Monday 15^th October

Brazilian Soccer Schools

Year 5/6

Session 6

In continuation with last week’s theme of working on team work and reducing the prevalent individualism that has arisen we began the session with the same two drills as last week. I decided to do this as the players seemed to enjoy the drill last week and everyone was actively involved. I wanted to spend time working in pairs, as in previous weeks when doing this it hasn’t been performed well due to the uncooperative nature of some players. This is an area, that if we do well can benefit the group as players. The main issue when doing paired activities which I have found in previous sessions is the psychology of working in pairs, such as, getting along with each other and also sharing. (American Sport Education Program 2006). Gadson (2001) suggests that working in pairs allows opportunity for instant feedback which can benefit performers as it allows opportunity for improvement.

I decided to organise the pairs myself; I done this is order to separate problematic pairs and also to put similar ability bodies together. Clark (1999) suggests it is best to place similar ability bodies together in order to avoid frustration, in addition to this, Helson et al (2000) found that there is a positive linear relationship between individual plus team practise and skill. We do a lot of individual work and the paired, small group work we do represents the team practise. I began by placing players opposite each other about a metre and a half apart. We began with simple passing with the sole of the foot, this way there are many touches on the ball and it is simple to keep under control with a high success rate. I encouraged players to be on their toes one foot at a time; Wein (2004) suggests the importance for players to be on their toes one foot slightly in front of the other and one foot at a time to avoid being caught flat-footed, by having one foot always on the floor it allows the player to change direction more efficiently. In addition to this, Lennox et al (2006) suggest that active feet allow players to be ready for arising situations. It is good practice as a coach to try and instil this in young players and hopefully or players will become autonomous in doing this. An autonomous player can perform tasks with little or no conscious thought which therefore provides more space for other thought processes (Fitts and Posner 1967). After the passing exercise we moved onto the passive pressure exercise. I wanted our players performing a selection of our core drills under passive pressure; as this passive pressure drill is new all I want the pressuring player to be doing is to stand in front of the performing player up on their toes. This gives the player something different to think about from usual; with having a passive defender it allows similar pressure but the player maintains the ball and can gain experience of being under pressure. (Brown, Hopper, date unknown). As we progress and become more proficient in this area we can change the position of the pressurising player and also move onto the player becoming actively pressurised; by simply placing an arm upon their shoulder and slightly forcing them in different directions. It also allows players to gain experience as a defender in terms of marking and positioning when opponent has the ball, two important factors in defending as stated by Bansgo & Pietersen (2002). We then progressed onto paired juggling; I wanted to focus more on the reception of the ball. Davids et al (2004) suggest that players need to understand coordination and control of soccer skills to make improvements. I therefore made it clear to my players why we were doing this task and why it is important to be coordinated and also what coordination is. We set up about a metre and a half away again. One player served into the other, the other player received the ball with the inside of the foot and caught the ball; I ensured the players alternated feet and had five turns each on each foot and then changed. We also spent time on our laces and also outsides of the foot. At BSS we want to develop players that are both footed and therefore begin with weak foot drills from an early age. Caruso (1996) suggests that players should be encouraged to use the weaker from a young age so that it becomes more natural to use when players grow older.

I was pleased with the players approach to the session tonight they worked very hard and the paired work was much improved from previous sessions. I want to try and continue with paired work so our group becomes highly motivated to work in unity with one another. Zaccaro et al (2001) suggests there must be functional leadership in order to develop team or group dynamics, they also suggest that leadership and team processes influence each other. Relating this to the group as a coach it suggests that I must interact with the players in order to create team dynamics. If we have good team dynamics and cohesion then group motivation increases. Next week I want to spend time working on moves to beat cones and then progress from cones to poles and then into 1 v 1 situations.

American Sport Education Program (2006). Coaching Youth Soccer. Human Kinetics

Bangsbo, J, Pietersen, B (2002). Defensive Soccer Tactics. Human Kinetics

Brown, S, Dr Hopper, T (Unknown date). Can all Students in PE get an ‘A’? Game Performance Assessment by Peers as Critical Component of Student Learning. University of Victoria [online] [Accessed 02^nd Jan 2008, 15:10hrs]

http://www.educ.uvic.ca/Faculty/thopper/Web/articles/Cahperd/On-line%20GPAI.pdf

Caruso, A (1996). Soccer coaching, Deeloping and Tactics. Reedswain Inc.

Clark, B (1999). Coaching Youth Soccer: A Baffled Parent's Guide. Mcgraw-Hill Professional

Davids, K, Lees, A, Burwitz, L (2000). Understanding and measuring coordination and control in kicking skills in soccer: Implications for talent identification and skill acquisition. Journal of Sports Sciences, Volume 18, Issue 9 , pages 703 – 714 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a713776363~db=all

Gadson, S (2001). Psychology and Sport. Harcourt Heinemann

Lennox, J.W, Steffen, B, Rayfield, J (2006). Soccer Skills & Drills. Human Kinetics

Wein (2004). Developing Game Intelligence in Soccer. Reedswain Inc.

Zacarro, S.J, Rittman, A.L, Marks, M.A (2001). Team Leadership. The Leadership Quarterly. Volume 12, Issue 4, Pages 451-483 [online] [Accessed 02^nd Jan 2008, 16:25hrs]

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W5N-4550867-6&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=d75e3ce9c710180c27919234ec753978