What are key factors? 【Youth soccer coaching】Words, onomatopoeia, purpose only

Hello, I'm Kazu, your instructor.

In soccer training, the term "key factors" is used often. However, when it comes to whether I have properly organized key factors within myself, I think that's actually a surprisingly difficult area.

For example, some of you may feel as follows.

• Even when I hear "key factors," I don't know what to organize or how far to go
• Even if I explain in detail, plant foot like this, kicking foot like this, the kids don't improve
• With the ecological approach, I'm unsure whether it's better not to teach the tricks

To be honest, lately I don't really communicate key factors much.

But that's because I understand key factors well from what I learned in Spain, and I'm choosing to do so deliberately. In this article, I'll explain what key factors are, the difference between what coaches and players are asked for, and three ways of communicating: words, onomatopoeia, and purpose only.

1. In my mind, key factors are "tricks"

In my mind, key factors are, simply put, "tricks." Tricks for playing well.

For example, if it's the key factors of a position training, what are the tricks for moving the ball well in that training?

I write those out as a list. When focusing on technique like in drill training, the key factors of an inside kick = tricks for kicking an inside kick well.

2. In Japan it's "quality of support," in Spain it's "consigna"

In Japan, key factors are often phrased as things like "quality of support" or "accuracy of passes." On the other hand, when I got my license in Spain, they didn't call it key factors, they said "consigna."

When thinking of it as the same thing as Japan's key factors, I remember getting the impression that Spain's were extremely verbalized and made in very fine detail. When they say "quality of pass," it's put into words down to the specifics of what quality of pass actually means.

3. What you communicate within the flow of training

The general flow of training is as follows.

• First, there's time to understand the structure of the training
• You let them try it, and problems emerge
• You communicate the key factors, and let them try again

The way of communicating can be synchro or freeze. I think this is the orthodox way of doing it. And the key factors you communicate at this time are a "linguistic approach" that communicates to the players through words.

1. Can you see an inside kick through its structure?

If it's the key factors of an inside kick, they would be things like "bend your plant leg's knee a little more" or "step in right beside the ball before kicking." This is, in a sense, the coach having the solution.

What about the kicking foot, what about the plant foot, what about the arm swing, what about the upper body, what about the body orientation. Being able to verbalize these things is extremely important for a coach. Even for something as simple as an inside kick, can you see it structurally, can you see it in a verbalized way?

That's why I think coaches should definitely be able to verbalize.

2. Players aren't thinking in words during play

On the other hand, that players are absolutely not like that is something I've been saying for a very long time. When I talked about this right after starting Junior Soccer University, I received the opinion that "players also have to be able to verbalize."

However, I think it's fine if players can't verbalize, as long as their play is going well. During play, especially when on the ball, there's no time to think in language. There are times afterward when you think in words, but during play you're not particularly thinking linguistically.

3. Conventional coaching is about getting closer to the "ideal way of kicking"

Conventional coaching was based on the idea that the coach has an ideal way of kicking or ideal way of playing, and you bring the player closer to that.

It's the form of finding where there's a mistake in the player's form and communicating the key factors. That's exactly why even in Spain, key factors were organized in such extreme verbal detail.

1. The purpose is to get the pass through

Now, ideas like the ecological approach have emerged, and I think the situation is shifting to the idea that there isn't really an ideal way of kicking. It's the idea that rather than the player adjusting to a correct way of kicking or correct way of playing, within setting a purpose, the player can discover the way of kicking and way of playing as a solution.

Kicking an inside kick cleanly is not the purpose. If the purpose is to get the pass through, then whether it's an inside kick or an outside kick, as long as the pass gets through, it's fine. The inside kick is not the purpose, it's a solution for getting the pass through.

2. The way of kicking is different for each person

Moreover, the way each person kicks with the inside of the foot is different. Presenting an ideal way to kick there does not have much relevance. Maybe the ecological approach way of thinking is that any solution is fine.

When that happens, the way of training and the way of coaching also change.

③ Even so, there are children who cannot do it unless taught with words

That said, depending on the player, there are children who cannot do it unless you teach them a few tips with words. This is especially true for elementary school students.

That is precisely why coaches need to properly organize the key factors in words.

If you think, for this child it worked better to say, "Step in properly and kick," then you can use that approach. If saying that did not work, then this time have them train with an awareness of external focus.

I think this kind of choosing how to use different approaches is a very important element for a coach.

4. There are three ways to communicate key factors

The way to communicate key factors is not only a matter of drill training, but can be said of soccer coaching in general. It is the same in global training and in set play training. In my mind, there are broadly three ways.

① Explain in detail with words

The first is the method of communicating key factors in detailed words. For an inside kick, you communicate something verbalized about the structure of the movement, such as "step your standing foot beside the ball." For players who do better when told in words, this method suits them.

② Communicate with onomatopoeia

The second is the method of communicating with onomatopoeic expressions. It is a way of saying things like "pass it with a pata," "kick it sharply," or "kick it with a bash." If I say it feels like the old Manager Nagashima, I think that gets it across.

This kind of non-verbal approach is also surprisingly good. Within the ecological approach too, there is talk that top athletes use onomatopoeic expressions. It is the feeling that if you dare put that sensation into words, it is like this.

By daring to make it abstract and communicating the image of the play, you can leave how to move the body to the player.

③ Communicate only the purpose

The third is the method of communicating only the purpose. You tell them only, "Play a fast pass on the ground," and leave the way of kicking to be anything. It is ecological-style advice that treats key factors as nothing more than a solution and takes the view that as long as the pass gets through, anything is fine.

① Use your own skills differently according to context

None of these ways is anything more than a means. If the players get better and the team's performance improves, then whether it is drill training or communicating key factors, whether the players can verbalize it or not, I think it does not really matter.

However, if it becomes "anything is fine," then you lose your footing.

What I think is very important is using your own skills differently according to context. At this time it is better to do drills, here it is better to communicate key factors, here it is better to stay silent and say nothing, here it is better to praise, better to scold.

On the ground, I think flexibly according to the context.

② If you do not know the essence, means do not become skills

Recently, I do not communicate key factors much. That is because I know well about the key factors I learned in Spain, so I am able to take the means of deliberately not communicating them. There is a difference in meaning between not doing it because you understand and not being able to do it because you do not understand.

The play model is the same.

Some years ago, the play model was too strong, the players' degree of freedom became low, and it became patterned, so now I have raised the play model's degree of freedom to the limit. However, if you are in a state where you do not know what a play model is and have never made one, you cannot take this kind of approach.

It is precisely because you know what key factors are and have organized them once that you can throw key factors away.

It is not that you can coach well because you know knowledge and theoretical background. Even so, if you dig into and understand one by one the words that come up in books and training, the range of your coaching broadens.

I think that broadening the range of your coaching means becoming able to coach flexibly according to context.

Summary

• Key factors are the tips for playing well (in Spain, "consigna")
• Coaches should be able to verbalize them. Players do not think in words during play, so they do not have to be able to verbalize them
• In the ecological approach, an inside kick is not a purpose but a solution
• There are three ways to communicate them (in detailed words / onomatopoeia / only the purpose)
• There is a difference in meaning between not communicating because you understand and not being able to communicate because you do not understand

In this article, I explained what key factors are and how to communicate them. If you properly organize key factors once, I think you will become able to choose on the ground, "Today I will communicate with words," or "Today I will use only the purpose." Please try it at your own coaching site too!

When organizing key factors, it helps to write them down along with the training menu, so you can look back on them the next time you do the same menu.