Stick to the plan
“Right Lads, on Sunday we weren’t very good at our finishing, so in tonight’s session we are going to work on shooting ready for next weekend!”
Sound familiar? Something we have all done I am sure - the reactionary coach with the short-term attitude. Now don’t get me wrong, this particular (fictional) coach has good intentions, and has highlighted an area in which their team requires help, and has taken the time to devise a training session to do just this. However, we must be very careful of working week-to-week, allowing the failures of the previous game to dictate the focus for the following work on the training field.
If we fall into this trap, several detrimental outcomes (in respect of the learning and development of our young players) may arise. Firstly, by not following a plan, we can easily forget to cover and subsequently miss out some key aspects of the game of which it is our duty to teach our young players. For example, imagine you have a group of players who are competent at preventing goals against, but struggle to score goals. By adopting this week-to-week approach and focusing solely on improving this area of their game, when do you allocate time to further improve their strength? Do we understand why they are competent at present? It may be due to physical dominance of the Central Defenders, but what about when all players mature physically and those two players cannot rely purely on their physical advantage? Do they have the Technical, Tactical and Psychological understanding to have continued success?
Secondly, if we jump around with regards our theme from session to session, where is the opportunity for our players to bed in the learning, to practice and work towards mastering such skills? Players need time to get to grips with new skills, and so we should give them opportunity to do so. A syllabus of work can ensure we are providing this for our players.
Finally, having a theme planned in advance can allow you and your team to define what success, or improvement, looks like come match day. For example if you have been working on regaining the ball high up the pitch in training, then your team objective for the game might be to see how many times we can win the ball back in the attacking half. This, if achieved, can be seen as a good day at the office, irrespective of the scoreline.
So how should a syllabus of work look? Well, there is no ‘perfect’ or ‘optimal’ curriculum as far as I am aware, but the following points should be kept in mind when designing or selecting a syllabus:
Is it relevant to the players I am working with?
Does it cover all of the key aspects of the game?
Is there enough time spent on each topic?
Do the players have chance to revisit and refresh topics during the season?
If the answers to this are yes, then I believe you have yourself the outlines of a pretty sufficient syllabus. Now obviously the key to any curriculum being successful is bringing it to life, trusting it, and sticking to the plan!
Give it a go, set yourself and your team a curriculum of work to help focus your attentions methodically over the remainder of the season. Challenge yourself to develop fun, engaging sessions which work on the relevant theme (appropriate to the age and stage of your players) and take this topic into your match day as a primary focus for defining levels of success. Please share your experiences or any other coaching programmes you’ve used or are currently using, and how this has benefitted you and your team.
Please Note: Working week-to-week and in relation to the previous game is absolutely necessary (to some extent) in results-based football, i.e. the senior competitive programme. This article refers to youth football where the result is not an important factor when compared to player development.