【Youth Soccer】When practice is not going well, change the organization right away

Hello, this is Kazu, your instructor.

When you start practice, sometimes it doesn't go as you expected. When you're coaching, I think everyone has days like that.

For example, some of you may feel the following.

• You tried the practice, but the play you were aiming for doesn't come out at all
• You try to fix it by talking to the players, but in the end you let it run for 15 minutes as is
• You want to change the menu, but you don't know how to change it on the spot

In this article, from the perspective of the "quantity" and "quality" of training, I will explain the importance of immediately changing the organization (settings such as number of players, space, rules) when the phenomenon you are aiming for doesn't appear, using the examples of tag and 1v1. At the end, I will also talk about the "second plan" for when things still don't go well, so please read to the end.

1. Quantity = amount of movement, number of plays, intensity

I believe there are broadly two important elements of training.

One is that the training proceeds without stagnation. Securing the amount of movement, securing intensity. Whether the players are moving their bodies properly and securing the number of times they touch the ball and the number of plays they make.

For example, if it's 15 minutes, are they completing one 15-minute menu in a fulfilling way. This is the relatively quantitative side.

2. Quality = whether the phenomenon you are aiming for is occurring

The other is whether the phenomenon the instructor is aiming for, the phenomenon for linking to the game, the phenomenon you want the players to learn, is occurring well. This one is qualitative.

3. If either one is missing, it's not very good

I think that if either one is lost, it's not very good.

Even if you lower quality to a minimum, if there is quantity, there are things that can be covered to some extent. But conversely, if there is quality but no quantity, I think the players won't improve very much.

Of course, reducing quantity while considering the physical aspect is important. But when that's not the case, by being too particular about detailed coaching and phenomena, you can't secure the amount of movement or number of plays. When you want to teach, want to teach, I think that kind of thing can happen.

So, my belief is that you need to satisfy both the quantitative part and the qualitative part.

1. The quality of practice is determined by the "phenomenon"

What is important in the quality aspect is the phenomenon.

When you do some kind of training, what kind of phenomenon is occurring. Good plays are one example, and errors and mistakes are another. For that phenomenon, you improve it or develop it further.

How to make this phenomenon occur is also a major theme of practice. In the coaching practicum of the license course, I think you are told to "make the phenomenon occur" and "focus on the phenomenon," but this is the same in daily training.

2. Don't try to force it out through coaching

Quite a lot of people get this wrong, but what is important is whether the phenomenon you are aiming for is occurring. Therefore, the organization basically has to be changed flexibly.

I think there are quite a lot of times when you set up the organization and start, but think, "Huh, it's not coming out the way I expected." At that time, if you don't change the organization and try to force the phenomenon out through coaching or something, it mostly doesn't go well. This is my experience.

3. It's fine to stop in 30 seconds

Rather, I think instructors have to be prepared to change the organization from the moment practice starts.

Rather than pushing through a practice that isn't going well for 15 minutes, change it immediately. At worst, stop it in about 30 seconds by saying "Stop," widen the court, add a touch restriction. By judging quickly like that, you can avoid wasting that 15-minute practice.

Even in situations like a coaching practicum done in front of people, if the phenomenon you expected isn't occurring, there is no need to leave the organization as it is.

This is also something a Spanish person told me long ago. If you try a rondo and the phenomenon you expected doesn't occur, immediately widen or narrow the court, or change the rules. In order not to waste one training session, do things flexibly.

At each moment, change your methods and change your approach. That is exactly why observation skills, analysis skills, and a large repertoire of training menus become important. Is the court narrow, or is it wide.

Is it a matter of the number of players. Is it the number of free players. You look at those things.

1. In tag, if there is a child standing still at the edge

This is an easy-to-understand example for younger age groups.

Play tag inside a grid. The player holding the bib is it, and when they tag someone, they switch being it by handing over the bib.

When you start, suppose there are one or two children standing still at the edge of the court saying "hey hey, over here" and staying in the same place for about 30 seconds. Is that ideal training? I think not.

What you are aiming for in tag should be that they run away from the tagger well, or chase immediately when someone is tagged, and move their bodies in the areas of agility and coordination. If there are children standing still at the edge waiting for the tagger, that means the phenomenon you are aiming for is not occurring.

The reason is probably that there are too few oni. If there are 10 people running away and 3 oni, only about 3 or 4 get chased. The rest get bored, and some children end up never moving at all and never getting tagged.

So we increase the number of oni. Conversely, if there are 7 oni and only 3 running away, this time the oni are the ones who stop. It comes down to how to balance the number of oni and the number of players who are not oni.

If you play for one minute and this kind of phenomenon occurs, immediately add more bibs and increase the number of oni. If you think it is happening because the court is too wide, immediately shrink the court. And vice versa.

This too is a change of organization.

② In a 1v1 on a court that is too small, there is no need to beat the opponent completely

Because tag is simple in terms of the phenomenon it produces, I think you can change things right away. But once it becomes something more tactical, more soccer-like, it can be hard to change the organization.

I once joined another coach's training session as an assistant. The theme was 1v1, specifically attacking regate (beating your man with the dribble). At that time, the court was extremely small.

When we actually did it, what happened was that because the court was small, the attacking player did not need to beat the opponent completely. A defender comes, and the attacker feints from right to left to get past him. After advancing 1 meter, 2 meters, he is already at the goal.

In an actual match, the defender would follow. But the court is too small, so you cannot judge whether the attacker actually beat him cleanly. The defender also gives up on defending because the goal is already right there.

If that happens, in training the offense wins, and it looks like they are beating their man well. But in a match, the opponent comes after them, so they cannot beat him completely. There is a possibility that the phenomenon of regate not working well will appear.

③ If the phenomenon is not appearing, you can just widen it immediately

Of course, if the only aim is to burst out to the right or left for an instant, there is no problem. But if you are asking for regate all the way to beating the opponent completely, then as organization it is a mistake. It becomes harder for changes of speed, or for the softness of the ball touch after starting to beat the man, to emerge.

That coach was calling out "Nice offense," but from my point of view, the phenomenon did not seem to be appearing. Even so, he did not change the width. If you think, "Ah, it was a bit too small," you just widen it immediately. That is all there is to it.

This can also be called a lack of preparation. If you are not prepared with "If it does not go well like this, let's change the organization like this," I think it is quite common for your hands to stop.

① The simpler the practice, the more clearly you can see the phenomenon

Tag and 1v1 are practices whose phenomena are easy to understand. When it comes to how to create entrelíneas (between the lines) in a possession game with equal numbers, it suddenly becomes much harder.

Simple does not mean bad. The simpler it is, the more clearly the phenomenon shows up in the organization. That is why I think it is important for coaches to get into the habit of grasping the phenomenon, even in everyday training.

Even in a 1v1 practice, the phenomenon that occurs changes depending on where you start and what kind of distribution you use. Where in the organization is the problem, and where should you tweak it so that the phenomenon you want appears? First try it, and change it immediately.

② If changing the organization does not work, change the menu itself

Even if you change the organization, there are times when it still does not go well. In that case, you have to boldly change the training menu itself.

If you keep forcing it while the phenomenon you want is not appearing, you may secure quantity but quality will not rise. If that is the case, changing the training menu entirely is also a very important point.

This too was said to me by a Spaniard long ago. In order to produce the phenomenon, change the organization immediately, even if it is only 30 seconds. If it still does not go well, switch to a different training menu.

③ Preparing even a second plan trains your imagination

That is exactly why, when putting together a day's training, you should plan in advance to the point of: "If this menu does not go well, let's change to this organization. If it still does not work, let's stop this menu and switch to this one."

I can now do it improvisationally in my head, but in the past I properly made a second plan, a second menu. On site, I did it with a fair amount of tension.

Even if you prepare that far, there are times when it does not go well. Even so, by preparing, you train your imagination for "If we do this kind of training, this kind of thing might happen." And you also train your ability to change things flexibly on site.

Summary

• Training satisfies both "quantity" and "quality"
• Quality = whether the phenomenon you are aiming for is appearing
• If the phenomenon does not appear, do not force it through coaching, change the organization even if it is only 30 seconds
• If it still does not work, change the training menu itself
• If you prepare even a second plan, you train your imagination and your ability to change things flexibly

If you have never done this kind of thing, please take this opportunity to try it!