One of the ideas behind Blueprint for Football is that of looking at different ideas that are – or should be - influencing the game of football. We’ve done that over the years and here is an overview (shown by order of publishing with the most recent ones being on top) of the most influential of those ideas.
On Curiosity
Essential Qualities of a Football Coach: Curiosity [May 2016]
There is the belief that great innovations come from lightbulb moments when inspiration hits and the fully formed idea is conceived. That isn’t the case. Instead great ideas are usually the result of years of thinking about something and linking it to knowledge learned from elsewhere. It is for this reason that curiosity is important as it is through it that one accumulates the knowledge needed to thread together different concepts.
Memorable Quote: “What people should be trying to foster is…epistemic curiosity, which is a more structured and deeper form of curiosity that can ignite the desire to learn and attempt to do things that one would not normally consider.”
On Habits
How Habits Shape Football (And Why They Matter To You) [October 2013]
The most tactically disciplined teams are also those who seem to know instinctively when they should be doing a particular action. Think of Arsenal’s back four under George Graham moving in unison to set-off the offside trap or Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona pressing defenders as soon as possession was lost. The thing is that this is hardly instinctive but rather a movement that is dictated by habits, an idea that every coach has to be aware of.
Memorable Quote: “Barcelona’s game, then, isn’t a spontaneous expression of genius but rather the perfect execution of a series of deeply ingrained habits.”
On Perception
Perception is in the Eye of the Beholder [September 2013]
Can you teach a player how to be more aware of what is happening around him? Can you determine how aware a player is of what is happening around him by watching him play? The answer to both questions is yes and Geir Jordet, who has studied in depth the idea of perception provided a breakdown on how this is possible. For coaches looking for some different ideas to investigate, this has to be on their read list.
Memorable Quote: “Players tend to look too much at the ball; you don't really need all the information you get from the ball.”
On Psychology
Helping the Brain to Win Games [May 2013]
The history of the game of football is littered with players who had the talent but not the mental capacity to succeed. It is a shameful waste considering how much resources there are out there for them to help themselves. As for coaches, they too have to have a good handle of the basics of sports psychology and Dan Abrahams delivered a primer on that in this interview.
Memorable Quote: “(Sports psychology) is the bottom of the wish list for clubs and also probably at the bottom of the wish list for player. Yet we talk how important the psychological side is in football so there is a bit of a disconnection.”
On Specialisation
Bursting the Specialisation Myth [September 2012]
The idea that the 10,000 hour practise rule is, at best, an indicator rather than a rule that guarantees expertise is now quite accepted but at the time of this interview with the University of Birmingham Senior Lecturer Dr Martin Toms his arguments flew in the face of the pop-psychology beliefs set about by Malcolm Gladwell’s books. A wide ranging interview that delves into the damage that early specialisation does to players and how it would be best to let children try out a number of sports.
Memorable Quote: “Specialising in one sport at a young age is actually detrimental to success.”
Showing posts with label Different Thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Different Thoughts. Show all posts
Monday, June 19, 2017
Monday, June 5, 2017
Taking Note: Why Coaches Should Keep A Journal
One of the finest football books of recent years is Simon Hughes’ Secret Diary of a Liverpool Scout. It tells the story of Geoff Twentyman who was Liverpool’s Chief Scout between 1967 and 1985, an era that was marked by the club’s unprecedented success built largely on an exceptional ability to identify talent.
What marks this book out is how it was written. Rather than being based on the recollections of Twentyman himself (sadly, he passed away way before work on this book had started) it uses the meticulous notes that he used to take during every one of his scouting trips.
This was an extension of the practise within Liverpool’s fabled boot room of noting down different aspects of their work from training, recovery and tactical approaches in varying situations. These dossiers eventually became the reference point whenever the club was faced with similar situations allowing them the luxury to judge whether to take a similar approach or not.
Bill Shankly took over at Liverpool in 1959 and the boot room was established shortly afterwards. It is testament of how visionary that group of people was that the practices that they adopted are still as effective today as they were more than fifty years back.
Essentially: every coach should be journaling regularly, documenting decisions taken and the reasoning behind them.
Never Trust Your Memory
To appreciate why that is there is the need to move away from sport and into the realm of psychology. People act in the manner that they do because over the years their behaviour has been shaped by their own experiences. The problem, though, is that those experiences and memories might not include all the details; they might be inherently biased. There will be occasions when a positive result influences one’s recall of a choice or vice-versa.
Imagine if someone were to ask you to think back to a time when you missed the train and describe your experience. The odds are that you will recall a negative experience. This will also contaminate any future thoughts that you have and, if that same person were to ask you to imagine how you would feel the next time you missed the train then the likelihood is that you would predict a bad reaction.
All this is not conjecture but precisely what Dr Carey Morewedge and his colleagues from Harvard University found in 2005. During their study they asked a set of people to recall the last experience of missing the train, another to recall their worst experience and another to think back three past experience.
Their findings showed that those who had been given free reign to think of one experience made the most negative prediction. Further studies strengthened this theory that people tend to make overly positive or negative predictions if they were to rely exclusively on their memory: they fall prey to their memory bias.
This, clearly, has a number of implications in a football environment. Let’s say that your team was thinking of bringing over a new player who has a particular character trait that might cause issues in the harmony of your squad. If you’ve just come from a good season then you might be swayed into thinking that this too will work out well and that you’ll manage to integrate that player.
That might well turn out to be the case but, regardless, that decision was not made on the right basis. Awareness is key to overcome any bias. In such a circumstance, if a manager has records of previous transfers and thoughts before they were completed then he might notice instances that might be similar to his current situation. Reading them and thinking of how they turned out would probably allow them to make a better informed decision.
It makes it harder to justify a certain decision when you have a divergent piece of evidence in front of you.
Accurate And Honest Feedback
Michael J. Mauboussin is an unikely source to find inspiration for football coaches. He has no history with the game (as far as is public knowledge at least); he is instead the managing director and head of Global Financial Strategies at Credit Suisse and an adjunct professor of finance at the Columbia Business School.
He has, however, also authored a number of books that look into decision making. And it is the research that he has put into the latter that is influential
In an interview with The Motley Fool, he said, “when you’ve got a decision-making journal, it gives you accurate and honest feedback of what you were thinking at that time. And so there can be situations, by the way, you buy a stock and it goes up, but it goes up for reasons very different than what you thought was going to happen. And having that feedback in a way to almost check yourself periodically is extremely valuable. So that’s, I think, a very inexpensive; it’s actually not super time consuming, but a very, very valuable way of giving yourself essential feedback because our minds won’t do it normally.”
There might not be many parallels between those investing in stock markets and people who work in football but both have one feature in common: there are strong emotions in play which might lead one to make terrible moves unless they are fully conscious and aware of what they’re doing. That is why Mauboussin argues over the importance of noting decisions.
It is a philosophy based on a discussion with Daniel Kahneman, one of the most brilliant men of our lifetime and who gave birth to the new science of behavioural economics. In particular, Kahneman’s work helped to bring to light a number of biases that influence people’s actions.
“Many years ago when I first met Danny Kahneman…when I pose him the question, what is a single thing an investor can do to improve his or her performance, he said almost without hesitation, go down to a local drugstore and buy a very cheap notebook and start keeping track of your decisions.” Mauboussin said in that same interview.
“And the specific idea is whenever you’re making a consequential decision, something going in or out of the portfolio, just take a moment to think, write down what you expect to happen, why you expect it to happen and then actually, and this is optional, but probably a great idea, is write down how you feel about the situation, both physically and even emotionally. Just, how do you feel? I feel tired. I feel good, or this stock is really draining me. Whatever you think.”
“The key to doing this is that it prevents something called hindsight bias, which is no matter what happens in the world. We tend to look back on our decision-making process, and we tilt it in a way that looks more favourable to us, right? So we have a bias to explain what has happened.”
Do It Yourself
While football is a simple game, the decisions made by those who coach or run a club are often extremely complex. Often managers’ reactions during games are quasi-instinctive and heavily influenced not by rational thought but by past actions. Unraveling why a decision was taken can be just as complex.
Writing is a way of facilitating that process. The simple act of forcing yourself to put thoughts into words actually helps in giving them clarity and shape.
The journal that a coach maintains does not have to be a work of art. To all extent and purposes it can be illegible to anyone but the person who wrote it. There is no need for any jargon or deep, insightful thoughts. Don’t feel under pressure to write something that is great, just write you’re your thoughts.
What there should be a modicum of organisation (so that when you want to look back to a particular decision you can find it with ease) along with clear, direct writing that avoids any vague thoughts.
Initially it might feel like an unnatural act, it can feel like pretentious rubbish. Push past that resistance and eventually, after a few weeks you will come to appreciate just how important a tool this can be for a coach.
After all, if it was good enough for the likes of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, it should be good enough for the rest of us.
Enjoyed this? Want more? Sign up to Blueprint for Football Extra and as a free bonus you'll get a copy of our exclusive e-book Blueprint According To...Volume 3 that features interviews with six football coaches on how they go about their building their knowledge.
What marks this book out is how it was written. Rather than being based on the recollections of Twentyman himself (sadly, he passed away way before work on this book had started) it uses the meticulous notes that he used to take during every one of his scouting trips.
This was an extension of the practise within Liverpool’s fabled boot room of noting down different aspects of their work from training, recovery and tactical approaches in varying situations. These dossiers eventually became the reference point whenever the club was faced with similar situations allowing them the luxury to judge whether to take a similar approach or not.
Bill Shankly took over at Liverpool in 1959 and the boot room was established shortly afterwards. It is testament of how visionary that group of people was that the practices that they adopted are still as effective today as they were more than fifty years back.
Essentially: every coach should be journaling regularly, documenting decisions taken and the reasoning behind them.
Never Trust Your Memory
To appreciate why that is there is the need to move away from sport and into the realm of psychology. People act in the manner that they do because over the years their behaviour has been shaped by their own experiences. The problem, though, is that those experiences and memories might not include all the details; they might be inherently biased. There will be occasions when a positive result influences one’s recall of a choice or vice-versa.
Imagine if someone were to ask you to think back to a time when you missed the train and describe your experience. The odds are that you will recall a negative experience. This will also contaminate any future thoughts that you have and, if that same person were to ask you to imagine how you would feel the next time you missed the train then the likelihood is that you would predict a bad reaction.
All this is not conjecture but precisely what Dr Carey Morewedge and his colleagues from Harvard University found in 2005. During their study they asked a set of people to recall the last experience of missing the train, another to recall their worst experience and another to think back three past experience.
Their findings showed that those who had been given free reign to think of one experience made the most negative prediction. Further studies strengthened this theory that people tend to make overly positive or negative predictions if they were to rely exclusively on their memory: they fall prey to their memory bias.
This, clearly, has a number of implications in a football environment. Let’s say that your team was thinking of bringing over a new player who has a particular character trait that might cause issues in the harmony of your squad. If you’ve just come from a good season then you might be swayed into thinking that this too will work out well and that you’ll manage to integrate that player.
That might well turn out to be the case but, regardless, that decision was not made on the right basis. Awareness is key to overcome any bias. In such a circumstance, if a manager has records of previous transfers and thoughts before they were completed then he might notice instances that might be similar to his current situation. Reading them and thinking of how they turned out would probably allow them to make a better informed decision.
It makes it harder to justify a certain decision when you have a divergent piece of evidence in front of you.
Accurate And Honest Feedback
Michael J. Mauboussin is an unikely source to find inspiration for football coaches. He has no history with the game (as far as is public knowledge at least); he is instead the managing director and head of Global Financial Strategies at Credit Suisse and an adjunct professor of finance at the Columbia Business School.
He has, however, also authored a number of books that look into decision making. And it is the research that he has put into the latter that is influential
In an interview with The Motley Fool, he said, “when you’ve got a decision-making journal, it gives you accurate and honest feedback of what you were thinking at that time. And so there can be situations, by the way, you buy a stock and it goes up, but it goes up for reasons very different than what you thought was going to happen. And having that feedback in a way to almost check yourself periodically is extremely valuable. So that’s, I think, a very inexpensive; it’s actually not super time consuming, but a very, very valuable way of giving yourself essential feedback because our minds won’t do it normally.”
There might not be many parallels between those investing in stock markets and people who work in football but both have one feature in common: there are strong emotions in play which might lead one to make terrible moves unless they are fully conscious and aware of what they’re doing. That is why Mauboussin argues over the importance of noting decisions.
It is a philosophy based on a discussion with Daniel Kahneman, one of the most brilliant men of our lifetime and who gave birth to the new science of behavioural economics. In particular, Kahneman’s work helped to bring to light a number of biases that influence people’s actions.
“Many years ago when I first met Danny Kahneman…when I pose him the question, what is a single thing an investor can do to improve his or her performance, he said almost without hesitation, go down to a local drugstore and buy a very cheap notebook and start keeping track of your decisions.” Mauboussin said in that same interview.
“And the specific idea is whenever you’re making a consequential decision, something going in or out of the portfolio, just take a moment to think, write down what you expect to happen, why you expect it to happen and then actually, and this is optional, but probably a great idea, is write down how you feel about the situation, both physically and even emotionally. Just, how do you feel? I feel tired. I feel good, or this stock is really draining me. Whatever you think.”
“The key to doing this is that it prevents something called hindsight bias, which is no matter what happens in the world. We tend to look back on our decision-making process, and we tilt it in a way that looks more favourable to us, right? So we have a bias to explain what has happened.”
Do It Yourself
While football is a simple game, the decisions made by those who coach or run a club are often extremely complex. Often managers’ reactions during games are quasi-instinctive and heavily influenced not by rational thought but by past actions. Unraveling why a decision was taken can be just as complex.
Writing is a way of facilitating that process. The simple act of forcing yourself to put thoughts into words actually helps in giving them clarity and shape.
The journal that a coach maintains does not have to be a work of art. To all extent and purposes it can be illegible to anyone but the person who wrote it. There is no need for any jargon or deep, insightful thoughts. Don’t feel under pressure to write something that is great, just write you’re your thoughts.
What there should be a modicum of organisation (so that when you want to look back to a particular decision you can find it with ease) along with clear, direct writing that avoids any vague thoughts.
Initially it might feel like an unnatural act, it can feel like pretentious rubbish. Push past that resistance and eventually, after a few weeks you will come to appreciate just how important a tool this can be for a coach.
After all, if it was good enough for the likes of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, it should be good enough for the rest of us.
Enjoyed this? Want more? Sign up to Blueprint for Football Extra and as a free bonus you'll get a copy of our exclusive e-book Blueprint According To...Volume 3 that features interviews with six football coaches on how they go about their building their knowledge.
Monday, March 6, 2017
How Economics Explains Why Clubs Don’t Give Young Players A Chance
Each year, clubs at the highest levels of the game spend millions on their academy or youth system. Each year, promising players train in these academies. And, each year, they fail to get an opportunity to show what they are capable of.
It is an anomalous and fairly ridiculous situation that in many respects could only happen in football. No other business would invest that much money and then fail to use what came through. At least no business acting rationally would act that way.
The thing is that football clubs (as does any normal business, for the matter) act irrationally. There is rarely any grand strategy in place and this is evidenced by how quickly confidence in a manager can deteriorate after a run of bad results, regardless of what that manager had achieved in the past.
For the past forty years, economists have been looking at ways to explain such irrationality. The foundation of behavioural economics, this new branch in the science, was laid by two Israeli professors - Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman – who set economics down the path of looking at what influences people’s behaviour to determine how they act and why they do so in such a manner (for more information on these two and their work, read Michael Lewis’ fantastic book The Undoing Project).
In doing so they looked at a number of psychological factors that influence people’s decision and prevent them from acting in a rational or consistent manner.
It is such factors that have to be looked at in order to understand what stops clubs from trying to maximise the investment that they make in academies. And there’s plenty worth looking into.
One in particular stands out.
Any project like a football academy has to be based on a long term vision. That much is obvious. Yet it contrasts with most managers’ focus on the present. It is a vicious circle that clubs effectively bring on themselves by failing to stick to long term projects.
It is a behaviour that behavioural economists will be familiar with, having observed and documented it in what has become known as the present bias. This is the tendency to over-value immediate rewards at the expense of long-term ambitions, regardless of the impact that it might have later on in life.
A classic example of this is when a person fails to save up any money, opting instead to spend it in order to fully live ‘the moment’. Eventually a time will come when it is too late to start saving up and that individual has nothing on which to turn.
That is what clubs are doing with their academies. The absence of a long term project forces everyone on the playing side to focus on the immediate outcome. Managers, knowing that their job could be at risk with a series of bad results, will opt for his more experienced players on whom he can rely more heavily.
Young players are more likely to make mistakes. Regardless of their talent they may not by physically ready or might be too slow to react; making critical mistakes in the process. Those are the mistakes that in truth they need to make in order to develop and learn yet managers rarely have the luxury of allowing them that room to grow. Managers need players who can deliver immediate results.
They are biased in favour of those players who can help them in the present.
This is costing clubs heavily. It is a short term view for a number of reasons starting from the obvious that the performances of older players tend to decrease rapidly once they hit a particular age. The outcome here is that the club would then have to look for another player to replace him, thus spending more money to do so.
What’s worse is that such spend is the equivalent of throwing money away. For while that older player might ensure immediate reliability, the value of such experienced players rarely appreciates. Within a couple of years that player will have to be moved on and often only a fraction – if any – of the initial outlay is recovered.
This contrasts with the value of a young player that tends to appreciate notably as they gain experience, confidence and start to express their ability on a more consistent basis. Financially, the development of a young player is easily more beneficial than going for established ones.
Still clubs opt not to do so. Again this is hardly surprising for behavioural economists who have an explanation as to why this happens: they are falling prey to hyperbolic discounting. Without going into the technicalities of what this term means, essentially it refers to the decision making process whereby the farther away a potential return is, the more it is discounted and less it is valued.
It is only when clubs get to a situation where they have nothing to lose by trying something different that they really start to shed such bias. A typical case was that of Borussia Dortmund who, after going to the edge of bankruptcy in their bid to regain their status in German football, opted to put their faith in young players (and a young coach). Their rewards were immediate and significant: two league titles and a Champions League final.
Judging by the players that they have bought over recent months, Borussia Dortmund have made sure not to fall in their old routine – or fall back on their bias – by signing promising young players. It is a brave move but, if the rules of behavioural economics are anything to go by, it could also be the right one.
Sign up to Blueprint for Football Extra and receive a weekly round-up of great football coaching articles.
It is an anomalous and fairly ridiculous situation that in many respects could only happen in football. No other business would invest that much money and then fail to use what came through. At least no business acting rationally would act that way.
The thing is that football clubs (as does any normal business, for the matter) act irrationally. There is rarely any grand strategy in place and this is evidenced by how quickly confidence in a manager can deteriorate after a run of bad results, regardless of what that manager had achieved in the past.
For the past forty years, economists have been looking at ways to explain such irrationality. The foundation of behavioural economics, this new branch in the science, was laid by two Israeli professors - Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman – who set economics down the path of looking at what influences people’s behaviour to determine how they act and why they do so in such a manner (for more information on these two and their work, read Michael Lewis’ fantastic book The Undoing Project).
In doing so they looked at a number of psychological factors that influence people’s decision and prevent them from acting in a rational or consistent manner.
It is such factors that have to be looked at in order to understand what stops clubs from trying to maximise the investment that they make in academies. And there’s plenty worth looking into.
One in particular stands out.
Any project like a football academy has to be based on a long term vision. That much is obvious. Yet it contrasts with most managers’ focus on the present. It is a vicious circle that clubs effectively bring on themselves by failing to stick to long term projects.
It is a behaviour that behavioural economists will be familiar with, having observed and documented it in what has become known as the present bias. This is the tendency to over-value immediate rewards at the expense of long-term ambitions, regardless of the impact that it might have later on in life.
A classic example of this is when a person fails to save up any money, opting instead to spend it in order to fully live ‘the moment’. Eventually a time will come when it is too late to start saving up and that individual has nothing on which to turn.
That is what clubs are doing with their academies. The absence of a long term project forces everyone on the playing side to focus on the immediate outcome. Managers, knowing that their job could be at risk with a series of bad results, will opt for his more experienced players on whom he can rely more heavily.
Young players are more likely to make mistakes. Regardless of their talent they may not by physically ready or might be too slow to react; making critical mistakes in the process. Those are the mistakes that in truth they need to make in order to develop and learn yet managers rarely have the luxury of allowing them that room to grow. Managers need players who can deliver immediate results.
They are biased in favour of those players who can help them in the present.
This is costing clubs heavily. It is a short term view for a number of reasons starting from the obvious that the performances of older players tend to decrease rapidly once they hit a particular age. The outcome here is that the club would then have to look for another player to replace him, thus spending more money to do so.
What’s worse is that such spend is the equivalent of throwing money away. For while that older player might ensure immediate reliability, the value of such experienced players rarely appreciates. Within a couple of years that player will have to be moved on and often only a fraction – if any – of the initial outlay is recovered.
This contrasts with the value of a young player that tends to appreciate notably as they gain experience, confidence and start to express their ability on a more consistent basis. Financially, the development of a young player is easily more beneficial than going for established ones.
Still clubs opt not to do so. Again this is hardly surprising for behavioural economists who have an explanation as to why this happens: they are falling prey to hyperbolic discounting. Without going into the technicalities of what this term means, essentially it refers to the decision making process whereby the farther away a potential return is, the more it is discounted and less it is valued.
It is only when clubs get to a situation where they have nothing to lose by trying something different that they really start to shed such bias. A typical case was that of Borussia Dortmund who, after going to the edge of bankruptcy in their bid to regain their status in German football, opted to put their faith in young players (and a young coach). Their rewards were immediate and significant: two league titles and a Champions League final.
Judging by the players that they have bought over recent months, Borussia Dortmund have made sure not to fall in their old routine – or fall back on their bias – by signing promising young players. It is a brave move but, if the rules of behavioural economics are anything to go by, it could also be the right one.
Sign up to Blueprint for Football Extra and receive a weekly round-up of great football coaching articles.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Looking At The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
There are some books that are obvious reads for anyone in sports; where there are clears lessons to be had in texts aimed directly at people within sports. Other books are not so obvious. Yet although these are not directly aimed at people in sports it is still possible to learn from them. Indeed arguably reading such books is even better because it opens up the way you think about various issues.Mark Manson’s “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life” is one such book. On the face of it – as one can easily deduce by the title – it is an aggressive attack on a lot of pop-psychology that is circulated these days. The idea that positive thoughts can be enough to lead to a happy life, for instance, is one that particularly irritates the author.
Though Manson is primarily a blogger, there is a lot of substance to his writing. As with a lot of articles online, the title is aimed at getting people curious and willing to check it out rather than because it is all about creating controversy.
Indeed it is in the explanation over what he means about ‘not giving a f*ck’ that this starts to emerge and the value of the book for football coaches becomes obvious.
Manson makes reference to Alan Watts’ “backwards law” which goes something along the line of the more that you pursue feeling better all the time, the less satisfied you become as pursuing something only reinforces the fact that you lack it in the first place.
What this essentially translates to is not looking always for positive experience and that, if you learn off it, a negative experience can end up being an extremely positive experience. It is only human to want to be comfortable but sometimes that leads to apathy. It certainly doesn’t lead to development.
In football terms, if you get too comfortable coaching kids within a certain age group you may opt to keep on doing so not because you know that it is best for you or what you really want but because you keep getting high on the feeling of being good at it. You don’t go looking for new challenges – which might ultimately bring with them further satisfaction – but chase the easy fulfillment.
It is around such feelings and search for easy comfort that this book is focused. Indeed the whole philosophy of the book deals with not caring too much (if at all) on what may be thought of you. Indeed it lays out three rules that end up applying to anyone within the game of football as much as they do in everyday life.
The first centres around being comfortable with being different. It is not easy when you are trying to do something that is not conventional. There were many who criticised and ridiculed Arrigo Sacchi when he first spoke of his ideas that centred around zonal marking and pressing. He was seeing things differently in a country that had been dominated by catenaccio - the religion of ultra-defensive football - for more than two decades so this reaction was hardly surprising.
Perhaps a weaker man would have folded and gone the conventional route. But Sacchi, a manager with no history as a player and who had spent most of his adult life working to be in a position to try out his ideas did not, to paraprhase Manson, give a f**k about what others thought of his ideas. He was comfortable with being different and that brought about a revolution in the game.
Sacchi is also a pretty great illustration of the second of Manson's rules: that in order not to care about adversity you must first care about something more important than adversity.
This might seem to be pretty obvious but is not so. For some people the headache that might come with trying something new can be too much. There are countless coaches out there who come up with new ideas but many fail to try out these ideas because they fear the challenges that players might put up or how fans will react. They care more about not facing the problems than they do about the potential end result that might come through them.
Sacchi didn't care about players not accepting his ideas. What he really cared about was seeing his ideas being executed; that is what drove him. He coached his players so they understood his ideas, explained what he wanted them to do and then made sure that they did so. Not everyone appreciated it and he certainly had his fair share of set-backs. Still that didn’t really matter to him as he was convinced of his ideas. Of course, he was a great communicator and his enthusiasm ended up driving his players but that is essentially a secondary aspect.
This leads into the final point that Manson makes: that you’re always choosing what to care about whether you realise it or not. You have to decide whether you are going to focus on your ideas and what you want to do or whether you are going to give in to what others might say or think.
As a coach you often have to make difficult decisions especially if you are doing something that goes against the accepted norm. It is perfectly fine to choose the option that leads to least resistance but you have to be conscious that you’ve essentially given power to the possibility of criticism or failure. And once you’ve given up that power it is very difficult to claim it back.
How many teams fail to deliver on their potential because a manager starts deferring to some or all of his players on major decisions? Indeed a clear sign of a manager nearing the end of his career is any news of that manager making decisions to keep certain of his players happy.
Enjoyed this? Want more? Sign up to Blueprint for Football Extra and as a free bonus you'll get a copy of our exclusive e-book Blueprint According To...Volume 3 that features interviews with six football coaches on how they go about their building their knowledge.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Essential Qualities of a Football Coach: Passion
Anyone who is involved in jobs with a heavy vocational calling need to be constantly questioning themselves over the reason for which they are doing such work. If you’re a nurse or a doctor, for instance, then caring for people has to be your main priority. Same goes for teachers who must put the education of those placed in their charge as the reason for which they go to work every day.
That is not to say that money shouldn’t be important to these people or that they don’t deserve high salaries. Indeed, the experience of the Finnish education system – one that regularly ranks as the world’s best - where teaching jobs are both highly valued and well remunerated proves that this isn’t the case. But these are jobs that need individuals for whom money isn’t the main motivator.
Clearly, the same applies to football coaches in particular those who are involved with the development of children. There is no doubt that they should be paid well in professional environments but it is worrying when coaches take up roles purely because of the money that is on offer. Not because they will necessarily do a bad job of it but as eventually their output will start to suffer.
People are naturally inclined more towards others who are passionate about the work they’re doing. They’re influenced by how people act and if they see someone who is clearly enjoying what they’re doing then it will show in how they respond.
The crucial thing is that passion cannot be faked. It filters into the way that one delivers a session, in how deeply they care about people’s improvement and how far they’re willing to go in order to ensure that the players they’re coaching deliver on their potential.
Importantly, passion is also a critical factor in how a coach goes about ensuring that they improve themselves. Regardless of their line of work, a passionate individual will typically be more interested to look out for anything that might be of help on their job. A passionate individual won’t simply go through the motions but will understand why every aspect of their job is carried out and think about ways of improving on each one of these facets.
This does not mean that anyone who is passionate about coaching is capable of doing so. Indeed, some of the worst excesses seen on pitches the world over are carried out by people who are undoubtedly passionate.
Even so, that little bit of fire in your belly – to go with a cliché – is necessary to push you ever harder so that you improve yourself and deliver ever better results. Frankly you cannot be involved in a role that can determine people’s future without that little bit of passion.
Join Blueprint for Football Extra to ensure that you don't miss future articles and get the full transcript of the interview plus a free e-book in the process. Other Blueprint for Football e-books available here (international version here).
That is not to say that money shouldn’t be important to these people or that they don’t deserve high salaries. Indeed, the experience of the Finnish education system – one that regularly ranks as the world’s best - where teaching jobs are both highly valued and well remunerated proves that this isn’t the case. But these are jobs that need individuals for whom money isn’t the main motivator.
Clearly, the same applies to football coaches in particular those who are involved with the development of children. There is no doubt that they should be paid well in professional environments but it is worrying when coaches take up roles purely because of the money that is on offer. Not because they will necessarily do a bad job of it but as eventually their output will start to suffer.
People are naturally inclined more towards others who are passionate about the work they’re doing. They’re influenced by how people act and if they see someone who is clearly enjoying what they’re doing then it will show in how they respond.
The crucial thing is that passion cannot be faked. It filters into the way that one delivers a session, in how deeply they care about people’s improvement and how far they’re willing to go in order to ensure that the players they’re coaching deliver on their potential.
Importantly, passion is also a critical factor in how a coach goes about ensuring that they improve themselves. Regardless of their line of work, a passionate individual will typically be more interested to look out for anything that might be of help on their job. A passionate individual won’t simply go through the motions but will understand why every aspect of their job is carried out and think about ways of improving on each one of these facets.
This does not mean that anyone who is passionate about coaching is capable of doing so. Indeed, some of the worst excesses seen on pitches the world over are carried out by people who are undoubtedly passionate.
Even so, that little bit of fire in your belly – to go with a cliché – is necessary to push you ever harder so that you improve yourself and deliver ever better results. Frankly you cannot be involved in a role that can determine people’s future without that little bit of passion.
Join Blueprint for Football Extra to ensure that you don't miss future articles and get the full transcript of the interview plus a free e-book in the process. Other Blueprint for Football e-books available here (international version here).
Monday, May 30, 2016
Essential Qualities of a Football Coach: Psychology
An examination of the abilities that distinguished the game’s most legendary managers from the rest will reveal a number of similarities. To a man they were visionaries; capable of transforming the way that football is viewed and played. They managed to build their teams around the abilities of their players and also shaped the talents of their players to fit into the way they wanted their team to play. And they always ensured that their players were willing to do whatever they demanded of them.
That latter ability used to be described as the capacity to motivate players. What those managers did, however, was more than that: they could understand what drove their players and acted in a way that built up that drive. For most of them, all of this either came instinctively or else had been shaped by their life experiences.
Today’s managers and coaches, however, do not have to rely on fate or fortune. There is now a whole discipline – sports psychology – that is devoted to helping coaches deal with players and their mentalities. That is not to say that to be a good coach you need to know whatever a sports psychologist knows but it is essential that one is at least aware of how to deal with different issues.
This was best explained by Dan Abrahams, a sports psychologist and the author of the book Soccer Tough. “I believe that a coach must be creative and to do so they must seek as much information as possible in the four major areas; technical ability, tactical ability, physical conditioning, and psychological strength,” he said in an interview with Blueprint for Football.
“A coach must understand the physical talent but what is often overlooked is mental talent. The kids that are naturally gifted in terms of concentration, discipline and dedication; that is something important that is often ignored.”
“The other thing is being a 1 percenter: I want them to leave no stone un-turned. Find all the 1% shifts you can to help your players excel.”
Quite frankly, it isn’t good enough for a coach to simply give up when a player seems to hit a mental barrier.
“Too many coaches say that they have players that have lots of physical talent but 'he doesn't want it' and there's nothing that can be done. That is rubbish. Of course something can be done. This is where I get back to seeking that no stone is left un-turned. Going to FA modules, reading books like mine can help you get a better understanding. But don't just stop there, put into practice what you read.”
And Abrahams agrees that the ability to leverage psychology is what distinguishes the great from the good.
“All managers do psychology within their role and some are better than other. A key factor is the culture they develop within their club. If you look at the leading managers - Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger - they've developed different cultures but also sound cultures that help develop their team and their commitment. They've built a culture of success and achievement.”
Join Blueprint for Football Extra to ensure that you don't miss future articles and get the full transcript of the interview plus a free e-book in the process. Other Blueprint for Football e-books available here (international version here).
That latter ability used to be described as the capacity to motivate players. What those managers did, however, was more than that: they could understand what drove their players and acted in a way that built up that drive. For most of them, all of this either came instinctively or else had been shaped by their life experiences.
This was best explained by Dan Abrahams, a sports psychologist and the author of the book Soccer Tough. “I believe that a coach must be creative and to do so they must seek as much information as possible in the four major areas; technical ability, tactical ability, physical conditioning, and psychological strength,” he said in an interview with Blueprint for Football.
“A coach must understand the physical talent but what is often overlooked is mental talent. The kids that are naturally gifted in terms of concentration, discipline and dedication; that is something important that is often ignored.”
“The other thing is being a 1 percenter: I want them to leave no stone un-turned. Find all the 1% shifts you can to help your players excel.”
Quite frankly, it isn’t good enough for a coach to simply give up when a player seems to hit a mental barrier.
“Too many coaches say that they have players that have lots of physical talent but 'he doesn't want it' and there's nothing that can be done. That is rubbish. Of course something can be done. This is where I get back to seeking that no stone is left un-turned. Going to FA modules, reading books like mine can help you get a better understanding. But don't just stop there, put into practice what you read.”
And Abrahams agrees that the ability to leverage psychology is what distinguishes the great from the good.
“All managers do psychology within their role and some are better than other. A key factor is the culture they develop within their club. If you look at the leading managers - Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger - they've developed different cultures but also sound cultures that help develop their team and their commitment. They've built a culture of success and achievement.”
Join Blueprint for Football Extra to ensure that you don't miss future articles and get the full transcript of the interview plus a free e-book in the process. Other Blueprint for Football e-books available here (international version here).
Monday, May 9, 2016
Essential Qualities of a Football Coach: Curiosity
Join Blueprint for Football Extra to ensure that you don't miss future articles and get the full transcript of the interview plus a free e-book in the process. Other Blueprint for Football e-books available here (international version here).
Football is a highly conservative game so it is hardly surprising that those who work in it tend to be conservative as well. None more so than experienced managers who hold on to ingrained opinions on how to achieve success and who refuse to look at ideas that challenge those opinions.
It is for this reason that there are managers who still do not fully trust the benefits of a healthy nutrition regime, of proper training or of the use of statistics to help shape tactics.
There is little doubt that the majority of these managers possess a huge wealth of knowledge about the game of football. Most of them have spent their whole adult life working within the game and in all probability know little else apart from football.
And therein lies the problem; there is a point at which the laser focus on the game at the exclusion of everything else hinders rather than helps. Their lack of curiosity about anything other than football leaves them with a poor frame of reference with which to look at any new idea that they come across. Or, to put it another way, they aren’t equipped to absorb and learn new ideas.
“As we grow older we tend to become less active explorers of our mental environment, relying on what we’ve learned so far to see us through the rest of the journey.” So writes Ian Leslie in Curious, a book that deals about curiosity and the role this plays in our lives.
“If you allow yourself to become incurious, your life will be drained of colour, interest and pleasure. You will be less likely to achieve your potential.”
Sound familiar? It should especially if you’ve heard ‘traditional’ managers talk dismissively about the value of statistics in football or negatively on the notion of rotation in managing the squad’s fitness levels.
That is not to argue that coaches should be curious for curiosity’s sake. Indeed that kind of curiosity – diversive curiosity – often results in wasted effort. What people should be trying to foster is what Leslie terms as epistemic curiosity, which is a more structured and deeper form of curiosity that can ignite the desire to learn and attempt to do things that one would not normally consider.
There is much that coaches can learn by being curious at what is happening in other sport, to come up with one obvious example. There is much to admire and think about if you spend some time looking at the ideas that underpin the success of the All Black rugby side, for instance. The same can be said of other team sports like basketball or hockey.
Will all that can be found in such examinations be immediately useful for coaches? Probably not, but they will sow seeds that will blossom when their time comes.
Steve Johnson, author of “Where Good Ideas Come From” calls this the slow hunch. “Rather than coming out of the blue…the best ideas are the result of hours, days, sometimes even years, of digging into a subject and pursuing the hunches that slowly emerge as a result,” he says.
Football is a highly conservative game so it is hardly surprising that those who work in it tend to be conservative as well. None more so than experienced managers who hold on to ingrained opinions on how to achieve success and who refuse to look at ideas that challenge those opinions.
It is for this reason that there are managers who still do not fully trust the benefits of a healthy nutrition regime, of proper training or of the use of statistics to help shape tactics.
There is little doubt that the majority of these managers possess a huge wealth of knowledge about the game of football. Most of them have spent their whole adult life working within the game and in all probability know little else apart from football.
“As we grow older we tend to become less active explorers of our mental environment, relying on what we’ve learned so far to see us through the rest of the journey.” So writes Ian Leslie in Curious, a book that deals about curiosity and the role this plays in our lives.
“If you allow yourself to become incurious, your life will be drained of colour, interest and pleasure. You will be less likely to achieve your potential.”
Sound familiar? It should especially if you’ve heard ‘traditional’ managers talk dismissively about the value of statistics in football or negatively on the notion of rotation in managing the squad’s fitness levels.
That is not to argue that coaches should be curious for curiosity’s sake. Indeed that kind of curiosity – diversive curiosity – often results in wasted effort. What people should be trying to foster is what Leslie terms as epistemic curiosity, which is a more structured and deeper form of curiosity that can ignite the desire to learn and attempt to do things that one would not normally consider.
There is much that coaches can learn by being curious at what is happening in other sport, to come up with one obvious example. There is much to admire and think about if you spend some time looking at the ideas that underpin the success of the All Black rugby side, for instance. The same can be said of other team sports like basketball or hockey.
Will all that can be found in such examinations be immediately useful for coaches? Probably not, but they will sow seeds that will blossom when their time comes.
Steve Johnson, author of “Where Good Ideas Come From” calls this the slow hunch. “Rather than coming out of the blue…the best ideas are the result of hours, days, sometimes even years, of digging into a subject and pursuing the hunches that slowly emerge as a result,” he says.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Essential Qualities of a Football Coach: Communication
Think back to when you were at school and the teachers who most left a lasting impression on you. What made them stand out? Why were they better than other teachers? Was it because they knew the subject more than others?
Probably not. What made them different was the ability to make you interested enough to get excited about and understand - possibly even love - a tough subject. They explained it in a way that resonated with you. For some coming across such teachers is a life changing moment.
As a coach you have to be like that kind of teacher. You have to get players excited about learning the game. This might seem like an easy enough task until you look into the detail of it.
For most people football, like any other skill, requires a lot of practice and repetition. Take the teaching of a simple ability like passing the ball. Sure, you can (and need) to be inventive in the drills that you have the players practice but ultimately it is all about how you explain it to them. You have to make them understand what you want from them and why. If they do it wrongly you have to explain what they have done wrong and how to correct it. And do all this in a manner that doesn't put them off.
It is the same at every stage of a players’ development regardless of the complexity of what it is that you want them to do.
A manager’s ability to communicate clearly is never as tested as it is during a match. The message has to get across despite the player trying to focus on what is going on around him. Complex instructions have to reach players without putting them under any additional pressure (and, above all, without senseless ranting or shouting). That too, is built on the work that a coach does on the training pitch. It is there that the basis of his method of communicating has to be instilled in his team.
The importance of communication is best reflected in a phrase which Sandro Salvioni – a journeyman Italian coach – told me during an interview.
“I was at Parma when Arrigo Sacchi arrived as manager,” he said. “At the time I was 32 and I would say that it was only then that I truly learned to play the game of football.”
“I wouldn’t say that I took nothing from my previous managers but Sacchi was something else; his approach to the game, the pressing high up the pitch, his offensive outlook, everything.”
Imagine being a veteran player with more than three hundred professional appearances in your career and probably thinking that there wasn’t anything in the game that you didn’t know only to suddenly coming across a manager who can teach you a completely different way of viewing football.
That is the power that a manager who can properly communicate his thoughts can hold over his players.
Join Blueprint for Football Extra, our free newsletter, for more great articles on football coaching.
Probably not. What made them different was the ability to make you interested enough to get excited about and understand - possibly even love - a tough subject. They explained it in a way that resonated with you. For some coming across such teachers is a life changing moment.
As a coach you have to be like that kind of teacher. You have to get players excited about learning the game. This might seem like an easy enough task until you look into the detail of it.
For most people football, like any other skill, requires a lot of practice and repetition. Take the teaching of a simple ability like passing the ball. Sure, you can (and need) to be inventive in the drills that you have the players practice but ultimately it is all about how you explain it to them. You have to make them understand what you want from them and why. If they do it wrongly you have to explain what they have done wrong and how to correct it. And do all this in a manner that doesn't put them off.
It is the same at every stage of a players’ development regardless of the complexity of what it is that you want them to do.
A manager’s ability to communicate clearly is never as tested as it is during a match. The message has to get across despite the player trying to focus on what is going on around him. Complex instructions have to reach players without putting them under any additional pressure (and, above all, without senseless ranting or shouting). That too, is built on the work that a coach does on the training pitch. It is there that the basis of his method of communicating has to be instilled in his team.
The importance of communication is best reflected in a phrase which Sandro Salvioni – a journeyman Italian coach – told me during an interview.
“I was at Parma when Arrigo Sacchi arrived as manager,” he said. “At the time I was 32 and I would say that it was only then that I truly learned to play the game of football.”
“I wouldn’t say that I took nothing from my previous managers but Sacchi was something else; his approach to the game, the pressing high up the pitch, his offensive outlook, everything.”
Imagine being a veteran player with more than three hundred professional appearances in your career and probably thinking that there wasn’t anything in the game that you didn’t know only to suddenly coming across a manager who can teach you a completely different way of viewing football.
That is the power that a manager who can properly communicate his thoughts can hold over his players.
Join Blueprint for Football Extra, our free newsletter, for more great articles on football coaching.
Friday, November 27, 2015
Why – And How – To Use Video Technology: A Quick Guide for Coaches
Vital Tool For Coaches
Research has shown that coaches recall around 45% of incidents within a game. This means that they miss more than half of what happens which is a significant chunk. Having a backup in the form of a video of the match provides one with the possibility of calmly re-watching a game and the luxury of noting down what worked or what didn’t during the game.
These pointers can then be shared with the players – again with the aid of video – highlighting areas which need to be worked on with the visual element being a key teaching tool.
Look At Other Teams
If you want your team to press the ball like Bayern Munich, then video provides you with the
opportunity of highlighting exactly the movements that players make at different moments of the game. This helps you when you are out on the training pitch because players already have a mental image of what you want them to achieve.
Music Is Important
For most ‘adults’ music in video – particularly highlights packages – might seem like an afterthought yet for kids this is a vital component. In research it often comes up how the music influences their actions and the impact that it has when coupled with a video of themselves playing (for example). There are two sides to this. The first is that if you really want young players to get into such analysis then you have to make sure that there is music they like couple to it. The flip side is that you have to be careful that it doesn’t pump them up too much, especially straight before a game, as they could go on to the pitch over-excited.
Experiment With Technology
As with most technology, recording equipment that once used to cost thousands of dollars can now be bought for a couple of hundred at most. This means that the technology to implement video analysis is within most people’s budgets. It also means that people
shouldn’t necessarily limit themselves to the traditional means of having a parent or volunteer record games. There is more scope than ever before to be creative in one’s approach.
Cameras like those that are available by GO Pro can be put up at certain key points on the training pitch in order to view each action from different angles. Similarly, these can be worn by players to provide them with the ability to rewatch footage from their training session and, as a result, the ability to discuss their performance (and the options that were open to them) from their point of view.
Those are just two ideas but it requires a coach who can think up of new ideas in order to come up with new ways to utilise the power that is now available to them.
Find Help in Editing Games
In Blueprint for Football’s interview with Simon Middlemas, the author of “The impact of video-based practice on the development of elite youth footballers” (his doctoral thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University) he put forward an idea that many should look into.
“The best practice I have seen recently has been in New Zealand where I am currently based. We run a graduate diploma in performance analysis. The students film and code domestic rugby competitions and load the coded highlight videos onto a publically available forum.”
“The coaches get free feedback from their games, and their opponent’s games, in the form of coded highlights (e.g. tries, scrums, lineouts and so on) and can chose to do what they want with that (e.g. feed it back to players, analyse their opponents, analyse parents’ behaviour etc)."
“Every local club has a local university or college and an untapped resource of sport science students looking for placement hours.”
Research has shown that coaches recall around 45% of incidents within a game. This means that they miss more than half of what happens which is a significant chunk. Having a backup in the form of a video of the match provides one with the possibility of calmly re-watching a game and the luxury of noting down what worked or what didn’t during the game.
These pointers can then be shared with the players – again with the aid of video – highlighting areas which need to be worked on with the visual element being a key teaching tool.
Look At Other Teams
If you want your team to press the ball like Bayern Munich, then video provides you with the
Music Is Important
For most ‘adults’ music in video – particularly highlights packages – might seem like an afterthought yet for kids this is a vital component. In research it often comes up how the music influences their actions and the impact that it has when coupled with a video of themselves playing (for example). There are two sides to this. The first is that if you really want young players to get into such analysis then you have to make sure that there is music they like couple to it. The flip side is that you have to be careful that it doesn’t pump them up too much, especially straight before a game, as they could go on to the pitch over-excited.
Experiment With Technology
As with most technology, recording equipment that once used to cost thousands of dollars can now be bought for a couple of hundred at most. This means that the technology to implement video analysis is within most people’s budgets. It also means that people
Cameras like those that are available by GO Pro can be put up at certain key points on the training pitch in order to view each action from different angles. Similarly, these can be worn by players to provide them with the ability to rewatch footage from their training session and, as a result, the ability to discuss their performance (and the options that were open to them) from their point of view.
Those are just two ideas but it requires a coach who can think up of new ideas in order to come up with new ways to utilise the power that is now available to them.
Find Help in Editing Games
In Blueprint for Football’s interview with Simon Middlemas, the author of “The impact of video-based practice on the development of elite youth footballers” (his doctoral thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University) he put forward an idea that many should look into.
“The best practice I have seen recently has been in New Zealand where I am currently based. We run a graduate diploma in performance analysis. The students film and code domestic rugby competitions and load the coded highlight videos onto a publically available forum.”
“The coaches get free feedback from their games, and their opponent’s games, in the form of coded highlights (e.g. tries, scrums, lineouts and so on) and can chose to do what they want with that (e.g. feed it back to players, analyse their opponents, analyse parents’ behaviour etc)."
“Every local club has a local university or college and an untapped resource of sport science students looking for placement hours.”
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Video Analysis in Football: The Expert View
Despite it being increasingly used to assist coaches, there has been surprisingly little research carried out on the impact of video analysis in football. One of that limited set of research documents was compiled by Simon Middlemas who wrote “The impact of video-based practice on the development of elite youth footballers” as his doctoral thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.
That paper is essential reading for anyone interested in the subject as it looks at video analysis from the points of view of coaches as well as players. It is a document that is full of insight in what works and what doesn’t (and why) allowing those who intend to use such technology to avoid a lot of pitfalls.
Currently a lecturer at the Otago Institute of Sport and Adventure in New Zealand, he has clearly kept on thinking about this subject as evidenced by the added insight he provided in the replies to a set of questions Blueprint for Football put forward to him.
Blueprint for Football: What are the greatest benefits of video analysis?
Simon Middlemas: As an ‘objective’ source of information which stimulate new learning between the coach and athlete, and as a piece of feed-forward, to show the athlete what they are truly capable of in the future.
BfF: A clear danger that a player is influenced negatively rather than positively. How can coaches diminish this risk? How important is it that coaches analyse the way that players are taking to video analysis to ensure that it doesn't do harm rather than good?
SM: The best way to understand how an athlete is responding to video feedback is to take the time to understand how they work.
I believe that some coaches make snap judgements about players characters (e.g. mentally weak), and wait to be proven wrong. Good coaches invest the time to observe and listen to players, especially early on in their relationship, and use this information to structure how they deliver feedback in public settings.
One-to-one sessions with the video can help accelerate this process, by building trust. Reading players responses in sessions is difficult because some athletes can become experts at masking their feelings (often having experience a bullying coach at some point in their development, and not wanting to risk embarrassment).
Encouraging senior players to follow up with junior players after poor performance can be helpful too, as some players won’t talk to the coach as a first resort. Negative responses to video feedback are not necessarily a bad thing, but after this initial ‘hot’ response to a mistakes or error, the coach need to be make sure they take the time to talk to the player when everything has cooled down, and to help the player get their mindset right and move on.
Often this secondary process doesn’t take place and the athlete lingers on it too long or develops bad habits in their thoughts.
BfF: Would you agree that it is essential that coaches know how to teach players to develop a growth mindset by working more with those who lack the confidence and knowledge to analyse their performance to see what they can improve rather than simply what they did wrong?
SM: Yes, I agree with this. I am a huge advocate for growth mind set and think my research provides evidence of the negative culture created when coaches solely take a critical approach. Knowledge of result and performance are key aspects of learning, and there is plenty of evidence to support this approach.
I would put a caveat on that, however, by saying that in my practical experience there are
significant individual differences in their preferences. Some athletes do prefer to be given more objective feedback, regardless of whether it is negative or positive. The context matters too. Mid-competition is probably not the time for lengthy, reflection on performance and this may change the way it’s delivered.
I have seen very powerful evidence of this at elite level at key moments in competition, but away from these situations, I think most athletes (especially those lacking in confidence) can benefit from growth approach.
BfF: Do you agree that video analysis works best when tied to other techniques like setting individual goals?
SM: Intuitively, as a sport psychologist, I see the benefits of using mental skills such as goal setting, imagery and pre-performance routines alongside video feedback work to help prepare athletes better for performance.
Apart from visualisation, there is little evidence (beyond anecdotal) to suggest that these have a direct benefit or not. Both have support separately but not much recent research into the combination.
BfF: Your analysis was focused on professional academies where there are analysts who edit it for the coaches. What about coaches at non-elite levels who do not have this luxury? What can they do? What are the best practices that you have observed of such coaches?
SM: Video feedback is universal. Most coaches can access a video camera and ask a parent to film the games. Many parents now do this without being asked. iPads, smartphones and similar equipment have removed many of the accessibility issues around getting hold of footage.
Having said that, there is no guidelines for coaches on how to analyse, what to feedback at the levels below elite. The best practice I have seen recently has been in New Zealand where I am currently based. We run a graduate diploma in performance analysis. The students film and code domestic rugby competitions and load the coded highlight videos onto a publically available forum. The coaches get free feedback from their games, and their opponent’s games, in the form of coded highlights (e.g. tries, scrums, lineouts and so on) and can chose to do what they want with that (e.g. feed it back to players, analyse their opponents, analyse parents’ behaviour etc).
Every local club has a local university or college and an untapped resource of sport science students looking for placement hours.
BfF: Would coaches benefit if occasionally it was their performance that was analysed? How they react during the game, their voice levels during training and so on?
SM: In short, the answer is yes.
It’s an important area of development for coaches, and I think it goes a long way to building trust between the coach and athlete if the coach demonstrates the qualities (e.g. self-reflection, self-awareness) they are hoping to develop ion their athletes.
There are several conditions which would make this more effective: an experienced coach educator/mentor/psychologist who has a relationship with the coach, a framework/assessment tool which has been validated (e.g. CBAS, see paper attached) and a coach who is buys into this process for the right reasons (e.g. doesn’t just see it as a hoop they have to jump through for accreditations etc).
There are probably other conditions but if these were in place it could be a worthwhile process for all.
That paper is essential reading for anyone interested in the subject as it looks at video analysis from the points of view of coaches as well as players. It is a document that is full of insight in what works and what doesn’t (and why) allowing those who intend to use such technology to avoid a lot of pitfalls.
Currently a lecturer at the Otago Institute of Sport and Adventure in New Zealand, he has clearly kept on thinking about this subject as evidenced by the added insight he provided in the replies to a set of questions Blueprint for Football put forward to him.
Blueprint for Football: What are the greatest benefits of video analysis?
Simon Middlemas: As an ‘objective’ source of information which stimulate new learning between the coach and athlete, and as a piece of feed-forward, to show the athlete what they are truly capable of in the future.
BfF: A clear danger that a player is influenced negatively rather than positively. How can coaches diminish this risk? How important is it that coaches analyse the way that players are taking to video analysis to ensure that it doesn't do harm rather than good?
SM: The best way to understand how an athlete is responding to video feedback is to take the time to understand how they work. I believe that some coaches make snap judgements about players characters (e.g. mentally weak), and wait to be proven wrong. Good coaches invest the time to observe and listen to players, especially early on in their relationship, and use this information to structure how they deliver feedback in public settings.
One-to-one sessions with the video can help accelerate this process, by building trust. Reading players responses in sessions is difficult because some athletes can become experts at masking their feelings (often having experience a bullying coach at some point in their development, and not wanting to risk embarrassment).
Encouraging senior players to follow up with junior players after poor performance can be helpful too, as some players won’t talk to the coach as a first resort. Negative responses to video feedback are not necessarily a bad thing, but after this initial ‘hot’ response to a mistakes or error, the coach need to be make sure they take the time to talk to the player when everything has cooled down, and to help the player get their mindset right and move on.
Often this secondary process doesn’t take place and the athlete lingers on it too long or develops bad habits in their thoughts.
BfF: Would you agree that it is essential that coaches know how to teach players to develop a growth mindset by working more with those who lack the confidence and knowledge to analyse their performance to see what they can improve rather than simply what they did wrong?
SM: Yes, I agree with this. I am a huge advocate for growth mind set and think my research provides evidence of the negative culture created when coaches solely take a critical approach. Knowledge of result and performance are key aspects of learning, and there is plenty of evidence to support this approach.
I would put a caveat on that, however, by saying that in my practical experience there are
I have seen very powerful evidence of this at elite level at key moments in competition, but away from these situations, I think most athletes (especially those lacking in confidence) can benefit from growth approach.
BfF: Do you agree that video analysis works best when tied to other techniques like setting individual goals?
SM: Intuitively, as a sport psychologist, I see the benefits of using mental skills such as goal setting, imagery and pre-performance routines alongside video feedback work to help prepare athletes better for performance.
Apart from visualisation, there is little evidence (beyond anecdotal) to suggest that these have a direct benefit or not. Both have support separately but not much recent research into the combination.
BfF: Your analysis was focused on professional academies where there are analysts who edit it for the coaches. What about coaches at non-elite levels who do not have this luxury? What can they do? What are the best practices that you have observed of such coaches?
SM: Video feedback is universal. Most coaches can access a video camera and ask a parent to film the games. Many parents now do this without being asked. iPads, smartphones and similar equipment have removed many of the accessibility issues around getting hold of footage.
Having said that, there is no guidelines for coaches on how to analyse, what to feedback at the levels below elite. The best practice I have seen recently has been in New Zealand where I am currently based. We run a graduate diploma in performance analysis. The students film and code domestic rugby competitions and load the coded highlight videos onto a publically available forum. The coaches get free feedback from their games, and their opponent’s games, in the form of coded highlights (e.g. tries, scrums, lineouts and so on) and can chose to do what they want with that (e.g. feed it back to players, analyse their opponents, analyse parents’ behaviour etc).
Every local club has a local university or college and an untapped resource of sport science students looking for placement hours.
BfF: Would coaches benefit if occasionally it was their performance that was analysed? How they react during the game, their voice levels during training and so on?
SM: In short, the answer is yes.
It’s an important area of development for coaches, and I think it goes a long way to building trust between the coach and athlete if the coach demonstrates the qualities (e.g. self-reflection, self-awareness) they are hoping to develop ion their athletes.
There are several conditions which would make this more effective: an experienced coach educator/mentor/psychologist who has a relationship with the coach, a framework/assessment tool which has been validated (e.g. CBAS, see paper attached) and a coach who is buys into this process for the right reasons (e.g. doesn’t just see it as a hoop they have to jump through for accreditations etc).
There are probably other conditions but if these were in place it could be a worthwhile process for all.
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