Session 3 - Under 12's July 23rd

Session - receiveing to pass or shoot

Intervention - Beginning to get the hang of the intervention -used the skillful neglect approach, amazing how many mistakes are self correcting. Intervened discreetly with 5 players yesterday, all for systematic problems, Including using dribbling as the only method to progress the ball, weight of the pass, Off the ball movement and speed of release when playing in a congested area of the pitch.

All interventions were delivered in discreet 1 on 1 situations, mainly by the use of questions rather than instructions,much better way of establishing understanding and aiding learning

Qusetioning
I've started to use questions as the principle medium of communication to the players -they are beginning to get to grips with the small group system, too early to say but initially appears to have a significant impact on understanding

Session 2 Under 10's

Session 2 - Tuesday 17th July - Under 11's

Session - possession
Used some of the warm up drills from the course - also used the switching drill - where 2 players have to switch positions to receive the ball in the box - worked very well - kids loved it

Intervention
Worked well tonight - 0 interventions, didn't stop any of the drills, however gave dicreet individual feedback to 4 individuals during the session. Definite evidence of the kids understanding and actioning the points raised. It becomes easier to communicate the specifics , also able to test understanding by backing the point up with questions

Questioning
Started the session with small group questions relating to what makes a team good at possession - also asked the question what is possession. When each group gave an answer to the question I asked them to demonstrate what they meant - wrked really well. Feel confident understanding is fuller and deeper as a consequence - I asked the kids what is different about my coaching - "You are asking lots more questions" - seems about right to me. It's beginning to get easier

Coach and parents
We are running a session for all our coaches and any interested parents. We will subject them to the blue dot exercise, the 4 corners, how the brain learns, the questioning and the low intervention systems - Looking forward to it - we should get 20 - 30 people there

First Session

Evaluation of the first session

Tried a number of new things during the session, including questioning and the suggested player development based intervention:

Session - Possession

Drills - Used a number of the drills from the course, including the fitness based warm up drills - concluded with some of our old favorites. Early drills took a bit of adapting to but in general session tempo went well and standard was high

Interventions - Only stopped a drill once during a 2 hour session - concentrated on giving discreet individual feedback - worked incredibly well - Also used it as a method to address behaviour issues - worked very well

Testing Understanding - Used questioning throughout the session - repeatedly split the group into sub groups of 3 or 4 players, 30 secs to answer a question, then challenged the answers - can't believe how much of an impact this had - Far more powerful way of getting to grips with levels of understanding - Kids found it, fun, challenging and a bit strange. Very difficult to train my mind to centre on open questions only.

Overall good session - lots of learning points

8 lessons learnt

8 lessons from the course

1. Intervention
Learn how to manage mistakes, use the breaks to intervene - Do individual feedback discreetly

2. Questioning
The most powerful weapon at the coaches disposal for testing and re-enforcing understanding - Open questions. break into small groups and practice the art of questioning wherever possible

3. Match the energy
Start off by matching the players energy then modify your own energy levels to match the levels you want from the players

4. The Blue Dot
Remember all the messages from the blue dot exercise - every time players or other coaches are confronted with new uncomfortable approaches resistance will be their survival technique - be prepared to compromise

5. 10.000 HOURS
It takes 10,000 hours of practice to get to be world class

6. The 4 Corners
Learning is enabled best by developing the 4 corners - Technical, Physical, Psychological and Social

7. Drill Design
Design the coaching drills to enable player learning - maximise touches, how does the drill encourage expressionism and creativity

8. 3 for them 1 for you
Use the simple principle of 3 sessions for the players and use the 4th session to experiment and development your own approach