I am sure that most people have heard of the 2009 book by
Daniel Coyle " The Talent Code". Its an interesting read for parents
and coaches alike and he has just brought out another book this past year
called " The Little Book of Talent" which would be a great Christmas
present for coaches, teachers, students and anyone else who is trying to become
better at their job.
In short Coyle talks about keys to greatness and makes a
compelling case that it is in us all, it just needs nurturing. The key thing I take from Coyle, without
giving too much away, are that the cues and the ignition are things that
coaches probably cant influence in most cases, however when it comes to 'deep
practice' we certainly can play our part.
The suggestion is that when an athlete or performer enters
this zone of deep practice they can accelerate their development exponentially
and improve as much in 20 minutes as they usually do in 6 months. If that is
the case, then if we can get our players into that zone then maybe we can make
up for the lack of time on task that the vast majority of our players are faced
with and help them close the skill gaps in their game.
After watching professional golfers 'ghost putt' and
basketball players practice their movements at the free throw line without the
ball, I believe that deep practice should be used for developing our players
technical ability, at slower than game speed and quite often without the ball
with multiple repetitions.
For our younger players the ball is too big and it gets in
the way! I also believe that the ball drives us to be more outcome driven than
process driven. Instead of looking where
the ball goes we should be asking these questions to our players:
Why did it go there?
How did it FEEL?
Can you repeat that?
Can you make it go somewhere else?
So, if you talk the talk I guess you have to walk the walk..
Earlier this spring I did a session with a group of girls
that involved my version of deep practice. We spent about 40 minutes working
without the ball on a receiving and shooting session. At first I thought that they
thought I had lost my marbles, but I asked them to be patient with it and when
I introduced the ball I could see that the girls were thinking their way
through the exercise and not worrying about scoring. Inside of 40 minutes they had started to become more concerned with
the process rather than the outcome!
Over the past few months I have tried a few more exercises
without the ball and some players try it and some think its a little strange,
but something happened last week that really opened my eyes. I was working with
a younger girls team on basic passing and receiving and after my demo I turned
around and they were all practising the movements without the ball! This was a great moment for me as it
validated my previous actions with these players and shows that they understand
how important correct technique is when it comes to the basics of the game.
At this point I should add that my beloved Sheffield
Wednesday have also been developing through deep practice, unfortunately they
have taken it a stage further and started playing real games without the ball!
After last weeks enlightenment moment I will make deep
practice a part of all my sessions when I am working with younger players and
helping them develop their techniques.
In closing...
If you are interested in deep practice then I encourage you
to take a look at Coyle's books, alternatively you can come along to the next
Lower Island Soccer Coaches Association meeting on Friday 30th November at 7pm
at Lakehill Soccer Associations Braefoot #2 field. Our topic is shooting and
finishing and the use of deep practice!
