Stopping The Swinging Pendulum
11 Nov 2018
0 Comments
Challenging Accepted Strategies
The early Iraqi Scientist ‘Hasan Ibn al-Haytham’ is often referred to as the father of the modern scientific approach, this same scientific approach, is the one that we as Sports Coaches should be using to help improve and challenge the strategies we use. The approach can be summarised as ‘Questioning what you are told, and not just accepting what you are told ‘, and this has a huge relevance to Sports Coaching.
Through the country ‘The FA’s Long Term Player Development’ is wide spread and builds the foundations of what makes are academy system, a 3 phased approach ( Foundation, Youth Development and Professional). Within these three phases the age groups are consistent 8-11, 12-16 and 18-21 and a four corner approach is used to try and improve players holistically (technically, physically, socially and Psychologically). However do we just accept that this approach is correct? or do we attempt to challenge this, and try to redevelop this model to help improve the quality of player being produced?
📷
Where Does The Four Corner Model Come From? The Four Corner Model seems very self explanatory, it comes from ‘Long Term Athlete Development’ which was developed by Bayli et al which was then modified by The Football Assocciation to create ‘Long Term Player Development’ which was designed as a sport specific model to develop players from a holistic point of view. Included in this was the ‘Four Corner Model’ which originally stood as Technical, Social, Physical and Psychological. However it is of this writers belief that the model is out dated and doesn’t emphasise or explain the importance of the ‘Psychological Corner’.📷
The Psychological Corner
It is my belief that the psychological corner is in fact the most important corner within the model, this is because of the importance the corner controls, players require strong use of the psychological corner, regardless of what they are trying to achieve, let me give you some examples. A player with a fantastic technical ability, has a great chance to become an elite footballer, however he must use this fantastic technical ability with effective decision making in order to be effective. This could be a player who executes a very good technique when receiving the ball on the half turn, however if he doesn’t know where and when to use this, and can not make effective decisions in relation to the players around him, he will lose possession and be deemed ‘ineffective’. Examples from other areas can also be found, lets look at the physical corner, A player with high levels of athleticism and a player who is more physically developed and strong, should be able to retain possession by using his size and strength, correct? However if this player doesn’t posses the confidence, and is timid around other players he will find he loses possession regardless of his physical presence, or technical ability. We can look at this from another extreme, I take you back to Old Trafford in 2014, and to Super Leagues Grand Final, Warriors prop Ben Flower displays all the physical competencies that his sport requires, Strength, Power, Speed and Acceleration however, Ben was clearly unable to control his psychological state, and in doing so was sent of after on two minutes for punching an opponent. This is even applies to the Social Corner, players who aren’t able to communicate with each other are often those who struggle with confidence, this lack o📷f confidence doesn’t allow them to communicate as freely. The Psychological Corner can also underpin a players enjoyment, players who are effective often enjoy playing, whilst players who find it difficult to be effective become frustrated and lose enjoyment for the game.
It is from this angle that I want you to view the Psychological corner, instead of seeing the Psychological aspect of performance as just a segment of performance, an area in which you work on, I want to share the idea of it being a pathway or a building block to performance, taking the view that nearly all areas of performance are effected by psychological corner.
Long Term Athlete Development or Long Term Player Development also helps structure way in which Academies are structured, with the 3 phase approach. LTAD suggests that Performance moves from Fundamental Movement Skills, to Fundamental Sport Skills, to The Building of Physical and Mental Capacities in to High Performance Sport. Or from ‘Learning To train (8-11), ‘Training to Train (11-15), to Training to Compete (15-21). However I feel that this system doesn’t allow for a great enough crossover between phases, by this I point towards the Youth Development Phase and how in most clubs this seems to be a building block of the Professional Phase and not the continuation of the Foundation Phase. The importance of the Foundation Phase is well documented and the amount of young talent found in this phase is exceptional, however it is the huge step and culture change of the ‘Youth Development Phase’. But does the Youth Development Phase require a huge culture change or can the Youth Development Phase be a building block that links the good work of the Foundation Phase to the Professional Phase.
Changing the phase age group banding’s could help change Coaches mindset when coaching these age groups I.E Foundation Phase (8-12) Youth Development Phase (13-15) Professional Phase (16-21). This would allow for the technically driven face to be extended allowing players to play with creative freedom for longer and keeping the Foundation Phase entirely small sided with games up to 9v9. This would also allow the Youth Development Phase to cover 11v11 Football allowing smooth movement of players between the phase. It will also allow for a more individualised approach to the phase with players being able to work as individuals, units and position specific training within this phase. The Professional Phase would then cover the players not competing within ‘The Premier League Games Programme’, this would allow the 16,18,21 to run alongside each other performing in Saturday fixtures and day time training. Allowing for a smoother progression between the u16 and u21
Although these two ideas are in opposition to modern beliefs and modern trends, I believe that this would allow for greater understanding and a more realistic approach to player development and would create an environment where players have a greater opportunity to carry their successes through from the Foundation Phase and provide them with Coaches who understand the best ways in which to develop them.📷
The early Iraqi Scientist ‘Hasan Ibn al-Haytham’ is often referred to as the father of the modern scientific approach, this same scientific approach, is the one that we as Sports Coaches should be using to help improve and challenge the strategies we use. The approach can be summarised as ‘Questioning what you are told, and not just accepting what you are told ‘, and this has a huge relevance to Sports Coaching.
Through the country ‘The FA’s Long Term Player Development’ is wide spread and builds the foundations of what makes are academy system, a 3 phased approach ( Foundation, Youth Development and Professional). Within these three phases the age groups are consistent 8-11, 12-16 and 18-21 and a four corner approach is used to try and improve players holistically (technically, physically, socially and Psychologically). However do we just accept that this approach is correct? or do we attempt to challenge this, and try to redevelop this model to help improve the quality of player being produced?
📷
Where Does The Four Corner Model Come From? The Four Corner Model seems very self explanatory, it comes from ‘Long Term Athlete Development’ which was developed by Bayli et al which was then modified by The Football Assocciation to create ‘Long Term Player Development’ which was designed as a sport specific model to develop players from a holistic point of view. Included in this was the ‘Four Corner Model’ which originally stood as Technical, Social, Physical and Psychological. However it is of this writers belief that the model is out dated and doesn’t emphasise or explain the importance of the ‘Psychological Corner’.📷
The Psychological Corner
It is my belief that the psychological corner is in fact the most important corner within the model, this is because of the importance the corner controls, players require strong use of the psychological corner, regardless of what they are trying to achieve, let me give you some examples. A player with a fantastic technical ability, has a great chance to become an elite footballer, however he must use this fantastic technical ability with effective decision making in order to be effective. This could be a player who executes a very good technique when receiving the ball on the half turn, however if he doesn’t know where and when to use this, and can not make effective decisions in relation to the players around him, he will lose possession and be deemed ‘ineffective’. Examples from other areas can also be found, lets look at the physical corner, A player with high levels of athleticism and a player who is more physically developed and strong, should be able to retain possession by using his size and strength, correct? However if this player doesn’t posses the confidence, and is timid around other players he will find he loses possession regardless of his physical presence, or technical ability. We can look at this from another extreme, I take you back to Old Trafford in 2014, and to Super Leagues Grand Final, Warriors prop Ben Flower displays all the physical competencies that his sport requires, Strength, Power, Speed and Acceleration however, Ben was clearly unable to control his psychological state, and in doing so was sent of after on two minutes for punching an opponent. This is even applies to the Social Corner, players who aren’t able to communicate with each other are often those who struggle with confidence, this lack o📷f confidence doesn’t allow them to communicate as freely. The Psychological Corner can also underpin a players enjoyment, players who are effective often enjoy playing, whilst players who find it difficult to be effective become frustrated and lose enjoyment for the game.
It is from this angle that I want you to view the Psychological corner, instead of seeing the Psychological aspect of performance as just a segment of performance, an area in which you work on, I want to share the idea of it being a pathway or a building block to performance, taking the view that nearly all areas of performance are effected by psychological corner.
Long Term Athlete Development or Long Term Player Development also helps structure way in which Academies are structured, with the 3 phase approach. LTAD suggests that Performance moves from Fundamental Movement Skills, to Fundamental Sport Skills, to The Building of Physical and Mental Capacities in to High Performance Sport. Or from ‘Learning To train (8-11), ‘Training to Train (11-15), to Training to Compete (15-21). However I feel that this system doesn’t allow for a great enough crossover between phases, by this I point towards the Youth Development Phase and how in most clubs this seems to be a building block of the Professional Phase and not the continuation of the Foundation Phase. The importance of the Foundation Phase is well documented and the amount of young talent found in this phase is exceptional, however it is the huge step and culture change of the ‘Youth Development Phase’. But does the Youth Development Phase require a huge culture change or can the Youth Development Phase be a building block that links the good work of the Foundation Phase to the Professional Phase.
Changing the phase age group banding’s could help change Coaches mindset when coaching these age groups I.E Foundation Phase (8-12) Youth Development Phase (13-15) Professional Phase (16-21). This would allow for the technically driven face to be extended allowing players to play with creative freedom for longer and keeping the Foundation Phase entirely small sided with games up to 9v9. This would also allow the Youth Development Phase to cover 11v11 Football allowing smooth movement of players between the phase. It will also allow for a more individualised approach to the phase with players being able to work as individuals, units and position specific training within this phase. The Professional Phase would then cover the players not competing within ‘The Premier League Games Programme’, this would allow the 16,18,21 to run alongside each other performing in Saturday fixtures and day time training. Allowing for a smoother progression between the u16 and u21
Although these two ideas are in opposition to modern beliefs and modern trends, I believe that this would allow for greater understanding and a more realistic approach to player development and would create an environment where players have a greater opportunity to carry their successes through from the Foundation Phase and provide them with Coaches who understand the best ways in which to develop them.📷
