positional support, movements beyond/beside/below the ball carrier, as well as the obvious in the ball carrier seeking methods to dribble past 3 or 4 players to score. The likelihood of success depends on the contributing factors of the individual and the interactions of the individuals with the Ball Opponents, Teammates and Spaces that are created or made available. Coaches can influence these choices through manipulating the game environment and highlighting specific actions or posing specific game problems.
One consideration to implementing more “disorganisation” into practice is ensuring that you aren’t overwhelming the players with decision paralysis, whether it be through too many rules within the design of the practice or through an environment which is high in stimulation, such as a lot of players in a tight pitch where actions are more instinctive and reaction-based. If the environment is too chaotic too soon, the players might spend more time “surviving” the practice as opposed to taking in and applying the desired learning outcomes. Providing many stimulants when learning game concepts will provide the learner with more opportunity at transferring acquired knowledge to the game.
"Learn the game rather than learn the activity".
Building chaos and extremities takes time in building the bandwidth, pushing the needle and providing discomfort can be stressful for players if delivered all at once with no support network. Provide opportunities for reflection, talk openly about the problems they are facing and be patient when the game breaks down often.
However it is important to note that to support the understanding and application of concepts into game settings, players must be attuned to specific actions/moments within the environment. An example of which is the supermarket analogy.
If I send you to the supermarket to “buy me a drink”, you are faced with hundreds of options on the shop floor. Does he want a bottle or can? What about sugar free? Oh, I don’t suppose he wants a milkshake or a smoothie too? The decision paralysis can become apparent very quickly. Now imagine I ask you to “pick me up a can of Diet Coke”, immediately your attention is drawn to a specific stimuli within a setting of which multiple things can take control of your attention. Linking this back to a footballing perspective, supporting an individual within a small sided game setting with a specific footballing action can be achieved through deliberate consideration of where and how we attune the players awareness to the moments in which we are working on. In short, ensuring that our practice design and coach intervention focuses all link and are relevant to what they player will experience in their game.
Specificity in our design and our observations will
allow players to view the game in a way that allows them to notice certain
actions, and to attune their attention to the desired game principle. Ensuring
that we are tailoring the learning environment to the direct and explicit needs
of the individual, rather than pulling a Manchester City first team practice
off YouTube and shoehorning it into your U10 team. Specificity links to making
sure that you as the coach are clear and consistent with what processes or
outcomes you are supporting the players with, and that the learning design is
aligned with this commitment to task. This might include the positional
references you provide, the area of the pitch you are working in, the primary
positions of focus, as long as you are deliberate in your approach and who is
directly involved (as well as providing relevance to those who are involved),
you will give yourself a great chance to improve the game understanding of your
players.
The more we design learning environments that repeat key
pattern building in realistic game conditions, the more we allow our players to
form deeper understanding of the components of the game. In chaos, or
“organised chaos”, the timing of scanning and the collection of relevant
information becomes paramount, it becomes instinctive and habitual. The
choreography of the game develops many different ensembles and marries together
across different rhythms and orchestrations. Not as isolated steps, but as
connected movements and moments that arise in a plethora of situations.
Coaching in Extremes
Too often, players are kept within the “sensibilities” of
society, and in this case, football. Taught to stay within the boundaries of
acceptable and not to overcomplicate or “over-egg the omelette”. Yet, if a
player never explores the outer edges of their capabilities, or the outcomes
that seem far-fetched, how will they ever truly aspire to want to think bigger
and do more?
We can picture this through the idea of a Venn diagram. On
one side is the objectivity of football: the laws of the game, the size of the
pitch, the time constraints, the score line, the formats we play in. These are
fixed. On the other side are the subjective influences: the
values of the coach, the cultural expectations, the upbringing of the player,
the behaviours that have been reinforced over time. Where these two meet is the
grey area, a space that is open to interpretation, adaptability and creativity.
The United Kingdom is a generally pragmatic place when it
comes to sport and society. “if in doubt, get it out” was (and still is) a
common cry from adults on the side lines of youth matches. Individuality is
often seen as a threat (who do you think you are?) and sports/media
personalities who go against the grain are often ostracised for not following
the traditional British values (of which I couldn’t even tell you what they are
which makes the point almost oxymoronic). This shows in the football where
extravagant personalities (Beckham, Gascoigne, Grealish to name a few), have
had their share of criticism, where if they were Brazilian they would be
celebrated.
Speaking of Brazil, “Joga Bonito” is the generic term that
encompasses their sporting culture. Individuality, technical excellence,
creative connections are widely supported and the expression of character is
widely shared via carnivals, fiestas, and the brightly-coloured boots of their
national team number 10’s.
Neither are correct or incorrect ways of doing things, as
that is subject to your own views and opinions. I feel it is imperative to
consider that there are many ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes. We as
coaches should embrace the differences in cultures and promote our players to
showcase who they are, in their style, their performances, whilst influencing
the positive values that they will ideally take into their adult lives.
This is where the richness of development takes place. It is
where players learn to solve problems in ways that respect the non-negotiables
of the game but also reflect their own instincts and experiences. Our job as
coaches is not to drag players into the black and white, but to help them
thrive in the grey. A so-called bad habit is rarely bad in isolation, it is
more often a window into what the player values in that moment. If we can
understand the values that sit underneath, then we can guide the player towards
choices that open up their possibilities rather than close them off.
So, instead of wondering if a football action is incorrect, wonder: What
value does this action reveal? And does that value serve or limit the player
long term?
I understand that certain behaviours or actions are linked
to being thoughtless or reactive, where a player “hopes” for the best with a
long pass or long shot without noticing options that might yield better
success. Guiding these players within reflections will support how they view
these “Hollywood moments”, rather than removing them from a player’s repertoire,
we should encourage these to be more deliberate modes of progression as opposed
to “hit and hope” moments.
I have spent time this season exploring Coaching in
Extremities. Using a U12 group who have experienced playing in the leagues
involving academy clubs for the first time. As we prepare for a second season
in this environment, I have been considering how spending time thinking and
playing at the extreme end of the playing spectrum.
How I define this extreme perception of football: “Football that is
represented by shared principles that are far broader than the conventional
view of the game. Performing typically risky and atypical actions with the
common goal of disorganising to cause chaos.”
An example of how I have implemented extreme football within
9v9 format has been stripping away the normality of players sticking to
positions, instead, providing team responsibilities.
 |
| A visual representation that was presented to the players ahead of our 9v9 match promoting the "extreme football" system, or lack thereof |
I wanted the players to see attacking as a collective
intention, that anybody can initiate from anywhere on the pitch at any given
moment. Defensive players can initiate give and go movements to take advantage
of numerical superiorities, Goalkeepers can become the free player in more
advanced areas of build up, central players can use overlapping or tilted
movements to create advantages either to receive or to vacate areas for others
to travel into. The possibilities are endless. The initial intention is to have
2 “fixed” positional responsibilities, the “rush GK” and 2 “Anchors” who ensure
the team has cover and support behind the ball. The remaining 6 outfield
players are removed of the shackles of holding spaces and waiting for the ball
to arrive. They are supported to:
-
Find and create 2v1’s in all areas of the pitch.
-
Think and play in diagonals (passes, receiving
position, movements, use of deception to break lines).
-
Interact with short passes to drag the
opposition before breaking out with speed.
.
The messaging that was provided to the players
surrounding the structure, promoting positive play in every moment and the
shared intention of creating scoring chances, no matter your perceived
position.
The purpose of this model of thinking is to support our
intention of developing a principle/value based coaching model, rather than
becoming a “4-3-3 team who plays through the thirds through our 6”. Discussing
and exploring risk and trade-offs takes away the stigma of mistakes in decision
making, if players are aligned in the principles of “find or create 2v1s in
every moment” or “aggressively chasing the ball upon turnovers” or “searching
for a teammate who is facing the opposition goal”, it doesn’t matter where on
the pitch the player might be. If the principles/values are being met then the
players will be free to interact with the game environment to seek shared
solutions and express individuality/collective superiority.
Within this, I wanted to introduce the extremity of playing without a recognised Goalkeeper when we had the ball. Ensuring the players accepted that they had to be deliberate with their choices, and execute to a consistent high standard to make use of the extra player. The obvious trade-off is that their goal was exposed if the lost the ball carelessly, so the collective agreement was that the team would chase and press aggressively upon losing the ball as they understood if the opponent is afforded enough time and space to lift their head, they will strike the ball into the empty net from any distance. The players reflected to recognise that if they didn’t respond well enough in transition, they found themselves conceding goals. Understanding and accepting the element of jeopardy can be a liberating feeling.
Promoting Mistakes
The by-product of this within our team’s context is that they
develop a better relationship with mistakes. This is being experimented with a
group who faces huge challenge every week in their league, so making mistakes
and being punished for their mistakes are quite rife. I would be failing them
as young people if our relationship with mistakes was poor, or hostile. As I
will explain in the next part, we developed methods to manage confidence and to
implement how we want to play no matter the opponent. By promoting boldness in our
approach, we are subconsciously supporting the individuals to not see mistakes
as a failing, but more as an opportunity to nudge closer to our individual and
collective goals.
The thought around bad habits is more complex than what is
perceived on the surface, and we can talk about this all day, but what is
important to recognize is twofold: 1. What do you as a club/group of
practitioners value above all else? And how do you personify that on the pitch?
2. How do the players capabilities/intentions get reinforced/corrected in line
with these values on a HOLISTIC LEVEL (as a priority)? You can even consider
whether the club’s perceived technical and tactical models are relevant at all,
Seeing as the game is “a game of opinions” (I hate this saying as it is quite
dismissive), you can hold the opinion that narrowing your players to one tactical
system, or one lens of technical focus, where you are limiting the players to
the coach/collective’s limited knowledge bases.
You could hold the opinion that players should learn the
game by playing the game, “let the game be the teacher” and all that, where you
could limit game understanding when moments of reflection are missed or where
game problems find themselves to be too complex for the player’s current
capabilities. Coach too much and run the risk of damaging individuality, being
too passive and run the risk of losing delving deeper into the player’s
perception and response to the playing environment. Damned if you do, damned if
you don’t. Where placing focus on habits links into this idea of painting the
coach’s beliefs/experiences onto the player’s blank canvas. A coach who is open
to the possibilities of what the game brings in different moments, and one who
encourages the players to explore risk and reward whilst reinforcing the intent
behind acting on the information they perceive, is one who will find hardship
in the short term, who might lose more games or see more breakdowns in the
immediate, but will be one who will experience players who are curious about
what’s on the other side of the boundaries. Why do we ask players to think
outside the box? Why are players in a box in the first place? Let’s remove the
stigma of bad habits and educate players around what they perceive as “risk”
and accepting that greatness lays on the other side of risk.
Comments
Post a Comment