The role of Self-Assessment in Long Term Coaching Development

The Role of Self-Assessment in Long Term Coaching Development

Over the past year or so there has been a great deal of discussion about the Canadian coaching education program and its relative strengths and weaknesses.  Coach education is always an interesting topic to discuss and just sending a coach to a course won’t make them a better coach overnight. There are other pieces to the puzzle that need to be addressed if we are to start developing strong coaches in our soccer community.

Continued education is a key factor in the development of a coach and many clubs and districts are doing a great job in this area and kudos to them. As a learning facilitator for BC Soccer I have had the opportunity to deliver coaching courses for over 10 years and invariably at the end of the course the same things are heard over and over again “That was useful, not enough time and what comes next?” We have to provide the answer to that question for our coaches.

As a learning facilitator for BC Soccer I have had the opportunity to deliver courses across the province for over 10 years. When we get coaches in a room from different clubs and different districts, within 10 minutes we all accept that we are on the same team and face the same problems. Not enough time with the players, how do you deal with the different levels of players in your team, how do you manage player and parent expectations etc...

I believe we have a good certification process but sending coaches on courses isn’t enough and the course itself won’t make someone a better coach. In my opinion the missing piece is a self-assessment process.

Self-assessment is a useful tool for adult learners as it gives one an opportunity to see where their strengths and weaknesses lie and also provides an open and honest critique on ones abilities. It is also useful for prioritizing the next steps in the education process.

I have developed a self-assessment tool for coaches which you will see below. As with any tool it has its faults but it’s an attempt to categorise coaches not by their level of certification or years coached but rather than their behaviours and competencies. As with any tool it has its weaknesses but it’s aimed at grassroots coaches as I believe that grassroots coaches can develop into high performance coaches give the time. I also believe that coaches can also step straight into the high performance arena if they are in the right environment and have strong mentorship. Having said that we can all name coaches who have gone straight into the ‘big time’ and failed miserably!

Of course self –assessment has it weaknesses too, the chief one being that it can be a stand-alone critique with absolutely no context to tie it to the real world. In order to try to add context you will see that I have tried to fit the LTAD stages in their along with some coaching certification and years of coaching.

In my next blog I will expand on the competencies of coaches in each particular stage and how coaches can move through these stages and how to self-assess one of your own practices.

Glossary of terms in the table

POP   - Principles of Play

GAG  - Global Analytical Global-Game, Activity Game method of coaching

YTP   - Yearly Training Plan

LTPD  -Long Term Player Development

LTPD Stage	LTCD Stage	Required Competencies	Expectations of coaching ability	Learning outcomes, gaps in ability	Certification level	Years coaching
Coaching Active Start	Organiser	Enthusiastic energetic descriptive unstructured	Organise a space Keep players moving Activities are fun	Recognise basic faults in athletes technique Be inclusive of all players No flow or plan No methodology	Active Start to Fundamental	0-3
Coaching Fundamentals	Facilitator	Basic organisation and structure. Plans practice to practice Communication skills, develops key words	Plan a session through progressions Effective GAG	Make adjustments to the session to improve learning No LTPD or POP or leadership skills	Fundamental to Learn To Train	2-6
Coaching Learn to Train	Situational Coach	Understands the POP in isolation. Can make adjustments in the session to keep it challenging Leadership abilities	Plan and set season goals. Basic LTPD, Use of various coaching methods	Recognise the playing principles in general play (POP)	Learn To Train Soccer For Life Pre B	4-10
At this point the coach can be considered a MASTER COACH in the ages U6 to U12
Coaching Train to Train and Coaching Soccer for Life	Principles coach	Understands and recognises POP in all areas of the game. Uses lots of possession exercises in sessions Plans practices around basic YTP Aware of mental training	Take small sided structure into the 11v11 in specific situations, ie overlaps, counter attacking	Puts the POP into context for the players. Not yet able to teach the how why and when of play.	Pre B BC Soccer B Provincial	8-13
Coaching Train to Compete	Contextual coach	Put the POP into context within the game. Teaches the how, when, where and why. Plans practices around evolving YTP	Facilitate learning in other coaches Personal Kaizen	Changes philosophy and ideas. Sticks with personal style and system	CSA B National NCCP Comp Dev	11-16
Coaching Train To Win	Cognitive coach	Understands how playing patterns develop and sees this in all facets of the game See patterns in opponent and can adjust and adapt to these	Capacity for honest self-reflection Comfortable in own ability	Does not yet understanding  the different demands between coaching athletes and coaches	CSA B National CSA A National	14-20
At this point the coach can be considered a MASTER COACH in the development of youth players to the age of U18
Coaching Train to Win	Master coach	Understands that the ability to change ideals and beliefs is the key to success. Always looking for the next evolution in training methods	Mentor players and coaches, comfortable with administrative tasks		CSA A National NCI Graduate Med in Coaching	20+

(©) Andrew Latham

Physical activity levels in U9 soccer

Last October I spent a day at the Lower Island Soccer Association mini fest watching U9 soccer and with the use of some accelerometers I was able to track the amount of physical activity for each player during the game. I would like to thank Stu Hackett for his help during that day as I would have not been able to do this alone!

Here is the report from that day.

Introduction

To promote healthy growth and development and to prevent physical and mental health issues across the lifespan including obesity, Canadian guidelines recommend that children accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day. Enrolling children in organized sport is a common practice by which parents hope to support their children’s active lifestyles and promote the development of positive mental health and physical literacy. However, it is unclear how participation in organized sports, such as U9 soccer matches and practices, contributes to children achieving the 60 minute guideline. This is further complicated by the fact that squad size may influence the amount of MVPA children accrue during matches.

The purpose of the report is twofold: 1) to determine how much MVPA children acquire during U9 soccer matches and 2) to investigate how team size influences the amount of MVPA accumulated.

 

Procedures

In autumn 2012, data was collected on 124 children during a single day U9 tournament in Victoria, BC. All participating children volunteered to wear an accelerometer, which is a small device (about the size of an MP3 player) that is worn on the hip with an elastic belt. The device objectively measures physical activity by assigning intensity “counts” to accelerations in movement across multiple planes over time, such that the more vigorously the wearer moves, the greater the intensity is recorded by the device. Physical activity levels, categorized into sedentary, light, moderate and vigorous, were assessed using established cut-off points.

The tournament consisted of seven matches involving 14 unique teams which varied in size from seven up to 11 players. A 6v6 format was used for all matches except one 7v7 format. Games lasted from 45 to 56 minutes with the average match lasting 52.9 minutes. Only data recorded during game time was used for analysis.

 

Results

Analysis revealed that for 6v6 game formats, U9 players spent approximately 63% of their time as MVPA. Specific activity categories are summarized in Figure 1. Furthermore, squad size significantly influenced the amount of MVPA U9 players acquired during tournament matches. It was found that children in a squad of 7 accrued significantly more MVPA than those on larger squads, which did not differ from each other in this regard.

Time spent in:

Sedentary state         25%

Light Activity           12%

Moderate Activity    33%

Vigorous Activity     30%

Discussion and next steps.

The findings indicate that for U9 soccer players, a majority of their game time is spent being either moderately or vigorously active. While game length varies, the average of 63% of the game in MVPA represents just over 33 minutes of game time; which is below the recommended guideline of 60 minutes of MVPA daily. Thus, the present data suggest that children enrolled in U9 soccer programmes acquire about half of their daily MVPA requirement during 6v6 match participation.

Squad size appears to influence the amount of MVPA recorded during game time. Specifically, it was found that children on a squad of 7 players accrued significantly more MVPA (76%) than squads with greater enrollment numbers. As well, there was no difference in MVPA accrued between any of these other larger teams, which suggests that a 7-player squad format offers the best opportunity to enhance MVPA during game time compared to larger squads.

However, the present study is not without its limitations. Primarily, squad sizes were not evenly represented. For example, data was collected from only one 7-player squad while five teams had an 8-player squad (representing 40 players total). This particular bias could skew results. Further investigation is required to assess the impact of squad size on MVPA during 6v6 game formats. Furthermore, despite the fact that the 7-player squad achieved higher amounts of MVPA, creating teams with less than 8 players would not be feasible for club organizations due to occasional player absences or injuries resulting in limited substitutions.

In addition, while game time is typically less than 60 minutes, capturing other elements of involvement, such as warm-up and cool-down activities and weekly practices may show the value of these activities for accumulating MVPA. For example, something as simple as two warm up laps and two cool down laps at the end of the game may have a significant effect on the accumulation of MVPA.  It is clear the U-9 soccer matches make a valuable contribution to children’s health by providing the opportunity for MVPA but that parents and coaches need to plan additional activities to meet the guidelines.

Moving forward, the LISA will start to investigate physical activity levels in practice sessions for players in this age category along with collecting more data from games in an attempt to identify squad sizes that will maximise opportunities for players to increase their time spent in MVPA.

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Its worth noting that the sample size we used was pretty small and not big enough for us to draw earth shattering conclusions from, however its a start. Over the course of the next year I will be looking at training sessions for players in this age group to see what levels of activity they are getting from their practices, and we will also be taking a look at some U12 games in an 8v8 format alongside some U13 games in the first year of 11v11 to see what is going on at those two age groups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Codes, cues, ignition and deep practice....

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!

September...

What a great tune from Earth, Wind and Fire, is it R&B or is it disco at its finest: a discussion for another day! September has always been my favourite month, real sport is back, the kids are back at school and the tourists have gone home.

As a fan I have had a terrible month...after a four month unbeaten run at the end of last season propelled the love supreme, known to others as Sheffield Wednesday, back into the Championship, we have reverted to type and lost every game this month. The world famous New Orleans Saints have failed to win a game, thanks to Roger Goodell- I will say no more on that topic- and our dream of winning another Super bowl in God's country is in shreds, and even a team that is winning, my Louisiana State University Fighting Tigers are quite possibly the poorest 5-0 team in the history of the NCCA.

  

Having said all that, what about the WEATHER.

I can't remember a better September and as a coach I have one simple question.

Why haven't our youngest players in the U6 to U9 age groups been playing in this great weather. There is no doubt in my mind that these are our most important players. Our future National team players and hopefully World Cup players are currently in these age groups and we have just missed a whole month of warm and sunny weather which is ideal for the development of young children.

In the LISA district our mini players started playing on the last weekend of September and I am sure that everyone had a great time last Saturday, the weather was good and everyone went home dry. Very soon things will be different, the colder and wetter weather will return and it won't be anywhere near as much FUN! The kids will be bundled up but they will be cold and their movement somewhat restricted due to the many layers of clothes that they have on. Their feet will be cold and they probably wont get a good feel of the ball which won't help their technical development. Not only will they be cold, the chances are they will also be wet as we get a bit of rain in the winter. If we are trying to develop soccer players, wouldn't we be better served to try and develop them in conditions that will facilitate development as opposed to hindering it.

Here's a few more questions for you:

Would you rather watch your child play in warm dry weather or cold wet conditions?

Would your child ENJOY playing more in the warm dry weather or cold and wet conditions?

Why are our youngest players playing and learning to play soccer in our poorest weather

conditions?

Would you rather have the sun at your back or the rain in your face?

Over the next few months the Lower Island Soccer Association will be working on a pilot program for these age groups as we would like to see these players NOT playing outside in the winter months. If there first experiences of soccer are fun then the chances of our future National teams players staying in the game will be greater.  

The next Adam Straith, Josh Simpson and Emily Zurrer are out there and they will be tempted by other sports. As a sport we need to make sure they stay with soccer and sending them home dry and happy after every practice might keep them in our game.

In closing...

The 'She Kicks' female coaching program kicks off this week. She Kicks is a partnership between LISA and the University of Victoria that aims to help develop female coaches through female only coaching clinics. During the month of October the She Kicks program will put young female players through the Active Start and Fundamentals courses as they start on the road to becoming successful female coaches and role models for our young female players.

Three weeks of smoke and mirrors..and what's in it for us

Its only natural to look for flaws in perfection because when we see perfection and it isn't us, then we are reminded that we are less than perfect. Spain's performance over the past three weeks has been over analysed and they have frustrated some, including me when they passed the ball back to their own keeper from an attacking corner in the 93rd minute against Portugal, but their second goal in the 4-0 humping of Italy was perfection, seldom seen but never forgotten.

The soccer intellectuals in the media will spend the next few weeks telling us all about Spain's method and style and their use of a 'false 9', and how Del Bosque has shown us a team without designated strikers, ignoring that fact that Roma and Manchester United did this in 07 and 08. The shape and movement of the Spanish is highly impressive and their invention and ball retention is of the highest quality, but in my opinion the keys to the castle are their superior technical ability.

There are two good bits of good news in this for soccer in Canada; first of all we don't have to play them in order to qualify for Brazil 2014 and secondly we can take something from Spain's methods and apply them to our game here in Canada.

We cant talk to our players about 'false 9's' or expect them to play in the sophisticated style that we see from Del Bosque's' team but we can make the technical part of the game our training priority. Spain are technically better than any other team at the moment. The difference between them and everyone else is not that great, but its great enough to make ALL the difference.

Spain's game is based on possession, and defending by keeping the ball away from the opponent, that's not a secret. They play a succession of 2v1, 3v2 and 4v3 situations and are equally comfortable in possession in even numbers or numbers down phases, because their technical ability is high and they are confident in their own ability to keep the ball. This encourages them to take up good supporting positions and circulate the ball, it also means that if you can manage to get the ball from them you have to be quick in transition as they are all around the ball. All of this is great for Spain but how can we take lessons learned and translate them to our practices.

More small sided exercises in our practices and more 3v1's 4v1's and 5v2's with the emphasis on keeping the ball moving and all players moving to give the player in possession more choice. The 4v1 exercise is simple to set up and a great session starter that gets the kids moving and keeps them challenged. the key to this is to motivate the defender to work hard in order to challenge the players on the outside of the box. With the right amount of encouragement, very quickly you can progress and make the area smaller and limit the touches. Once you get them into a 5v2 situation then the challenge is to find the split pass and if you can get them to a 4v2 situation and have some success then you are going in the right direction. The game is simple and effective and will provide positive results. We cant play like Spain because we aren't Spain, but we can strive to match their technical ability.

At the next coaches association meeting, in early September we will be looking at small sided exercises and ideas how to use them in our practices. In my next blog I will be talking about other ideas that will t improve the experience of our younger players in the Active Start, Fundamentals and Learning To Train Stages age groups. My belief is that if we make the experience better than "better learning" will take place Again I believe the key is coaching, improve the coaching and we will improve the players and on that topic here is a list of the coaching courses that we have set up in August and September:

Soccer for Life

August 25^th and 26^th hosted by the Lakehill Soccer Association

Learning to Train

August 18^th and 19^th hosted by Prospect Lake Soccer Club

Fundamentals

September 8^th hosted by Cowichan Valley Soccer Association

September 15^th hosted by Peninsula Soccer Association

September 22^nd hosted by Gorge Soccer Association

All of these courses are free to coaches in the LISA district, and we recently ran a Learning To Train course with support from the Juan de Fuca and Sooke clubs and the new material was well received by the coaches who took the course. I would like to encourage you all to make time to attend these course, if we get better then our players get better, its that simple.

The 2012 Euro's were on the whole a good tournament but not a great one, like the 2000 tournament, and they didn't produce a game that will live long in the memory. The tournament format of 16 teams means no easy games and every game counts, unfortunately in 4 years time the tournament will include 24 teams, this will bloat the tournament as there aren't 24 good teams in Europe. No matter, the French will still pout, the Dutch will implode, the Germans will be challenging, Spain will be passing and maybe England will complete a pass or two!

Champions League starts on Tuesday!!

Enjoy the summer.